About us
Our story
Why Real Estate Debt Investing
Kirkland Capital Group originated from an opportunity to provide investors annual fixed income net returns of 8.5% - 9.5%, with a focus on capital preservation, through micro-balance commercial real estate bridge lending.
First, most lenders will not consider commercial real estate bridge loans under $1 million due to extensive manual process; our technology background enables us to leverage this opportunity. Second, first lien mortgages against income producing commercial real estate, at a reasonable loan-to-value, and conservatively underwritten, have historically been a place of safety in down economies; especially for multifamily, as everyone needs a place to live.
Investor Focused
Investors benefit from the alignment in fees, expenses, operations, and compliance that Kirkland Capital was able to build into the Kirkland Income Fund due to its real estate and investment management foundation. Investors also gain confidence with investment trade level transparency.
This is the lower risk, higher return fund that allows us to sleep peacefully at night with our own and our families’ money invested. A house-of-bricks delivering financial security.
Do Well and Do Good
Kirkland Capital loans contribute to the rehabilitation of middle-income affordable housing, making a positive social and environmental impact. In addition to building their own financial security, many of our borrowers transform rundown Class C apartments into Class B apartments that house vital community members such as teachers, nurses, and first responders.
We are also honored to back minority borrowers and those working to provide housing improvements in minority neighborhoods. Improvements to the quality of existing housing via renovation significantly boosts socioeconomic conditions such as employment and mental health. Renovation also has a positive environmental impact to greenhouse gases and carbon outlay compared to new construction.
It is with confidence that we label the Kirkland Income Fund family of investors a force that is generating positive social and environmental impact alongside a good financial return.
Our team
Chris Carsley, CFA, CAIA
Chief Investment Officer
Chris Carsley brings over 25 years of investment industry expertise specializing in corporate and venture finance, business valuation, business operations efficiency, regulatory compliance practices, securities research, portfolio management, arbitrage trading and hedging.
Previously, Chris was responsible for the creation of the business risk and operational due diligence program as a senior member of the investment research and analysis team at Benchmark Plus Management. He was also the head execution trader of futures, options and OTC based trades for the Benchmark Funds.
Chris was a trader for Paloma Securities where he negotiated and structured ISDAs, securities lending and financing agreements that targeted global arbitrage opportunities primarily for Canadian and European markets. Chris was also a senior member of the hedge fund security finance team that performed due diligence for the Paloma hedge funds to assist in enhanced finance/margin treatment and short coverage costs.
Chris is currently a trustee and Vice President of the Charles Wright Academy Endowment Committee, serving on the board since March 2017. He co-founded the Northwest Hedge Fund Society (now the Seattle Alternative Investment Association) in 2004, and is Co-head of the executive board of the Seattle CAIA chapter that launched in 2017. He earned his Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation in 1998, Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst in 2011, and holds a BBA from the University of Portland.
Brock Freeman
Chief Operations Officer
Brock is a Real Estate Investor and Advisor involved with startups and funds. He has developed leadership in diverse groups of people, building them into highly effective and innovative teams in both Asia and America across technology, finance, sales, and marketing. With a deep history of leveraging technology to improve business results, he believes technology should be used to enable and improve the performance of teams and relationships.
Brock worked in Taiwan as a stock market analyst. In Hong Kong he joined a software startup and built the sales and marketing department where he and his team won early implementations with C-level executives from multiple large Asia based companies. In the U.S. Brock built loan broker origination networks for residential mortgage lenders, most recently as a sales manager. In both instances he led the effort to create repeatable, scalable sales processes, and implement CRM systems.
Brock underwrote and audited loans for several lenders, as well as managed and built the underwriting team for an outsourced loan underwriting firm that serviced lenders such as Glendale Federal Bank. For a fast-growing mortgage lender, he created the technology department, and as IT Director he led a team to build the industry’s first web-based end-to-end loan underwriting, processing, and secondary marketing platform. He also led technology teams at Microsoft and TrueBlue, as well as his own construction software startup, Kosah.
Now at Kirkland Capital Group, where he is a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Brock has taken his experience in residential mortgage and technology to lead the effort to upend commercial mortgage sourcing, underwriting, and operations. His small team in three months built out a significant commercial loan broker network and closed the first loan. Brock also serves as head of risk and loan operations where he has created a loan operations process to enable fast and scalable loan flow with industry leading customer service while keeping loan risk at a minimum. He has begun building the team for loan operations and underwriting, as well as implementation of AI and automation software.
Brock started the monthly PropTech Seattle Open House events, and the Seattle chapter of the Foundation for International Blockchain and Real Estate Expertise (FIBREE) where he is the Regional Chair. He is a member of the Cascadia Blockchain Council and testified to Washington State House and Senate Committees on behalf of blockchain bills.
Brock is an avid skier and hiker, is keenly interested in U.S. Taiwan relations, and conversational in Mandarin Chinese.
Brock is certified in Six Sigma, PMP, and Scrum Agile. He holds a BA in Business Administration and Finance from the University of Washington.
Tashi Schmidt, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Tashi Schmidt has a track record of success leading financial management and operations of firms with expertise in accounting, auditing, budgeting, and financial reporting. Prior to joining Kirkland Capital Group, Tashi was part of the founding leadership team of Tola Capital, a Seattle venture capital fund with $400M of assets under management. Prior to that, Tashi was the Controller for Benchmark Plus, a Tacoma Fund of Hedge Funds.
Tashi is a graduate of Pacific Lutheran University and a Certified Public Accountant in State of Washington. She started her career after college with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tashi was born and raised in Bhutan where she established the country’s first private qualified accounting and auditing firm with responsibility for auditing large corporations, state-owned enterprises, and the central bank. Tashi is fluent in English, Hindi, Nepali and Dzongkha.
Trevor Walker
Investment Sales Analyst
As an Investment Sales Analyst, Trevor Walker is focused on building relationships with brokers, developers, and property owners in the Midwest to source investing opportunities. He also works on loan processing and underwriting. Trevor is also a loan officer for Northwest Commercial Lending, assisting new and seasoned investors in purchase and refinance real estate loans. Prior to joining KCG, Trevor founded Iberia Partners where his team sources off market residential and commercial real estate opportunities for investors.
Trevor graduated from the Michael G. Foster School of Business at the University of Washington with a focus in Marketing, a certification in Professional Sales, along with a minor in Economics. He is also a proud Husky, having played for the University of Washington’s Football Program from 2013-2017.
Franie Satumbaga
Marketing Associate
Franie works as a Marketing Associate for KCG. Before KCG, she worked as a call center agent and sales representative with Convergys Cebu. She also worked as a telemarketer for two years with BTS and as a virtual assistant doing marketing with cold emailing, cold calls, and prospecting on social media.
Franie graduated from the University of San Jose Recoletos with a Bachelor of Arts Major in Tourism.
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