Team

Scott H. Gendell founded Terraco, Inc. in 1985 and has built the firm from a neighborhood retail development business to a real estate development and management company with a portfolio of more than 5 million square feet of retail and office properties. Scott provides leadership and direction to Terraco and is active in acquisitions, development and capital markets activity. He has been a managing partner or investor in developments with an aggregate value of over $1 billion. Scott began his career as a real estate attorney practicing in the north suburbs of Chicago. He received his Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law and graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science. Scott has served as an interviewer for Steven Spielberg’s Survivors of the Shoah Foundation, as a board member of the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and as President of Jewish National Fund: Chicago.

Kevin Gazley joined Terraco in 2008 with more than 20 years of experience in retail development and finance in Chicago and Toronto. He leads the firm’s banking and capital markets activities and has overseen more than $2 billion of sales, financing and corporate finance activities. Kevin began his career in Toronto and has been active in retail real estate finance since relocating to Chicago in 1995. He earned an MBA from the Schulich School of Business at York University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto. He is a member of ICSC.

Dan Wander joined Terraco in 1999 and leads the firm’s development activities. He is skilled at solving complex real estate problems and has extensive experience managing and developing properties ranging from 10,000 square-foot retail strip centers to 300,000 square-foot community centers. Prior to joining Terraco, he was a founding partner of Epic/Savage Realty, a commercial real estate firm specializing in industrial properties. Dan received his Juris Doctor from Northwestern University and graduated from the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Arts. Dan is active in industry associations and community and charitable organizations and serves as Board Chairman for Jewish Child & Family Services.

Robert Swanson has helped lead Terraco for more than 28 years. He has been directly involved in managing operations and overseeing the finances of retail and office properties ranging from 10,000 to more the 1 million square feet. He has been instrumental in building Terraco’s management business serving both local and foreign investors. Robert’s extensive real estate experience includes court-appointed receiverships, bankruptcy workouts and institutional property management activity. He is a graduate of Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting.

Julia Burnham joined Terraco in January 2016. With more than 30 years of experience as a commercial real estate executive, she has developed and implemented strategic plans for prime retail, office, mixed use and land assets. In her role at Terraco, Julia oversees the management of specific properties and focuses on growing property management, asset management and leasing services for clients. Julia previously served as a Senior Advisor at SVN Chicago Commercial and as a Vice President and Officer at JMB Realty Corporation. She graduated from the University of St. Thomas in Houston with a bachelor’s degree in Accounting. Julia is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of ICSC and WIRL (Women in Retail Leasing).

Joe Goodman has been responsible for leasing retail, office and mixed use properties for Terraco for over 10 years. Joe has developed strong relationships and closed deals with many national and regional tenants, including Mattress Firm, Advanced Auto, Dollar Tree, DaVita, Physicians Immediate Care, Planet Fitness, Great Escape, Taco Bell, Dunkin Donuts and Union Bank, as well as with locally based tenants. He is responsible for marketing and leasing vacancies for existing properties and new developments and for maintaining occupancy in more than 500,000 square feet of Terraco and client properties. Joe graduated from the University of Iowa with a Bachelor of Arts. He is a member of ICSC.

Michael McKevitt joined Terraco in 2015. He has over 33 years of experience in property management, overseeing more than 5 million square feet of assets, and extensive expertise in all aspects of operations, tenant relations, lease and contract administration, construction and client reporting. Michael successfully manages over 45 properties for Terraco and its clients including retail, office and mixed use developments. Michael attended the University of Wyoming.

Yelena Fedorova has directed Terraco’s accounting department for more than 16 years and is responsible for overseeing all financial reporting and for managing the cash flow of Terraco’s owned entities and client properties. Prior to joining Terraco, Yelena graduated from Riga Technical University, Latvia, with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. In 1999, she moved to the United States and became a Certified Public Accountant.

Loren Stone has served as Terraco’s in-house counsel since 1997. The primary focus of his practice is on real estate matters, including lease and sale contracts and real estate tax issues. Loren is a graduate of Chicago-Kent School of Law and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

As an award winning real estate professional, Ms. Shi is experienced in both commercial and residential real estate. For more than a decade, Ms. Shi has successfully closed transactions in a spectrum type of properties which includes: single family homes, new construction luxury homes, condominiums, town homes, commercial property lease, office buildings, medical facilities, shopping center acquisition, redevelopment and disposition. Ms. Shi has been honored by awards for outstanding business achievements as a real estate professional with multi-million dollar transactions to her credit in consecutive years soon after she became a licensed real estate professional. Prior to joining Terraco, Inc., Ms. Shi was one of the top real estate professionals with Ohio’s #1 Coldwell Banker franchise full service real estate company. Ms.Shi was an honor graduate with BA degree in 1986, and was awarded MBA fellowship based on merit at University of Redlands in Southern California. Ms. Shi and her family live in the Chicago area.