Hickory CRE Lending’s team brings deep expertise in real estate, credit, and capital markets,
with a proven track record in lending, acquisitions, and advisory.
Ardea is a marketing strategist with experience across digital marketing, content development, and campaign execution for both U.S. and international organizations. She has led projects across multiple industries, including medical education, martech, and nonprofit sectors – driving improvements in audience engagement, lead generation, and overall communication strategy.
Ardea has managed marketing initiatives supporting the launch of AI-driven learning tools and overseeing SEO, blog strategy, and webinar communications. She previously consulted for UNICEF on digital marketing, content strategy and audience engagement across global teams.
In commercial real estate, she supports Hickory’s marketing efforts by strengthening brand presence, improving audience communications, and developing high-impact content across web, social, and event channels.
Ardea holds a master’s degree in Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations.
Sol brings 5 years of international experience in education, communication, and client engagement to her role in Investor Relations at Hickory CRE Lending.
She supports the firm’s investor communications, reporting, and relationship management functions.
Before joining Hickory, Sol founded and operated businesses in Argentina and Germany, developing hands-on experience in teaching, entrepreneurship, and cross-cultural communication.
She holds a B.A. in English Linguistics from FASTA University in Argentina and has lived and worked in Argentina, Italy, Germany, and the United States.
Anna has been involved in real estate and capital markets for over 35 years. She has broad experience in both fixed income and equity markets. Anna started her career as a real estate analyst for Prudential where she learned to value all types of commercial real estate. After business school, she rejoined Prudential in its investment banking division. She spent two years in the Public Finance department working on public-private partnerships and sports facility financings. She then moved into the Real Estate and Structured Product group. She initially focused on CMBS and then transitioned to M&A with a focus on real estate lenders. In 2004, Anna joined Beekman Advisors, a boutique M&A firm that focused on advising DUS lenders. Since 2008, she has consulted for various real estate companies, providing analytic support on M&A transactions, new business product lines and financing alternatives. She joined Hickory CRE Lending in 2019.
Anna has an MBA from The University of Chicago and a BA from Southern Methodist University.
Kyle has 17 years of experience in Real Estate Capital Markets with a background in underwriting, credit analysis, deal structuring, originations, and CMBS securitizations across all major property types.
Prior to joining Hickory in 2023, Kyle was a Vice President of North American CMBS at Morningstar for five years. While at Morningstar, Kyle facilitated $30 Billion in CMBS ratings that included $17 Billion of Single Asset Single Borrower loans, $7 Billion of Conduit and Freddie Mac pools, and $6 Billon of CRE CLO’s. Prior to Morningstar, Kyle worked at New York City based CRE Advisory firms Prince Realty Advisors and the Carlton Group where he advised developers and institutional Hotel and Real Estate investors executing $1 Billion in property sales, acquisitions, and debt and equity financings.
Kyle has a BA in English from Huron College at Western University in Ontario, Canada.
Julian has over 12 years of experience in real estate lending, underwriting, asset management, and planning. He has worked on over $7 billion in commercial real estate lending and projects, including complex construction and integrated resort deals.
Julian has been a principal at Deco Capital Group, the developers of Miami’s Eighteen Sunset. Prior to that he was the director of originations for Independencia Capital, the lending arm of South America’s largest REIT, where he placed subordinate debt investments across the country. He was a senior lender at City National Bank of Florida, one of the most active real estate lenders in Florida. Julian began his real estate career with Genting Malaysia Berhad, one of the largest owner-operators of integrated casino resorts in the world.
Julian has a B.A. in history from Florida International University, where he was a research fellow at the Jorge M. Perez Metropolitan Center. He also attended University of Miami School of Law.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
John has over 12 years of experience in real estate acquisitions, underwriting, capital raising (debt and equity), asset management, and operations across multiple asset classes, with a focus on multifamily and residential properties. He has executed more than $2.4 billion in transactions encompassing 100+ deals, 16,500 units, and 850,000 square feet.
Previously, John was Partner and Chief Investment Officer at Aulder Capital, a vertically integrated real estate investment and management firm specializing in value-add and opportunistic multifamily and hospitality assets. He also served as Vice President at Centennial Bank, responsible for underwriting and asset management for transitional commercial real estate loans, and as Investment Associate at Hawthorne Residential Partners, where he focused on multifamily and self-storage acquisitions and development in the Southeast.
John earned a B.S. in Economics with Distinction from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
David has over 25 years of experience in finance and capital markets.
He started his career as credit analyst and then a commercial banker at Southwest Bank in St. Louis. He then moved into technology and managed a client service group in Asia for Bridge Information Services and Reuters, living in Singapore and Hong Kong for 5 years. David was a Director at Deutsche Bank in NYC in equity sales, special situations (MBS short hedging), and private placements covering hedge funds, family offices and endowments for 11 years. He spent three years at Alex. Brown before joining Hickory CRE Lending in September of 2019.
David has an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, a CRE Analysis certificate from MIT’s SAP, and a BA in Mathematics from Trinity University.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner based in
Dallas. He serves on the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several
investment committees.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree
Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and
convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based
hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs &
Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr.
McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise
Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is on the
Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics, SMU’s Cox School of Business
Alternative Asset Management Center, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Managing Member
Matt has over 20 years of experience in CRE sourcing, underwriting, workouts, capital raising (debt and equity) and investor reporting across all major product types.
Previously Matt founded Aspen Analytics in 2014, a CRE consulting firm offering transaction support to a variety of US-based clients. In 2010 Matt joined Hudson Advisors/Lone Star Funds where he became a Vice President. There he managed a team across the Dallas and Frankfurt offices, and contributed to underwriting, onboarding, workouts, fundraising, and portfolio reporting. Previously he spent years in consulting and brokerage supporting Realogic, DBRS, Marcus & Millichap, Cohen Financial and numerous other financial institutions.
Matt has a dual BS in Finance and Commercial Real Estate from DePaul University and has continued graduate coursework at Cornell’s Johnson School of Management.
Mike DiCienzo brings 10 years of experience across debt and equity, spanning the full lifecycle of real estate transactions – from sourcing and underwriting to asset management and disposition. He has executed more than $1.5 billion in transactions, with a particular focus on multifamily and hospitality assets.
Previously, Mike was with Aulder Capital, where he was responsible for sourcing, underwriting, financing, and closing new investment opportunities. He also served on the Investment Team at Sonder, Inc., underwriting hotel and multifamily opportunities across 25+ North American markets, and as Assistant Vice President at Hunt Real Estate Capital, where he underwrote and managed diligence for multifamily and mixed-use assets exceeding $1 billion nationwide.
Mike earned a B.S. in Business Administration from Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business.
Sharyn has over 10 years of experience in administrative support and back-office operations.
Sharyn supports the firm’s operations by processing inbound loan requests, parsing supporting documentation, setting up baseline financial models, and maintaining deal status within the central database. Sharyn also supports admin, sales and marketing.
Sharyn has completed certificate programs in commercial real estate underwriting, marketing and sales, and is pursuing a Computer Science degree at South Philippine Adventist College, Digos City Philippines.
Katia has over 10 years of experience in the real estate industry focused on transactions, capital markets, and client relations. She has broad experience with acquisition, construction, and value-add redevelopment underwriting of all major asset classes and geographies across the U.S.
Prior to joining the firm, Katia was at Eyzenberg and Company NYC where she secured financing for existing, transitional and construction projects values at $500mm. In 2012 Katia began her career with one of the top sales teams at Elliman headquarters, where she represented buyers on new developments and high-profile properties throughout NYC. During her time at Elliman she negotiated sales amounting to over $70mm.
Katia has a Masters in Real Estate from NYU, a BBA in Marketing from Berkeley College, a NY Salesperson License, and continues her education by pursuing courses and certificates from Harvard and other programs.
Managing Member
Tim has over 35 years of experience sourcing, structuring, and executing transactions.
Tim established Hickory CRE Capital and Hickory CRE Lending in 2018, at the time he closed a transaction with a seed capital investor. Tim was a partner at DW Partners and co-head of commercial real estate until April 2018. There he spearheaded the growth of private credit businesses, including creating a CRE lending business and originated ~$500MM of loans. He also built a European CRE Platform with the acquisition of 43 buildings for ~€500MM. Previously, Tim spent four years at Barclays Capital, in credit trading; two years at Pardus Capital, a credit hedge fund; and nine years at Debevoise & Plimpton, as a deal lawyer. Tim started his career at Chemical Bank, where he went through credit training.
Tim has a JD and an MBA from The University of Chicago and a BA from Yale University; he also received the CFA designation.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner based in
Dallas. He serves on the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several
investment committees.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree
Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and
convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based
hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs &
Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr.
McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise
Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is on the
Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics, SMU’s Cox School of Business
Alternative Asset Management Center, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner based in
Dallas. He serves on the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several
investment committees.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree
Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and
convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based
hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs &
Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr.
McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise
Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is on the
Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics, SMU’s Cox School of Business
Alternative Asset Management Center, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner based in
Dallas. He serves on the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several
investment committees.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree
Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and
convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based
hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs &
Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr.
McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise
Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is on the
Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics, SMU’s Cox School of Business
Alternative Asset Management Center, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
Co-Chief Executive Officer & Managing Partner
Mr. McKnight is Co-Chief Executive Officer and a Managing Partner based in
Dallas. He serves on the Leadership Committee, and is a member of several
investment committees.
Prior to joining Fortress in February 2005, Mr. McKnight worked at Fir Tree
Partners where he was responsible for analyzing and trading high yield and
convertible bonds, bank debt, derivatives and equities for the value-based
hedge fund. Prior to Fir Tree, Mr. McKnight worked at Goldman, Sachs &
Co. in Leveraged Finance and the Distressed Bank Debt trading group. Mr.
McKnight serves on the Board of Trustees for the American Enterprise
Institute and Board of the Overseers at the Hoover Institution. He is on the
Board of Advisors at UVA’s Center for Politics, SMU’s Cox School of Business
Alternative Asset Management Center, and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
President’s Advisory Board. In addition, Mr. McKnight is a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations.
Mr. McKnight received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia.
