Our Firm

Willton Investment Management is the operating and investment arm of Willton Group, a U.S. based family office focused on creating better living communities. Willton develops rental apartments communities, at the same time provides joint venture equity to institutional quality sponsors in both residential developments and existing multi-family properties across the continental United States. The Willton Investment Group, founded by the Luo Family, are predominately real estate developers with extensive experience in luxury condo and mixed-use development over the past 25 years. Willton is a well-capitalized developer and investor with full discretion over its capital. Our Senior Management Team possesses extensive market knowledge and we focus on cultivating long-term relationships with our partners with complete transparency. Meet our team of highly experienced and dedicated professionals. Want to join this team? Learn about our careers & culture.

Chris Luo
CEO

Mrs. Luo serves as Chief Executive Officer for Willton Investment Management with the primary responsibility of implementing the firm’s investment strategy and business development initiatives.

Mrs. Luo has held numerous positions in multiple real estate development companies as well as served as a portfolio manager for a global fund manager.

She obtained her masters in finance and international business from the University of Sydney Business School and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Technology Sydney.

James Pereira
COO

Mr. Pereira serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Willton Investment Management. He is responsible for the firm’s investment strategy and oversees all operations.

Throughout his distinguished career in the global real estate industry, Mr. Pereira has successfully helped acquire and develop more than 10 million square feet of residential, hospitality and commercial real estate with an aggregate value in excess of $12 billion. Mr. Pereira has held executive leadership roles at Bovis Lendlease, RXR, HFZ Capital and has served as a special advisor for various firms throughout the US and internationally. His remarkable work has received international recognition and awards from AIA.

Mr. Pereira draws from his diverse background in real estate from architecture to construction, development, marketing and sales, to guide the firm in creating and reimagining one-of-a-kind properties with a vision to consistently create value by elevating how people live and work. James embodies a unique combination of business acumen and aesthetic sensibility.

Mr. Pereira earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from New York Institute of Technology. He is a licensed Real Estate Broker in New York and Texas.

Chris Farmer
Design Director

Mr. Farmer serves as Director of Design for Willton Investment Management. In this role he leads the design direction and management of all ground up developments, while also supporting the asset management team on deal sourcing.

With 15 years of experience in Architecture and Real Estate Development, Mr. Farmer has overseen the construction of multiple luxury condominium developments in Manhattan, as well as provide design-related guidance across asset types in Austin, San Diego and Seattle. His extensive knowledge across disciplines enables him to find value by balancing a sophisticated design sensibility with construction and financial realities.

Before joining Willton Investment Management, Mr. Farmer served as the Executive Director of Design for Gemdale USA. He obtained his Master of Architecture from the University of Westminster in London, before joining Foster + Partners in New York City.

James Wendell
Director of Construction

Mr. Wendell serves as the Director of Construction for Willton Investment Management. He is primarily responsible for overseeing all construction activities as well as assists the development and asset management teams.

Mr. Wendell has more than 30 years of experience in Construction Management and has served in various Executive leadership positions with top national multi-family Developers. Throughout his career, he has directly overseen delivery of more than 10,000 residential units throughout the US including, but not limited to, Florida, the Carolinas, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Colorado, and Texas. Mr. Wendell has managed Residential, Commercial, Retail, Healthcare and Municipal infrastructure projects.

In his spare time, he is involved in Local Government in his hometown Of East Brunswick NJ, serving on Town Council since 2010, and he is also Chairman for the local Redevelopment Agency.

Daniel Lu
Vice President, Investments

Mr. Lu serves as the Vice President of Investments for Willton Investment Management. He is primarily responsible for overseeing market research, underwriting, due diligence, formulating and executing on the firm’s investment/disposition strategy and standard operating procedure.

Prior to joining Willton in 2017, Mr. Lu served as a lead analyst for a New York based multi-asset family office, and he has held positions in multiple real estate investment and development companies spanning markets in the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest. His prior roles include managing mixed-use new development projects in Midtown Manhattan for international investors, asset managing +500,000 square feet of mixed-use real estate portfolio in Manhattan, underwriting and executing over 1 million square feet of retail park redevelopment strategies and $2+ billion of multi-family real estate transactions.

Mr. Lu received his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Iowa State University and his Master of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University.

Jonathan Deluty
Associate, Investments

Mr. Deluty serves as Associate for Willton Investment Management. This role is responsible for executing on all aspects of Willton’s real estate investments, from the underwriting and diligence phase until final sale of the property.

Prior to joining Willton, Mr. Deluty worked at S3 Capital Partners and helped to more than double S3’s loan portfolio from $1 billion to $2.3 billion across more than 400 loans originated. Mr. Deluty previously worked at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and The Durst Organization. Mr. Deluty also served as a paratrooper in the IDF’s 101st Airborne Battalion.

Mr. Deluty earned his B.A. from Columbia College, Columbia University, double major in economics and music.

Judy Pustilnik
Accounting Manager

Chenjie Judy Pustilnik serves as the accounting manager for Willton Investment Management. Mrs. Pustilnik is responsible for cash flow management, company operation budgeting, financial reporting and tax filing.

Mrs. Pustilnik has 15 years accounting experience, including 7 years in the real estate and construction business.

Mrs. Pustilnik obtained the Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and the Bachelor of Science degree from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.

Our Careers & Culture

Willton Investment Management is a team of intelligent, ambitious and impassioned leaders in the field. We are driven by the belief that business success must be built on a systematic and inventive approach and superior execution.

If you support our vision and are looking for a collaborative, multidisciplinary work environment, you will find a career at Willton Investment Management to be challenging and rewarding. If you’re interested, follow the links below to our current job openings.

We offer these competitive benefits to eligible employees:

  • Competitive compensation
  • Insurance coverage including Medical, Dental + Vision
  • Access to Teledoc to connect with a quality doctor in minutes
  • Company paid Life Insurance
  • Flexible Spending Accounts for Medical, Dependent Care, and Commuter Benefits
  • Competitive Paid Time Off (PTO)
  • Paid Company Holidays
  • Additional benefits

If you don’t see a specific role that stands out to you, but still believe you can make a valuable contribution to Willton Investment Management, send us an e-mail, we’d love to hear about it!

Open Positions
Investment/Business Development

Responsibility:

  • Find investment opportunities in major emerging markets and some core markets
  • Participate in investment analysis and due diligence
  • Prepare, negotiate and review of investment related contracts
  • Involve in build-up business strategy on investment and disposition
  • Optimize the institutionalized investment procedure
  • Daily management on investment team

Qualification:

  • 9+ years of experience in real estate investment with investment firm or developer, ideally with nationwide experience
  • Familiar with new grand up development
  • Excellent in investment analysis
  • Excellent in business negotiation. Strong communication skills.
  • Personality: lively, cheerful, humorous, friendly, passionate, outgoing.
  • Have good number of resources in development company and broker in major emerging markets across the nation.
  • Bachelor’s degree and above
Apply for this job
Real Estate Analyst

The position requires knowledge in real estate and finance. The ideal candidate will conduct quantitative and qualitative analysis across various projects to optimize company growth and business. You will manipulate datasets, create financial models, and summarize findings in a succinct manner. The position will work closely with the Senior Associate and Director of Acquisitions in the investment team focused on acquisitions, and support asset management team during investment management. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. Total compensation is commensurate with experience.

Responsibilities:

  1. Collect and analyze data to conduct market research and comp analysis, and assist in drafting investment summaries and memoranda;
  2. Financial modeling. Prepare and review sophisticated financial models for potential investments, including but not limited to project pro-forma, joint venture equity structuring, evaluate return metrics such as IRR’s, multiple on equity, cash on cash, etc.;
  3. Assist in asset management activities; including but not limited to updating asset management report and managing financial model during investment cycle;
  4. Support acquisition and asset management team during due diligence process;
  5. Support the company by executing firm’s process driven approach for value creation and implementing standard investment and asset management procedures;
  6. Support company’s business operation and capital markets efforts including but not limited to marketing, event preparation, and ad hoc tasks.

Qualifications

  • Minimum 2-3 years of work experience in real estate investment/development;
  • Minimum Bachelor’s degree in a related major (Real Estate, Business Administration, Finance, Economics, Accounting, Math, Statistics, Marketing, etc.);
  • Strong analytical skills. Ability to collect and analyze market data and underwrite a broad range of multi-family transactions;
  • Advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office suite and skills in creating and using Excel financial models (both DCF and waterfall distributions). An Excel test will be administered as part of the interview process;
  • Familiarity with real estate data analytics such as RealPage, Axiometrics and CoStar;
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills;
  • Detailed oriented, self-starter/learner with strong independent problem solving and multi-tasking skills to meet deadlines.
Apply for this job
Real Estate Investment and Asset Management Internship

(includes Part-Time & Full-Time Internships)

This position will work closely with the Analyst and Senior Associate, support the investment and asset management team to underwrite and asset manage development and renovation projects. This hands-on position is geared towards a candidate who is demonstrate strong interest in real estate, detail-oriented, highly-motivated, self-starter, reliable, and juggle multiple tasks at once. The candidate will be exposed to all aspects of real estate investment and development. The firm offers great opportunity to learn and grow.

Scope of internship includes but not limited to:

  • Assist in conducting market analysis and compiling data from various sources such as AxioMetrics and cold-calls
  • Assist in preparation of internal asset management and investment reporting
  • Assist in the review of Sponsor provided project status materials
  • Assist in financial modeling in excel
  • Assist in assessment and due diligence on acquisitions
  • Update and optimize marketing materials
  • Occasional participation in leasing/construction/operational meetings/calls

Qualifications:

  • Relevant experience preferably with real estate companies
  • Understanding of basic real estate and financial terms
  • Proficiency with Microsoft Office suite, must be proficient in Excel
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • Excellent time management and organizational skills, ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in an entrepreneurial environment
  • Self-starter, diligent and reliable worker, team player
  • Bachelor’s Degree in real estate, finance or math/engineering, or 1st year Graduate Degree

Benefits:

  • Stipend for work transportation and meals
  • Work hours (Part-time & Full-time), minimum 6 hours a day. Able to commit approximately 20 hours per week for part-time internship

Internship/Volunteer Option:

  • The role is listed as an internship because it’s the student’s choice. Academic credit for internship available upon application.
  • Many universities have an independent study program or courses to help accommodate course credit for internships.
  • The course is likely 1-4 units based on the number of hours expected inside and outside the class per week. For example, a one-unit internship would mean a commitment of one-hour meeting per week and 1 hour of work per week.
  • You likely need to get a professor at your university to sponsor your independent study. The purpose of this professor will be to approve the internship scope, activities, and goals and to help ensure that you are meeting those goals and that employers are not taking advantage of your time. Many business professors would be happy to sponsor you if you come into a meeting with them with a proposal prepared. We will be happy to help you design that proposal.
  • Some universities do not require a professor to sponsor you, but they may require the direct supervisor of the employer to have a Master’s degree. Our senior executives have MBA, which will satisfy that requirement.
  • In the case of universities with this mechanism in place, unique considerations may have to be created, and we are happy to speak with your career advisor about accommodating your school’s systems and protocols to get you the credit you deserve.

Unpaid vs Paid Internship

(FLSA Compliance Notice according to USDOL Factsheet #71)

  1. The extent to which the intern and the employer clearly understand that there is no expectation of compensation. Any promise of compensation, express or implied, suggests that the intern is an employee—and vice versa.
  2. The extent to which the internship provides training that would be similar to that which would be given in an educational environment, including the clinical and other hands-on training provided by educational institutions. YOU WILL BE GIVEN REAL LIFE TASKS AND THERE IS A DEFINED 90 DAY PROGRAM. IF YOU ESTABLISH A FORMAL INTERNSHIP FOR CREDIT, YOU WILL BE GIVEN A GRADE.
  3. The extent to which the internship is tied to the intern’s formal education program by integrated coursework or the receipt of academic credit. SEE ABOVE
  4. The extent to which the internship accommodates the intern’s academic commitments by corresponding to the academic calendar. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE.
  5. The extent to which the internship’s duration is limited to the period in which the internship provides the intern with beneficial learning. THIS IS LEFT UP TO THE STUDENT TO DEFINE.
  6. The extent to which the intern’s work complements, rather than displaces, the work of paid employees while providing significant educational benefits to the intern. THE INTERN’S WORK COMPLEMENTS THE ROLE OF THE ANALYST BECAUSE THE EXPERTISE DESIRED IS LARGELY DRIVEN BY INTEREST AND FUTURE CAREERS WHICH RESULTS IN SIGNIFICANT EDUCATIONAL BENEFIT
  7. The extent to which the intern and the employer understand that the internship is conducted without entitlement to a paid job at the conclusion of the internship. THE INTERN IS NOT ENTITLED TO A JOB AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE INTERNSHIP.
Apply for this job