SECO23 Speakers

Manufactured Community Owner Operator

Ben Braband is a veteran in the affordable housing industry, Ben has assessed (underwritten and or conducted on site work) in more than 1,000 individual Manufactured Home Communities Nationwide (30+ States), doing so as a principal, manager, consultant, educator, and expert witness related to the MH Industry. In the past 18 years, he has owned, operated, or consulted on more than 200 Communities.

Tanner Buuck has been with Yardi for five years and is a manager for the manufactured housing sales team. Tanner works with businesses of all sizes to further improve Yardi’s offering of manufactured housing software solutions.

Manufactured Community Owner Operator

Steve Case has been an active investor in manufactured housing communities for 24 years.  Over that span of time, he has been involved in all areas of the industry including education, serving on the board of the Georgia Manufactured Housing Association, consulting on the construction of the Community Series manufactured home, founding member of the Southeast Community Owners (SECO) and advising financial institutions on the creation of chattel community owner finance programs.

Economist and Futurist

Kiernan “KC” Conway, CCIM, CRE, MAI is the mind trust behind Red Shoe Economics, LLC, an independent economic forecasting and consulting firm furthering KC’s mission as The Red Shoe Economist by providing organic research initiatives, reporting and insights on the impact of Economics within the commercial real estate industry.  

Ken Corbin has worked with over 4,500 owners, sales consultants and community managers is the U.S. and Canada.

He received his MBA from The University of Michigan and is an advisory consultant to the American Graduate / Thunderbird School of International Management. Ken is also on the board of trustees of Habitat for Humanity and is a Certified Management Consultant.

His consulting firm specializes in helping manufactured housing retailers and communities develop business strategies for maximum sales growth, financial fitness & long-term profitability.

Victoria Cowart, CPM, NAAEI Faculty, is the Director of Education & Outreach for PetScreening. Previously, she was a direct multi-family industry member with extensive experience providing management and oversight for multifamily housing communities (conventional & subsidized), mobile home communities, and HOAs. She is a property management instructor and a proud graduate of both the NAAEI Advance Facilitator Training and the NAA Lyceum Program.

CFP®, CRPC®
Partner – President of Financial Planning

Brett R. Danko, CFP®, CRPC® has worked in the financial services industry for over 25 years and is a featured nationwide lecturer on matters of personal finance. He is regularly called upon by the financial services industry to provide financial planning training to top-tier financial advisors and to consult on complex planning issues affecting their clients.

Manufactured Community Owner and Operator, Due Diligence Specialist

From his successful multifamily investing endeavors, Steve Edel started two new thriving businesses - Due Diligence and Park Lead Sourcing and Closing. He sourced and acquired roughly 50 manufactured housing communities and collaborated with the second-largest private MHC operator in the US on some of these ventures.

Jose Garcia is an experienced mobile home investor, coach and mentor.  He has been investing in mobile homes for over 7 years, covering the Southeast US and expanding nationwide.

Starting with a single mobile home as a rental investment, Jose has completed over 500 profitable mobile home transactions. His goal is to help everyday individuals learn the step-by-step process of mobile home investing and assist mobile home park owners in maximizing and creating higher value for their communities.

Managing Partner at MHC Due Diligence Partners, LLC

Justin Gonzales, a problem solver by nature, finds all the enjoyment in the world by looking at a thing and seeing how to make it 100% better every day. Justin is a jack of all trades whose background in entrepreneurship has realized experiences and success across many industries such as real estate investing, finance, commercial aviation, marketing, and manufacturing.

Maria Horton serves as both Director of Marketing and Regional Manager for Newport Pacific Capital Company, Inc. 

Newport Pacific is a full-service property management company located in Newport Beach, CA, specializing in manufactured home communities, apartment complexes, condominium associations and RV parks and resorts. Newport Pacific has been a leader in the property management industry since 1980 and oversees properties throughout the United States.

Bestselling Author | Echo in Ramadi (Regnery, 2018)

Scott A. Huesing is a proven combat leader. He is a retired United States Marine Corps Infantry Major with 24 years of honorable service, both enlisted and as a commissioned officer. His career spanned 10 deployments to over 60 countries worldwide. Throughout his numerous deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa, he planned, led, and conducted hundreds of combat missions under some of the most austere and challenging conditions.

Andrew Keel is the CEO of Keel Team, LLC, a ‘MHU Top 100’ owner of manufactured housing communities with over 2,500 lots under management. Learn More

Kurt Kelley is President of Mobile Insurance, one of the nation’s largest commercial MH Industry insurers. He graduated with honors from The Univ of Colorado Business School and University of Oklahoma Law School. He’s Editor of “The Manufactured Housing Review” and a regular guest speaker at Industry Events across the country.

Darren Krolewski is Co-President and Chief Business Development Officer of MHVillage, the number one website for manufactured homes, retailers and communities online. Leads generated by the more than 25 million consumers who start their home search with MHVillage.com result in home sales transactions exceeding $3 billion annually. 

Darren began his manufactured housing career with a large, regional retailer that eventually grew to become part of the industry’s largest vertically-integrated manufacturing, financing and sales organizations.

Tom Lackey first started in the industry in1988 when he was the General Manager of a Manufactured Home Dealership in Michigan. Tom’s experience has been diverse in the industry from managing multiple Communities, Owning and operating Communities in several states, owning and managing multiple dealer sales locations, operation of manufactured home insurance brokerage, and ownership of a national mobile home rental corporation. Learn More

Judge Louis Levenson has practiced law in Georgia since 1978, and today specializes in wills, trusts, fiduciary accounting, probate and estate litigation. Across his 44-year career, he also served from 1984 – 2015 as a part time Magistrate and State Court Judge and having heard over 500,000 cases relating to dispossessory and eviction disputes.

Manufactured Community Owner and Operator

Jefferson Lilly is a mobile home park investment expert and educator. He is the founder of Park Avenue Partners, a private equity real estate fund that acquires and operates mobile home parks nationwide. His investment funds are returning 10% - 15% IRRs to Limited Partners. Both personally and through his partnerships, Jefferson has acquired 43 MHPs in 15 states since 2007 totaling over $81mm in value.

LTC (Retired) Scott Mann is a real estate entrepreneur, public speaker, best-selling author, military analyst, and advocate for veterans and veteran’s families. Scott appears frequently on CNN, Bloomberg, Fox and Friends, Fox Business News, News Max, and dozens of syndicated radio shows including National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal Radio, Fox News Radio, and the Jim Bohannon Show. 

Manufactured Community Owner and Operator

Frank Murphy’s passion for real estate began in 1998 in the single family residential space. Since that time, he has bought, sold, built, and renovated well over 200 homes. In 2009, he partnered with his wife to grow his residential investments into what is now Blue Ripple Properties, and together they manage their own portfolio which consists of single and multi-family, a mobile home community, and the latest addition, an RV Park, which has expanded their business to multiple states in the Southeast.

Margo Napoles is the Executive Vice President of Tranquilo Communities overseeing operations of 18 communities in 8 states. 

She is currently the Vice Chair of the IL Manufactured Housing Association and Chair of the Legislative Committee. Having been on the Board of Directors for the last 6 years she’s successfully lobbied against Rent Control countless times and lead the team for the passage of the Assistance and Service Animal Integrity Act. 

Manufactured Community Owner and Operator

Ferd Niemann is a mobile home park owner, operator, and lawyer, as well as a real estate investor, financial analyst, entrepreneur, and attorney whose career has focused on a myriad of areas of real estate. Ferd is adept in finance and has successfully modeled numerous business plans; and, more importantly, implemented the plans.

Manufactured Community Owner Operator, Retail Sales Center Owner, RV Park Owner, Site Development and Installation Consultant.

Cole Phillips has been involved in all aspects of the manufactured housing industry since he was a kid growing up on his family’s retail sales center.  He started purchasing communities in 2005 and in 2015 started a large regional service company providing REITs and large portfolios with their new home installation and used home rehab projects. 

Buck Starr has been actively investing in the manufactured housing asset class for over 25 years. He has followed his family business that began in 1970 with the development of multiple student based communities in Auburn, Alabama.  

Ekaterina Stepanova is a partner at M2K Partners, which owns and operates manufactured communities across 6 states and totaling over 850 spaces.

She is the Founder of  “MHP Tribe,”  a community supporting mobile home park investors with a focus on creating a self-managed business for financial and time freedom.