Jake Williams
Jake has nearly a decade of prior design and development experience. He has worked for public, for-profit, and non-profit development entities. He has been the Special Projects Coordinator for Salt Lake City’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department. He was responsible for planning the disposition and/or redevelopment of the city-owned surplus real estate assets, overseeing all CDBG funded construction projects, as well as overseeing the City’s quarterly housing report.
After leaving the City, Jake was the VP of Acquisition and Development at CW Urban, an infill design and development company. In the 3 years he worked for CW Urban, Jake helped build the company from its founding into $200,000,000 of mixed-use development. His responsibilities included the management of the acquisitions, entitlement, and design of all CW Urban projects.
Most recently, Jake was the Director of Real Estate Development at Neighborhood Housing Solutions, a non-profit Real Estate Development company. He was responsible for all the single-family subdivisions and multi-family tax credit developments. This work included a 100-acre master-planned community in Smithfield, UT, and the development & management of a LIHTC multi-family portfolio.
Jake holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a master’s degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Utah.
Joe Denker
Joe comes from a background in land acquisitions, development, asset management, and finance, straddling multifamily, office, industrial, and retail real estate. Joe worked in acquisitions and development for Richmond American Homes, a national homebuilder, as well as Maverik Inc., a regional convenience chain. In those capacities, Joe was responsible for sourcing, underwriting negotiating, and closing land purchases and leases. He also worked on a national portfolio for Property Reserve Inc., conducting financial and market analysis for annual strategy assessments, capital improvement projects, and lease/portfolio management.
Prior to Defy Co.labs, Joe came from the structured finance team at Bridge Investment Group, one of the largest family of Opportunity Zone Funds in the country, where his team sourced over $1.1B of mixed-use OZ development financing nationwide. Additionally, he serviced a $1.0B+ national portfolio of value-add commercial real estate. His relationships span national and regional banks, debt funds, insurance companies, GSE’s, and other lenders.
In addition to his passion for real estate, Joe is deeply passionate about education - childhood education as well as higher education. He enjoys connecting with students, professors, and peers to promote diverse, positive thinking.
Joe graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Construction and Facilities Management. He also has a master’s degree in Real Estate Development and an Urban Planning Certificate from the University of Utah.
Les Essig
Les is a born entrepreneur and has spent the last 20 years building a real estate portfolio and brokerage with a special focus on urban and suburban infill properties. During that time he has managed multiple real estate development projects including single-family phased lot communities, multi-family and townhouse projects, and mixed-use office warehouse conversions. Les is a third-generation real estate developer. He spent his childhood landscaping projects, his college years assisting in land acquisition, and his post-college years entitling properties.
He is a market expert on the front lines of putting properties and projects together. His brokerage slogan is “We MAKE It Happen.” The brokerage is built on applying systems and training with technology tools. This model maximizes individuals’ output and assists acquisition agents to be more successful. This method has closed over 1900 transactions in the last 10 years.
Les graduated with a dual Bachelors’s degree in Finance and Economics from Utah State University where he also served as student body president. Les is a grinder and values the daily activities and routines that bring about success. He is a service-oriented individual that enjoys assisting individuals to grow and succeed.
Could Be You!
We are always looking to add mission-driven and innovative planning, development, or architectural professionals to our team!