Stephen DeNardo
Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer

Within a timeframe that spans nearly 4 decades of business experience, Steve DeNardo has successfully been involved in all phases of real estate investment, development and management. His focus and interest has been on the management and turnaround of troubled assets. As a Partner or Principal in two national companies and a senior member of the management team in two additional companies, his experience includes more than 30 years of acquisition, disposition, development and financing of commercial real estate throughout the United States and Canada. Mr. DeNardo most recently was Partner and Senior Vice President of ING Realty Partners, where he managed a $1 billion portfolio. Prior to his employment with ING Realty, he was President of ARES Realty Capital from 1991 to 1997, where he managed a $5 billion portfolio of diversified debt and equity assets. Before joining ARES, he was a Partner at First Winthrop Corporation. Mr. DeNardo started his real estate career in New York City where he was manager of The Chrysler Building. He has held a license as a Certified Public Accountant since 1978 and has a B.S. in Accounting from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Mr. Yerrall serves as the Company’s Chief Investment Officer. He is in charge of sourcing and analysis of investment opportunities and the execution of investment and asset management strategies. He started his career as an Acquisition Associate and Assistant to the Chairman at First Winthrop Corporation where he was introduced to Mr. DeNardo. Upon leaving First Winthrop, Mr. Yerrall assumed the position of President and majority owner of his family’s residential real estate business in western Massachusetts. In his tenure, he tripled the size and revenue of the company before selling the business. He later became President of Pecoy Development Company, the leader in high-end custom-built homes in the greater-Springfield, MA area. Mr. Yerrall has a B.A. in economics from Amherst College and an MBA in Real Estate Finance from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Lianne Merchant is the newest addition to the RiverOak Investment family. She was previously the exclusive independent placement agent for Thayer Hotel Investors V LP. Prior to that, she was a distribution banker/placement agent for Park Hill Real Estate Group, a division of the Blackstone Group, where she raised investment capital from large institutions including corporate pension funds, public pension funds, foundations and endowments. Before Park Hill/Blackstone, she was group head of Investor Relations and Marketing for iStar Financial, one of the largest publically traded structured finance companies. After receiving an MBA in finance and real estate finance from Columbia University, Ms. Merchant began her professional career with General Electric’s pension fund. She has an undergraduate degree from Brown University and is currently on the President’s Leadership Council for Libraries.

Derek Eakin’s responsibilities include all aspects of financial and asset management support for existing assets in the company’s variety of portfolios, as well as, acquisition support for potential new opportunities. As a member of the investment team, Mr. Eakin is responsible for assisting in sourcing and acquiring investments, as well as, monitoring current portfolio holdings. Prior to RiverOak Investment, Mr. Eakin consulted with Starwood Capital Group and Luzern Associates. He was also a member of an investment sales brokerage team at Cushman & Wakefield in East Rutherford, NJ and a member of the production team at the mortgage brokerage firm of Goedecke & Co., LLC. Mr. Eakin began his career in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP working primarily on institutional real estate assignments with the Boston Real Estate Group. He graduated with honors from the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Masters degree in Accountancy from the University of Connecticut.

Mark Kelly is responsible for the accounting and taxation of RiverOak Investment’s Funds and managed assets. He has more than 20 years of real estate and Fund accounting experience and was most recently Portfolio Controller with Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., where he was responsible for 3 million square foot portfolio of retail properties. Prior to Portfolio Controller, he was a Regional Controller for Broadway Partners and responsible for the financial reporting of a 6 million square foot office portfolio. From 2000 to 2006, Mr. Kelly was the Controller for Halpern Real Estate Development, an owner and manager of office and multi-family residential properties. He worked at Northstar Presidio Management as both an Assistant Controller and Asset Manager in the late 90’s. From 1991 to 1998, Mr. Kelly was the Accounting Manager at Newkirk/Odin, manager of more than 150 investment partnerships and their assets, consisting of net leased and operating properties. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Fordham University.

Josie Martinez is RiverOak Investment’s Investor Relations Coordinator. She was previously the Executive Assistant at Louis Dreyfus, bulk agricultural commodities, telecommunications, shipping and real estate company. Prior to Dreyfus, Ms. Martinez was Executive Assistant for Genworth Financial, a division of General Electric, where she served as the Executive Assistant to both the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Risk Officer and provided executive level administrative support for the Investment Group. Prior to Genworth Financial, she was an administrative assistant to Hewitt Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in human resources solutions, where she supported the Health Management Practice. Ms. Martinez began her professional career in the legal department at Olin Corporation, a developer and producer of high performance copper alloys. She has a degree in Business Office Technology from Norwalk Community College.