The Graaskamp Center has 12 adjunct professors and lecturers from various professional backgrounds teaching Real Estate courses this semester. Each with their own specialization within the industry, every one of them offers a unique perspective to enrich the learning experience of students in the program.
Get to know new members of the staff or learn more about familiar faces you might have already seen around Grainger Hall.
Bill Camp
Bill Camp’s work experience spans a few careers, including engineering, real estate, and finance. He spent time as a structural dynamics engineer for McDonnell Douglas working on F/A-18 Navy jets, then joined regional investment bank A.G. Edwards, now part of Wells Fargo. There, he became a sell-side equity research analyst covering REITs before moving into management as assistant director. After 17 years at A.G. Edwards, Camp was CFO of publicly traded real estate trust Washington REIT, then CFO of a firm now called Brightview Senior Living. Now a full-time lecturer, he joined the UW-Madison staff in the fall of 2019.
A three-time Badger, Camp received undergraduate degrees in Engineering Mechanics and Mathematics and an MS in Engineering Mechanics from UW-Madison. He received his MBA in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis. This semester, he teaches RE 410/710: Real Estate Finance, and he has also designed and taught RE 530: Real Estate Investment Analysis, a capstone course.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
Interacting with the students and helping prepare them for the working world is the ultimate reward. This position allows me to give back to the generation of students that will someday make a significant impact on the real estate markets. Helping students achieve their goals is awesome.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
I believe I bring a perspective that everything I teach students in my class will be something students will use in the working world. My classes are structured with a simple goal in mind. Everything I teach my students will help them directly in their interviews, in conversations with real estate professionals, in their ability to successfully perform in their first job, and throughout their career.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Exercise in many forms, including golfing, boating, biking, walking, spending time with my family and friends, and most importantly, just enjoying life.
Tim Carr
Tim Carr brings a wealth of real estate and financial knowledge to the program. After receiving his MBA in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago, Carr worked as an equity trader before moving to a startup creating learning centers for children with learning disabilities across the country. He then consulted for multi-family owners on the East Coast, sustainability projects in the Midwest, and started managing his own rental portfolio.
For the past eight years, Carr has held teaching and administrative positions in the UW System. As a lecturer in Real Estate, Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, he founded the Real Estate Club and was awarded their College of Business Teacher of the Year Award. At UW-Madison, he teaches RE306: The Real Estate Development Process, RE411: Real Estate Excel Modeling, and RE701: The Real Estate Process.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
Learning is fun. Doing research on the inputs to a financial model to most accurately reflect expectations to try to predict the future is interesting and exciting. Additionally, there is not one straight line path to your career goals. Adversity is a positive thing to work through and overcome.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Playing ice hockey, basketball, downhill skiing, golf, travelling, or doing anything with my kids.
Mark Eppli
During his six years as Director of the Graaskamp Center, Mark Eppli guided many important initiatives that led to the center’s #1 U.S. News & World Report ranking for three consecutive years. Some of these efforts include the re-launching of the undergraduate curriculum to better align with industry needs, leading the efforts to re-launch the 1-Year Real Estate Master of Science, and working with the Graaskamp Center team and the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association to launch the innovative Real Estate Private Equity Track.
Before his term as director, Eppli served as Interim Keyes Dean of Business Administration at Marquette University for three years, where he also served as Bell Chair in Real Estate from 2002-2018. He was previously a professor of Finance in the School of Business at The George Washington University. Eppli worked in the real estate industry before becoming an educator for three to four years at General Captial and PM Realty Advisors, which, along with learning from former UW-Madison Real Estate Department Chairman James A. Graaskamp, shaped him as a real estate educator.
Eppli holds a BBA, MS, and PhD, all in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics from UW-Madison. Over the past two years, he has taught RE 530: Real Estate Investment Analysis, RE 550: Private Real Estate Equity Investment I: Analysis and Structures, RE 851: Private Real Estate Equity Investment II: Underwriting and Investment Processes, and RE 852: Private Real Estate Equity Investment III: Guidelines, Governance, and Portfolios.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
Applied problem solving, theory without applied data provides the student with researched hypotheticals, applied data without theory provides the student with unanchored solutions. Transcending theory to empirics to applied problem solving is critical to understand how to thoughtfully problem solve in the built environment and the perspective that I bring to the students.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I have a road bike that gets great use in the summers, and I like traveling almost anywhere.
David Gevers
David Gevers serves as Executive Vice President and Director of Development at E.J Plesko & Associates, Inc., a private real estate development company based in Madison specializing in retail, market-rate and affordable multi-family, and senior housing. There, he oversees all development, financing, and construction of new investment opportunities, as well as repositioning existing investments and portfolio asset management.
Gevers holds an MBA in Real Estate from UW-Madison. Before that, he received a B.Arch. in Architecture from the University of Southern California and worked in design and construction management in Los Angeles and New York City. He currently teaches RE306: The Real Estate Process.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
My goal for each class is to provide the students with three things — something fun, something interesting, and something of value to them. One of my first mentors said the reason he did real estate development was because it was fun, and I try to share that perspective with the students while covering a broad range of real estate topics.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
I really enjoy engaging with the students and seeing them get excited about pursuing a career in real estate. I get a lot of feedback from students saying they felt prepared going into an interview or internship which is very gratifying. I want our students to be the most prepared and confident out there so they can continue to contribute to the best real estate program in the country.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I love traveling, paddle boarding, and watching my boys play soccer.
Lauren Lofton
Lauren Lofton is a partner at Bardston LLC, her boutique business law firm in Madison. She graduated from UW-Madison with an Honors BA in Art History and French, then received her JD from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis. After finishing law school, she practiced law at Foley & Lardner LLP, Continental Properties Company, Inc., SBG Law, S.C., and West & Dunn, LLC.
Lofton now teaches RE 425: Real Estate Law and has previously taught other courses in the WSB in addition to the real estate section of the UW-Madison Law School’s Lawyering Skills Course.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
Since I am actively working on current real estate transactions, I can provide my students with real time information and examples about how deals are being successfully negotiated and structured (or not negotiated and structured, as the case may be). Ultimately, my goal is to ensure that after successfully completing RE 425, students are armed with current real estate knowledge and relevant professional skills, which will make them better prepared for the ever-changing professional world.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
It is incredibly rewarding to help students develop and use the critical thinking skills that will serve them well as real estate professionals!
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
As my students know, I am a huge fan of the NYT daily word games. I also greatly enjoy British mysteries (both reading and watching them) and spending time with my husband and our spirited clumber spaniel, Madge.
Tim Pire
Tim Pire is Board Director and Audit Committee Chair at Primaris REIT, a Toronto-based real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on owning, operating, acquiring and redeveloping enclosed shopping centers across Canada. Previously, he spent 24 years as Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for Heitman, a real estate investment firm in Chicago. As one of the most seasoned REIT analysts in the industry, Pire brings an incredibly valuable perspective to UW-Madison as an educator.
Pire received an MS in Real Estate with an emphasis in Finance and a BBA in business with an emphasis in Finance, both from UW-Madison. He has been a lecturer since 2015 and was named Director of AREIT in 2016, a graduate student-run REIT portfolio spun out of university endowment. Students access AREIT through enrollment in the course sequence RE 841 and 842. Pire also teaches RE 540: Public Real Estate Equity Investment.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
I aim to teach my students to be better real estate investors, learn about capital markets and apply them to real estate, learn how to understand a public real estate company or REIT, improve analytical skills, improve presentation skills, and work with a team.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
Imparting my knowledge being an investor in the REIT market and business career over 25 years to students as well as getting the students to think about public capital markets and think through how public markets influence pricing of real estate debt and equity.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like to be active outdoors, spend time with family, and go to Badger sporting events.
Arif Qureshi
Arif Qureshi has been lecturing at the Wisconsin School of Business for over 20 years, offering knowledge gained from an over 30-year career spanning engineering, asset management, and consulting. Currently, Qureshi is an investment, asset, and property manager for single-tenant properties and land, a commercial real estate broker in Texas and Wisconsin, and an entitlement and eminent domain consultant.
Qureshi teaches RE 411: Excel Modeling, RE 661: Real Estate Analysis and Presentation, and RE 750: Commercial Development, along with mentoring students in eight national real estate competitions. He is a two-time Badger, holding a BS in Chemical Engineering and an MS in Real Estate and Urban Land Economics.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
As a lecturer at UW for 20 years I am committed to igniting students’ passion, teaching industry best practices, emphasizing practical experience, using storytelling with real case studies, fostering problem-solving skills, promoting lifelong learning, and maintaining lifelong relationships with alumni. My goal is to educate students and empower them to excel in the real estate industry and continue their growth as professionals long after they leave the classroom.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
Pickleball and finding the next double-digit cap rate deal with below-market rents.
Greg Reed
Greg Reed serves as associate director of the Graaskamp Center, where he ensures the needs of students in the program are met by managing admissions, curriculum and career advising, and internship and job placement. Prior to returning to his hometown of Madison in 2018, Reed spent 30 years in the New York City worked in various roles in the private sector including Vice President and Senior Credit Officer at Moody’s Investors Service, where he monitored Moody’s rated commercial mortgage-backed securities and conducted structured finance market research.
Reed received a BA in Political Science and an MS in Real Estate Investment, both from UW-Madison. Throughout his entire career, he has worked with or alongside Wisconsin Real Estate alums. Outside of his current role as associate director of the program, he has three volunteer roles — vice chair of the City of Madison’s Community Development Authority overseeing the city’s affordable housing portfolio, board member of the Madison Symphony Orchestra Foundation, and member of the UW-Madison Political Science Board of Visitors, a group of alumni supporting and prompting the Political Science Department. He is currently teaching RE 306 for the fourth fall in a row, a course he has also taught online the past three summers. He is also the faculty liaison for the student-led Real Estate Club.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
My goal and objective is for the students in my class to view the built environment differently and to gain an appreciation for the real estate (re)development process. Many students lack awareness of what it takes to (re)develop real estate whether it’s their understanding of the approval process, valuation or financing or how money is made in real estate. I believe I learn more from my students than they learn from me.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
Never in a million years did I ever imagine that I would move back to Madison (I grew up here) and then work in the Graaskamp Center! I thrive on student interactions, hearing the students’ perspectives and seeing how their mindsets shift over time. It’s truly an honor to witness the transformation that takes place with the graduate students that I work with from the recruitment, admissions, enrollment, academic advising and job placement process each year. I have worked with close to 300 graduate students and hundreds of undergraduate students over the past 5+ years. I am a staunch advocate for students with a reputation for being fair, direct and possessing a wide repertoire of memorable expressions affectionately referred to as “Gregisms.”
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I enjoy hiking, traveling (I’ve been to 47 states and 20 countries so far), music of multiple genres, theater, art, Badger sports, time with friends and family and reading.
Ethan Schwenker
Ethan Schwenker is Vice President of Development for Hovde Properties, an asset-agnostic, vertically integrated family office in Madison. At Hovde, Schwenker focuses on expanding the office’s real estate portfolio through ground-up development, value-add redevelopment, and acquisition opportunities. Previously, he worked as a commercial real estate attorney at Quarles & Brady LLP and Foley & Lardner LLP in Madison.
Schwenker graduated with a BA from the University of Minnesota and an MBA in Real Estate from the UW-Madison WSB, and JD from the UW-Madison Law School. He teaches RE 760: Real Estate Law: Lawyering the Development Deal.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
As a graduate of the program and someone who has worked both as an attorney and as a lead developer, I hope my course helps students better understand how it all fits together – from market analysis, to underwriting, to negotiating the deal, navigating the approval process, financing, and construction stages, to ultimate delivery of the project. Additionally, as a hiring practitioner, I also hope to impact the skillset I believe will help them stand out not only in the interview process, but in their early career.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
We have a great culture at UW, one that attracts students that are excited to learn. It’s a joy to be able to help them connect concepts and give them a framework for understanding the critical path of real estate development.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I have three small children (1, 3, and 5) and so when I’m not at work or teaching, my wife and I are usually happily chasing them around. As time allows, I’ve also been known to enjoy reading, running, hiking, and cheering on the Badgers.
Joe Walsh
Before transitioning to teaching full-time, Joe Walsh spent 30 years in commercial real estate working in the hotel, office, retail, industrial, and special purpose sectors across 42 states, Canada, and Europe. He held positions including Senior Director of Development at Great Wolf Resorts, a resort hotel development company, and Principal of his own consulting and valuations firm.
As a Faculty Associate in the real estate program, Walsh teaches RE 415: Real Estate Valuation, RE 715: Real Estate Valuation, RE 720: Urban Economics. As an educator, he has guided study tours to four continents focusing on global real estate issues. Walsh holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering and an MS in Real Estate, both from UW-Madison.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
I try to hold true to some of Graaskamp’s traditions: that real estate is a multidisciplinary field, a focus on hands-on project-based learning, and a holistic view of the real estate process and the critical role our profession plays in society.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
When I was a student here, I looked up to the wise leadership of the alumni who made our program great. 10 to 20 years ago, my classmates had taken up that leadership. Now, it’s incredibly gratifying to see that the torch is being passed to a new generation (as someone famous once said) of students from my early days teaching here. We commonly have the children of our alumni in our classes, which is a reminder of how the Graaskamp Center helps industry knowledge and passion flow from generation to generation.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I belong to a “makerspace,” Sector67, here in Madison where I do a range of shop-type projects ranging from customizing an old motorcycle, welding up industrial-style furniture, repurposing old whiskey barrels, etc. I even did a bit of hands-on construction work when Sector67 rebuilt an old industrial building with mostly member volunteer labor.
This past summer, my daughter and I hiked the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route along the northern coast of Spain. We covered over 500 kilometers from the French border to Santiago de Compostella.
Chase Zadnik
Chase Zadnik recently transitioned to teaching full-time after stepping down from a 10-year tenure as Senior Real Estate Manager at Raymond Management Company, a hospitality development and management company in Madison. He teaches RE 415: Valuation of Real Estate and RE 715: Real Estate Valuation.
After he received his BBA in Real Estate from UW-Madison in 2007, Zadnik’s career began at the Chicago real estate advisory firm Kennedy Associates, where he handled pension fund client money allocated to commercial real estate investments. In 2014, he returned to Madison and worked for Sara Investment Real Estate, a regional investment and development company where he was involved in small-scale investment and development deals in the Midwest region. A desire to focus on development led him to Raymod, where he focused on site selection, feasibility, and entitlements for Hilton and Marriott hotel sites across the country.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
One of the personal goals I lay out at the beginning of each semester is to apply my learned experiences to course material. I find the times that if I can leverage a past deal, underwriting example, or lease situation it provides students with real-life experience to reinforce a concept. Having experience in asset management, acquisitions, and development, I have varied perspectives across commercial real estate, so I hope this livens the learning experience. Finally, I try to show my passion and interest in the industry in hopes that students can find motivation entering the first phase of their real estate careers.
What do you find most rewarding about teaching at your alma mater and working with the next generation of real estate professionals?
UW-Madison has the top Real Estate program in the country. There’s a tradition of excellence in the department and I want to build on that excellence. I believe the students within the program share that desire and I find it rewarding to work with motivated students starting their careers. UW-Madison has something Wisconsin School of Business – Appraisal Project 2 special in the real estate program and our strong alumni network offers students great career paths who will eventually return to hire the following generation. Working with and preparing the next wave of real estate leaders is motivating.
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I am a father to two kids aged 8 and 10. We’re a sports family so most free time is spent at practice or games for the kids. If my wife and I get some free time, we like to walk or grab coffee and spend time together.
Tyler Krupp
Tyler Krupp is the Development Lead for Threshold Development Group, where he focuses on financial and business operations, site visits and collaborating with lenders, investors, counsel, government, architects, and neighborhood associations. He offers his students nearly guidance learned from nearly 15 years of experience in small business management and community building. A key interest of his is how the built environment can support a sustainable and thriving community.
Krupp has undergraduate and graduate degrees in Political Science, Law, and Philosophy from UW-Madison, Yale University, and the University of California-Berkeley. He received his MS in Real Estate from UW-Madison in 2021. He currently teaches RE 306: The Real Estate Process and RE 651: Sustainable Development.
What perspective do you hope to bring to the students you teach?
I hope to invite students into a new conversation that asks them, “What is the most sustainable yet practically possible work we can do in the built environment today?”
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I like reading and hiking in nature.