Flaa and Wood join Red Oak Capital Holdings

Charlotte, NC Red Oak Capital Holdings, LLC has brought on Will Flaa as senior vice president – investments, and Ken Wood as regional manager – northeast. They will respectively be based in Dallas, Tx. and Norwalk, Conn.

“By hiring Will and Ken, Red Oak has effectively added more than 60 years of industry knowledge to our team, which is already one of the strongest in the field of alternative lending,” said Gary Bechtel, Red Oak’s chief executive officer. “In fact, onboarding seasoned, experienced finance professionals has always been a major tenet of our broader goal of bringing our operations to a more sophisticated, institutional level. It’s that reputation that draws people to Red Oak, whether it’s a borrower, investor or a finance professional.”

As senior vice president of investments, Flaa will be the primary liaison with Red Oak origination personnel in the screening and review of potential transactions. He will also work with the firm’s capital markets team and established capital sources to place new loans and generate and foster new capital relationships. He brings more than 30 years of experience in loan origination, valuation, analysis and research, and mortgage capital analysis to his new position.

Flaa comes to Red Oak from KeyBank Capital, where he was a senior vice president and relationship manager. That was preceded by a role as senior vice president-investment officer with Encore Enterprises, Inc., where he directed the day-to-day operations of debt placement for the Dallas-based company and managed its institutional and high-net worth capital program. Earlier in his career, Flaa worked with Cantor Commercial Real Estate, Goldman Sachs Commercial Mortgage Capital, and New York Life Insurance Co. A graduate of the University of North Texas, he is also a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, and the North Texas Real Estate Council.

As regional manager – northeast, Wood will serve as Red Oak’s primary point of contact for all strategic relationships in the region. He will help to generate and grow the company’s commercial real estate lending business by cultivating and maintaining new and existing client relationships across multiple states throughout the northeast region.

Prior to joining Red Oak, Wood ran the northeast origination operations first for Money360, and then for Verus CREF. Over a six-year period, he handled an average of 80 to 100 loan originations annually through a network of national and local commercial brokers as well as direct clients. Elsewhere in his 30-year career, he has worked with MC-Five Mile Capital, Column Financial, Patriot National Bank, and Hometown Commercial Capital. Wood, who is a certified general appraiser, earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn.

Red Oak has been on a growth streak, hiring finance and capital markets professionals in key markets across the nation. The company has tripled its headcount in the past three years, and relocated its corporate headquarters from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Charlotte, North Carolina, giving the company a strategic presence in the nation’s second-largest business and financial services hub.