Meet our experts, the agents of change in today's real estate market.

Gregory L. Geiser

Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Wedgewood

Greg Geiser is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wedgewood, a leading acquirer of distressed residential real estate. Founded in 1985, Wedgewood has grown into a diversified, vertically integrated company, expanding its business footprint to include residential rehabilitation, non-performing loans, property management, private lending, brokerage, escrow, and more.  The company has 250 employees and is located in Redondo Beach, CA.  

Mr. Geiser founded Wedgewood after spending several years at Murdock Development Company as Assistant to the President of Murdock Hotels Corporation.  Earlier in his career, he worked as a financial analyst at Crocker Bank in San Francisco.   Greg earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1980, and his M.B.A. from UCLA's Graduate School of Management in 1982.  He is involved in several charities and is on the Board of Shelter37, a non-profit organization that provides effective life skills and job training as well as educational programs to at-risk youth in southern California. Greg is married, is the father of two daughters and lives in Manhattan Beach, CA.  He enjoys golf, skiing, volleyball, and aviation among other recreational pursuits.

Gary W. McCarthy

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, HMC Assets LLC

Gary McCarthy is a co-founder and managing partner of HMC.  Founded in 2009, HMC sources, acquires, manages and liquidates pools of distressed mortgages, primarily in the West Coast markets. Previously, Gary was the president of Great Point Partners – the founder, developer and operator of the Great Harbor Yacht Club in Nantucket, MA.  In addition to overseeing that $100(+) million construction, Great Point was involved in multiple residential and commercial construction projects across Massachusetts and Connecticut during Gary’s 17 year tenure.  Earlier in his career, Gary spent a decade as a trader, and ultimately partner and director of Vitol, SA, one of the largest independently owned international oil-trading firms in the world.  From 1979 to 1982, Gary worked for the Mobil Oil Corporation, after receiving his B.S. in Economics from Colby College. Gary is married, has 3 children and lives in Hermosa Beach, CA and Darien, CT.  He enjoys biking, fishing, running and other recreational pursuits.

Shea Pallante

Sales and Marketing Director, CIVIC Financial Services

Shea is the Sales and Marketing Director of CIVIC Financial Services in Redondo Beach, California where he is responsible for building a best-in-class private money origination platform that caters to the professional real estate investor community. 

Shea has spent the last 13 years in the financial services industry, primarily focused on consumer-direct retail mortgage companies, with extensive experience in wholesale & correspondent mortgage lending as well.  Shea started his career at the NationPoint, a subsidiary of Merrill Lynch, where he managed retail sales, marketing and product development, helping to build the platform to a top-ten online mortgage lender.   

His move to Arch Bay Capital as Assistant Vice President gave him responsibility for acquisitions/dispositions and asset management. At BSI Financial Services, he was named Vice President of Portfolio Management, working exclusively with PIMCO to manage non-performing loans.  He sold over $200 million non-performing loan pools while managing the asset disposition, modification, and foreclosure teams.

Shea holds a degree in Labor Law from Penn State University. Shea is originally from Chicago, Illinois and is an avid mountain biker. He lives in Orange County, California with his wife and 4 children. 

Irma Delgado-Trikas

President & CEO, Arista National Title of Florida and Arista National Title Company of California

Irma is the founder, President and CEO of Arista National Title of Florida and Arista National Title Company of California. 

Arista offers consolidated escrow and title services in a single source, providing customers with streamlined closings and unsurpassed service to meet their title and escrow needs nationwide. 

Irma’s ability to cultivate client satisfaction and loyalty through timely communication and excellent service has been the key to Arista’s growth and success.  Arista’s strength comes from its experience and commitment to its clients and relationships.  Irma brings a multitude of industry experience to Arista’s customers, including industrial, construction, finance and mortgage wholesale.  Early in her career she excelled to the President’s Club, reaching numbers of $70 million per month in closings her first year.  Irma’s skill for customer service and relationships quickly resulted in the building of her own team within the company.  Irma’s success led to the formation of a signing company, First National Signings, and a title and escrow agency, Arista National Title, in California and Florida which she continues to manage and operate. 

Arista National Title is one of the few certified minority-owned title and settlement companies in the country and the only certified woman-owned title company in California.   In May, 2012 Irma was nominated by the Orange County Business Journal for the Orange County Business Woman of the Year award.  Irma graduated from California State University, Sacramento with a BS in Business Administration and a concentration in International Business She lives in Newport Coast, California with her husband and two sons.

Bill Tessar

President of Retail Lending at Skyline Financial Corp.

As President of Retail Lending for Skyline Home Loans, William Tessar currently manages more than $3 Billion in annual residential funding’s with more than $15 Billion funded throughout his career. He is driven daily to create an experience for the consumer that ends with a customer‐ for‐life result while maintaining strong leadership and support for the loan officers and operational staff. He leads others to results‐driven behavior and quality service for each and every transaction touched by his team.

He has recruited and trained more than 500 loan officers throughout his almost 30 year career and builds teams that specialize in residential and commercial mortgages. William founded and was President for two previous companies prior to Skyline. One past company, Capital Line, was recognized as one of the top originating brokerages in the state of California year after year. In 2007, Capital Line merged with Skyline Home Loans, a company in business and serving the public since 1985. Skyline is now on the forefront of connecting the consumer with lending through technology. Today, Skyline is a direct lender and Seller Servicer with FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA, doing business in 26 states with a full product menu of conventional, government, Non QM, Reverse and Commercial Loans. 

Walter Charnoff                                                                                  
Founder & CEO, RentRange LLC

Walter Charnoff is widely recognized as a subject matter expert in real estate analytics and rental market evaluation.  With over fifteen combined years of knowledge and competency in the securities and real estate investment technology verticals, he is frequently called upon by mainstream media outlets to provide professional expertise in both televised and print based formats. Prior engagements include live interactive and taped interviews with CNN, Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, Forbes, and Investor’s Business Daily.  He has also acted in the capacity as a panel member and roundtable discussion participant at various industry trade events and strategic partner client conferences.

He has also received numerous industry recognitions including the Top Fifty Real Estate Investment Opinion Makers and Market Leaders Award in both 2011 and 2012, bestowed by Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine. 

Charnoff’s accomplishments include the development, deployment, and sale of multiple patent-pending technologies for the financial services and real estate sectors. Additionally, he founded and currently serves as Chairman for a successful software development firm that caters to said sectors.

Walter Charnoff lives in Boulder County Colorado with his wife of 16 years, a daughter and a son, and a menagerie of pets. His hobby is attending sporting activities with his family.

Meet our experts, the agents of change in today's real estate market.

Gregory L. Geiser

Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer, Wedgewood

Greg Geiser is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Wedgewood, a leading acquirer of distressed residential real estate. Founded in 1985, Wedgewood has grown into a diversified, vertically integrated company, expanding its business footprint to include residential rehabilitation, non-performing loans, property management, private lending, brokerage, escrow, and more.  The company has 250 employees and is located in Redondo Beach, CA.  

Mr. Geiser founded Wedgewood after spending several years at Murdock Development Company as Assistant to the President of Murdock Hotels Corporation.  Earlier in his career, he worked as a financial analyst at Crocker Bank in San Francisco.   Greg earned his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Oklahoma State University in 1980, and his M.B.A. from UCLA's Graduate School of Management in 1982.  He is involved in several charities and is on the Board of Shelter37, a non-profit organization that provides effective life skills and job training as well as educational programs to at-risk youth in southern California. Greg is married, is the father of two daughters and lives in Manhattan Beach, CA.  He enjoys golf, skiing, volleyball, and aviation among other recreational pursuits.

Gary W. McCarthy

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, HMC Assets LLC

Gary McCarthy is a co-founder and managing partner of HMC.  Founded in 2009, HMC sources, acquires, manages and liquidates pools of distressed mortgages, primarily in the West Coast markets. Previously, Gary was the president of Great Point Partners – the founder, developer and operator of the Great Harbor Yacht Club in Nantucket, MA.  In addition to overseeing that $100(+) million construction, Great Point was involved in multiple residential and commercial construction projects across Massachusetts and Connecticut during Gary’s 17 year tenure.  Earlier in his career, Gary spent a decade as a trader, and ultimately partner and director of Vitol, SA, one of the largest independently owned international oil-trading firms in the world.  From 1979 to 1982, Gary worked for the Mobil Oil Corporation, after receiving his B.S. in Economics from Colby College. Gary is married, has 3 children and lives in Hermosa Beach, CA and Darien, CT.  He enjoys biking, fishing, running and other recreational pursuits.

David Crane

President and CEO, NRG

Since becoming President and CEO of NRG in 2003, David has led its transformation from a regional wholesale generation business to a national, Fortune 250 diversified energy company. NRG is the nation's largest competitive power generator, with enough generating capacity to power 42 million homes or nearly a third of the U.S. population. The company is the country's largest owner and operator of solar power facilities and also serves nearly 3 million retail customers (principally through NRG's Reliant brand).

David is one of the leading voices in the power industry on the topic of climate change and the need for curbing carbon emissions, and he was one of the first U.S. power industry CEOs to publicly call for mandatory climate change measures. He leads NRG's efforts in the transition to a clean energy economy through repowering and retrofitting older coal plants, developing carbon capture technology, selling renewable and smart energy retail solutions and building the nation's largest privately funded network of electric vehicle fast-charging stations.

Prior to joining NRG, Crane served as CEO of International Power PLC, a UK-based wholesale power generation company, and previously held positions at Lehman Brothers and ABB Energy Ventures in Sydney, Hong Kong and New York. David is a Bachelor of Arts graduate of Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and he received his Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School.

Bill Walton

Keynote Speaker and Spokesman for NRG Home Solar

Theodore Walton, III (Bill) was born on November 5th, 1952, in San Diego, California. Walton enrolled at UCLA in 1970. He played center for John Wooden's Varsity team for three seasons (1972-1974), after an undefeated year with the freshman team in 1971. He was a member of two undefeated NCAA championship teams compiling an NCAA record 88 consecutive game winning streak.

Bill is a three-time recipient of the NCAA Player of the Year Award, 1972, '73 and '74. Walton is a 3-time All-America College Player and winner of the Sullivan Award for the United States Best Amateur Athlete of 1973. Walton also attended Stanford University Graduate School of Law in the early 1980's.

Walton's professional career began when he was the number one overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft by the Portland Trailblazers. He was a member of their championship team in 1977. Nine years later he earned another championship title, this time with the Boston Celtics in 1986. He played with the Trailblazers 1974-1979, the San Diego Clippers 1979-1984, the relocated Los Angeles Clippers in 1985, and The Boston Celtics 1985-1988.

Bill Walton was the NBA's Most Valuable Player, 1978; all-NBA First Team, 1978; NBA All-Star Team, 1977 and 1978; NBA Playoff's MVP, 1977; all-NBA second team, 1977; winner of the NBA Sixth Man Award, 1986. Walton is one of only four players in the history of basketball to have won multiple NCAA and multiple NBA Championships. Walton is also the second of only five players in the history of the NBA to lead the league in both blocked shots and rebounding in the same season.

In 1993, Walton was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts. For his television broadcasting work, Walton has been nominated for numerous Emmy awards and in 2001 won an Emmy for best live sports television broadcast. In 1997 Walton was selected as one of the NBA's Fifty Greatest Players of all Time.

Walton currently resides in his hometown of San Diego with his wife Lori. These days, in his spare time, Bill is an advocate for solar energy and national spokesperson for NRG Home Solar.

Bill Tessar

President of Retail Lending at Skyline Financial Corp.

As President of Retail Lending for Skyline Home Loans, William Tessar currently manages more than $3 Billion in annual residential funding’s with more than $15 Billion funded throughout his career. He is driven daily to create an experience for the consumer that ends with a customer‐ for‐life result while maintaining strong leadership and support for the loan officers and operational staff. He leads others to results‐driven behavior and quality service for each and every transaction touched by his team.

He has recruited and trained more than 500 loan officers throughout his almost 30 year career and builds teams that specialize in residential and commercial mortgages. William founded and was President for two previous companies prior to Skyline. One past company, Capital Line, was recognized as one of the top originating brokerages in the state of California year after year. In 2007, Capital Line merged with Skyline Home Loans, a company in business and serving the public since 1985. Skyline is now on the forefront of connecting the consumer with lending through technology. Today, Skyline is a direct lender and Seller Servicer with FNMA, FHLMC and GNMA, doing business in 26 states with a full product menu of conventional, government, Non QM, Reverse and Commercial Loans. 

Bill Dallas

Chief Executive Officer, Skyline Financial Corp.

Bill Dallas is the chief executive officer of Skyline Financial Corp. one of the nation’s fastest growing non-bank mortgage and technology companies. Skyline’s mission is to transform the home-buying experience for consumers, realtors and mortgage originators. Skyline has established an intelligent, data-driven, proprietary online platform powered by data and analytics. The Company operates via three branded platforms: Skyline Home Loans, NewLeaf Wholesale Lending, and NewLeaf Lending. In addition, Skyline customizes and operates its platform for affinity group marketing partners, financial institutions, employers, realtors and other large consumer enterprises. The Company offers its customers the choice to search for homes and qualify for loans through loan professionals, its network of brokers, or on their own.

Bill is known for building two mortgage companies from the ground up, First Franklin and Ownit Mortgage Solutions. Bill also has extensive financial technology and banking experience as founder of InterThinx, MindBox, California Oaks State Bank and Heritage Bank of Commerce.

Bill is enthusiastic about education and entrepreneurship. Bill and Scott Hamilton are championing the next generation of entrepreneurs at the Dallas/Hamilton Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Bowling Green State University. Bill is also Chairman of the Board and a founder of Oaks Christian School, a premier college preparatory school for grades 5-12, in Westlake Village, California.

Bill earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, magna cum laude, from Bowling Green State University and his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Santa Clara School of Law.

Lynn Halstead

Managing Director, CIVIC Financial Services

Lynn is the Managing Director of CIVIC Financial Services in Redondo Beach, California where she is responsible for building a best-in-class private money origination platform that caters to the professional real estate investor community.  Lynn has 25+ years of mortgage banking and real estate lending experience in the areas of loan production, client services, lending operations, risk management and secondary marketing. Her core strengths include talent development, performance management and operational effectiveness.

Lynn started her career at the Household International family of companies managing originations and operations in the U.S. and abroad. She managed both regional and national retail branch networks, loan servicing platforms and the wholesale correspondent lending channel.

Her move to AMRESCO Residential Mortgage as senior vice president and chief lending officer gave her responsibility for wholesale and retail branch production and underwriting operations. At Option One Mortgage, she was senior vice president of national lending, growing annual production to $7 billion through strategic alliances with banks and other large institutional clients.

Lynn volunteers for Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Orange County and is an avid cyclist involved in fund raising and training for the annual Bay to Bay MS100 bike race. Lynn is a third generation Californian residing in Dana Point, Calif.