Our Team

Ron Zeff founded Carmel Partners in 1996 and is the Chief Executive Officer. Since founding the firm, Mr. Zeff has been responsible for building the current management team and creating the fiduciary and entrepreneurial culture of Carmel that has led to the successful execution of almost $19 billion in multifamily investments. Mr. Zeff is Chair of the Executive, Investment and Portfolio Management Committees.

Prior to Carmel, Mr. Zeff was with Trammell Crow Residential in its San Francisco office beginning in 1988 and was promoted to Partner in 1989. During his tenure at Trammell Crow Residential, he initiated the firm’s entry into the City of San Francisco. His responsibilities included sourcing, obtaining entitlements, financing and project management for the firm’s efforts.

Mr. Zeff is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council and serves on the organization’s Executive Committee. He is also on the Board of Councilors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and is a member of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Advisory Council. Mr. Zeff has received numerous philanthropic and industry awards throughout his career, including the City of Hope, Spirit of Life Award in 2015.

Mr. Zeff received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mike Halper is Chief Executive Officer of ATC Partners, LLC, a real estate investment company that owns, renovates and operates office and warehouse buildings in the Western United States. Since its founding in 1994, ATC Partners has purchased and renovated dozens of buildings to provide facilities to a wide array of office and industrial tenants. Mr. Halper is a Member of Carmel Partners Group, LLC, Vice Chair of the Executive Committee, a member of the Investment Committee and a member of Carmel’s Advisory Board.

Prior to ATC Partners, Mr. Halper was a principal at Trammell Crow Company and responsible for activity in the San Mateo region.

Mr. Halper also served as Chair of the Board of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, a mentoring organization serving 1,500 children throughout the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area and as Chair of the Board of San Francisco Day School, a K-8 independent school located in San Francisco, CA.

Mr. Halper received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of California, Berkeley and a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford University.

Matt Golden joined Carmel Partners in 2019 and is a Managing Partner and the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. He brings more than 27 years of experience in real estate law. Mr. Golden oversees compliance, legal, human resources and risk management. He is the Chair of the Management Committee and a member of the Executive, Investment and Portfolio Management Committees.

Prior to Carmel, Mr. Golden served as General Counsel for Beacon Capital Partners for 10 years, where he was also a member of the Management, Investment and Compliance Committees. Before joining Beacon, he was a Partner at Debevoise & Plimpton in its real estate practice.

Mr. Golden received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics with a minor in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School.

Liz Tennican joined Carmel Partners in 2016 and is a Managing Partner and the Head of Investor Relations. Ms. Tennican is Secretary of the Executive Committee, Vice Chair of the Management Committee and a member of the Investment and Portfolio Management Committees. She also oversees ESG.

Prior to Carmel, Ms. Tennican was a Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations and Business Development for Watershed Asset Management, a credit-oriented hedge fund. Previous to Watershed, she spent seven years with Barclays Global Investors, which was acquired and became part of BlackRock. She headed the Institutional Consultant Relations Group and then spent five years as Head of U.S. Institutional Sales for the iShares division where she built the U.S. Marketing Strategy and Sales Team. Prior to that, Ms. Tennican was with a hedge fund where she held various leadership roles, including CFO and COO. She spent seven years at Robertson Stephens, where she was in investment banking and institutional sales and helped found its capital markets desk.

Ms. Tennican is a member of the Board of Directors of Four Corners Property Trust, a publicly traded REIT where she is a member of Investment Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee.

Ms. Tennican received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Stanford University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Phil Owens joined Carmel Partners in 2023 and is a Managing Partner and the Chief Financial Officer. He oversees all financial operations and is responsible for the Accounting, Capital Finance, IT and Fund Management teams. He is Vice Chair of the Portfolio Management Committee and is a member of the Executive, Management and Investment Committees.

Prior to Carmel, Mr. Owens was CFO of Veritas Investments, the largest owner of multifamily properties in San Francisco. While at Veritas, he was responsible for financial operations, corporate and investment strategy and select operational functions (IT and HR). Prior to Veritas, Mr. Owens spent 12 years at Green Street where he was a Managing Director. While at Green Street, he helped grow the Advisory Group into one of the company’s leading business lines serving many of the world’s largest, most influential real estate and financial services firms.

Mr. Owens received a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

He is a CFA Charterholder.

Bryan Crane joined Carmel Partners in 2024 and is a Managing Partner and the Chief Investment Officer. He is responsible for overseeing the firm’s fully integrated Real Estate teams, including Pursuits, Development, Construction, Asset Management and Data Science & Research. Mr. Crane is a member of the Executive, Management, Investment and Portfolio Management Committees.

Prior to Carmel, Mr. Crane served as CIO for Veritas Investments and was President of its Southern California Platform (VILA). He joined Veritas in 2018, launching and leading the firm’s Southern California expansion where he oversaw all aspects of building the business, including developing the investment thesis and strategy, raising debt and programmatic institutional equity, hiring and leading the team and acquiring, renovating and managing the portfolio. Before joining Veritas, Mr. Crane was a Partner and Managing Director at Clarion Partners, where he served as Co-Head of its West Coast office. He previously held leadership positions at Rockwood Capital and JPMorgan Real Estate Partners.

Mr. Crane received a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Virginia and a Master of Business Administration degree in finance and real estate from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.