Richard O. Samit
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Broker, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and District of Columbia
rsamit@fraserforbes.com
Richard Samit, our CEO and co-founder of McLean, Virginia based Fraser Forbes Real Estate Services is an award-winning industry leader in the Washington, DC region. Samit has been responsible for building the firm into one of the Mid-Atlantic’s leading real estate companies. Since its founding in 1995, Fraser Forbes has sold in excess of $3.5 billion in development sites, including 450 separate projects encompassing over 35,000 residential lots and over 6,000,000 square feet of commercial development.
In addition to the companies’ best in class sales capabilities, Samit has created Fraser Forbes Management and Advisory Services Group, which provide local and regional market analysis, trends, valuation underwriting, asset management and development solutions for our clients.
His vision to help clients with much needed capital support, brought about our Financing Services group, which assists in raising real estate project equity and debt . Relationships have been established with institutional investors and high net worth individuals, as well as national, regional, and community banks.
Fraser Forbes’ four distinct groups-- Land Sales, Financing Services, Management Services and Advisory Services-- are a direct product of Samit’s strategic vision; and he continues to lead their expansion to meet client needs in the land arena.
Mr. Samit’s personal subject matter expertise is well known among leaders in Washington Area real estate for sales, development, construction and finance. He has been a frequent presenter on regional real estate panels and has been featured in numerous articles in the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Business Journal, Bisnow on Business, Globe Street, Smart CEO, Big Builder and Mid-Atlantic Real Estate Journal. He stays abreast of emerging trends and his network of industry-wide relationships built throughout his 23 year regional real estate career has been instrumental to the growth of Fraser Forbes Real Estate Services.
Samit is an active member of the community. He established the Richard O. Samit Charitable Fund of the Montgomery County Charitable Foundation which supports various organizations, is a current member of the US Capital Chapter of YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and serves on the advisory board of a leading community bank in the Metro area. His hobbies and interest include his family, golf, tennis, food/wine and travel. Mr. Samit holds a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science from the University of Connecticut.
Bruce C. Winston
Executive Vice President
Associate Broker, District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia
bwinston@fraserforbes.com
With over 46 years in the real estate industry, Bruce Winston offers Fraser Forbes' clients the
benefit of extensive experience and solid relationships within the building community. Since joining
Fraser Forbes in 1999, Winston has been involved in transactions totaling approximately $617MM.
Winston's real estate career began in the early 1960's with Dorothy K. Winston & Company. From 1974 to 1998,
he was a builder and developer responsible for the acquisition, development, entitlement, financing
and marketing of over 800 single family and town house homes as well as several hundred residential
lots in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Winston also developed an office building in Bethesda,
Maryland. Winston served as president of the SMBIA (now MNCBIA) in 1983 and 1984, and has been involved in many other philanthropic efforts that benefit our community.
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Seth Z. Potack
Senior Vice President
Licensed in Virginia and Maryland
spotack@fraserforbes.com
Seth Potack is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the firm, as well as developing new business
opportunities across the Fraser Forbes platform. Previously, Seth served as Vice President with McWilliams Ballard,
the leading multifamily sales and marketing company in the Washington, DC Metro area. He was responsible for the
sales & marketing of in excess of 3,300 units with project values of approximately $1.5 billion and produced
settled sales of more than $490MM. Prior to his work at McWilliams Ballard, Seth was Vice President managing the
financial operations of a boutique condominium developer and general contractor. Seth’s portfolio included all
project underwriting as well as structuring, negotiating and documenting debt and equity financing on all company
projects. His twenty-five plus years of professional experience provides him not only with excellent vision but also with
the sound judgment required for his work at Fraser Forbes and on behalf of our clients. Seth holds a BBA in Finance
from The George Washington University and is a member of ULI.
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Yoav Katz
Chief Financial Officer and Certified Public Accountant
ykatz@fraserforbes.com
Alison Phillips
Office Manager & Executive Assistant to Richard O. Samit, CEO
aphillips@fraserforbes.com
Our stellar administrative support team is led by Alison Phillips, who is the Executive Assistant to the CEO and the firm's Office Manager. Alison quickly produces and distributes our property marketing packages and ensures our best in class agents have everything they need to provide the highest level of customer service to our clients that we have come to be known for.
Aaron J. Lebovitz
Associate
Licensed in Virginia and Maryland
alebovitz@fraserforbes.com
Aaron provides research and analytical support to the Land Sales, Financing, Management and Advisory groups. He joined Fraser Forbes in the Spring of 2009 while enrolled in the Global MBA program at the George Washington University with a concentration in Finance and Real Estate and Urban Development. Aaron’s previous work experience is in the automotive industry where he worked for Nissan North America, Inc. in the Mid-Atlantic Regional office in Herndon, Virginia. Aaron spent his time at Nissan as a field sales representative covering three Mid-Atlantic markets in succession before returning to the office for management rotations. The last position he held before leaving for his MBA was as the region’s Retail Environment Manager where he helped dealers achieve the brand standards required to gain subsidies during the construction process of new facilities. Aaron brings analytical skills and creativity gained through his MBA along with sales operations skills acquired during his time in the automotive industry to add value to Fraser Forbes and our clients.
Gene Howard
Associate
Licensed in Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia
ghoward@fraserforbes.com
Gene Howard, the newest addition to our Virginia Land Sales team, is responsible for a multitude of research efforts at Fraser Forbes. Prior to joining Fraser Forbes, Gene was a Project Manager at ElecComm Corporation; a Boston, Massachusetts based company that specializes in city grid planning and infrastructure implementation. Gene is a graduate of Rollins college where he earned a B.A. in Political Science and was a four-year captain of the baseball team. Gene was recognized with several academic and athletic outstanding achievement awards during his collegiate career including President's List, Dean's List, NCAA Commissioner's Honor Role, All South Region, All Sunshine State Conference, and All American Honors. Upon completion of his undergraduate studies, Gene continued his education at Boston's University's Center for Professional Development in Real Estate Studies and Urban Policy. Gene is eager to bring his proven leadership skills and work ethic that enabled him to achieve prior success in the classroom and on the athletic field with him as he begins his career at Fraser Forbes.
Janie Bjork
Associate
Licensed in Virginia, Maryland and District of Columbia
jbjork@fraserforbes.com
Janie Bjork is a licensed real estate agent in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. Janie offers expertise in senior housing, mixed-use, office, retail and land sales. Prior to joining Fraser Forbes, Janie provided exceptional performance through draft and execution of buy-sell-lease-hold strategies, driving maximum value on behalf of her client's properties. Janie spent the last 9 years at Marcus & Millichap Investment Services where she structured, negotiated and closed real property transactions, ranging in value from $1M to more than $40M, totaling in excess of $200,000,000. Additionally, Janie led teams in acquisitions and finance at several senior housing organizations, including Summerville Senior Living and ManorCare. Additionally, Janie worked for Citigroup where she managed consumer finance and real estate loan portfolios and developed complex financial models for evaluation of company performance and effectiveness of marketing programs. Janie holds a Master of Science in finance and a Bachelors of Business Administration from Loyola University. Janie is excited to bring her exemplary client relationship skills, strong work ethic and proven leadership to continue to achieve successes for both the clients and Fraser Forbes.
Jamie L. Gravino
Advisor
jgravino@fraserforbes.com
Jamie L. Gravino serves as an advisor to Fraser Forbes. She is actively involved with the company’s strategic plans, marketing, staff recruitment, business development, company management and technology enhancements. Ms. Gravino’s extensive background from previous work experience provides Fraser Forbes with invaluable strengths and resources. Prior to arriving at Fraser Forbes, Ms. Gravino worked at Heidt and Associates a civil engineering and land surveying company in Tampa, Florida where she worked as an Executive Assistant to the Director of Land Surveying. Ms. Gravino was responsible for commercial sales at Tyco Fire and Securities in Orlando, Florida. Her sales volume placed her in the top 5% of producers for the company. Ms. Gravino is an active member of the local community who does volunteer work for both Harbor School in Bethesda, Maryland and Greenacres School in Rockville, Maryland. She holds a BS from University of South Florida.
James M. Fraser
Associate
James Fraser has been working in the real estate industry for over 15 years. After graduating with a BS in Civil Engineering from Bucknell University in 1997, he practiced land development engineering for six years and became a licensed Professional Engineer. In 2004, he earned his MBA from The University of Texas in Austin with a concentration in Real Estate Finance. For the past eight years, Mr. Fraser has been working as a project management consultant guiding developers through all phases of the development process. Between 2004 and 2008, he was primarily involved in the development of retail centers in Pennsylvania, Virginia, DC and Maryland. Between 2008 and 2010, he was the senior project manager of a $1.2 billion hospital construction project in Abu Dhabi. After returning from Abu Dhabi, he began his own project management consultancy and joined the Fraser Forbes team. Jamie's broad knowledge, relationships and experience in the development industry will benefit Fraser Forbes' clients. He will focus on opportunities in Maryland where his lives with his wife and two children.
Jason Saunders
Associate
Jason Saunders has earned a Bachelors of Science in Finance from the University of Maryland College Park and holds a Graduate Certificate in Personal Financial Planning from Georgetown University (CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™). Jason started his career as an analyst for a leading management consulting firm that concentrated its expertise in the payments – based areas of financial services. As an analyst, Jason worked on a variety of projects both client specific and industry related, including market research, marketing and business strategy development, financial modeling, and asset valuations.
Over the past 6 years, Jason has worked as a personal financial advisor to individuals and families. During his time he was successful in providing sound fundamental guidance to his clients in the areas of investments, taxation, risk management, retirement, charitable giving, and estate planning. Past success as a personal financial advisor undoubtedly stems from his proven ability to help solve complex problems facing businesses and individuals. Jason aims to bring these skills to the team at Fraser Forbes in assisting all of it's many valued clients with a primary focus in the urban Virginia market.
James Friedman
Intern
For additional information, please contact Richard Samit, CEO at rsamit@fraserforbes.com
