OUR FOUNDERS

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 billion in development sites, including 400 separate projects encompassing over 30,000 residential lots and over 5,000,000 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.

John J. Protopappas
President and Co-Founder
Broker, Virginia
Associate Broker, Maryland, and licensed in District of Columbia
jprotopappas@fraserforbes.com

As one of the founders and as President of Fraser Forbes, John J. Protopappas brings 34 years of real estate experience to each transaction he brokers for the company. His vast experience and numerous contacts play a pivotal role in bringing new projects and accounts to Fraser Forbes. Protopappas’ real estate activities have included land acquisitions, development and sales valued at over $1 billion dollars worth of residential and commercial projects. These projects have encompassed in excess of 15,000 building lots in the Washington, DC metropolitan region as well as in Richmond and Williamsburg, Virginia. In addition, John provides consulting services to New York investment funds and Boston pension funds and is an active member of the Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) Council Member Advisory Board. Protopappas holds a Masters Degree in Land Planning from Catholic University. He has taught at Catholic University, George Washington University and the University of Maryland.

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