Wyatt Dixon
Founding PartNer
Wyatt is a founding partner of Proffitt Dixon Partners (PDP) and has over 25 years of multifamily, mixed-use, and commercial real estate development and investment experience. Since co-founding PDP with Stuart Proffitt, their firm has successfully completed transactions valued at over $1 Billion.
Prior to forming PDP Wyatt served as a development and investment executive within some of the Southeast’s premier multifamily firms including Camden Property Trust (and predecessor Summit Properties), Lane Company, and Faison. During his career, Wyatt has been responsible for development and investment activities throughout the Southeast in markets including NC, SC, GA, and Southeast Florida. Wyatt received his MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina with a concentration in Real Estate. He received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Appalachian State University. Wyatt is married with two children.
Stuart Proffitt
founding partner
Stuart is a founding partner of Proffitt Dixon Partners (PDP) and has over 24 years of multifamily, mixed-use, and commercial real estate development and investment experience.
Prior to forming PDP, Stuart was the Vice President of Mixed-Use Development at Pappas Properties in Charlotte, North Carolina and Director of Development for Champion Development Group in Los Angeles, California. He was involved as a principal in the ownership and/or development of more than 430,000 SF of retail and office and 3,750 residential units.
Stuart graduated cum laude from North Carolina State University and earned his MBA and Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California. He is a member of the Multifamily Bronze Council of the Urban Land Institute, and a member of the Board of Directors for Crisis Assistance Ministry.
William H. Andrews
Partner
William “Will” Andrews is a Partner with Proffitt Dixon Partners and responsible for identifying, acquiring, and developing class-A multifamily projects throughout the Southeast. Will has extensive real estate and institutional capital markets experience involving a variety of property types including apartments, condominiums and mixed-use developments as well as retail and office projects.
Prior to his current role Will was Vice President of Finance & Investments for a leading multifamily focused REIT, Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP), which owned and operated over 34,000 multifamily units and 2.0 million square feet of commercial space. In that capacity he was responsible for maximizing shareholder value by utilizing the capital markets and strategic real estate transactions to guide the company’s future earnings and financial position. During his tenure he had direct involvement in $2.8 billion of successful debt and equity transactions. Will also worked as a development associate facilitating the development process of a $400 million mixed-use and for-sale residential portfolio resulting in the eventual sale and lease-up of 350 residential units and 250,000 square feet of commercial space throughout the Southeast. Will received his BSBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC Chapel Hill and his Master of Real Estate Development from Auburn University. He is an active member of ULI and holds a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation. He is also a licensed real estate broker in both North Carolina and Alabama.
Ashley Peterson
Partner
Ashley T. Peterson is a Partner with Proffitt Dixon Partners, specializing in complex multifamily and mixed-use development throughout the southeast. With more than a decade of commercial real estate experience, Ashley has been involved with the successful entitlement, financing, design, construction, lease-up, and disposition of thirteen multifamily and mixed-use communities, totaling more than 3,000 units and 50K sf of retail in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee. She has led and contributed to projects totaling nearly $1.0 billion in capital investment throughout the southeastern U.S., while simultaneously maintaining an ongoing active pipeline. In 2023, Ashley was named on the prestigious Charlotte Business Journal’s ‘40 Under 40’ list.
Early in her career Ashley managed the deployment of over $2 billion in media advertising for a top ten Fortune 500 client at a tier-1 agency in New York City. After leaving New York and returning to her hometown of Charlotte, Ashley joined Proffitt Dixon Partners where she focused on ground-up multifamily development, serving in roles from Development Associate to Director of Development. She was then recruited to nationally acclaimed Crescent Communities as Director of Development where she was promoted to Managing Director and led numerous simultaneously executed complex mixed-use projects in the greater Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham region. In 2022 Ashley had an opportunity to rejoin Proffitt Dixon Partners as a Partner where she is currently responsible for sourcing and leading notable southeastern multifamily and mixed-use developments.
Active in the community and industry, Ashley sits on the Development Committee of the Board of Directors of the Bechtler Museum of Modern Art. Ashley is also a member of professional associations such as the Urban Land Institute and the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association and frequently serves as a speaker at notable industry conferences. She volunteers and contributes regularly as a member of Myers Park Presbyterian Church, as well as with other not-for-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Second Harvest Food Bank, and Junior Achievement.
Ashley graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is married to her husband, Matt, with whom she has a son, Henry, and daughter, Campbell.
Kenneth Walsh, Jr., PMP, LEED GA
Managing Director
Ken has extensive construction and development experience in a multitude of projects and services over his 28 year career with some of the regions best known firms including Jones Lang LaSalle, Pinnacle Properties, Myers & Chapman and Centex Corp. Asset classes include: multi-family residential, mission critical data centers, national accounts, site selection and improvement, telecommunications colocation, build-to-suit, manufacturing, office, medical, and call centers.
Prior to joining Proffitt Dixon (a key client of Ken’s for over eight years) he most recently served as a Senior Vice President in JLL’s Project Development Services group in the Carolinas region where he led a large multi-diciplined team focused on delivering ground up development projects for clients he developed during his years in the local market. During his time at JLL his team delivered 11 multi family projects totaling over 2,800 units in the southeast and is currently working on multiple new multi family projects totaling over 1,000 units. In addition, his team focused on climate controlled storage facilities, completing five projects totaling approximately 445,000 SF in 3,600 units. Prior to JLL, Ken was the Development Partner with Pinnacle Properties in Charlotte and was responsible for development management, master planning, entitlements, site improvements and building construction on multiple project sites in the Carolinas. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Ken was a Vice President with the general construction firm, Myers and Chapman, Inc where he led their pre-construction and business development departments after time spent as a Project Manager. Prior to joining Myers and Chapman, Ken began his career with Centex Corporation in their residential development group and was based in Charlotte NC. Ken holds a Bachelor of Construction Science and Management degree from Clemson University. He is a NC licensed real estate broker and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a LEED Green Associate.
KELLY THOMAS
Director of Asset Management
Kelly joined Proffitt Dixon in 2018 after working with them as a 3rd party management partner for a number of years and is currently responsible for all asset management at the firm. She is a seasoned professional with over 25 years of experience both onsite and at a corporate management level. Kelly began her career in the DC Metro area, specializing in Class A communities ranging from garden style to high rise. During her tenure at Trammell Crow Residential, Kelly focused on managing several of TCR’s Alexan brand lease-ups from pre-leasing through disposition. Kelly’s corporate management experience lead her in 2006 to Greystar’s newly opened regional office in Charlotte, NC where she started as a Regional Property Manager, then held the role of Director of Real Estate for over 4 years. As the Director of Real Estate Kelly assisted the Managing Director with new business development for NC and SC, along with managing a portfolio of 7,000 units with direct reports including four Regional Property Managers. She worked with clients such as Faison, Childress Klein, Crescent Resources, Proffitt Dixon, Woodfield Investments, Prudential, Invesco, UBS and others.
During her career Kelly also worked as a YieldStar Analyst for RealPage, having detailed knowledge of Revenue Management systems, she led a large portfolio of clients to maximize their revenue on a variety of unique asset types. Kelly continues to implement innovative marketing, technology and revenue management solutions to maximize NOI and increase value for our assets, leading several Proffitt Dixon Communities from lease-up through successful sales, exceeding underwriting goals.
Kelly holds the prestigious CPM® designation through IREM and has received numerous awards throughout her career. She is a licensed real estate broker in North and South Carolina, is a board member for the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association’s Education Foundation and volunteers her time as a CALP (Certified Leasing Apartment Professional) instructor. She also runs her own small non-profit benefitting families fighting cancer and resides in Charlotte with her husband, two young daughters and two devoted pups.
KELLY Darr
Controller
Kelly re-joined Proffitt Dixon in 2022 as Controller after previously working with the company as an accountant for 3 years. She brings over 19 years of auditing, commercial, multi-family, and retail property accounting experience. Kelly began her career in the South Florida area specializing in the audit of various types of construction development firms. Kelly’s auditing experience led her to Faison for 11 years as a Senior Property Accountant working in the Construction Development and Asset Management of multifamily residential and commercial real estate.
During her career, Kelly also worked as the lead accountant for RK Investors LLC, responsible for the accounting operations surrounding the Construction Development and Asset management of Multifamily residential projects. At RK Investors, she established the firm’s accounting policies, procedures, internal controls and assisted in the preparation of annual tax returns.
Kelly earned her CPA designation in Virginia in 2003. She graduated from Florida Atlantic University in FL, with a specialty in accounting. She resides in the Charlotte area with her husband and is an avid dog lover.
Brianne Kupke
Accounting manager
Brianne joined Proffitt Dixon in 2018 and brings 15+ years of commercial, multifamily & retail property accounting experience. Prior to joining the team, she worked at Allegiance Realty Corporation for 11 years, where she was the Controller for multiple commercial office buildings located throughout the United States. Brianne was born & raised in northern NJ and is a graduate of William Patterson University in NJ, where she earned her B.S. in Business Finance with a minor in Economics.
Casey Gebhardt
Development associate
Casey joined Proffitt Dixon Partners in 2022 and is responsible for sourcing and executing development deals in the Southeast. Throughout his commercial real estate career, Casey has had extensive involvement with developments, acquisitions, dispositions and brokerage across multiple product disciplines including multi-family, retail, office and industrial.
Prior to joining Proffitt Dixon, Casey worked with Charlotte based commercial real estate firm Lat Purser & Associates, Inc. for over eight years, where he helped lead the firms’ commercial acquisitions and development team and was responsible for sourcing and executing investment and development opportunities throughout the major markets in the Carolinas and Georgia. In his time at LPA, Casey was directly involved in over 25 developments and real estate transactions with an aggregate value of over $222 million. A Charlotte native, Casey received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance from Francis Marion University where he was a four-year letterman of the Patriots baseball team. Casey is a member of NAIOP, ULI and is a licensed real estate broker in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Karen Crane
Management Coordinator
Karen joined Proffitt Dixon in 2020. Most recently, she worked in property management with Argos Management and commercial real estate with Allegiance Realty Corporation prior to joining the team. Karen brings over 35 years of operations, accounting, and management experience to her position. She heads the Finance Committee and serves as the Treasurer for The Episcopal Church of the Holy Comforter. Karen also stays active in the administration and teaching of English as a Second Language (ESL). She is a licensed real estate broker.
Marissa Markham
Management Coordinator
Marissa joined Proffitt Dixon in 2020, bringing four years of property management experience and 8 years of customer relationship management to the team. Upon relocating to the Carolina’s, Marissa found her niche in property management where she most recently worked as an Assistant Community Manager at Greystar. At PDP, Marissa assists with a wide variety of efforts related to coordination of project pursuit, feasibility, closings, development, construction, financing, reporting, asset management and operations. Marissa graduated with honors from the State University of New York at Fredonia where she dual majored in Accounting and Business Administration – Marketing. She is CAM certified (Certified Apartment Manager).