The Team
Kevin Casey
Casey started New Avenue while an MBA student at the Haas School of Business and has worked full time on the venture since graduating in May 2009. He holds a B.A. in Economics and Anthropology from Fordham University and has researched small business development as a Fulbright Scholar in Indonesia. In addition to building homes throughout high school and college and working in commercial real estate in New York, he founded and managed a global distribution business operating in 13 countries. Kevin also managed design and deployment of oracle business intelligence systems for Charles Schwab. He grew up in one of the original Sears factory homes built in 1908 and leads the planning and vision for New Avenue.
Evan Schwimmer
Schwimmer is a current MBA student at the Haas School of Business with a focus on real estate finance and sustainable development. At Haas, Evan serves as the Co-President of the Berkeley Real Estate Club, and is the winner of the 2009 National Real Estate Challenge Case Competition. He holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University and served as a military engineer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He worked as a Project Manager for Turner Construction, overseeing the construction of commercial real estate projects. At Turner, Schwimmer managed sustainability programs and residential projects valued at more than $200 million. Evan is LEED accredited, is scheduled to obtain a General Contractor's license and he provides tactical construction and project management experience.
Jacob Wegmann
Wegmann is pursuing his PhD in City and Regional Planning at UC-Berkeley. His research focuses on affordable housing provision. Prior to attending Berkeley he obtained degrees from Dartmouth College, the University of Colorado, and MIT, and worked in the for- and nonprofit housing development sectors in Denver and in the Bay Area. Wegmann is leading the data mapping for our network of homes and marketing analysis.
Justin Martinez
Martinez studies Civil Engineering at UC Berkeley and created New Avenue's entire online user experience including website design, account opening processes and the contact management system. Justin brings an interest in structural engineering, mechanics, materials, and sustainable design and will lead implementation of renewable energy, sustainability features and efficiency tracking in our homes.
Architectural Partners
M2 Studio
New Avenue is working with M2 Studio as a partner architectural firm. the principals of M2 Studio, Mark Creedon and Peter Collins, have over 50 years of combined experience completing projects that range from the simple to the complex. They have extensive experience in mixed use, residential, estate homes, hotel, winery production, tasting rooms, commercial office, retail, hospitality, civic, transportation, tenant improvement, space planning, programming, remodels, additions, adaptive re-use, zoning variances, conditional use applications, and entitlements.
Their clients range from the individual homeowner to large multinational corporations. M2 has a long standing commitment to sustainable design solutions.
Mark Creedon
Born in Cambridge Massachusetts and graduating with top awards from Rhode Island School of Design and the American Institute of Architects, spent the next 16 years working as a designer, associate principal, project director, project architect, senior project manager, and senior account manager at a number of national and local firms in Providence, Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco, before starting M2 Studio in 2000.
Peter Collins
Grew up in the Silicon Valley and later in the wine country of northern Napa Valley where his family still grows grapes. A graduate of the University of Oregon in 1983 he joined M2 Studio in 2000 after seventeen years as designer, job captain, and senior account manager for national commercial retail accounts at various regional and national design consulting firms, and several years of private architectural practice in Napa Valley.