Leaders 

Christopher Chang ’07 

Christopher Chang oversees Menlo Equities’ strategic relationships, leads the firm's engagement with its limited partners, and spearheads the firm's capital raising strategy and execution. 

Prior to joining Menlo Equities in 2017, Chris was a Vice President in the Investment Banking Division of Goldman Sachs. During his 10 years at Goldman, he led the firm’s West Coast Real Estate investment banking business, where he was a strategic advisor to a number of private and publicly traded real estate companies on capital raising, mergers & acquisitions, and general corporate finance matters. 

Over the course of his investment banking career, Chris advised clients in raising more than $20 billion of equity and debt capital and on more than $30 billion of M&A transactions. He also held positions at JPMorgan Chase in New York, London and San Francisco in the Investment Bank Technology and Global Technology Infrastructure groups.  

Chris received his BS in Applied Economics and Business Management from Cornell University and his MBA in Finance and Real Estate from Columbia Business School where he earned Beta Gamma Sigma honors. 

Steve Grant ’92 

Prior to co-founding MCRE with Andrew Nathan in 2019, Steve co-founded ClearRock Properties in 2009 as an owner/operator focused on acquiring, repositioning and operating under-performing assets in New York, Boston and Washington, D.C. From inception to 2019, ClearRock owned/operated 15 properties valued at $1.5 billion. 

Prior to ClearRock, Steve served for 10 years as a Managing Director at Tishman Speyer, leading various functions including global leasing, tenant relations and property management. Steve also served on the firm’s development committee and on the acquisitions and equity capital markets teams. Before joining Tishman Speyer, from 1997 to 1999 Steve co-led the establishment of Trizec Hahn’s New York presence, growing their portfolio to nearly 8.5 million square feet. 

From 1992 to 1997, Steve was a Vice President at LaSalle Partners where he leased and asset managed a group of trophy midtown and downtown Manhattan properties. In the three years before business school, Steve worked as an institutional investment advisor at Colonial Consulting and a global financial analyst at Electronic Data Systems. 

Steve earned an undergraduate degree in finance, summa cum laude, from the University of Maryland and completed his MBA at Columbia University where he was class president and graduation speaker. For 8 years, he was an advisor to the founder/executive director of FoodFight—an educational not-for-profit serving public schools in need. He continues to volunteer for programs that provide life skills’ growth for underserved teens. 

Ines Leung ’07 

Ines Leung has over 20 years of experience in real estate investment and capital raising, most recently as Head of Investor Relations at Argosy Real Estate Partners, where she oversaw the firm's client servicing and fundraising initiatives, and held a key leadership role in the launch and development of new investment strategies. 

Prior to joining Argosy, Ms. Leung was a Director of Investor Relations at GE Capital Real Estate. Her background also includes a variety of business development, capital markets, and advisory positions at Credit Suisse, Rockwood Real Estate Advisors, and Cushman & Wakefield. Ms. Leung received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University. 

Jeff Wainwright ’11 

Jeff is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of West End Capital Group.  West End is a privately held real estate investment firm headquartered in Washington, D.C. The firm was founded in 2013 and has acquired 3,000+ apartment units and ~1 million square feet of commercial space since inception.  

Jeff is involved in all aspects of company leadership including strategic initiatives, acquisitions, financing, asset management, and fundraising.  

Previously, Jeff was a Vice President and partner with Starwood Capital Group’s acquisitions team.  Prior to Starwood, Jeff worked with Gladstone Capital in its private equity and mezzanine debt group, and began his career as an investment banking analyst in Wells Fargo’s leveraged finance group.  

Jeff holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Finance from Virginia Tech.

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