Team

Joshua Crane is a co-founder and principal of Spruce Capital, S3 Capital’s parent company. He is responsible for sourcing and executing on all aspects of the business. Previously he was a partner at Irongate, which developed the Trump International Hotel & Tower at Waikiki Beach Walk. The 750,000 square foot condo-hotel was the highest-priced, fastest-selling residential real estate project in Oahu’s history. Mr. Crane has also worked at Stellar Management, where he was involved in the acquisition of Independence Plaza, a 1,330-unit rental building in New York City’s Tribeca, and 2,000 units in Washington, D.C. The firm also bought and sold more than one million square feet of NYC office buildings. Mr. Crane began his career at Salomon Brothers in their Mergers and Acquisitions group. He is a graduate of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Robert Schwartz is co-founder and principal of Spruce Capital, a successful real estate investment and development firm which owns S3 Capital. His responsibilities cover all aspects of the business including acquisitions, financing and management. At S3 Capital he is responsible for management and direction of the firm and is a member of its investment committee. Prior to founding Spruce Capital, Mr. Schwartz helped to run a successful family business where he established the family’s real estate investment program. He eventually formed Spruce as a dedicated investment and development organization, in partnership with Joshua Crane, after investing in numerous transactions together for seven years. Mr. Schwartz began his career as an investment banker at DLJ and UBS. He is a graduate of Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he serves on the Executive Board.

Matan Kurman joined S3 Capital Partners at its inception in July 2014 to manage day-to-day operations and underwriting of loans. Prior to working for S3 Capital Partners, he was an acquisition intern at Brookwood Financial Partners in Beverly, MA. Mr. Kurman previously served as a Captain in the Israeli Air Force as an F-16 fighter pilot. During this time he gained experience planning and executing complex operational missions. In addition, he managed system installation, and supervised schedule and training scenarios for an F-16 Simulator Unit. He earned his undergraduate degree from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba, Israel with a B.A. in political science, and his MBA from Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. He is fluent in English and Hebrew.

Shawn Safdie is a Managing Director at S3 Capital Partners where he focuses on loan origination, business development, structuring and underwriting. He excels at developing new relationships, maintaining existing ones and executing transactions. Mr. Safdie has more than a decade of experience in the real estate credit business, focusing on bridge lending. He has a B.A in Business Management & Finance from CUNY Brooklyn College.

Steven Jemal joined S3 Capital Partners in October 2016 to originate and underwrite loans for the firm. Prior to working for S3 Capital Partners, he was an originator and acquisitions associate at Hirshmark Capital where he sourced and underwrote debt and equity investments for the firm. Mr. Jemal earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business with a B.S. in Finance and Management.

Zachary Neugut currently runs Spruce Capital’s multifamily acquisition platform, Spruce Properties. Spruce Properties owns multifamily rental units throughout the United States with a focus on acquiring assets with consistent cash-flows in markets with strong economic trends. Prior to this role, Mr. Neugut initially worked on Spruce Capital’s real estate credit platform, S3 Capital, where he helped grow the portfolio’s AUM from $275M to $1.5B. As part of this role, he helped start and oversaw S3 Capital’s large balance loan portfolio, which grew to $1B of AUM within 2 years of inception. Mr. Neugut received his B.A. from Columbia College in Financial Economics and Germanic Languages in 2016 and his M.A. in Statistics from Columbia University in 2017.

Ari Stein joined S3 Capital Partners in 2017. He is responsible for managing the S3 construction portfolio and overseeing the construction draw process. Mr. Stein previously worked at EMCO Plumbing and has five years of onsite construction management experience. He graduated in 2015 from Queens College summa cum laude with a BA in Political Science and Government.

Mark Okrent currently oversees asset management for Spruce Capital’s multifamily acquisition platform, Spruce Properties. Spruce Properties owns multifamily rental units throughout the United States with a focus on acquiring assets with consistent cash-flows in markets with strong economic trends. Prior to working at Spruce Capital, he worked at some of the largest multifamily owners in the United States, which include LivCor, Sentinel Real Estate and DRA Advisors. Mr. Okrent has managed approximately 170 apartment properties, consisting of more than 40,000 units throughout the country. He has a variety of residential investment management experiences, which include having managed stabilized properties, repositioned investments, lease-ups, ground-up developments, and fractured-condominium properties across the risk spectrum. Mark has worked alongside regional property management companies and large-scale owner/operators, including Greystar, Lincoln, Pinnacle and Camden. Mark has a Master of Science in Real Estate degree, with a concentration in Strategic Management, from New York University.

Alexander Wrede joined S3 Capital Partners in 2018 as an Analyst. In this role, he is responsible for underwriting and evaluating new and existing loans, overseeing the S3 construction portfolio, and assisting in day-to-day operations. Mr. Wrede previously worked at Dow Jones and nH2. He received his B.S. in Business Administration and Finance from Bucknell University Freeman School of Management in 2018.

Aidan Birnbaum joined S3 Capital in April of 2021 as an Analyst. In this role, he assists with the underwriting of new and existing loans, day to day management of fund operations, and portfolio oversight. Aidan recently worked at Angelo Gordon and a Los Angeles based Qualified Opportunity Fund. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020 with a degree in Economics.

Jack Goldman joined Spruce Capital’s multifamily acquisition platform in August 2022 as an Analyst. In this role, he is responsible for underwriting and evaluating new and existing investments. Mr. Goldman previously worked at Bellwether Asset Management and received his B.A. in Urban Studies with a concentration in Real Estate from the University of Pennsylvania in 2021.

Brett Schenkman joined S3 Capital Partners in 2021 as an Analyst. In this role, he is responsible for underwriting and evaluating new and existing loans, overseeing the S3 Construction portfolio, and assisting in day-to-day operations. Mr. Schenkman previously worked at Hunter Roberts Construction Group as an Assistant Project Accountant. He received his B.S. in Business Administration from Boston University in 2019.

Tanya is the Office Manager and Executive Assistant at Spruce & S3 Capital. She has a B.S in Business Management from CUNY College of Staten Island.

Edward Kim joined Spruce Capital in 2013 as a Financial Controller. In his role, Edward is responsible for overseeing the tax planning, financial reporting, and accounting for the private equity and the Family Office business at Spruce Capital. Prior to joining Spruce, Edward worked at Thor Equities, a New York based real estate development and investment firm, as a Development Controller, where he was responsible for overseeing the reporting and cost accounting for all development projects. Edward earned his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in New York State.

Olga Lisina joined S3 Capital Partners in January 2017 as a Fund Accountant. Prior to joining S3, she worked as a Payroll Manager and Accountant at Branded Restaurants USA. She also worked as a bank teller at Santander Bank. She has her BBA in Finance from Baruch College of CUNY, and Bachelor of Engineering from Ukrainian Academy of Printing. She is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian.