BLACKWATER RESOURCES - Key Persons


Amy McMullen - Chief Legal Officer, COO, EVP

Job Titles:
  • COO
  • EVP
  • General Counsel
  • Member of the Senior Management Team
Amy oversees and directs the legal, operational and asset management activities in the company. She is responsible for all acquisitions, development, leasing and dispositions for the company. She also works to secure financing opportunities for new projects. Amy joined AIG Baker as Associate General Counsel in 2002, continuing a legal career where she specialized in commercial real estate acquisition, sales and development with the law firm of Sirote & Permutt, P.C., located in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2006, she was named Vice President - Operations for AIG Baker where she additionally became responsible for the management of all operating assets as well as corporate operations of AIG Baker. Amy currently services as General Counsel as well as the chief operating officer - Executive Vice President of the company. She obtained a B.S. in Accounting from The University of Alabama and a J.D. from The University of Alabama School of Law.

Joanne Bowen

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Senior Management Team
  • Director of Asset Management
JoAnne has over 25 years' experience in the field of property management and has managed shopping centers, office space, campgrounds and apartments. She is responsible for the day-to-day operations of property management including tenant relations, vendor management, lease compliance, and contract negotiations. As well as property maintenance and repair issues, tenant communications and budget preparation. From 1992 to 2010 JoAnne was the in the property management department for AIG Baker and was responsible for the managing over 1,500,000 square feet of retail space that ranged from coast-to-coast.

John Abernathy - President

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Senior Management Team
  • President
John oversees Blackwater's company operations, including most closely the scope, strategy and growth of the company's development and leasing departments and the building of market relationships. John began his career as a developer with Blackwater's predecessor company AIG Baker, before being named President of Blackwater in 2015. With a retail development career of nearly 20 years, John has been involved in the development and leasing of commercial real estate in more than 10 states including millions of retail square feet, completing leases with nearly all major retailers expanding throughout the Southeastern US. John obtained a Bachelor Degree in Civil Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from the University of Georgia.

Luke Wingo

Job Titles:
  • Project Developer

Phillip McAfee - SVP

Job Titles:
  • Member of the Senior Management Team
  • Senior Vice President
Phillip is responsible for directing and managing the design, planning and entitlement process for our development opportunities as well as the value engineering, contracting and construction of our development products. Phillip also plays an instrumental role is the early stages of the development process, overseeing all initial due diligence activities and site investigations. Since 2010, Phillip has managed both ground up planning and construction as well as redevelopment of approximately 3,600,000 SF for Blackwater. From 1993 to 2010, Phillip was directly involved with the planning, entitlement and construction of over 10,000,000 SF of commercial retail space across twenty (20) states for AIG Baker. He was also responsible for the property management of eight (8) retail and office properties totaling over 2,000,000 SF. Prior to joining the company, Phillip worked for South and Associates, Inc., a civil engineering consulting firm in Birmingham, AL.

Rich Wingo

Job Titles:
  • Director of Development
  • Member of the Senior Management Team
Rich has been involved in Real Estate development since 1990 having served as President of AIG Baker Real Estate for a large portion of that time. While in that capacity, Rich was responsible for Engineering, Architecture, due diligence, permitting, leasing, contracting and construction. Rich has been directly a part of over 22 million square feet of retail across the US. Rich left AIG Baker in 2010 to start his own residential development company along with United American Assurance, a group health company. Rich returned to real estate development with Blackwater in 2014, leading a real estate development arm focused primarily on grocery anchor development throughout the Southeastern US. Rich graduated from University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science Degree