MASON EQUITY PARTNERS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Manager of the Newly Opened West Los Angeles
Isela Zermeno joined Self Storage 1 in 2008 as manager of the newly opened West Los Angeles location where she grew the store's NOI to $2,200,000. Under Jennique's direction, Isela also led pricing strategy and revenue management for four other Self Storage 1 locations.
Isela joined the Mason Equity Partners acquisitions team in 2020 is now responsible for sourcing the firm's pipeline of self storage deals. She is fluent in English and Spanish
Job Titles:
- Investor Relations & Operations
Jenn has been community building and streamlining processes for corporate and SMBs since 2002. She was first introduced to commercial real estate in 2008, while managing a portfolio of multinational and diplomatic accounts for Marriott International's iconic 5-star, 1500-room, multifunctional property in Guangzhou, China. Prior to joining MEP, Jenn had managed over 200,000 sf of multistory mixed-use properties as Director of Operations and Marketing for various boutique REITs consisting of self-storage, wine storage, and office space.
Jenn holds an Executive MBA from Rutgers Business School, was certified in Management Development while working at Princeton University, and is a Gates Millennium Scholar with a B.A. in International Economics from UC San Diego. She is most humorous in English, least eloquent in French, and the enforcer of Cantonese and Mandarin at home with her kids and husband.
Since 2008, Jennique and her team have been responsible for all aspects of property management for Self Storage 1. She has led a 15 person team and managed over 500,000 square feet of self storage property across the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Houston and Chicago markets. Jennique received her Bachelors Degree from UC Berkeley in 2007. Growing up in her family's self storage development company, she believes that business success is built on trust and leading by example.
John Mason - Chairman, President
John Mason, president of Mason Equity Partners, has developed $230 million of commercial real estate in five major US Markets since co-founding his first development company in 1996. From the get-go, the company secured its footing with three prime deals in San Francisco, including a 135,000 sf self-storage facility in the heart of SoMa for $8 million…back in the ‘90s.
Over the years, Jennique Mason came on board to manage a portfolio of 13 properties nationwide. By 2014, Shane Mason joined the family business and ushered in a new era of technological innovation to real estate financing, acquisitions, and development.
In October 2018, John and his prior partner Gray Cardiff sold a Core Portfolio to a self-storage REIT for over $76 million. In 2019, John and Gray sold a high-rise apartment site they spent 5 years entitling as well as an adjacent site in Downtown Chicago to Onni Capital LLC for a sum total of $25 million. By January 2020 John, Shane, and Gray sold a 120,000 sf Data Center Building to the city of San Francisco for $67.3 million.
In February 2020, John and Shane formed Mason Equity Partners to pursue, entitle, and develop Self-Storage and last-mile industrial assets.
John co-founded Cardiff Mason Development and Self Storage 1 in 1996.
He has overseen the ground up development of three self-storage facilities, in San Francisco, West Los Angeles, and the Galleria area of Houston.
John also directed the acquisition and repositioning of 5 other existing buildings for self-storage use, 2 each in San Francisco and Chicago and 1 in Honolulu. he led the entitlement of a 373-unit apartment tower in the Fulton Market district of downtown Chicago.
In 2018, John managed the sale of a 2 property portfolio consisting of the Houston and West LA facilities, to a self-storage REIT for $77 million and the sale of the entitled Chicago apartment land to a large Los Angeles based multi-family developer.
Job Titles:
- Acquisitions & Development
Nan oversees all aspects of acquisitions and development. She was initially brought on to work with John and Shane at Self Storage 1 in 2016. Since then, her duties have expanded to include identifying and qualifying acquisitions, financial modeling, underwriting, zoning review, building code compliance, due diligence coordination, entitlement coordination, presentation design, and graphic production.
Nan has a Masters's degree in Land and Property Development from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Engineering in Landscape Architecture Design from Yunnan University. She is fluent in English and Mandarin and obsesses over NOIs, IRRs, and Cap rates in both languages.
Job Titles:
- Data Analytics & Accounting
Qi is involved in all aspects of data analysis and accounting. She has been with MEP since 2017. She specializes in analyzing marketing data, setting up in-house databases, and maintaining them. Additionally, she assists with the company's accounting, including bookkeeping, and financial reporting.
Qi holds a Master's degree in Business Analytics and Project Management from the University of Connecticut and a Bachelor of Economics in Finance from University of International Business and Economics. She is fluent in English and Mandarin, and is determined to have her sons do the same.
Shane and his team are responsible for all aspects of property acquisition and analysis, contract negotiation, land use entitlements, design management, construction oversight, and fundraising. Shane joined the family business in 2013, after learning sales and project management roles at several early-stage tech startups. While working at Cardiff Mason Development, Shane successfully entitled a 120,000 sf Data Center Project and led the creation of a proprietary software platform used internally for evaluating development opportunities nationwide.
Shane graduated Cum Laude from US Berkeley's Haas School of Business with Dual Degrees in Business Administration and Economic Geography. He was born and raised in the Bay Area and successfully ushered in a new era of tech-enabled remote work alongside his love of travel.