Than Merrill is one of the nations most successful real estate investors and one of the founders of FortuneBuilders Inc., CT Homes, LLC and Grand Coast Capital. Than is also a real estate educator, a best-selling author, and the star of A&E’s hit TV show “Flip this House.”

Than started his first real estate investment company CT Homes, LLC in 2004. Over the past fourteen years the company has acquired and redeveloped over 1,000 single family, multi-family, and commercial properties around the country. In addition, Than is one of the four co-founders of Grand Coast Capital, a private lending and investment firm, that has funded over $200 million dollars worth of loans in the past few years alone.

A sought-after speaker, Than has shared the stage with speakers including former first lady Laura Bush, Tony Robbins, Alan Greenspan and Robert Kiyosaki.

Born in Fresno, CA Than graduated from Yale University and then played in the NFL with the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After his short career in the NFL he started investing in real estate.

Than is also passionate about philanthropy and together with his wife Cindy, started Equal Footing Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating and promoting health and sports for youth. In addition to the Equal Footing Foundation, Than helped initiate FortuneBuildersGives.com, a company wide effort to provide charitable and volunteer opportunities to all the members of the company and community. In his free time Than enjoys researching products that can help stop male pattern baldness for himself and his good friend Paul Esajian.

Paul Esajian, is the co-founder of FortuneBuilders Inc., CT Homes, LLC, and Grand Coast Capital. Paul is a very knowledgeable real estate investor started his first real estate investment company CT Homes, LLC in 2004. Over the past fourteen years the company has acquired and redeveloped over 1,000 single family, multi-family, and commercial properties around the country. In addition, Paul is one of the four co-founders of Grand Coast Capital, a private lending and investment firm, that has funded over $200 million dollars worth of loans in the past few years alone.

Paul was also featured on multiple seasons of A&E’s hit TV show “Flip this House”. As a national speaker, educator, coach, and real estate investor, Paul shares his experience and knowledge of over a fourteen years worth of successful business building and real estate investing best practices.

Paul also helped initiate FortuneBuildersGives.com, a company wide effort to provide charitable and volunteering opportunities to all the members of the company and community

Paul is originally from Fresno, CA. Paul graduated from the University of California at Davis the Yale University of the West Coast according to Paul. Paul wrestled at UC Davis, where he developed his competitive spirit and overcame the perils of ringworm quite a few times. Paul is married, has two children, and currently resides in La Jolla, CA.

JD Esajian is the President of CT Homes, LLC, a real estate investment and redevelopment company headquartered in San Diego, CA. JD oversees all team members within the office and all acquisitions and dispositions. CT Homes, LLC has anywhere from 25 to 40 active real estate projects ongoing throughout the year. JD has over 12 years of experience in residential redevelopment and has been involved in over 1,000+ transactions in his career.

CT Homes, LLC, founded in Connecticut, is a nationally recognized real estate company featured on A&E’s ”Flip This House.” JD starred on “Flip This House” for the duration of the series with his brother Paul Esajian and business partner Than Merrill.

In addition to managing CT Homes, LLC, JD is a trainer and instructor for FortuneBuilders Inc. In his free time JD enjoys air guitar and watching the Raiders lose games.

Andy Tanner is a best-selling author of two books: 401(k)aos, which exposes the hidden pitfalls of the popular 401(k) investing plan, and Stock Market Cash Flow, a book on how the average investor can use the stock market to generate regular cash flow and not just buy and hold capital gains.

Andy is a renowned paper assets expert and successful business owner and investor known for his ability to teach key techniques for stock options investing. He is also very well know for classes he has taught on Communication and Negotiation. Andy is a sought after educator and has taught tens of thousands of investors and entrepreneurs around the world. Students love Andy’s ability to make investing concepts simple and understandable. He often speaks with Robert Kiyosaki around the world. In his free time Andy enjoys coaching basketball and reliving his glory days.

Rob O’Neill is one of the most highly-decorated combat veterans of our time and the author of the New York Times best-selling memoir The Operator: Firing the Shots That Killed Osama bin Laden and My Years as a SEAL Team Warrior. A former SEAL Team Six leader with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, he deployed more than a dozen times and held combat leadership roles in more than 400 combat missions in four different theaters of war. A highly-trained Navy SEAL, he led the military’s most elite and was involved in our nation’s most important campaigns. With most of his career shrouded in a classified cloak, O’Neill was the man on the ground we have never heard of but know exists. He was one of the quiet professionals performing the most difficult tasks in the most difficult circumstances, serving his remarkable career in the shadows and keeping America safe in the process. He is currently a contributor to Fox News.

In the world of high-pressure Navy SEAL missions, instant, critical decision-making is a necessity for success. He has proven experience in exceptionally high-risk and fluid environments. Having trained more than 800 special operations and tactical operators, O’Neill brings this unique expertise to organizations and translates his elite SEAL team training into high-impact, actionable insights on leadership, decision-making, operating in uncertain environments, and how to become the ‘best of the best.’ Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities speakers bureau, his mantra is “never quit,” and he believes this is the single most important factor in determining success. O’Neill reminds us that the servicemen doing the dirtiest work are often making the hardest sacrifices.

Decorations. One of the nation’s most decorated veterans, O’Neill has been decorated more than 52 times with honors, including two Silver Stars, four Bronze Stars with Valor, a Joint Service Commendation Medal with Valor, three Presidential Unit citations, and two Navy/Marine Corps Commendations with Valor. Silver Stars, the military’s third highest honor, are awarded for extraordinary gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States. Bronze Stars with Valor are awarded for merit, with Valor signifying a heroic act and direct participation in combat operations. It is the fourth-highest combat award of the U.S. Armed Forces and the ninth highest military award overall. Joint Service Commendation Medals are given for senior service on a joint military staff and is the most senior of the commendation medals.

Military History. O’Neill rose to the rank of senior chief petty officer in the United States Navy and served as a team leader at DEVGRU, positions not come by easily. O’Neill has a laundry list of certifications, including instructor, physical trainer, master training specialist, special warfare sniper and breacher, diving supervisor, and survival expert. He was also an officer in charge of small arms, demolition, close quarters combat, explosives breaching, fire and maneuvers, and laser systems safety. His military air operations qualifications include high-altitude and high-opening free fall jump master, tandem and bundle master, parachute rigger, master naval parachutist, drop zone safety officer, and air operations trainer/examiner and quality assurance inspector. He has completed more than 1000 jumps.

Since leaving active duty, O’Neill is a co-founder of Your Grateful Nation, which provides individualized transition support for Special Operations heroes and their families. They provide executive-level mentoring, transition services, and family stabilization support.

Alex Sifakis is the president and founder of JWB Real Estate Capital, a privately owned real estate investment, operating and management company focused on building fund portfolios of single-family rental properties in Jacksonville, FL. Alex’s team handles every part of each investment – from the property acquisition and construction, to the property management itself. In total, Alex has bought and sold hundreds of properties over the past eight years in Jacksonville, FL. He is touted as one of the most successful residential real estate investors in the state. INC. Magazine ranked Alex’s company as the 12th fastest growing real estate company in the United States in 2012.

Michael Becker is a Principal at SPI Advisory LLC and heads SPI’s Dallas, Texas office. Under Michael’s leadership, over the past 4 years SPI Advisory has acquired approximately 5,000 apartment units in the DFW area. SPI Advisory specializes in repositioning multi-family assets.

Through professional asset management and a high level of integrity, SPI Advisory increases the value of properties while improving quality of life for its residents.  SPI Advisory derives stakeholder value through hands on asset management and construction oversight. Our exclusive multi-family focus enables better pricing of value and risk to identify projects with superior risk-adjusted returns.

Prior to forming SPI Advisory, Michael was a 15 year veteran Commercial Real Estate Banker and has originated and managed numerous portfolios of permanent and bridge loans in all major asset classes. Over the last 5 years of his banking tenure, Michael focused exclusively on multi-family properties, where he was the number one loan producer for his division at a Top 3 National lender for his last 3 consecutive years.

Michael is a lifelong resident of North Texas and a graduate of The University of North Texas with a BBA in Finance.

Prior to becoming an Attorney, Gene was a real estate syndicator. He developed numerous mini-storage facilities using money from private investors. In addition to his law practice, Gene is a pre-eminent educator in the world of real estate and syndication. Gene has written a comprehensive book on real estate syndication entitled It’s a Whole New Business.

Gene is very knowledgeable in helping real estate investors set up real estate syndications, how to structure their investment companies, how to split money with investors, and how to legally solicit investors for private and Crowdfunding offerings. Gene also has expertise in Tenant-In-Common or “TIC” offerings that allow investors to participate in 1031 exchanges and has written articles on this subject as well as numerous others on how to start and run a real estate syndication company. Gene and his partners provide securities offering documents and advice for seeking to do Regulation D Rule 506 Offerings, Crowdfunding Offerings, Regulation A Offerings, and Public Offerings.

Ralph Plumb is a successful real estate investor and online marketing expert. Ralph has leveraged his experience as a seasoned real estate investor and entrepreneur and combined it with his online marketing savvy to achieve tremendous success. With a focus on generating organic (FREE) traffic, Ralph’s marketing methods and systems are recognized as the best by some of the most successful business owners around the world.

Ralph has spoken and hundreds of conferences around the world teaching real estate investors how to improve their online presence and real estate businesses. He has also spoken with the likes of Tony Robbins and Sir Richard Branson.

Ralph has proven to be an invaluable resource for Than Merrill and Paul Esajian, as he is largely responsible for creating an extremely successful online presence, helping generate more motivated seller and buyer leads, and growing their business exponentially.

In addition, over the past ten years, Ralph has helped thousands of real estate investors launch their own businesses online, including several of the fastest growing million dollar businesses!  Ralph’s systems allow entrepreneurs and business owners to release themselves from the day-to-day grind of generating leads to fuel their businesses, allowing them to dramatically increase profits in less time.

Ralph is a graduate of Yale University where he played football. He currently resides in Newport Rhode Island. Ralph is usually in bed by 9:00 PM and as a result most people call him “Grandpa”.

Linda Pedersen is a successful real estate investor with her husband in Austin TX. Linda is a FortuneBuilders Mastery Alumni student and now coach and trainer. She created and leads a Real Estate Social Network in Austin, TX with over 1,100 members.

Linda excels at online marketing, negotiations, and solving complex real estate challenges such as stopping foreclosures and negotiating liens. Her business focuses on wholesales, rehabs, new construction and commercial property. Prior to joining Fortune Builders, she was a global IT Program Manager for enterprise software development and an electronics technician in the Navy. Her mantra is “I am too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful, and too determined to be defeated.” Her why is to build a powerful legacy and inspire others to greatness.

Konrad Sopielnikow, is the co-founder of FortuneBuilders, Inc., CT Homes, LLC, and Grand Coast Capital. Konrad started his first real estate investment company CT Homes, LLC in 2004 with his partners Than Merrill and Paul Esajian.

Over the past fourteen years the company has acquired and redeveloped over 1,000 single family, multi-family, and commercial properties around the country. In addition, Konrad is one of the four co-founders of Grand Coast Capital, a private lending and investment firm, that has funded over $200 million dollars worth of loans in the past few years alone.

Konrad has been instrumental in the set-up, growth, and management of the company’s infrastructure and its business systems. His business insight and his expertise in technology and legal systems provided a foundation for dynamic growth and the rapid expansion of CT Homes and FortuneBuilders.

Konrad is a graduate of Yale University and currently resides in San Diego, CA. In his free time Konrad likes to explore the wilderness and pretend he is a GI-Joe.

Jon Steingraber is a very successful real estate investor and Mastery Alumni who invests in New Jersey. Jon also started and runs the New Jersey Real Estate Social Network, which is currently one of New Jersey’s largest Real Estate Investor Associations with over 1,000+ members. He excels in marketing and the distressed real estate market and is often sought out to speak and train other investors and agents in regards to REO’s, Short Sales, and distressed property acquisition.

He is also one of FortuneBuilders top rated trainers and educators. He has spoken to tens of thousands real estate investors over the years in both the United States and Canada.

Dr. Mark G. Dotzour is a real estate economist who served for 18 years as ChiefEconomist of the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University in College Station. He has given more than 1,500 presentations to more than 275,000 people and has written over 90 articles for magazines and journals. His research findings have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Money Magazine and Business Week.
His clients include banks, private equity firms, real estate investments trusts, construction firms, engineering companies, wealth managers, private foundations, and commercial and residential brokerage firms. He has also made presentations to local and national trade associations all over America. He makes complex economic issues easily understandable. Mark’s goal is to provide his audience with a “tool kit” of useful information that will help them make good business decisions for their families, their clients and their company.
In 2015, Dotzour stepped down from his position at the Real Estate Center to focus all of his time and effort on analyzing current economic conditions and communicating his analysis to others. He combines academic training in economics, real estate, finance and history to make sense of current economic trends.
After earning his PhD in finance and real estate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1987, Dotzour was a tenured professor of real estate and finance at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas for 10 years. Prior to his academic career, he was President of Gleneagles Development, Inc., which was a residential land development firm in Wichita. During this time, he also served as President of Dotzour Inc., Realtors, which was a residential brokerage firm in Wichita.
Mark and his wife LuAnn have been married for over 40 years, and have two children and two grandchildren. His father was a professional golfer. He and LuAnn spend a lot of time on the road, and they enjoy playing golf, exploring antique stores and old book stores.

David offers a unique combination of inspiration, entertainment and the worlds most advanced field-tested how-to strategies for optimized leadership, business growth and personal development. Each of his life-enriching presentations are customized for his client’s needs. Let David show you how he grew his overall business by 326.97%, and his coaching practice accelerated by 6,763.94%, in less than 180 days.

David Fabricius is often compared to James Bond or Jason Bourne, with the wisdom of Yoda and the charismatic superhero presence of Arnold Schwarzenegger. Although he has skills that less than .01% of the population have, he is not a secret agent or spy. Instead, his mission is to help arm those who wish to learn with the tools to create a truly full spectrum life. David began life far away in a small village in South Africa. He spent his early days eating figs from trees with the monkeys and avoiding crocodiles.

After starting his first successful business before turning 18, David served as an instructor in a classic special forces unit, trained by the British SAS & an instructor and team leader in a national counter terrorism SWAT unit specializing in hostage rescue and high value target arrest. David consistently receives standing ovations from audiences on 5 continents of up to 50,000. He has shared speaker’s programs with Sir. Richard Branson for YPO London, Tony Robbins for the 1997 JCI World Congress in Hawaii, and Robert Kiyosaki in South-Africa with his own real estate investment club. David’s teachings are based on building a foundation of balance, which he calls the Full Spectrum Life Mind-Body-Spirit System. This simple yet transformative approach has helped thousands worldwide, including top performing corporate business leaders, maverick entrepreneurs, professional investors, & world champion strength athletes.

Christy Duckett-Harris is a very successful real estate investor in South Carolina. Christy is heavily sought after for her knowledge on rehabbing, passive income properties and mobile home parks. She is a two-time FortuneBuilders Inspire Award Winner and Coach. Christy has a true passion for real estate and helping others achieve their goals. While recently married and now a mother of two, she’s done anything but slow down. This supermom has mastered what it takes to balance family life and take her real estate business to the next level.

Chris Clothier is the owner of Memphis Invest, one of the nation’s top turnkey residential development and property management companies. Chris and Memphis Invest have bought and sold thousands of rental properties to real estate investors in Memphis, Dallas, and Houston.

Chris serves as the external voice for the company, working with the team to help potential investors define their purpose for investing in real estate and educating peer companies on the best practices in the emerging turnkey real estate industry.

Chris is also an experienced real estate educator and addresses both small and large audiences of real estate investors and business professionals nationwide. Chris has taught many classes within the FortuneBuilders community on owning rental assets.

In his spare time Chris enjoys having kids. He has a lot of them. Not sure how many now, but there are quite a few running around last I checked.

Greg Clement is the founder and CEO of Realeflow. Over the past six years, he has transformed Realeflow from a product development and marketing perspective to the largest SaaS company in the country that caters to real estate investors. Outside Magazine has recognized Realeflow for being one of the “500 Fastest Growing Companies in America” and also one of the “Top 50 Companies to Work For In America” in 2010, 2011, and 2012. In 2007, he started I Don’t Like To Work, LLC and began constructing and selling informational products on how to be a successful entrepreneur. His success resulted in him being recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the “10 Most Influential People Online in 2010.”

Noah Cosby has over five years of experience as a real estate investor. A graduate of the FortuneBuilders Mastery Program, Noah’s focus quickly shifted from actively investing in real estate rehab projects to investing exclusively in passive income properties. Noah currently owns 16 rental properties in four different markets across the country. His “checks-in-the-mailbox,” anti-landlord strategy is due, in large part, to leveraging bank financing. Noah developed the “C3X” system as a means of increasing passive income as quickly as possible. He is passionate about educating others on how to achieve true financial freedom – not dependent on trading time for money. Noah is currently Director of Student Development at FortuneBuilders, where he helps driven investors realize their goals in real estate.

Cort Christie is the founder and President of Nevada Corporate Headquarters, Inc. Cort is a skilled entrepreneur, executive, author, and speaker who has garnered widespread recognition for his expertise in small business start-ups and finance. A national expert on entrepreneurship, he has an extensive background in business formation, small business tax strategies and fundraising for start-ups. He has distinguished himself as a nationally recognized speaker and has appeared as a featured guest on some of the largest radio shows across the country. Adept at translating his extensive experience and skill into informative publications for aspiring entrepreneurs, Cort is the author of Incorporating in Nevada – The Do-it-Yourself Kit, The Nevada Edge, Fast Money, 77 Ways to Raise Start-up Money and many other publications.

Cort also looks strikingly similar to another speaker at Ignite Ralph Plumb. They may be related?

Lawrence Yun is Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of Research at the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS. He oversees and is responsible for a wide range of research activity for the association including NAR’s Existing Home Sales statistics, Affordability Index, and Home Buyers and Sellers Profile Report. He regularly provides commentary on real estate market trends for its 1 million REALTOR members.

Dr. Yun creates NAR’s forecasts and participates in many economic forecasting panels, among them the Blue Chip Council and the Harvard University Industrial Economist Council. He appears regularly on financial news outlets, is a frequent speaker at real estate conferences throughout the United States, and has testified before Congress. Dr. Yun appears often as a guest on CSPAN’s Washington Journal and is a regular guest columnist on the Forbes website.

Dr. Yun received his undergraduate degree from Purdue University and earned his Ph.D. from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Paul Shively has over five years of experience in the real estate and investment sectors, resulting in more than $80 million in real estate acquisitions. As the Director of the Passive Income Club, and having spent the last four years developing strategic real estate portfolios, Paul has provided a secure and diversified, high-yield strategy for more than 400 of his clients. Paul has seamlessly developed and implemented an investment curriculum and system that produces consistent results by acquiring cash flow positive real estate holdings. He simultaneously oversees and manages all investor relations for Grand Coast Capital Group, including fund raising, customer service and marketing, and providing a hands-on personalized investor experience. Paul holds a degree from the University of California – San Diego, as well as a Series 65 Securities License and a Real Estate Salesperson License.

Jillian Sidoti specializes in transactional legal matters such as Private Placement Memorandums, Form 10’s, S-1’s, Regulation D filings, Regulation A filings, trademarks, copyrights, NDA’s, contractual matters, and matters relating to the real estate industry.

Jillian also educates real estate investors on how to legally raise capital for their real estate investment projects.

Currently, Jillian teaches Finance and Accounting for the BS and MBA programs at the University of Redlands, drawing on her experience as Financial Analyst, Controller, and CFO for many companies from manufacturing to real estate development. Jillian also teaches a Small Business Management class where students are taught the anatomy of a business plan.

Her specialties include S-1’s, PPM’s, Form 10’s, 10ks, 10qs, venture funding structures, Reg A’s, private offerings, state securities board filings.

Cheryl O’Hearn has been an active real estate investor since 2007 in Denver, CO. She started investing by building her rental property portfolio before finding FortuneBuilders in 2013. She and her family (Shamrock Homes) are Graduate Mastery students and Inner Circle members. She has been a Field Expert Coach since May 2015. Since joining FortuneBuilders, the Shamrock Homes team have bought and sold numerous rehab properties while building passive income with the addition of buy and hold properties and private money lending. Cheryl and her team are currently focusing on expanding their portfolio with commercial properties. Prior to joining FortuneBuilders and establishing the family owned business, Cheryl spent several years working in a corporate IT career. She is a Certified Scrum Master (CSM) and Project Manager, skills which have been very useful in her business. Cheryl and her husband enjoy traveling and relaxing whenever possible, preferably on a beach with a good book!

“Brian O’Hearn has been an active real estate investor since 2007 in Denver, CO. He started investing by building his rental property portfolio before finding FortuneBuilders in 2013. He and his family (Shamrock Homes) are Graduate Mastery students and Inner Circle members. Shamrock Homes is a family owned business with his wife, Cheryl (a FortuneBuilders Field Expert Coach) and their sons, Brooks – age 25 and Thomas – age 23. Since joining FortuneBuilders, the Shamrock Homes team have bought and sold numerous rehab properties while building passive income with the addition of buy and hold properties and private money lending. Brian and his team are currently focusing on expanding their portfolio with commercial properties. Prior to joining FortuneBuilders and establishing the family owned business, Brian spent several years in sales and as owner of his own promotional products business. He and his wife enjoy traveling and relaxing whenever possible, preferably somewhere he can perfect his photography skills!
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