By Joshua Burd
The Hampshire Cos. has made several new hires this year as part of a plan to bolster its internal financial and accounting capabilities.
The additions include Lauren Sattler, who joins the Morristown-based firm as director of finance. She brings 16 years of real estate finance experience, most recently serving as vice president, controller for Brookfield Office Properties as part of the team overseeing the company’s daily accounting operations across its 2,000 assets in 30 countries.
Working closely with Sattler, Elhadji Ndao and Larisa Vandenko join Hampshire as fund controllers, according to a news release. They will provide analysis oversight and financial reporting for several of the company’s funds and direct investment vehicles.
Ndao will draw on nearly 19 years of accounting experience, including skills acquired in his most recent position as accounting manager for Lee & Associates LLC, the news release said. Vandenko, meantime, brings 13 years of private equity and commercial real estate accounting experience highlighted by her most recent role with SS&C Technologies as associate manager, private equity.
Hampshire also touted Vandenko’s work as a senior tax associate with Deloitte Tax LLP’s real estate and private equity advisory group, which gave her deep experience in international tax services on behalf of clients such as The Blackstone Group, BlackRock Realty Advisory, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority and others.
“Over the course of the past several months we’ve identified several key areas and opportunities that will drive our firm’s continued success and further position us to achieve organizational excellence,” said James E. Hanson II, Hampshire’s CEO and president. “At Hampshire, achieving organizational excellence requires us to focus on four key areas — our culture, our talent, our strategy, and our performance. By adding several key new hires to our financial team we’re ensuring we have the best talent to execute our strategic vision, drive creative solutions, and deliver superior results. I look forward to working with each of our new team members as we execute our long-term growth strategy.”
Further bolstering Hampshire’s finance team, Janki Patel and Tanya Mendes both join as fund accountants and will be responsible for assisting in all aspects of the accounting close process and financial reporting and analysis process, including working with third-party administrators and third-party tax preparers, the firm said. Prior to joining Hampshire, Patel served as senior accountant for PEF Services, where she prepared financial statements and investor allocations on behalf of the boutique accounting firm’s investment clients.
Mendes, for her part, brings deep experience in real estate accounting at companies such as Vornado Realty Trust, Thor Equities and Aetos Capital Real Estate LP.
Other recent hires include Lauren Cook as a finance associate, the news release said. She will be responsible for handling, controlling and maintaining a balanced financial administration process, having previously worked with Hampshire in a contractual role assisting with review, filing and processing of payments for limited partnership tax filings.
Meantime, Daniel Levy recently joined the company as a fund analyst to provide direct high-level financial support to its multifamily portfolio. In the role, Levy will leverage his previous multifamily fund finance experience with Lexington Realty Capital and Capitol Hartford LLC to drive the analytical work for Hampshire’s investment funds and direct multifamily investments, including asset and portfolio underwriting and cash flow projections, as well as performing market research according to fund strategy and asset type.
Working with the development team, Dean Pezzino joins Hampshire as a cost accountant, the news release said. In the role, he will serve as the custodian of the activities surrounding the contracting and accounting process for the company’s ground-up construction and major renovation projects throughout all phases of development.
Prior to joining Hampshire, Pezzino served as lead for development finance at WeWork.
