About

Experienced.
Responsive.
Knowledgeable.

Our story.

Envoy Net Lease Partners was founded in 2011 to give commercial real estate developers and owners access to nationwide capital to finance their build-to-suit projects — delivering more personal attention and care than an institutional lender, and eliminating the geographic restrictions and red tape of traditional banks. 

Based in greater Chicago, Envoy has recently expanded its capacity through a joint venture, ensuring we can accommodate virtually all of a borrower’s financing needs and act as a single, repeatable capital source. Our mission remains the same: providing up to 100 percent loan-to-cost financing in the form of high-leverage construction loans, bridge loans and ground lease A/D loans, as well as JV equity financing. Our people are smart, hard-working, and ready to help you solve financing challenges to keep your pipeline moving.

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Envoy Net Lease Partners specializes in the funding of single-tenant net lease medical, retail, office and industrial properties — providing up to 100 percent loan-to-cost financing for build-to-suit projects.

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Management Team

PRESIDENT & MANAGER

Ralph N. Cram, CFA, CRE

Mr. Cram is President and Manager of Envoy Net Lease Partners LLC, a real estate finance company specializing in single-tenant, net-leased properties. He is responsible for providing strategy, marketing and investment advice on all aspects of net lease property investment in single-tenant retail, industrial, office and medical properties. Mr. Cram has underwritten, acquired or financed $1.5 billion of real estate assets across all product types and geographic markets over his 25+ years in commercial real estate. An expert on net lease financing and investment, he has spoken on net lease, construction lending and capital markets panels for virtually every major national and regional industry conference and has made presentations to the Singapore and Shanghai CFA societies on how to invest in U.S. net lease properties. SEE FULL BIO.

Education

UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MADISON WISCONSIN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
M.S., Real Estate Appraisal & Investment Analysis

KALAMAZOO COLLEGE
B.S., Economics

Activities & Affiliations

  • Licensed Real Estate Broker, State of Illinois
  • Chartered Financial Analyst, since 1995
  • Counselor of Real Estate, since 2009

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Eric Spokas

Eric brings to Envoy more than 25 years of banking and real estate finance experience with an extensive background in commercial lending, Small Business Administration (SBA) loan programs, operations management credit risk and compliance. He is responsible for taking the company’s commercial real estate transactions from term sheet to closing and overseeing the asset management of Envoy’s loan and property portfolio. Prior to Envoy, Eric was President and CEO of Chicago-based SomerCor, a Top-25 nationally ranked Certified Development Company (CDC) for SBA 504 loans designed to provide Illinois entrepreneurs with financing for the purchase of commercial real estate, machinery and equipment. At SomerCor, Eric oversaw a loan portfolio of nearly $500 million, comprising close to 1,000 loans to Illinois entrepreneurs. Eric previously had served as the organization’s Chief Operations Officer and Chief Credit Risk Officer.

Education

DEPAUL UNIVERSITY’S CHARLES H. KELLSTADT GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MBA, Finance

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO
B.S., Biology, Cum Laude

VICE PRESIDENT – DUE DILIGENCE

Sarah Maynard

Sarah is Vice President – Due Diligence at Envoy Net Lease Partners.

Her responsibilities include managing the due diligence and closing process for Envoy’s property acquisitions, high leverage loan programs and joint venture investments. She works directly with Envoy’s COO, Eric Spokas, on all aspects of project analysis and the closing process.

Prior to joining Envoy, Sarah was a Senior Loan Processor and Closer at Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp’s Chicago office. During her tenure there, she worked on closing 330 transactions totaling over $938 million. She has over 10 years of commercial finance experience and brings a thorough understanding of the closing process to Envoy. Sarah is originally from Southern Wisconsin, where she began her career in CRE at a Community Bank.

Education

CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY
B.A., Business Management
Cum Laude

BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Ronald Max

Ron has 30 years of commercial real estate experience covering more than $5 billion of acquisitions, development and financing, including extensive experience with single-tenant net lease properties. Previously, Mr. Max was with Geyser Holdings, LLC, as its Chief Operating Officer. At Geyser, he helped establish and manage a $400 million portfolio of hospitality, multi-family and net lease retail properties. Prior to Geyser, he established an acquisition and development program for single-tenant, net leased retail properties at Captec Financial Group. Upon its IPO, Mr. Max became Chief Investment Officer of Captec Net Lease Realty, Inc., a publicly traded REIT on the NYSE that focused on single-tenant properties.

Education

NORTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
B.S., Accountancy

Activities & Affiliations

  • Certified Public Accountant

ENVOY ADVISORY BOARD

Donald DeVivo

Mr. DeVivo serves as a Managing Director at Zesiger Capital Group LLC. For most of the 1980’s, he was working for the United Nations providing research and advisory services to Boards of Investment in the area of foreign direct investment and capital market development. In 1990 he and a partner founded several ventures in Vietnam, including Indochina Building Supplies Pte. Ltd. and Megastar Media. Mr. Devivo initially joined Zesiger Capital Group in 2000 with responsibilities primarily as portfolio manager in the international sector. Between June 2005 and December 2008, he was a Managing Partner of Caravel Management. He re­joined Zesiger Capital as of January, 2009. In addition to his responsibilities for the emerging market portfolio at Zesiger Capital Group, Mr. Devivo also sits on the boards of LRM Industries, Apiqe Ltd., Envoy Net Lease Partners and Vanguard Hotels Pte. Ltd.

Education

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
Ph.D., Philosophy

VASSAR COLLEGE
B.A., Physics