Our Professionals
Essex agents average ten years of real estate experience and come from a variety of real estate backgrounds including law, accounting, finance, appraisal, and property management. This breadth of knowledge and experience benefits our clients by providing the necessary tools to anticipate and solve problems, thereby increasing the likelihood of a successful transaction.
Douglas S. Imber 
President
Douglas S. Imber is co-founder and President of Essex Realty Group, Inc. He has been involved in nearly $1 billion of investment real estate transactions throughout his 20 year career and has represented many of Chicago's most prominent real estate companies and lending institutions. In addition, Doug is the general partner of more than 2,000 apartment units throughout the Midwest.
Doug received his Bachelor of Arts from Auburn University and completed his Masters of Management from Northwestern University's J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, with concentrations in finance and real estate. He is a licensed real estate broker in Illiinois.
Doug has been honored as Chicago's top multi-family broker and is a regular speaker regarding Chicago's investment real estate market.
Doug lives in Glencoe with his wife Lisa, a real estate attorney, and their twins, Jacob and Arielle. He remains involved in numerous charitable organizations.
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Principals & Managing Directors
James J. Darrow
Principal and Managing Director
James J. Darrow is a third generation investment real estate practitioner with in excess of $375,000,000 worth of closed real estate transactions to date. He has more than 18 years of investment real estate experience and has been with Essex since 1998.
The son of a successful commercial real estate developer and investor Jim has followed in his family's long real estate tradition; he owns and actively manages investment properties in the Edgewater, Lakeview and Lincoln Park neighborhoods in the City of Chicago.
Consequently, Jim has been involved in real estate in one form or another his entire life. This depth of experience and knowledge are the greatest assets he contributes to his clients. Jim has worked with many of the most prominent Financial Institutions and Chicago investors, including ICM Properties, Acorn Management, Peak Properties, Banner Property Management, JAB Opportunity Funds and M. Fishman & Co. to name just a few.
Jim is a licensed real estate salesperson in the State of Illinois. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from Saint Joseph's College, majoring in Management and minoring in Political Science.
Jim is honored to have been recognized as one of the top Chicago Multi-Family brokers, and has had the privilege of serving as the 2010 Chairman of the Chicago Association of Realtors CommercialForum Committee and as a Director for the Association.Â
Jim remains active and is a member of the Edgewater-Uptown Builders Association, REIA, and the CommercialForum.
Jim lives in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood with his wife and children where they are involved in the community and various charity organizations.
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Douglas Fisher
Principal and Managing Director
Prior to joining Essex Realty Group in 2002, Doug was a Vice President with the Liberty Hampshire Company, LLC, a privately held investment firm specializing in Asset-Backed Securities and providing off-balance sheet funding to financial institutions. Previously, he was a Director in the Asset Backed Finance Division of the Capital Markets Group at The First National Bank of Chicago (now JPMorgan Chase).
Doug began his career at First Chicago in the Bank's Corporate Finance and Capital Markets Training Program and has participated in the origination and underwriting of over $20 billion in asset securitization transactions.
Doug received a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA in Finance from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Doug also received Series 7 Securities Licensing in 1996.
Doug has been active in the following community organizations: Edgewater-Uptown Builders Association (Membership Co-Chair), Rogers Park Builders Group, Celebration of Life for Children with Cancer (Vice President), Young Leadership of JUF (Past Treasurer), Real Estate Trade Division of JUF and Chicago's Partnership 2000.
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Matthew C. Welke
Principal and Managing Director
Matthew C. Welke joined Essex Realty Group, Inc. as Managing Director in March 2004 to focus on investment brokerage throughout Chicago. Prior to joining Essex, Matt was an Investment Associate with a national real estate brokerage company in Chicago. During his tenure there he was recognized with multiple achievement awards. Matt has also been recognized multiple times by the Chicagoland Commercial Real Estate Forum for his achievements, his impact on the community, and his professionalism and ethics. Matt was recently honored by GlobeSt.com and Real Estate Forum as a national 40 Under 40 award recipient.
In addition to his investment brokerage business, Matt co-founded Rockwell Partners, LLC with the vision of assisting financial institutions in the receivership and management of distressed real estate assets. Matt has been involved in the sale, acquisition, development or management of over $400 million of investment real estate.
Matt attended Purdue University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management with minors in Finance and Manufacturing Management. Matt currently resides in Park Ridge with his wife, Kristie, a high school teacher, and their two children, Madeline and Dane. He remains involved in numerous charitable organizations.
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Directors
Jordan Gottlieb
Director
Jordan Gottlieb joined Essex Realty Group in 2008 and focuses on the sale of investment real estate throughout Chicago.
Jordan is a licensed attorney in the State of Illinois, receiving his Juris Doctor from Chicago-Kent College of Law in May 2007. He worked as an attorney in Insurance Defense litigation until February 2008 and previously for a prominent national residential developer.
Jordan is a licensed Real Estate Broker in the State of Illinois. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Finance from the University of Illinois at Champaign in 2004.
Outside of the workplace, Jordan is involved in a number of charitable organizations and teaches tennis part-time at the East Bank Club.
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David Schwartz
Director
David T. Schwartz brings substantial real estate experience to Essex Realty Group, Inc. where he focuses on retail and mixed-use assets.
After a beginning in corporate real estate consultation and tenant representation, David co-founded DS Development, a successful North Shore residential real estate development and general contracting firm which developed and sold over thirty new-construction projects in Chicago and its suburbs. In that capacity, David was actively involved in sourcing debt and equity capital, entitlement procurement, contract negotiation, construction management, product design and marketing.
Additionally, David is involved in the management of over 450,000 square feet of investment property and remains actively involved in finance, management and leasing.
Prior to joining Essex in 2010, David specialized in representing clients in the acquisition and disposition of retail properties and distressed assets at Marcus & Millichap in Chicago.
David graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison with a BA in 1992. He has completed post-graduate business course work at Roosevelt University and University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, a licensed real estate agent in the State of Illinois and an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
David is married to Marcy Miller, an attorney specializing in helping others build their families through assisted reproductive technologies. They reside in Highland Park with their three children and enjoy traveling and the great outdoors.
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Kate Varde joined Essex Realty Group as an Associate in the spring of 2007 concentrating primarily on asset valuation, detailed transaction analysis, monitoring neighborhood trends, and the sales of multi-family transactions.
Kate was promoted to Director in 2010 and is now additionally responsible for business development. During her tenure at Essex, Kate has been involved in the sales of over $125 million of investment property; including more than 2,000 apartment units.
Prior to joining Essex, Kate was a Foreign Exchange Trader at the Gelber Group, a proprietary firm, where she was responsible for analyzing and interpreting rapidly changing market conditions. Kate also played professional softball for the Chicago Bandits. A native Chicagoan, Kate knows the city and greater suburban areas well.
Away from work, Kate enjoys playing basketball and softball. She also coaches a youth softball team in the Trevian Girls Softball Association. Kate graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Psychology.
Jason Fishleder joined Essex as an Associate in the summer of 2008 and concentrates primarily on asset valuation and transaction analysis, as well as business management and development.
Prior to joining Essex, Jason worked as a Real Estate Analyst in both Underwriting and Originations at Bridger Commercial Funding, a Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities conduit lender.
Away from work, Jason enjoys spending time with friends, as well as working out and playing various sports such as tennis, basketball and golf.
Jason received a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University, majoring in Economics and minoring in Spanish, and is a licensed Real Estate Salesperson in the State of Illinois.
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Robert O'Connell has been involved in investment real estate for over twenty years as a commercial broker, owner and property manager. Bob's focus has been in multifamily on the south side of Chicago, south suburbs and northwest Indiana. He holds both Illinois and Indiana brokers licenses. Bob graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Illinois University and now resides in Valparaiso, Indiana with his two teens.
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