Leadership in Development

John Iredale, Founder

John Iredale is the President of Karsten Companies, a full-service construction and development firm that he started in 1987 and an original partner at Omni Navitas, a national solar development firm. Karsten Company has successfully completed hundreds of projects throughout a wide range of sectors including industrial, educational, residential, office, retail, and healthcare. The Karsten Companies moved into development starting in 2005 and concentrated in both market rate and affordable housing.

Jim McAuliffe, Founder

Jim McAuliffe has over 40 years in real estate and solar development. He worked for John Hancock early in his career for a decade in their real estate group, and later created and was President of a division of Hancock that started up one of the earliest low-income housing tax credit funds. He hired over 30 people and raised over $350 million for the endeavor. He left Hancock to form Abbott Development, the first company in Massachusetts to build transit-oriented apartment developments. Major partners included MassMutual Life Insurance Company, Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, and the Electrical Workers’ National Pension Fund. In 2013, Jim founded and ran Omni Navitas, a national solar development firm. Omni became the largest solar developer in New York state. Over the course of his career, Jim McAuliffe has raised over $1 billion for the development of real estate and solar projects.