Leadership
James Freeman, Principal
Mr. Freeman specializes in niche areas of tax planning and works directly with high net worth investors, family offices and their trusted advisors. His expertise focuses on tax-deferred 1031 exchanges, Delaware Statutory Trust (DSTs), tax-deferred Opportunity Zone funds, and numerous federal and state-sponsored tax mitigation strategies. Mr. Freeman has a Bachelor of Science and Master of Accounting from UNC Chapel Hill and an MBA from Duke University. Prior work and board experience includes International Taxation practice with Arthur Andersen and Deloitte; Director of Valvoline Oil, Germany.
He is the past Chair of the Board for the Georgia Society of CPAs, is on the Board of Governors of the Buckhead Club, and President of Filing for Freedom. Mr. Freeman and his family reside in Atlanta, Georgia, and are actively involved in their church and numerous philanthropic programs.
Ricky Novak, Principal
Mr. Novak specializes in niche areas of tax planning and works directly with high net worth investors, family offices, and their trusted advisors. His expertise focuses on tax-deferred 1031 exchanges, Delaware Statutory Trust (DSTs), tax-deferred Opportunity Zone funds, and numerous federal and state-sponsored tax mitigation strategies. Mr. Novak has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology and received his Juris Doctorate from Emory University’s School of Law, with a concentration in tax, real estate, and international law.
His prior work and board experience includes the International Taxation practice with Arthur Andersen; the Real Estate Taxation practice with Deloitte; Board of Directors of the Atlanta Bar Association; Chair of the Atlanta Bar’s Real Estate Section. He is also a past President of the Real Estate Group of Atlanta. Mr. Novak lives in Alys Beach, Florida with his wife, Lisa, and their son, and he and his family continue to be active philanthropists.
Steve Rothschild, Principal
Mr. Rothschild works directly with high net worth investors, family offices, corporations, insurance companies and trusted advisors providing solutions within the Strategic Group’s lines of business. His expertise focuses on state and federal tax credits, tax-deferred 1031 exchanges, tax-deferred Opportunity Zone funds, and numerous federal and state sponsored tax credit/deduction strategies. He is an active member of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Association for Corporate Growth, and CCIM. Mr. Rothschild is also on the Board of Governors of the Buckhead Club and sits on advisory boards of various companies.
Directors
Kathryn Williams is the Director of Tax and Finance where she is responsible for the tax planning, compliance, and financial statements for over two hundred entities at the Strategic Group. She supervises over ten large national accounting firms ensuring compliance and transparency. Additionally, she manages various product lines at Strategic such as fund management, opportunity zones, and other real estate ventures. She has been in the tax advisory and financial services for large complex multi-tiered companies for over a decade.
Prior to her time at Strategic, Kathryn worked at Alvarez and Marsal, LLC where she provided tax advisory services to companies in the real estate and private equity sectors. Before Alvarez and Marsal, Kathryn was responsible for the tax planning and compliance for a Finance Company, with collective assets of over $2 billion, that specialized in real estate and diversified banking.
Kathryn received both her Bachelor of Science in Accounting degree and her Master of Professional Accountancy, with a concentration in taxation, from the College of Charleston. She is a Certified Public Accountant and is a member of the Board for the Georgia Society of CPAs.
Jessica Freeman serves as the Director of Fund Management for The Strategic Group. In this capacity she handles the reporting, compliance, and overall management of The Strategic Group’s series of private placement funds. Ms. Freeman has over two decades of experience in fund and project management. Prior to her time at Strategic, Ms. Freeman worked at Ashland and Valvoline handling supply chain logistics and data management. Ms. Freeman received her Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Kentucky, and her Master of Business Administration from Indiana University.
Chris Martiner focuses on origination, acquisition and syndication activities of tax credits and leads the joint venture efforts for The Strategic Group in the development and preservation of multifamily housing on a national scale. Mr. Martiner has more than 24 years in the tax credit syndication space having closed well over $1B of tax credit transactions. Prior to his time at The Strategic Group, he led acquisitions for the State Tax Credit Exchange, co-founded Churchill Stateside Group and was the Senior Vice President of Acquisitions for Alliant Capital. Mr. Martiner started his career as an Asset Manager at Boston Capital where he managed investor returns and yield forecasts for Boston Capital’s $850MM public fund portfolio. In 2009, Mr. Martiner founded CayCap Advisors, a nationally recognized outsourced originator and advisory firm, that strategically built a direct tax credit equity investment platform for one of the largest privately-held companies in the U.S. Mr. Martiner commonly acts as a key member and investor voice for many state housing coalitions and forums and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Central Connecticut State University.