Meet The Peak 15 Board of Advisors

John Matheson is the President, Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Essential Realty Partners, LLC.  He has held several C-level roles within organizations including CEO, COO, Corporate Development and Chief Restructuring roles as well as General Counsel and Secretary. He has worked in over 25 countries with substantial executive management, legal and accounting experience over his 30-year career with both publicly-traded and private companies in the international energy, power/utilities, field services, manufacturing, financial services, medical devices and real estate markets. 

John served as the President and Chief Executive Officer and Board member of Global Power Equipment Group, a New York Stock Exchange traded company and a global engineering, manufacturing and project management provider to the utility power generation industry. During his tenure at Global Power, John held several other roles within the organization including Chief Operating Officer and as the company’s General Counsel and Secretary. John was also responsible for restructuring and reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions and China ventures and operations headquartered in Nanjing, China.

John was formerly with The Williams Companies, Inc. (NYSE: WMB), a Fortune 500 company with energy and electricity generation assets. Previously, John served as the President and CEO and Board member of Express Integrated Technologies, LLC., a manufacturing company for the worldwide energy and power markets. John oversaw several of the company’s key strategic initiatives in Alberta, Canada.  John was a partner with the law firm of Conner & Winters as well as a Certified Public Accountant with Price Waterhouse.

John has also served on nonprofit boards and has been an advocate of children for over 25 years by either providing direct legal pro bono counsel or serving on boards dedicated to helping at-risk youth. John currently serves as a Board member of the Humane Society of St. Thomas. John is a member of the U.S. Virgin Islands Bar Association, Oklahoma Bar Association and serves as a Nominating Delegate to the Harvard Club of New York City and is a former long-time member of YPO.

John is a graduate of Harvard Business School, Georgetown University Law Center and holds a degree with Highest Honors (summa cum laude) from the University of Oklahoma Price School of Business.  In 2009, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year and inducted into E&Y’s Hall of Fame for his executive leadership.

Rick Courtney is a 40-year veteran of the multifamily industry.  He serves as the CEO of Essential Realty Partners (Essential), a Dallas-based national real estate investment firm specializing in multifamily and built-to-rent (BTR) properties.

Over his career, Rick has transacted/managed over 17,000 multifamily units and 3.2 million square feet of commercial space nationwide.  He has led private equity real estate platforms at the C-level for over 15 years and derived a unique insight industry insight from operating through multiple real estate cycles. 

Rick is a licensed real estate broker in Arkansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, and has held Series 7, 22, 39 and 63 securities licenses. He also holds multiple professional designations, including Certified Occupancy Specialist (COS), Tax Credit Specialist (TCS), and Management and Occupancy Review Specialist (MORS) from the National Center for Housing Management. Additionally, he has earned the elite Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) and Certified Property Manager (CPM) designations from the CCIM Institute and the Institute for Real Estate Management, respectively. He graduated cum laude from Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business with a degree in Management.

Rick also sits on the Board of Directors of The Family Office Real Estate Institute (FORE) and is a member of The Forbes Business Counsel.