Experience & Leadership

A 15-year record leading high-stakes commercial brokerage, institutional acquisitions, historical redevelopments, and sovereign enterprise software.

Ben Collier Columbus, OH

Executive Summary & Core Competencies

15+ Years Commercial & PropTech Leadership

Strategic real estate operator and PropTech advocate with over 15 years of experience leading high-stakes commercial transactions and institutional acquisitions. Firm believer that aligning parties and executing win-win transactions yields the best long-term ROI. Specialist in portfolio value optimization (23% avg NOI lift), complex multi-market acquisitions (including a Class-A defense facility in Florida and aerospace site near Cornell), $10MM+ in capital redevelopments, and proprietary AI/CRM automation.

Commercial Real Estate Project Management Real Estate Development Licensed Land Professional Enterprise Software ERISA Fiduciary Experience

Founder

GarrisonOS • Remote
2026 – Present • Full-time
  • Volunteer Founder & Architect: Orchestrating and building the sovereign open-source standard for property management.
  • 100% Native Architecture: Zero external npm runtime dependencies; built on native TypeScript and Node.js standard modules under the GNU AGPL v3 license.
  • Deterministic Financial Core: Engineered a native double-entry general ledger and statutory trust accounting system that ensures balanced debits and credits and strict security deposit escrow isolation.
  • Community Leadership: Open roadmap welcoming contributors, complete API documentation, and drop-in self-hosting workflows for Linux and Docker.
Learn more about GarrisonOS →

Senior Vice President & Director of North American Operations

ME Commercial • Columbus, OH • Hybrid
Jul 2023 – Nov 2025 • 2 yrs 5 mos
  • Brand Co-Founding & Corporate Separation: Facilitated the operational transition to combine brokerage and management arms of the company; co-founded ME Commercial via a separation from ME Real Estate Companies to exclusively manage and invest in industrial, office, and retail properties across North America.
  • Team Leadership & Growth: Led the Columbus, Ohio based team to achieve improved brand imaging, streamlined operational efficiency, and significantly increased transaction volume.
  • $100MM+ AUM Milestone: Consulted with investment clients to bring equity capital to strategic acquisitions, scaling total portfolio value across the $100MM AUM threshold.
  • PropTech & AI Cost Reduction: Architected the firm’s proprietary technical infrastructure and AI-integrated systems, automating cross-border investor distributions, underwriting intake, and multi-entity reporting.
  • Fiduciary & Compliance Oversight: Served as 401(k) Plan Trustee (ERISA); managed HIPAA-compliant employee health data systems and complex multi-state corporate tax filings (Florida Sales & Use, Ohio CAT).
  • Key Acquisitions: Orchestrated the acquisition of a 116,648 SF Class-A defense contractor facility in Port Orange, Florida (executed with By Light on behalf of international investors) and the corporate sale-leaseback executed with Incodema3D on behalf of international investors (60,000 SF aerospace additive manufacturing site in Freeville, NY near Cornell University).

Director of Brokerage

ME Commercial • United States
Oct 2022 – Jul 2023 • 10 mos
  • Internal Landlord-Rep Leadership: Stepped into a mission-critical internal landlord-representation role that was grown to consist of a small group of three managing transactions and brokerage activities for a national portfolio valued over $85MM.
  • ~23% Average NOI Lift: Trained junior team members on the complexities of commercial lease transactions, streamlined lease drafting, and improved portfolio NOI by approximately 23% on average by optimizing OpEx and eliminating gross retail leases.
  • Dispute Resolution & Party Alignment: Resolved complex long-standing commercial lease disputes, prioritizing party alignment to drive long-term retention and stabilize assets ahead of the corporate spin-off.

President

Wisdom Companies • Columbus, OH • Hybrid
May 2020 – Oct 2023 • 3 yrs 6 mos
  • Executive Coaching & Sales Strategy: Directed executive sales operations, professional coaching, and business development funnels for digital marketplace initiatives.

Regional Operations Manager

ME Real Estate Companies • Columbus, OH • Hybrid
Apr 2019 – Oct 2022 • 3 yrs 7 mos
  • Multi-Hundred Door Management ($20MM–$50MM AUM): Managed Central Ohio property portfolio consisting of hundreds of multifamily residences, mixed-use buildings, and commercial space, delivering exceptional results for local and overseas investors.
  • Aggregate $10MM+ CapEx & Historical Adaptive Reuse: Directed and executed extensive capital expenditure programs across regional commercial, retail, and multifamily properties, specializing in the tax-incentivized historical conversion of downtown Columbus office and manufacturing spaces into high-yield multifamily inventory.
  • Technical Frameworks: Implemented technical project management frameworks and standardized reporting pipelines across asset performance, maintenance response, and capital budgeting.

Asset Manager

ME Real Estate Companies • Columbus, OH • On-site
Nov 2018 – Apr 2019 • 6 mos
  • Construction & Rehabilitation: Orchestrated and supervised new construction and rehabilitation projects working directly under the founder of a property investment and management firm based in Columbus, Ohio.
  • Rapid Ascent: Elevated to full regional operational oversight within five months following successful turnaround of a distressed asset pipeline and delivery of disciplined financial reporting standards.

Founding Partner

Grey Matter
2016 – Dec 2018 • 2 yrs
  • Hosting, Cloud & Design Services: Delivered cloud infrastructure, SaaS architecture, digital advertising strategy, and custom web design services for growing businesses.

Independent Consultant & Field Inspector

Freelance (Self-Employed) • Hybrid
2010 – Dec 2018 • 8 yrs
  • Development Consulting & Field Inspections: Independent consulting, management, and field inspections for real estate developments and construction projects.
  • Small Business & Web Strategy: Consulting, project management, and web design for regional small businesses, delivering incidental real estate services focused toward supporting local community growth.

Professional Services Specialist

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. • North America • Hybrid
Mar 2013 – Nov 2018 • 5 yrs 9 mos
  • Multi-Million B2B Sales & Sourcing: Built and maintained relationships with real estate developers, property management companies, tradespeople, general contractors, and government organizations. Generated multi-millions of sales in building products, facility maintenance supplies, and construction services.
  • Top Performance in North America: Consistently ranked among top performers across North America. Visited work-sites and corporate campuses to spec materials, review architectural/engineering designs, perform job-lot takeoffs, and supervise execution.
  • Fortune 500 & Institutional Clients: Built ongoing relationships for the development, construction, and renovation of thousands of homes, retail spaces, warehouses, and office buildings. Clients included CBRE, Colliers, Schottenstein Property Group, L Brands, as well as major regional builders including Kokosing, Elford, The Ohio State University, and Rite Rug.
  • Manufacturer Vendor Partnerships: Executed direct cost-optimization of pricing, contract negotiations, and order management with premier manufacturers including Whirlpool, 3M, Honeywell, Carrier, Masco, Sherwin-Williams, Lumen, and Mohawk.
  • Client Recruitment: Left the company at the direct request of a real estate client who recruited Ben to join their executive team, maintaining an active ongoing client relationship thereafter.

Project Manager

Input Output Flood, LLC • Remote
2010 – 2012 • 2 yrs
  • SaaS Development & International Engineering: Managed development and implementation of a SaaS web portal for online server management of Java-based applications. Oversaw complete project developed by US and Pakistan based software engineers (PHP, MySQL).
  • On-Time Delivery & Integrations: Delivered product on-time and under budget, allowing rapid deployment of front-end sales portals, account management, and automated payment processing.
  • Strategic Acquisition: Product was subsequently acquired by an industry-leading competitor to integrate the software directly into their core hosting platform, yielding a 1,000%+ Return on Equity (ROE).

Fiduciary Governance & Regulatory Compliance

Ben Collier has operated as a formal corporate fiduciary with full ERISA accountability, ensuring zero-defect compliance in highly regulated environments:

ERISA Trusteeship
401(k) Plan Trustee

Fiduciary stewardship of retirement assets, audit compliance & ADP payroll integration.

Privacy & Data Security
HIPAA Compliance

Secure handling of employee health data, encryption protocols & role-based access.

Corporate Tax Filings
Multi-State Tax Filings

Florida Sales & Use Tax, Ohio Commercial Activity Tax (CAT), entity tax structuring.

View Commercial Transactions & Mandate → Connect on LinkedIn Contact