OUR TEAM
Spencer Barney
Mr. Barney joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Vice President in January 2022, responsible for construction management of all project types across the firm’s portfolio. Prior to joining Blue Rise Ventures, Mr. Barney spent 6 years at Boston Properties and 2 years at Whiting-Turner managing ground-up construction projects in the SF Bay Area in both ownership and general contracting roles. Mr. Barney received his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of California, Davis, and is a certified LEED Accredited Professional. He currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys pickup basketball, watching Jeopardy, and a good slice of pizza.
Ryan Braniff, CFA, CAIA
Mr. Braniff is a Managing Partner and co-founder of Blue Rise Ventures, responsible for oversight of operations, finance and accounting, investment analytics and construction management across all sectors. Mr. Braniff previously spent over four years at Local Capital Group as COO/CFO while partnering to build Local’s Commercial Real Estate platform. He spent over ten years in the multi-asset class investment space as Managing Director at BlackRock in San Francisco, CA and New York, NY within the Multi-Asset Strategies and Client Solutions investment divisions and as Director of Business Technology at Makena Capital in Menlo Park, CA. Mr. Braniff earned his Master’s in Financial Engineering (MFE) and his BA in Economics with a minor in Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designations. He is a lifelong resident of the SF Bay Area currently living in Menlo Park and enjoys quality time with friends and family, running, and playing tennis.
David Farrell
Mr. Farrell joined Blue Rise Ventures via Local Capital Group in May 2019 and currently acts as a Senior Vice President responsible for leasing, asset management, and acquisitions. Prior to joining Blue Rise, Mr. Farrell spent three years at Terreno Realty Corporation as an acquisitions and asset management associate. During his time at Terreno, he completed 24 transactions totaling over $350 million. He also oversaw operations, leasing, and construction management for a 5 million square foot industrial portfolio. Mr. Farrell received a BBA in both Real Estate and Finance from the University of San Diego. He currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys cycling and playing soccer.
Kelsey Fernando
Ms. Fernando joined Blue Rise Ventures in August 2021 and serves as an Associate. Her responsibilities include construction project management and support of development related activities. Prior to joining Blue Rise, Ms. Fernando worked for CRB as a project engineer, where she was responsible for the Bachem Site Expansion project which included the building of a new QC lab, R&D lab, and cleanroom. Ms. Fernando received a BS in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of San Diego. She currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys golfing and snowboarding.
Joan Hu
Ms. Hu joined Blue Rise Ventures in March 2021 and serves as an Associate responsible for underwriting and financial analytics. Ms. Hu also provides support in various asset management functions including leasing, marketing, and investor reporting. Prior to joining Blue Rise, Ms. Hu worked for Maximus Real Estate Partners, where she handled multifamily property management and leasing. Ms. Hu received a BA in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently lives in San Francisco and enjoys hiking, snowboarding, and playing tennis.
Griff King
Mr. King joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Partner in March 2024. He is responsible for sourcing new acquisitions and capital partner relationships, leveraging over 20 years of experience in Bay Area institutional investments across life science, office, and industrial/R&D properties. Mr. King previously spent 2 years as a Partner at Beam Reach, acquiring and entitling off-market life science and multifamily development properties. Before Beam Reach, he was a Partner at Harvest Properties, where he sourced, successfully executed all aspects of deal oversight and repositioning plans, and sold over $1B of institutionally partnered commercial real estate totaling over 3M sq. ft. He also held positions at Stanford Management Company and Robertson Stephens. Mr. King holds an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, and a BA from Princeton University. He serves as Treasurer on the Board of Directors of NAIOP’s Silicon Valley Chapter. Mr. King is an East Coast transplant from Maryland who now lives in his wife‘s Peninsula hometown with their 2 children, and 3 dogs. He is a retired football and lacrosse player who enjoys the outdoors with his family and working on his lackluster golf game.
Dan McGill
Mr. McGill is a Partner at Blue Rise Ventures and is responsible for asset management, new business and capital partner relationships. Mr. McGill has over 20 years of commercial experience, including his most recent prior role at Sares Regis Group where he led the development of a 750,000 sq ft, new corporate headquarters in Santa Clara. Prior to Sares Regis, Mr. McGill held positions at Apple, Hines Interests, and Jones Lang LaSalle. He is LEED GA certified and earned a Masters in Real Estate Development from MIT and a Bachelor of Sciences from Vanderbilt University. He lives in Orinda with his wife and two girls and enjoys skiing, lacrosse, and playing board games with his family.
Dan Poritzky
Mr. Poritzky is a Founder and Managing Partner at BRV, responsible for oversight of operations, leasing, new business, and capital partner relationships. He has over 24 years of institutional experience having started his career at Prologis and Eastdil, and later holding executive positions at Hines and MWest Properties (a DivcoWest and TPG Portfolio Company). In total, he has worked on over $13 billion of real estate. Mr. Poritzky received his BS in Accounting from the College of Business and Economics at Lehigh University. On the volunteering side, Mr. Poritzky serves on the Board of Directors for the following organizations: Alameda Boys and Girls Club (www.alamedabgc.org) and Special Operators Transition Foundation (naiopsfba.org). In his spare time, Mr. Poritzky likes to spend time with his wife, Alison, and 3 girls, Madelyn, Lyla, and Natalie, reminding them that he peaked athletically in the 9th grade.
Mark Romney
Mr. Romney joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Senior Vice President in 2023, where he is leading the Business Development efforts. He spent the past 32 years with the University of California, Davis, where he most recently served as the Chief Industry Alliance Officer for the University’s Aggie Square Innovation District. In that role, Mr. Romney was responsible for securing strategic industry partners to collocate with the university in the 1.2M SF initial phase. In addition, Mr. Romney was responsible for the ideation and master planning of Aggie Square, leveraging his experience in innovation district development, industry partner curation and facility master planning. Mr. Romney's expertise in innovation district development has made him a frequently asked guest speaker and panel moderator, and he is currently serving his second term on the Association of University Research Parks AURP National Board of Directors as well as serving as its Vice President. In his free time, Mr. Romney enjoys golf and travel.
Ryan Ruhl
Mr. Ruhl joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Senior Vice President in January 2022. He is responsible for leading ground-up construction management and entitlement activities and assisting in oversight and project management of tenant and base building improvement construction for the firm’s commercial life sciences portfolio. Mr. Ruhl has over 20 years of commercial construction experience working in all roles from Project Engineer and Superintendent thru Project Executive across all different project types including life science/biotech, retail, food service, and residential. In his most recent role, he served as a Vice President for Related Companies, leading all preconstruction, construction, and operational activities on select high-rise residential and assisted living facilities on the West Coast. Prior to Related, Mr. Ruhl held positions at Swinerton Builders, GCI General Contractors, Webcor Builders, Turner Construction, and the US Army. He holds an MS in Engineering Management from the University of Missouri – Rolla and a BS in Civil Engineering from the United States Military Academy – West Point. He spends most of his free time coaching his children’s sports teams and enjoying the outdoors.
Zach Sahn
Mr. Sahn joined Blue Rise Ventures via Local Capital Group in October 2019 and serves as a Vice President responsible for oversight of the financial and operating performance of all real estate assets. Prior to joining Local, Mr. Sahn was a staff accountant at Medley Partners, a fund of funds investment firm. While there, he oversaw cash management across nearly 40 private equity funds as well as calculated quarterly performance. Mr. Sahn completed his BS in Finance from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He currently lives in Oakland and enjoys golfing and traveling in his free time.
Eric Tecza
Mr. Tecza joined Blue Rise Ventures as a Vice President in January 2022. His responsibilities include oversight of the design and entitlement of ground-up projects within the firm’s Life Sciences portfolio. Prior to joining Blue Rise, Mr. Tecza spent four years at Sares Regis Group as a senior project manager providing development management services for large ground-up office projects in Silicon Valley from entitlement through occupancy, with a focus on design-build delivery and mass timber construction methods. Mr. Tecza holds a full-time MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business, and a BS in Architecture from The University of Cincinnati. Mr. Tecza is a board member of the Alameda TMA, a non-profit organization that works to enhance alternative transportation options for Alameda Island. He also serves on the board of the Pacific Cup, a biennial yacht race from San Francisco, California to Kaneohe, Hawaii. Mr. Tecza is a licensed architect in the State of California and enjoys competitive sailing in his free time.