Team
As a high-performing, results-driven and integrous team, we think big, act fast and do the impossible.
Max Cookes
Founding Partner
Max Cookes brings close to 20 years of experience across the US and Australian real estate markets, specializing in property investment, development, and brokerage of residential, commercial, and retail property. Max has a particular focus on market analysis, sourcing and acquisition, as well as rezoning, entitlement, and problem-solving. Before co-founding ANiMAL, Max was a Partner and Executive Director of Property at an international investment firm and co-founder of a development and asset management company in the Southeast, and before that held a senior position at CBRE. He has a Bachelor of Property and Construction and a Master of Property from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Alex Hay
Founding Partner
Alex Hay has close to 20 years of experience in the real estate industry, specializing in investment, risk management, and development. Since establishing himself in the US over a decade ago, Alex has been involved in the due diligence, acquisition, value add and disposal of over 120 assets throughout the United States. Prior to co-founding ANiMAL, Alex served as a Partner and Executive Director of Property at an international investment firm and was a co-founder of a development and asset management company in the Southeast. He holds a Diploma of Building and Construction and a Bachelor of Applied Science, Property (Honors) from RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia.
Wenhao Zhang
Director of Real Estate
Wenhao Zhang is responsible for researching and sourcing potential investment opportunities, and supporting ANiMAL’s objectives at all stages of the investment life cycle - from due diligence, financial analysis and underwriting, asset management, development feasibility, risk management and disposal. He has over 7 years’ experience working in commercial real estate, most recently in the investment divisions of Zillow and Pathway Homes. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
Isabella Hubay
Director of Design
Isabella Hubay is a trained architect, and is responsible for ensuring the optimization of target development sites can be realized. She is focused on identifying and validating the development potential, and assisting and coordinating design consultants with zoning, site massing and feasibility studies. Isabella previously worked at Foley Design Associates Architects, Inc. where she was involved in the delivery of urban projects with a gross realization of over $250,000,000. She holds a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Environments – Architecture from the University of Melbourne, Australia.
Tesse Hoekstra
Director of Communications
Tesse Hoekstra is responsible for coordinating investor communications, PR, and asset marketing. She supports due diligence, finance reporting and compliance throughout acquisitions and asset management. She has over 10 years of experience working across the commercial real estate lending, development and engineering space, and most recently headed up the pursuits and proposals team at a national engineering and real estate due diligence firm. She holds a Bachelor of Arts - Media and Communications from the University of Melbourne, Australia.