Team

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.

Peter Field

Director of Finance

Peter Field drives ANiMAL’s long-term financial strategy to optimize performance and boost investor returns while mitigating financial and operational risk. He is responsible for underwriting all of ANiMAL’s investments, from financial analysis and modeling, development feasibility, deal structuring, and supporting both debt and equity partners. Peter brings over 10 years of experience overseeing complex real estate portfolios, most recently at Atlanta’s Georgia-Pacific. He holds a Master of Science (MS), Finance from SMU Cox School of Business and a Bachelor of Science, Economics from Trinity College-Hartford.

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.

Alex Wilson

Director of Asset Management & Acquisitions

Alex Wilson is responsible for executing ANiMAL’s real estate strategy to optimize value across the portfolio. He oversees all day-to-day asset management, with a focus on driving income, reducing operating costs and financial reporting to ensure the assets are maintained in line with ANiMAL’s investment strategy. Alex is also a key player on the acquisitions team, applying his expertise to identify and evaluate new investment opportunities. He established an office in Charlotte, North Carolina and drives ANiMAL’s growth plans in the region. Alex holds a Bachelor of Science, Engineering Science from Vanderbilt University.

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.

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.