Cecil M. Phillips

Chairman, CEO
Place Services Group, LLC

Cecil was born and raised in Missouri, and has lived in Atlanta since 1971. He received his B.A. with honors in Diplomatic History from the University of Missouri in 1968 and his J.D. degree from the University of Michigan in 1971.

From 1971-1979, Cecil was an associate and then a partner in the Atlanta law firm of Alston & Bird. From 1979-1983, he was Special Assistant and Executive Assistant to the Governor of Georgia.

In 1984, Cecil founded Phillips International (the predecessor to Place Properties, an affiliated group of companies.) That firm specialized in U.S. real estate and corporate finance opportunities for its offshore clients. The real estate projects financed and developed by the firm included on-campus and off-campus student housing at major U.S. colleges and universities, medical office buildings, shopping centers, multi-family housing projects, hotels, golf courses, resorts and residential developments, as well as land held for commercial and recreational development.

Cecil has financed, developed and overseen the development of more than 33,000 bedrooms of on-campus and off-campus housing at 30 different campuses, including a hotel conversion to student housing in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

Cecil has served on the boards of directors of publicly held financial institutions, including serving as chair of a publicly held federally-chartered bank holding company.

Cecil has also recently served as a member of the Board of Directors of Research Atlanta, Inc., the Georgia Lottery Corporation, Chairman of the Board of Visitors at Emory University and Chair of the Georgia Policy Council on Children and Families. Cecil is a Commissioner and Chairman of the Atlanta Housing Authority, Chairman of the Dean’s Council of the Emory University School of Public Health, Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Howard School, and Chairman of the Atlanta Regional Board of Teach For America. Cecil has been a member of The Council on Foreign Relations since 1997.

Cecil is married. He and his wife Carol have three daughters, Megan, Chesley and Lydia.

John (Jack) M. Crocker, Jr.

Chief Operating Officer
Place Services Group, LLC

Jack has over 30 years of experience in the real estate business. Before joining Place Properties, an affiliated group of companies, Jack was President and CEO of Opus North Corporation, which had nearly $200 million in annual revenues, and annual development volume in excess of two million square feet. Opus Group is a national design/build construction and real estate development organization with annual revenues over $1 billion.

Prior to Opus North Corporation, Jack served as Senior Vice President and minority development partner for Walsh Higgins & Company (now Higgins Development Partners) a real estate development company.

Jack currently serves as Chairman of the Physical Facilities Subcommittee of Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. The Subcommittee is overseeing the $915 million construction of a replacement hospital in the exclusive Streeterville Neighborhood. Jack has chaired the subcommittee from project conception, through programming, design, entitlement and into construction.

Bob Clark

Executive Vice President
Finance, Acquisitions, & Management
Place Services Group, LLC

As Executive Vice President of Finance, Acquisitions, and Management, Bob is responsible for all finance and capital market activities for the company, including cash management, risk management and legal matters. In addition, he oversees all management services provided through Place Management Group, the property management affiliate of Place Properties. Lastly, Bob is responsible for all business development and acquisition activities for the company.

Prior to joining Place Properties, Bob served as Chief Financial Officer for Hardin Capital, a privately held hospitality development company. While at Hardin, Bob successfully raised more than $300 million in debt and equity capital used for development and acquisition projects. His responsibilities included financial reporting, treasury management, investor relations, human resources and technology.

From 1995 until 1999, Bob served as Vice President of Finance for Homestead Village, Inc., a publicly held hospitality company. During his four years with Homestead, the company developed and opened 124 hotels and increased revenues from $18 million to $250 million. Bob participated in raising more that $1 billion in debt and equity and was a key member of the team that led the company through its IPO.

During nearly nine years with Marriott Corporation, Bob was promoted through a variety of accounting and finance positions, including Director of Accounting for the company’s Lodging Division.

Dan Fitzpatrick

Executive Vice President, Development & Construction
Place Services Group, LLC

As Chief Construction Officer, Dan is responsible for all construction services for Place Properties, an affiliated group of companies, student portfolio. Dan oversees Place Properties development team to ensure quality and consistency.

Prior to joining Place Properties Dan was Senior Vice President for Carter Real Estate where he oversaw the development of projects and team coordination. While at Carter, Dan was responsible for over $600 million worth of development projects which included mixed-use, retail, residential, medical offices, laboratories and parking decks.

Prior to Carter, Dan was in a senior management position with Beers/Skanska in the Southeast.