Will Hancock has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Brazos Residential, effective immediately, the Dallas-based multifamily real estate investment firm announced on June 8. In conjunction with this move, James Roberts has been named President. The appointments represent a formal refinement of leadership structure as the four-year-old firm prepares for its next phase of growth, with Hancock overseeing overall strategy, operations, and performance while Roberts leads strategic initiatives with particular focus on acquisitions, investment management, and integration of the broader Brazos holding company platform.
Both executives previously held the title of Managing Partner and Co-Founder at Brazos Residential, which was formed in January 2022. The restructuring signals an intentional separation of complementary roles within the bootstrapped firm. In remarks announcing the change, Hancock used a nautical metaphor to explain the rationale. "If two people row on the same side of the boat, you may still move forward, just not in a straight line and not as efficiently as you could. This next phase requires James and me to operate in clearly defined, complementary roles, rowing in sync from opposite sides," Hancock said. The firm emphasized that the appointments reflect its commitment to scaling into an institutional platform while maintaining discipline and culture. No search firm was named as involved in the appointment process.
Hancock brings nearly fifteen years of multifamily experience and extensive capital markets expertise. Before co-founding Brazos Residential, he was a Senior Vice President and Senior Director in NorthMarq's Mortgage Banking Division, where he structured and originated over 7 billion dollars in capital placements including agency loans, balance sheet debt, bridge loans, joint ventures, and preferred equity. Earlier in his career, he held roles at Wellington, a real estate investment firm specializing in acquisitions and asset management across multifamily, office, retail, and industrial assets, and at Myan Management, where he gained ground-level operational insights from property management teams. Throughout his career, he has been involved in the capitalization and management of over 30,000 multifamily units. Hancock holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Texas A&M University in Agricultural Leadership and Development with an emphasis in Economics.
Roberts brings approximately twenty years of multifamily sector experience and deep relationships across the industry. He began his career in real estate capital markets, working in debt and equity placement at NorthMarq Capital before transitioning to asset management at PNC Bank/Red Capital. He then spent over a decade in multifamily investment sales as a Senior Vice President at NorthMarq, where he was consistently recognized as one of the firm's top-producing brokers nationally. In 2021, he was ranked third overall within NorthMarq nationally and personally sold over 1 billion dollars of multifamily assets. During his career, he has been directly involved in approximately 5 billion dollars in transactions spanning more than 50,000 units. Roberts holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Real Estate and Management from Baylor University.
Brazos Residential, headquartered in Dallas, has grown substantially since its 2022 inception without institutional backing. The firm currently manages over 800 million dollars in assets under management across more than 7,000 apartment units and employs over 200 professionals. It operates as a vertically integrated platform encompassing investment management, property management through Brazos Residential Management, and construction management through Brazos Construction Management. The company focuses on workforce and Class B/C multifamily housing in high-growth Sun Belt markets, with strategic emphasis on acquiring attainable housing located near major employment centers in Texas and North Carolina. The appointment of separate CEO and President roles appears designed to support this scaling ambition. The multifamily sector has faced significant headwinds in recent years following rapid rent growth earlier in the cycle, though Sun Belt markets with employment-linked affordable housing remain attractive to investors. By formalizing the division of operational leadership and strategy (CEO function) from deal execution and platform integration (President function), Brazos appears to be signaling confidence in its platform model while acknowledging that the bootstrapped startup mentality must evolve to accommodate institutional-scale operations.
