Sam Hales, CEO
Private Equity Real Estate fund manager with $300M+ AUM and Founder of the Saratoga Group. Saratoga Group was established in 2011 and is exclusively focused on the purchase, revitalization and operation of Mobile Home Communities. Sams' previous real estate experience includes distressed asset workouts, land development, redevelopment and lease options. Aside from being the lead investor/developer in the entitlement and development of large tracts of land, since 2009, he has been actively purchasing single-family properties in the Sacramento and Bay Area markets. Sam has touched nearly every CRE asset class including: industrial, office, hospitality single and multi-family. But he loves the MH asset class and believes it is a vital part of the solution to today's housing affordability crisis.
Sam is passionate about helping local communities. He is an active member of the Auburn Economic Development Council.Sam currently sits on the board for Auburn Sutter Faith Hospital, and volunteers with local Boy Scout and Church youth groups.
Sam received his MBA from The Wharton School of Business with an emphasis in Finance and a BS from BYU in Chemical Engineering.
Shawn Felkley, CPO
Shawn Felkley is the Chief People Officer (CPO) for Saratoga Group, Inc. In her role, she headspears the strategy and processes related to building and retaining an exceptional team of professionals. She acts as an advisor and consultant to the team, she works with the organization to continuously develop and maintain a well-defined culture, and leads the team through navigating labor laws and compliance.
Shawn has been a trusted advisor in people operations with over 25 years of experience in leadership roles, including roles as Vice President of Human Resources & Marketing, Vice President of Human Resources & Administration, and Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to Saratoga, she most recently operated as Vice President of Human Resources for 4 years for a Real Estate & Development firm with over $884m in assets. She has championed people operations for up to 3,000 members with multi-site and multi-state locations.
Shawn is a community advocate, holding board of director positions for multiple well-known non-profit organizations. She received the following non-profit award: the Influencer Award and Volunteer of the Year (twice). She has received two business awards, including Regional Community Support Diamond award, and Marketer of the Year award both from a national brand.
Shawn holds her Bachelors Degree in Business Management, SHRM-CP® and PHR® certifications, and a Human Resources Executive certification from the University of Michigan.
Luke Hales, CTO
Luke received his Bachelors and Masters in Civil Engineering from BYU with high honors. He went on to work for ExxonMobil for over a decade, working on multibillion dollar oil/gas developments in places like PNG, Qatar, India and Indonesia. Luke left the oil industry in 2013, purchased a small organic farm and began flipping properties in middle TN and Kentucky. Luke was an investor in Saratoga Group since its inception and then joined the company in March 2018. As the CTO he oversees all the capital projects for improving and expanding our communities. Luke's passion is finding distressed trailer parks and turning them into stable, safe and inviting communities for families and children. If you ask him how he likes the mobile home space he is quick to reply, "Never a boring day!"
Luke is fluent in Spanish and very involved in his church congregation and serving the youth and Spanish-speaking members. He enjoys playing ultimate frisbee, basketball and pickleball and loves studying American history.
Steve Sacher, COO
Steve received his Masters in Executive Leadership and Management and is passionate about developing a strong company culture leading to increased engagement and performance. There is nothing that excites Steve more than developing emerging leaders and improving operational efficiencies. Since 2017, Steve has had significant success in transforming distressed mobile home parks into thriving communities. This rewarding work benefits the staff, residents and investors.
Steve is an active member of his church and sits on the board for Health Education Africa Resource Team where he has completed 10 trips to Kenya focusing on community driven development. In his free time, Steve loves to spend time outdoors with his wife and two boys.
Joe McAdams, Board Advisor
Joe is an icon in the MH and RV industries. Beginning in 1991, Joe was CEO of the Affinity Group. Affinity had 2 million members in their clubs that offered ancillary products and services to the RV industry. Affinity had annual revenue of about $450 million. Joe purchasedThousand Trails, the largest private membership camping organization in the United States, in 2006. Thousand Trails had 82 RV resorts and 135,000 member families when it was purchased by ELS. Joe then became the President of Equity Lifestyle Properties (ELS) with a market capitalization at that time of $3 billion. They had over 5100 employees and annual revenues in excess of $500 million.
Joe continues to consult to the MH/RV industry. His current clients include ELS, Brown and Brown, Campers Inn and Costco Auto Buying Services. He now lives in Hot Springs, Arkansas and enjoys life on the lake.