Leadership | Preserve Communities

Preserve Communities Leadership Team

We have a seasoned leadership team that combines decades of experience with a commitment to thoughtful, inspired development.

Vi Bui

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Jeff Coggin

Vice President Master Developer Communities

Partners

In support of the Preserve Communities real estate executive team, we have two entities playing a crucial role in our operations and investments.

IMI Worldwide Properties

A leader in the luxury real estate industry, IMI Worldwide Properties provides sales and marketing resources and consulting for our various holdings

TPC Capital

Our independent investment arm partners with clients to provide loans, equity and financing for real estate projects in need of capital

IMI Worldwide Properties

A leader in the luxury real estate industry, IMI Worldwide Properties provides sales and marketing resources and consulting for our various holdings

TPC Capital

Our independent investment arm partners with clients to provide loans, equity and financing for real estate projects in need of capital

Jack Fisher

Chief Executive Officer

Jack Fisher is a native of Madison County, North Carolina, and graduated magna cum laude in 1974 from Mars Hill College. He was employed for two years with the Internal Revenue Service and for six years in the tax and auditing departments with Price Waterhouse & Co. in Winston Salem, North Carolina. After leaving Price Waterhouse & Co., Jack became a partner in Barker Ward & Co. and opened their office in Atlanta Georgia. He left Barker Ward & Co. to pursue a family business opportunity but returned to public accounting to become a founding member of Agee, Fisher, Barrett, LLC, a CPA firm located in Atlanta, Georgia. As a Senior Partner with Agee Fisher (changed to Agee Fisher Barrett, LLC in 2006), Jack assisted the firm’s clients throughout his public accounting career in the areas of corporate acquisitions, bankruptcy and corporate reorganizations with a heavy emphasis in tax planning. Jack maintains his CPA status and is currently licensed in North Carolina and Georgia.

In 1998, Jack established his first real estate development business and has, since that time, developed numerous commercial, residential and conservation properties throughout the Southeast, most notably French Broad Crossing and its sister community, The Preserve at Little Pine. He founded Preserve Communities in 2003 and under his tutelage the company has expanded to develop over 22,000 acres of land with entitlements for over 30,000 units located in major markets across the US. In addition to leading the development of these communities as real estate projects, Jack has served as the manager of multiple successful investment funds incorporating traditional real estate investment while upholding ecologically and environmentally protective ideals.

Jack is supported by a strong team of in-house finance, legal and real estate professionals, as well as a number of highly recognized external professional service firms.

James Sinnott

President and Chief Operating Officer

James Sinnott has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Preserve Communities for over seven years and has been instrumental in leading the company’s development activities through its impressive recent growth period. Prior to joining Preserve Communities, James spent 19 years in corporate and securities law, investment banking, project finance and alternative asset investment management. He has also successfully launched and grown several of his own companies.

From 1995 to 2005, James practiced law at several prestigious US law firms. Most recently, he helped lead the Insurance Capital Markets Group of the Atlanta office of Lord, Bissell & Brook LLP. Immediately prior to that, he was a senior member of Morris, Manning & Martin LLP’s Real Estate Capital Market Group. His practice focused on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, public and private debt and equity offerings, and SEC reporting for clients in the insurance, financial services, private equity, and REIT and real estate fund industries (or for the sources of capital that fund companies in such industries).

During his tenure as an M&A and Securities lawyer, James was counsel for hundreds of transactions with combined transaction values of well over $7B USD. He represented clients in their formation, joint-venture, investment, roll-up, public and private securities offering, ongoing corporate governance and securities law compliance matters. He was primary counsel in numerous registered public offerings (including several IPOs) and private offerings of securities (including common stock, preferred stock, warrants, and senior and subordinated debt securities). During the last several years of his practice, James served as issuer’s counsel in securities offerings in excess of several billion – much of this for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and real estate funds, including Behringer Harvard Funds, a sponsor and operator of several multi-billion dollar REITs.

James obtained a B.A. in economics from the State University of New York, College at Geneseo and was awarded a Juris Doctorate with honors in law, from the University of Georgia. He is admitted to the bar of the State of Georgia. He is currently active with the Urban Land Institute.

Robert Whirley

Chief Financial Officer

Robert “Bobby” Whirley is from Atlanta, Ga. and has over 27 years of experience in public and private industries as a CPA and international Chartered Accountant. He served in the United States Marine Corp where he received commendation for outstanding leadership. Bobby graduated from Georgia State University. He currently serves on the boards of three local non-profit organizations and has a wife and two children.

Bobby began his career in Atlanta with a regional CPA firm practicing in the areas of audit and mergers/acquisitions in a variety of industries throughout North America. He rapidly advanced to head critical forensic analysis and turnaround teams.

Bobby spent two years with Ernst & Young in an overseas office as a senior staff member. His experience expanded to include taxation of large multi-national entities in insurance/re-insurance, manufacturing, shipping, and banking.

From 2000 to 2008 he served as a founding member and CFO of a private real estate development group. Robert was instrumental in rapidly growing the combined group into a vertically integrated holding company with subsidiaries throughout the South Eastern United States. In 2008, Bobby became the founding partner of an Atlanta based CPA firm providing services to small businesses and multi-national firms in a variety of industries.

Bobby is an expert in real estate, taxation, accounting principles (US and Multi-national), and business combinations. He has a specialized focus on partnership tax law and transactions.

Vi bui

Executive Vice President and General Counsel

Prior to joining Preserve Communities, Vi spent over 15 years in general corporate and securities law, as well as over 3 years’ in general civil litigation. He is also an experienced businessman, having successfully launched several companies. Previously, Vi was an Executive Vice-President and the General Counsel of the US asset origination subsidiary of a German investment company. The German managed funds specialized in alternative investments in the real estate, telecommunications, and life insurance asset classes.

Prior to that, Vi was the General Counsel of an insurance premium finance company where he was responsible for regulatory compliance and oversight of the firm’s related hedge fund. Previously, Vi was the General Counsel for a publicly traded wireline telecommunications provider, where he was responsible for overseeing all of its telecom, corporate, regulatory and securities matters, including the preparation and filing of its SEC filings, as well as its private and public offering documents and Federal and State regulatory filings.

Previously, Vi served as an associate with the Cutler Law Group where he practiced general corporate and securities law. In addition to his corporate and securities background, Vi was an associate of Royce, Grimm, Vranjes, McCormick & Graham in San Diego where he practiced civil litigation. Vi is a graduate of the University of California, San Diego with a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science. He achieved his Juris Doctor degree, with honors, from the University of San Diego School of Law and is admitted to the bars of the States of California and Georgia, as well as the District of Columbia.

David Brannon

Executive Vice President Land Planning

David has been working with founder Jack Fisher for over 18 years, envisioning, planning and designing Preserve Communities projects from the mountains to the coast. He has a keen sense of awareness of the finely tuned balances of interests necessary to create special places that honor the integrity of the land—yet also give rise to innovative planning and development practices that ultimately offer all of the features to community stakeholders that make Preserve Communities developments stand out from the ordinary.

David founded his own design company, Site Rhythms, which functions as Preserve Communities inhouse design firm. Prior to that, beginning in 1995, David worked with Wood & Partners and Land Design, Inc, two of the country’s most respected land planning and landscape architecture firms. That experience enabled David to be involved in planning major communities throughout the southeast and garnered him valued “hand’s on” time working with major developers in building many iconic communities.

David holds a B.S. in Landscape Architecture from Clemson University.

Jeff Coggin

Vice President Master Developer Communities

With an experienced background in accounting, finance, and tax, Jeff is a highly experienced executive having served in the capacities of Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer throughout career which includes foreign and domestic entities. He served as President/CEO of The SIM Group for over 30 years, which was engaged in several industries, including agriculture, real estate development, home building, golf operations, consulting and management services. SIM represented a derivation of the McDonald Estate (UK) and its related holdings within the US, UK, Switzerland, Spain, Lichtenstein, Panama, Bermuda and the Isle of Man. During his time at SIM, Jeff was responsible for the development of some of the most successful communities in the southeast, including Brickyard Plantation in Charleston, SC, The Golf Club of South Carolina in Florence, SC and many more. Jeff not only headed up the acquisition and development of these projects but also established and ran a successful homebuilding company that built and sold over 5,000 homes.

Early in his career, Jeff had the opportunity to work with iconic developers, Canal Wood Corporation, Leonard, Call & Taylor, and Snowshoe Resort.

Jeff holds a B.S. in Accounting from the University of South Carolina. During his career, he has Provided oversight and management of McDonald Estate international holdings, operating entities and related trusts. He has also been responsible for facilitating philanthropic grants to worldwide charities for children and educational institutions.

Bobby Masters

Vice President Lifestyle Communities

Bobby Masters has been developing and marketing highly amenitized master-planned communities since the mid 1980’s. Beginning with Wild Dunes Resort in Charleston, SC and most recently at St. James Plantation in Southport, NC, Bobby has led the development and sales activities at over 15 large communities comprising over 25,000 acres of land, over 30,000 residential homes, and multiple golf courses, clubhouses, aquatic centers, food and beverage outlets, marinas, hospitality operations and homeowner association management.

Having served in an executive role, Bobby has been involved in projects from start to finish, from acquisition, to planning and permitting, to construction of infrastructure, to building of homes and condominiums, to overseeing the marketing and sales processes for all products, creating and operating clubs and organizing and managing homeowner associations.

Bobby obtained both an accounting and law degree from the University of South Carolina and is currently an active member of the South Carolina Bar.

Jennifer Buntin

Director of Marketing & Communications

Jennifer Fisher-Buntin is the Director of Marketing and Communications for the Preserve Communities. She oversees marketing and communications efforts for the company’s various holdings while also serving as the General Manager for French Broad Crossing and the Preserve at Little Pine, our two active communities near Asheville, NC.

Prior to joining the team in 2018, Jennifer had spent the past 12 years living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. A graduate of Centre College, Jennifer spent 6 years working for Darley America, HRH Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai’s American thoroughbred breeding operation. During her tenure Jennifer spearheaded the operation’s CRM system (sales data base), oversaw local advertising, managed VIP client hospitality, special events and the farm’s tour program. In 2014, Jennifer joined the marketing team as a manager at Keeneland Race Course, the world’s largest thoroughbred auction house. Here she oversaw the advertising needs of the company’s 7 business units while also managing the in-house design team. She has extensive experience in advertising agency management and has a passion for digital marketing and analytics.

Jennifer and her family moved to Georgia to be closer to the team in the fall of 2018. She and her husband Michael welcomed their second child in May. She loves hiking, gardening, UGA football and serves as an International Officer for her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi.

Andrew Marriner

Senior Vice President Finance

Andrew Marriner is a Senior Management Executive and former “Big-4 CPA” with broad-based financial management, technology, and operations management experience. For the last seven-years, Andrew served as the VP, Finance & Chief Operating Officer for the Sterling Planet Holdings Group of companies. The Sterling brand included Sterling Planet, Inc., a four-time award winner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Green Power Supplier of the Year and Sterling Energy Assets, Inc., a developer of more than $300 million in renewable energy power projects. Prior to joining Sterling, Andrew served as the Chief Financial Officer for a Retail Energy Provider in the Deregulated Energy Markets after leaving Hillwood Development Group, a Perot Company, where he co-led the organization through several financial initiatives including preparation for a public offering. Andrew started his financial career as an auditor and consultant with the E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group of Ernst & Young LLP.

Greg Gotsch

Director of Visualization/GIS Analyst

With over 18 years of experience in the land development, planning and architecture industries, Greg has been involved with the Preserve Communities since 2006. He has been creating visualizations and animations for public and private entities for most of his career. Greg’s visualization work has been used to assist in the raising of over $10M dollars for an array of public and private projects, has been featured on the DIY network and Turner Broadcasting Systems, and used in several printed publications.

Greg holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Landscape Architecture from the University of Georgia. His background in planning and his knowledge of leading visualization platforms has helped many proposed projects come to fruition by aiding in the funding and decision making critical to the process.

Bruce Fine

Executive Vice President, IMI

A native of South Carolina, Bruce is a sales, marketing, and country club management professional with over twenty-five years’ experience on regional, national, and international levels. As the Managing Director for IMI Worldwide Properties’ international brokerage division, Bruce oversees a National Sales Team of seasoned industry professionals specializing in the listing and sales of primary home, second home, and investment real estate in master-planned and resort communities around the world. Bruce’s team also provides sales and marketing consulting services to developers who have a sales structure in place and are looking for a higher level of performance.

Dan Collins

Partner, Chief Marketing Officer, IMI

As co-founder of IMI in 1991, Dan has been IMI’s principal partner in charge of all marketing and technology operations. With over 37 years of experience working in senior level marketing and sales positions, Dan has successfully developed innovative direct marketing, lead generation, and lead tracking programs for many of the most prominent and successful luxury resort real estate developers. Dan co-founded IMI with his brother Mike in 1991 and, together with their valued partners, they built IMI into a firm that has generated more than $9 billion in closed luxury resort real estate sales at some of the most recognized real estate communities in North America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Dan has spearheaded IMI’s initiative to be the resort real estate industry’s leader in technology. Overseeing an internal investment of nearly $4 million, his efforts have resulted in the creation of IMI Technologies—a division that boasts a proprietary client database program populated with over 250,000 highly affluent luxury real estate prospects. Dan is a University of Georgia graduate, a licensed real estate broker-in-charge, and was recognized as a Greenville, SC “Entrepreneur of the Year.” He is a frequent speaker and panelist with groups that focus on trends relating to the luxury real estate sector.

Stein Agee

President, TPC

Stein Agree, CPA attended Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and received his bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Finance. He has over 19 years of experience in public accounting and advisory services, both domestically and internationally, in an array of industries including manufacturing, distribution, employee benefit plans, retail, real estate, insurance, service, technology, automobile and heavy equipment dealerships, and many others.

Stein provides a wide array of consulting services ranging from specific transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions consulting and transactional analysis, to general advisory services assisting companies in their industries. He often focuses on tax planning strategies for all entity types and shares time managing and performing audits in various industries, including real estate.

Mark Nay

Vice President Lending, TPC

Mark Nay has been actively working in the financial sector for nearly 40 years, with significant experience in the real estate sector. For the past six years, he has focused exclusively on Residential Real Estate and Development as well as Industrial and Commercial Real Estate. He has held multiple senior leadership roles at various banks over his career, including CEO and President at two regional banks. At Preserve Communities, Mark plays a crucial role as a commercial lender for the company’s various national land holdings.

Mark obtained his Economics degree from Wake Forest University, attended the Graduate School of Banking at LSU, Baton Rouge, LA and obtained his Master of Business Administration in Finance from Kennesaw State University.

Matt Hagler

Vice President Preserve Clubs & Resorts

Matt Hagler began his career in the Luxury Hotel sector and participated in the development of the Ritz Carlton Brand—including the Malcomb Baldridge process—as the General Manager of Laguna Niguel and Marina del Rey. In 1995, he migrated to overseeing large-scale resort development and operations with The Ginn Company. As Executive Vice President of Development and Operations, he played an integral role in envisioning, opening, and repositioning widely acclaimed resorts and clubs, including Hammock Beach, Reunion, Quail West, Tesoro, and Bella Collina. His responsibilities encompassed all phases of development, from envisioning to opening and ongoing operations.

In 2009, Matt became a Partner of Group One Project Advisors and assisted a variety of hospitality industry leaders in re-imagining their positioning, strategy, and profitability. His engagements were singular in focus and included acting as Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Development Officer for Oakwood Worldwide, assisting Replay Resorts with acquisitions and development and functioning with the newly formed Kiawah Partners on development strategy as Chief Marketing Officer.

Before joining Preserve Communities, Matt was part of a forward-thinking private equity group that created a comprehensive condition management solution in association with a recognized and trusted branding platform. There, he intended to apply a lifetime of experience and relationships in the hospitality sector to create a shift in the traditional approach to health and weight management. His belief is that hospitality professionals are in a unique position to create an environment capable of delivering dynamic and challenging curriculum without compromising the consumer experience expected from a four-star resort.