Our Team

Joel Cantor

Founder & CEO

Mr. Cantor, Founder & CEO, leads the Firm’s overall strategic direction, is a member of the Firm’s Investment Committee and plays a key role in the fundraising process. Since its inception, Mr. Cantor has been instrumental in positioning the Firm as a premier real estate investment and management company. Under his leadership, the Firm has achieved consistent growth, and his innovative approach has made Cantor a leader in the industry.

Mr. Cantor’s career began at JP Morgan in New York and shortly thereafter he joined Salomon Brothers in their real estate finance department working under Lewis Ranieri where he packaged $3 billion in mortgage-backed securities and other structured real estate vehicles. He subsequently worked with Trammell Crow in commercial real estate development including the development of the $85 million Florida Aquarium in Tampa, FL.

In 1989, Mr. Cantor founded Cantor in order to purchase apartment complexes and an office building from a Savings and Loan and the Resolution Trust Company (RTC).  From 1990 through 2012, he repeated a similar process purchasing a total of 19 well-located properties. Mr. Cantor led the development of the $250 million Signature Place Tower which includes office and residential space on the waterfront of Saint Petersburg, FL. Signature Place Tower won the Project-of-the-Year from the American Institute of Architects and houses the Firm’s headquarters.

Mr. Cantor obtained his Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Bachelor of Arts in Mandarin, Chinese from the University of Copenhagen, as well as his MBA from Wharton where he was in the top 5% of his class.

Joel is married with four sons and is an avid adventurer and sportsman, traveling to 146 countries on several remote expeditions.  He has completed four full Ironman races including competing in the famous World Championship in Kona, Hawaii in 2014.

Glenn Becker

President

Mr. Becker is responsible for leading the day-to-day operations of the Firm as well as managing the investment portfolio and maximizing portfolio value. He is a member of the Firm’s Investment Committee and oversees investor relations. Mr. Becker has a sterling pedigree in real estate with 28 years of experience in asset management, development, joint ventures and acquisitions/dispositions.

Prior to Cantor, Mr. Becker worked at MetLife Real Estate Investors as a team leader for a $2.2 billion commercial real estate portfolio where his responsibilities included asset management and leasing activities for 9 million square feet of office, retail, multifamily, hotel and industrial properties. Throughout his 19 year career with MetLife, Mr. Becker developed a strong track record of performance and was an expert at value creation on all types of real estate assets. He became very experienced in budgeting, preparing comprehensive business plans and valuation of properties. He was responsible for 500 lease transactions totaling 4 million square feet  and served on the Field Investment Committee, approving equity and debt investments in excess of $4 billion. As a senior member of the Field Investment Committee he honed his ability to review potential acquisitions and fully understand risks and opportunities. Mr. Becker’s experience included numerous acquisitions and dispositions of properties which had a total value of $450 million. His due diligence and property acquisition analysis skills were fully developed as a result of this acquisition and disposition experience. Mr. Becker was also the MetLife regional development leader and developed over $200 million of properties throughout his career which gave him a deep understanding of the full property cycle. Mr. Becker also served as MetLife’s National Hotel Coordinator managing their 4,500 room national hotel portfolio and created two national programmatic joint ventures to acquire and develop hotels to achieve value added and opportunistic yields.

He began his real estate career in 1987 with Paragon Group, a regional real estate developer, where he was responsible for the management of 2.5 million square feet of office, retail and industrial properties. Mr. Becker began his career in property management where he learned property operations, expense management, tenant relations and construction at the ground level. He also worked in leasing which completed laying the foundation for his understanding of value creation for real estate assets.

Mr. Becker earned his MBA in Real Estate from the University of Florida, graduating as Matherly scholar, and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Dayton graduating summa cum laude.

Tara Kintz

Vice President

Ms. Kintz spearheads asset management for the firm’s $150 million commercial real estate portfolio, she is responsible for maximizing values and total return for all assets while overseeing strategic decision making for the properties.  Her duties include annual budgeting, financial performance analysis, leasing, and value-add improvements.

Prior to Cantor, Ms. Kintz was a licensed mortgage loan originator with Residential Finance Corporation in Tampa. She held Mortgage Loan Originator licenses in Florida, California, Oregon, Michigan and Virginia.

Ms. Kintz holds a Bachelor of Science Degree (with honors) in Finance and Management from the University of South Florida.

Holly Steffens

Vice President of Operations

Ms. Steffens is the Vice President of Operations for Cantor and has worked for the firm since 1991. She is responsible for cash management, asset management of the firm’s portfolio, financial performance analysis, and compliance matters.

She is a seasoned expert in all ownership functions of several real estate product types including large apartment communities, retail, office buildings, medical care facilities, as well as beachfront and high-rise tower mixed-use condominium projects.

Ms. Steffens received her Bachelors of Arts degree from the University of South Florida majoring in International Relations.

Melanie Humlicek

Director of Finance and Accounting

Melanie received an MBA and a BA in Accounting from the University of South Florida.  She is also a licensed CPA in the state of Florida.

She began her career as a financial statement auditor with a focus in for profit companies and compliance audits. After leaving audit, she took on management roles at both privately held and publicly traded companies.  Her experience includes construction accounting, lease accounting, SEC reporting, internal control testing, cash flow analysis and financial statement preparation.

Melanie is a native Floridian and currently lives in St Petersburg, FL with her husband and two children.

Jeff Aman

Outside General Counsel

Through his firm, Aman Law Firm, Mr. Aman has been representing Cantor for 15 years and has practiced law for 27 years.

For most of his career, Mr. Aman has represented commercial developers and investors as they have bought, sold, re-financed, constructed and leased commercial buildings. These projects include apartment complexes, retail centers, office buildings, medical facilities, as well as beachfront and high-rise mixed-use condominium projects. He is a member of the Real Estate, Probate and Trust Law Section of the Florida Bar, and has been a member of Attorney’s Title Insurance Fund since 1996.

Mr. Aman earned his J.D., M.A. and B.S. degrees from the University of Florida and Th.M. degrees from Dallas Theological Seminary.

Tara Tallman

Senior Property Manager

Ms. Tallman is a senior property manager and assists with various human resource functions for the firm.

Prior to joining Cantor, Ms. Tallman was a Value Stream Manager for Porous Media Corporation’s Minnesota facility, starting out as a product technician and then eventually being promoted to a position where she was directly responsible for the quality production output of 35 plus employees working on multiple product lines.

Ms. Tallman has an AA degree in Business Management from Anoka-County Community College.