About US

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WHO IS ROMANO CAPITAL?

Romano Capital, Inc. provides alternative investment opportunities specializing in real estate in the Clark County, WA region. We are unique because we invest in our offerings alongside our investors.

Our track record is the result of developing our own offerings and managing the projects with our talented team of development, construction, property management and real estate sales professionals. We know how to maximize our investments from dirt to rental or sale.

WHY ROMANO CAPITAL?

Our investors trust us to operate in our own back yard. Our relationships and local knowledge provide advantages investing in Clark County and the Portland metro areas. Our funds and projects contribute directly to our local economy creating tangible results you can see daily.

Our mission is to build wealth for investors so they can do more of the things they want to do in life. When the investors are served well, we grow with them.

CORE PRINCIPLES

  • Investors First: Our clients are the foundation of our company
  • Security: We diligently protect investor principles, valuing long-term growth over high-risk gain.
  • Operating with Transparency: We demonstrate integrity, candor, and openness in everything we do.
  • Executing with Precision: We follow through on our commitments faithfully and dependably.
  • Improving Continuously: We embrace change, always seeking to better serve our investors, partners, and community.

THE ROMANO CAPITAL LEADERSHIP TEAM

Kess Romano

President & CEO, Principal

Korban Romano Headshot

Korban Romano

EVP, Principal

Ted Cassel headshot

Ted Cassel

VP of Investments

Chrissy Cole

CFO

Kess Romano

President & CEO, Principal

Korban Romano Headshot

Korban Romano

EVP, Principal

Ted Cassel headshot

Ted Cassel

VP of Investments

Chrissy Cole

Chief Financial Officer

Eric Christensen

Chief Operating Officer 

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Kess Romano

President & CEO, Principal

Kess Romano is the CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Romano Capital, a real estate investment firm focused on capital investment in residential and commercial real estate. As the Founder, Kess creates investment funds to develop, build, buy, sell, rent, and lend for both commercial and residential real estate projects providing investors a secure investment with higher than market yields. The company’s clients are its investors, who look to Romano for high-quality investments and long-term wealth building. 

Romano Capital and the group of affiliated Romano Companies were built on a foundation that began in 2003 with a mortgage loan brokering company-Romano Financial established by Kess and his father, Jerry Romano. In 2010 Kess Romano founded Capital Preservation Management, a licensed Registered Investment Advisor to manage its private placement debt funds and later Romano Capital, which has grown to become a full-service real estate investment company. The lending business continues to be the backbone and performs best in down markets.

Kess drives the initiation and negotiation of the development process through the entire project lifespan making timely adjustments to cycles and changing market conditions. He underwrites every deal and knows the properties intimately and possesses in-depth local knowledge and relationships with developers. 

After graduating in 2000 with a degree in Economics from George Fox University, Kess began his career working as a loan processor for Crown Home Mortgage and quickly was promoted to Loan Officer. During a down market, Kess closed a record amount of loans for the company.  Kess joined Star Mountain Mortgage, acquired by Countrywide, to gain additional experience with a company that specialized in new construction loans and worked for another two years successfully originating loans before starting his own company Romano Financial in 2003. 

In 2008 as the credit market seized up to strengthen Romano Financial, Kess acquired his Advisory Securities license and established Capital Preservation Management, LLC (CPM), a Registered Investment Advisory Firm in the state of Washington.

Today Kess and his team have created and managed 20 private offerings in various types of real estate in the Pacific Northwest.  Investors, on average, have achieved targeted returns of 10-20% in equity funds and 6-10% in debt funds without ever losing capital.  All the investments are in and around Portland and Vancouver/Clark County, the fastest-growing county in Washington, leveraging Romano Capital funds with investors’ money and always putting their investors first. 

Korban Romano

EVP, Principal

Korban grew up in and around Vancouver, WA and is happy to call the Northwest his home. After school he pursued several different entrepreneurial careers before deciding to move to Argentina to work for humanitarian causes. Upon returning to Washington, he became interested in real estate investment and began working with his brother Kess.

Korban joined Romano Capital in 2011 and during that time has overseen much of the company’s growth and expansion of its core lines of business. Initially Korban acted as the company’s internal accountant, handling reporting and compliance for over 30 LLCs. Since then, his expertise in private money lending has allowed the company to quickly scale its Capital Preservation mortgage fund to its current cap of $20 Million.

Korban now serves as the Director of Operations for all the Romano Companies and directly oversees loan underwriting for all the Romano managed investment funds. In addition, Korban manages company cash flows and ensures that the company accounting, and reporting procedures are compliant with industry and regulatory standards. .

Ted Cassel headshot

Ted Cassel

VP Investments

Ted graduated from Pomona College in 2005 with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. After spending time studying International Politics in Germany, he returned to the U.S. and began a career in real estate. He became a licensed real estate broker with CBRE, where he worked with the HUD services group specializing in transactions involving federal subsidization; especially Section 8 assistance payments, tax exempt bond financing, and syndication of Section 42 Low Income Housing Tax Credits. Experience in the complex and unique ways that government subsidized housing is financed would prove invaluable later in his career. In 2012 Ted returned to his hometown of Vancouver, WA with a desire to learn more about the development and finance aspects of real estate. He began working with developers in Clark County, WA and applied his experience from commercial real estate brokerage. In 2016 he joined Romano Capital as the company’s VP of Investment Strategies. In this capacity, he works closely with Kess Romano and is instrumental in both designing and managing the company’s investment funds.

Chrissy Cole

Chief Financial Officer

Chrissy Cole has over 26 years’ experience in the residential construction and banking industries. A graduate of Washington State University with a degree in Finance, and minors in International Business and Human Resources, Chrissy brings extensive corporate finance experience from her roles as CFO, Controller, Director of Finance and AVP of Lending at both private and publicly traded organizations. Chrissy has a Series 65 license, Life and Health insurance licenses in Oregon and Washington, as well as a Senior Professional of Human Resource certification.

Chrissy is focused on the lending, insurance, construction costing & processes, and assists with operations of the Romano Group of companies.

Chrissy seeks new adventures through on-going education, international travel, aviation, and farming. Chrissy and her husband Andy, have three grown children, one grandchild, and enjoy living on their hobby farm in Washington with their three dogs and host of farm animals.

Eric Christensen

Chief Operating Officer

Eric Christensen is the Chief Operating Officer of Romano Capital, a real estate investment firm focused on capital investment in residential and commercial real estate. As COO, Eric is responsible for the development and implementation of organizational strategy, culture and executive coaching & support while providing outstanding client service and driving profitable revenue growth. He brings more than 20 years of experience to Romano primarily focused on developing and executing sustainable operational systems and delivering exceptional financial results. Over the span of his career, he has held sever executive positions primarily in the senior living industry with attention to contract negotiation, vendor management and crisis management.

Active within the community, Eric is a member of the board of directors for Affordable Community Environments through the Greater Vancouver Chamber and Stephen’s Place an organization that provides supportive adult care living for those with developmental disabilities.

Eric is deeply committed to making his community a place for everyone and is proud to be part of Romano Capital that invests time, money and creates jobs in the community. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Grand Canyon University and a Master of Divinity from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.