FOUNDING PRINCIPAL & CEO
Babak Ziai
Babak brings a particular passion for the kind of complex, community-shaping projects that demand the same degree of vision and creative problem solving as financial rigor. With over 23 years of principal experience, he has been involved in over $2.5 billion of commercial and mixed-use projects, including Mission Valley Town & Country, Ivy Station, and The Derby.
A UCLA and USC alum, he also serves as an Adjunct Professor at USC's MRED program, where he teaches the next generation of developers that the numbers only tell half the story.
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STRATEGY & OPERATIONS
Julia Quijano
A San Francisco native, Julia brings over 15 years of strategy, operations, and platform building to the team. With a background in psychology, her eye for detail and deep understanding of human behavior provides a rare lens into the way we live, work, and make decisions. She's drawn to the micro-moments that make something unique and impactful, and brings that same sensibility to everything BrandView touches.
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING
Ryan Villarin
Ryan joins BrandView with over 15 years of financial reporting and accounting experience. With a career that spans senior tax accountant at Ernst & Young to CFO of a private commercial real estate company overseeing a family office mixed-use portfolio, he brings the kind of rigorous financial fluency that keeps complex, multi-entity real estate operations running with clarity and precision.
Email: rvillarin@brandviewcap.com
STRATEGIC PARTNER
Michael Townsend
A real estate veteran with long-track record working with some of the most iconic and culturally relevant retail brands of our time, Michael is the President and CEO of Townsend & Associates and serves as a strategic partner to the BrandView. He brings a simple but powerful instinct to the team: find the most exciting emerging brands in the world before anyone else does, and put them in locations that will help them grow.
Email: michael@brandviewcap.com
LEASING & PLACEMAKING
Liz Rockmore
Joining with over 8 years of commercial real estate experience, Liz has led leasing efforts for high-profile projects across Los Angeles with a focus on food and beverage and community-driven placemaking. With a background in psychology, she approaches neighborhoods as living systems — analyzing what they crave, what they resist, and how the right concept can transform the entire energy of a street.
PROPERTY OPERATIONS
Raquel De Jesus
Born in the Dominican Republic and raised in Pennsylvania, Raquel spent her career in Talent Acquisition starting at Daversa Partners' New York City office before moving to Los Angeles and pivoting into real estate. She was named 2025 Rookie of the Year at Coldwell Banker and earned her B.S. in Supply Chain Management from Lehigh University.