What distinguishes Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors from other consulting firms is its unique mix of professionals. All team members have earned a BA or BS from universities around the country, with three master’s degrees, a Juris Doctorate, and one PhD. From economics to urban planning backgrounds, the dynamic team brings their expertise together to make Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors who they are. Combined, the senior managers at Sullivan Group have more than 100 years experience.  Over 300 studies were completed in the past year:

• In 16 states and the District of Columbia
• In 50 metropolitan areas
• And in three countries (United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica)

Please take a moment to read about the senior staff:

Southern California

Tim Sullivan, President
As President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, Tim Sullivan has more than 25 years experience in developing growth strategies for the residential real estate market. Whether defining geographic market opportunities, conceptualizing community design or honing product, pricing and absorption potential, Tim has guided financial partners and major homebuilding companies from inception to completion with unparalleled success.

Tim has developed the ability to interpret diverse statistics and trends and translate them into actionable plans.  As the founder of Sullivan Group, Tim’s personal commitment to his clients is to constantly assess the economy, housing market and consumer trends to identify the newest and best ways to build great places.

Over the past 15 years, Tim has become a frequent speaker at major industry events. From Pacific Coast Builders Conference (PCBC) to Urban Land Institute’s many venues to his company’s own Sullivan Seminars, Tim shares his breadth of industry knowledge with the nation’s housing market on an ongoing basis.  He is the Chair of ULI's Residential Neighborhood Development Council and the Moderator of PCBC's annual Leader to Leader program.  He is also the PCBC Program Committee Chair for 2008 and 2009 and has served as Master of Ceremonies for PCBC's Gold Nugget Awards and NAHB Nationals since 2007.

During his career, Tim was senior manager with KPMG Peat Marwick’s National Real Estate Consulting Group before serving as principal of Hanley Wood Market Intelligence’s (formerly The Meyers Group) Real Estate Consulting Practice for a decade. He earned an MBA with a concentration in marketing and finance from San Diego State University, and a bachelor’s degree in economics from University of California, San Diego.  He also holds a MIRM (Member of the Institute of Residential Marketing) from the National Association of Home Builders.

Peter Dennehy, Senior Vice President
Peter Dennehy is Senior Vice President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors and spearheads the firm’s client engagements, whether managing market research efforts, conducting public policy research and analysis, or relating market positioning and strategy recommendations. With over 16 years experience in the real estate advisory field, he has consulted on a wide array of residential and commercial properties, from condominiums and single-family dwellings to master planned communities and resorts.

Peter’s interest in the real estate process began when he interned with the City of Pasadena doing research on historic sites. There, he was exposed to the community planning and redevelopment process – which later became the initial stages of the Old Town Pasadena redevelopment area. This experience, among others, has contributed to Peter’s penchant for seeing communities develop and redevelop. And with his vast experience in the area, Peter is committed to bringing lessons learned of the past to bear positively on client projects of today.  

Previously, Peter worked for The Meyers Group and Robert Charles Lesser & Co. His consulting activities have spanned most major real estate markets in California, Arizona and the Pacific Northwest, with a particular expertise in the areas of urban development, in analyzing and projecting the build-out of large scale residential and commercial projects, and issuing land-secured special tax financing.

As a member of the San Diego Chapter of Urban Land Institute and Treasurer of BIA’s Cares For Kids Board, Peter is also actively involved in his community. He earned his Juris Doctorate from University of San Diego’s School of Law, and his BA in Government/Public Policy from Pomona College.

Adam McAbee, Vice President
With more than 13 years experience in the real estate industry, Adam McAbee, Vice President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, oversees the group’s client engagements on a day to day basis. Having worked in over 25 states nationwide, he has a particular expertise in analyzing urban development (such as high-rise and infill housing) as well as directing analyses in resort markets such as Hawaii, Florida, Utah, Mexico, and Costa Rica.

When Adam first set his sights on real estate, it was during the housing boom in the late 1980s. Although the market bottomed out by the time he got out of college, Adam’s career has since spanned the strongest run-up of market activity in recent history. With the unique perspective of seeing both ends of a market cycle, Adam strives to bring clients the most accurate and insightful information as possible, and has a keen eye toward the true nature of the market.

At the beginning of his career, Adam was a consultant with KPMG Peat Marwick’s real estate consulting practice where he met Tim Sullivan. He later moved on to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (formerly The Meyers Group) where he conducted real estate market research for nearly nine years (also with Tim). He received his BS in Business Administration (Real Estate) from San Diego State University, and has earned the designation of Certified New Home Marketing Professional from the National Association of Home Builders.

Ken Perlman, Vice President
As a seasoned analyst, Ken Perlman, Vice President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, has traveled extensively throughout the United States assessing the nation’s housing industry. While he has contributed to analyses in multiple states and has consulted with builders regarding strategic expansion opportunities over the years, his particular expertise lies with compiling and analyzing market, economic, and financial data for project feasibility and valuation studies.

Having grown up surrounded by real estate, with a father who was a city planner and who was later involved in acquisitions and entitlement work, Ken had a natural inclination toward the real estate field. Today, he enjoys taking disparate statistics and making them all come together in a way that leads to an interesting, and unique, conclusion for his clients. With his exceptional analytical skills, Ken ensures that clients walk away from an assignment confident that he added value to their project and that the conclusions he draws make their products better.

Having started his career at Grubb & Ellis Commercial Real Estate, Ken later moved to Hanley Wood Market Intelligence’s (formerly The Meyers Group) Real Estate Consulting Practice prior to joining Sullivan Group. He received his MBA from the University of San Diego, and a BA in Urban Studies & Planning from the University of California, San Diego.

Scott Martin, Vice President

As Vice President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, Scott Martin brings his vast know-how in analyzing market data, combined with over 14 years experience in real estate finance and management, to lead the firm in its client engagements and operations alike. He has a knack for taking a myriad of data sources and synthesizing them to draw meaningful

conclusions.  In addition to directing analyses of residential projects, Scott leads the firm’s economic analysis efforts, providing insight into local, regional, and national market conditions.

Because real estate has always been a part of Scott’s life – with

a family who has been involved in commercial and residential real estate sales and development since the 1950s – he has, by default, always been a student of the many facets of real estate. From Senior Loan Officer for Bank of America to Vice President of Research for Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (formerly The Meyers Group) in previous roles, Scott’s market research efforts and the cities he has studied span the country.

Scott’s commitment to his clients is to share accurate, insightful market knowledge to assist them in adding value to their companies and to the communities they serve. He graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in Business Economics.

Northern California

Dean Wehrli, Vice President
Dean Wehrli, as Vice President of Sullivan Group Real Estate Advisors, heads up the firm’s Sacramento office, where he handles all client engagements in the Bay Area, Sacramento, the Central Valley, and Northern Nevada. His work has spanned 20 states and over 50 markets, and his experience as a seasoned analyst is just as widespread. From a few lots of multi-million dollar custom homes to a 7,000 unit multi-product master plan and everything in between, Dean has consulted on all product types. With his many assignments, his analysis has included pricing, absorption, buyer profiles, product segmentation, economic and demographic impacts, aggregate housing market data, and product recommendations.

After a long history in academia, as a PhD and educator, Dean gravitated toward real estate consulting because it gave him an opportunity to carry over his research, writing and analytic skills to a new and exciting industry. Since then, he continues to enjoy problem solving – assessing a situation and figuring out what works and what may not – and applying that to real life. He is committed to bringing his clients an honest evaluation of a proposed project, without letting outside influences or “conventional wisdom” dictate what he believes to be the right course.

Like his colleagues, Dean spent many years at Hanley Wood Market Intelligence (formerly The Meyers Group) first as a senior consultant and then Managing Director of their Sacramento office. After a brief stint with Metro Study as Director of Northern California operations, he joined Sullivan Group Advisors just after its inception. He received his PhD from UCLA and his BA from Cal State Fullerton.