Our Team
Mark E. Pearson
Chief Executive Officer
Mark Pearson is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc., a real estate development and investment company focused on ground up land developments with an emphasis on renovating and repurposing underutilized vacant assets with a focus toward biotech, life sciences and innovative focused technology companies and uses. Mark also continues to represent biotechnology and technology users in their real estate requirements.
Mark is the Co-Founder and Vice Chairman of the Board of Drawbridge Realty, a San Francisco based real estate development and investment company, which owns 6 million square feet of commercial real estate leased to Technology, Defense Contractors and emerging growth companies predominantly in the western United States. Drawbridge Realty’s portfolio exceeds $2 billion in asset value. In December 2014, Drawbridge Realty formed a partnership with international asset management firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, LP (“KKR”) which made a significant investment in the company to substantially grow the platform. Mark formed Drawbridge Realty with Mark Whiting in 1999. Mark continues his role as Vice Chairman of the Board and established Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc. to focus on development opportunities, which do not fit the Drawbridge Realty profile and are deemed more speculative in nature. Drawbridge Realty’s profile is on acquiring assets of higher valuation and predominately core-plus assets already producing income focused on single tenant properties, with typically five to fifteen year lease terms. Mark continues to be a significant and substantial shareholder of Drawbridge Realty.
Mark was the Co-Founder, Managing Partner and Board member of CRESA Partners, a corporate real estate services firm, and was instrumental in building CRESA into a 57-office national company. In 2015, he sold his interest in CRESA to Savills plc, a $2.4 billion international real estate firm with over 700 offices and 39,000 employees worldwide.
Mark is the Founder and CEO of Altamont Pharma Holdings, a healthcare investment firm focused on investing in and building life science companies. Altamont Pharma Holdings currently has investments in over 30 public and private biotech companies. Mark has been investing in startup Life Science companies for over 20 years.
Mark is also the Co-Founder, lead investor and Board Member of Cessation Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in Dallas, Texas with research laboratories in San Diego, California.
Mark serves on the Board of Directors of The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, a world-renowned biomedical research institute employing over 2,400 scientists and support staff. Scripps Research Institute has created 80+ spin-off biotech companies, 15 FDA approved drugs, and currently has 30 drugs in its pipeline. Mark was the founding donor with a multimillion dollar gift which led to the formation of The Pearson Center for Addiction Research founded in 2003 with laboratories located on The Scripps Research Institute campus in La Jolla, California. The Pearson Center for Addiction Research was founded by Mark Pearson, Dr. George Koob, Ph.D. and Dr. Barbara Mason, Ph.D.
Mark earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of San Francisco and a Masters degree in Management from The Stanford University Graduate School of Business where he was a Sloan Fellow.
California Broker License #00891920 Texas Broker License #631011 North Carolina Broker License #349916
Chris F. Elmendorf
Managing Director
Chris Elmendorf is a Managing Director of Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc. Mr. Elmendorf brings over two decades of experience in the acquisition, development, leasing, asset management, financing, and investment of life sciences, office/R&D and industrial real estate to the Company. Over his career, Mr. Elmendorf has executed over $2.5 billion in acquisitions on over 8.5 million square feet while transacting on over 10.0 million square feet of gross leasing. He has also worked in the finance and banking industry providing various sources of capital from construction loans to mezz debt to corporate lines of credit to the real estate industry.
Mr. Elmendorf most recently served as a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Equity Oak Ventures which focused on value-add commercial real estate opportunities. The company successfully closed on 2 projects in San Diego, CA, raising over $25.0 million of equity from a substantial high net worth fund. Prior to that, Mr. Elmendorf served as a Senior Vice President for 9 years with Drawbridge Realty helping that firm grow 3x during his tenure. He was a foundational employee with BioMed Realty for 7 years focusing on acquisitions, leasing, and development of life sciences assets in the San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Colorado and Utah markets prior to its exit to the Blackstone Group. Prior to being on the owner operator side of the business, Mr. Elmendorf worked in a banking and lending capacity for 8 years in the commercial real estate and other wholesale banking divisions of Wells Fargo Bank and US Bank.
Mr. Elmendorf has a Master’s of Science in Business Administration Degree from the San Diego State Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Degree from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.
California Broker License #02205362
Monica Melkesian
Senior Director of Development
Monica Melkesian is the Senior Director of Development of Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc. Monica previously served as the Director of Development at Federal Realty Investment Trust and was responsible for a one million square foot commercial development on a 13-acre site adjacent to Santana Row in San Jose, CA, where she also managed the architectural and engineering team to secure city approvals along with contractors to implement the development process.
Prior to that, Monica was the Vice President of Development of Build SF where she managed $880 million in projects consisting of two million square foot urban mixed-use village with retail, apartments and townhomes. Monica also previously served as the Senior Negotiations Officer for the City of San Jose Redevelopment Agency.
Monica earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Rhozel Ocampo
Vice President of Finance
Rhozel is skilled in analyzing financial statements, budgeting and handles overall banking activities for the company and project specific entities. In addition, Rhozel is skilled in developing project financial models and assisting the team in developing strategies for financing real estate projects, laboratory and specialized improvements for Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc.’s client companies. Her biotechnology and technology experience equips her with the tools for providing various financing alternatives and resources to accommodate our clients in achieving their growth needs, goals and financing requirements.
Rhozel has been in the real estate profession for several years working directly with Perceptive Real Estate Equities, Inc. CEO, Mark Pearson, with their biotech and technology company client tenants while at Savills plc, an international corporate real estate services company. Rhozel also serves as Senior Vice President of Finance & Risk Management of Altamont Pharmaceutical Holdings, LLC (Altamont Pharma), working with Mark on analyzing and implementing the company’s investment strategy. Altamont Pharma’s portfolio currently exceeds 30 investments in both public and private biotech companies.
Rhozel earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration in Finance, with honors from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.