T. Christopher King, Esq. | Elevation Financial Group LLC

T. Christopher King, Esq.

Chief Executive Officer, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

T. Christopher King is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Elevation Financial Group, LLC. Under his leadership, Elevation has developed a consortium of companies specializing in real estate investment, property management and property renovation. Mr. King oversees a group of affiliated companies that have successfully launched seven private real estate investment funds and currently own and operate assets in five U.S. states. Under his leadership, Elevation has developed a network of hundreds of private investors across the United States who have supported Elevation’s efforts to revitalize and preserve affordable housing while creating a profitable return.

Mr. King received his undergraduate degree in Religion, Politics and American Public Policy from Harvard College and his Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Florida.

In 2018, Mr. King ran for Governor of Florida and his race and platform is documented in hundreds of articles by the state’s leading newspapers and political journals. Ultimately, he was selected as the Democratic Nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Florida in one of the nation’s closest and most watched mid-term elections. Along with his running mate, Mr. King earned over 4,000,000 votes.

Mr. King has been widely recognized as one of the state’s leading voices for affordable housing and housing security. He has twice been honored by the Department of Housing and Urban Development for “Excellence in the Preservation of Affordable Housing” and he is a frequent speaker, writer and social media advocate for underserved communities needing greater access to affordable housing.

Mr. King’s philanthropic career includes founding the Elevation Foundation, a public charity charged to address inequality through education and entrepreneurship, and founding The Elevation Scholars Program, a best in class initiative that provides college admissions and opportunity scholarships to high-performing student leaders from low-income high schools. His work has also included supporting charitable development programs in Haiti and Africa and in 2016 helped launch The Elevation Academy, an elementary school in Kinshasa, the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Mr. King is married to Kristen King—his high school sweetheart—and they have three children, Charlie, Mary Grace and Luke. The King family attends Summit Church.

 

Michael H. King

President, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Michael H. King is a co-founder and President of Elevation Financial Group and President of Elevation Design and Revitalization. As President of EFG, he manages multiple segments of the business and is a key member of Elevation’s Investment Committee which identifies, negotiates, and acquires apartment properties for the company’s private equity funds. As President of Elevation Design & Revitalization, Mr. King is responsible for overseeing the rehabilitation, re-positioning, and stabilization of Elevation fund properties. To date, Mr. King has successfully deployed in excess of $20 Million dollars in property rehabilitation projects spanning over 4,750 units.

Mr. King has been a member of The Screen Actors Guild since 1996 and, along with acting credits dating back to 1995, wrote and produced the feature film, “The Way Back Home” which has aired nationally on The Trinity Broadcasting Network and sold worldwide. Mr. King is married to the love of his life, Tammy King. Together, they have two daughters, Kirsten and Brittany, and two grandchildren. Mr. King received his A.B. from Duke University, his MFA in Dramatic Arts from UNC at Chapel Hill and his MBA from Rollins College Graduate School of Business.

Stuart A. Heaton

Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Stuart A. Heaton is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Elevation Financial Group, LLC and is a key executive officer of its affiliated companies. Mr. Heaton joined Elevation in November 2012. He has served for more than two decades as a senior executive directing and managing a broad spectrum of operational, legal, and capital-related activities for micro-to-large cap publicly traded companies. In addition, he is a licensed attorney who has practiced law in both the private sector and in-house for 30 years. He has served as the General Counsel of a Fortune 500 corporation and has directed the global business development activities of a satellite media company with a presence on three continents. Mr. Heaton’s real estate experience includes real property acquisition, development, divestiture, leasing, facilities management, and related transactional activities. He has developed and delivered office parks, warehousing facilities, light industrial developments, and commercial office space. He has also conducted and completed numerous M&A transactions, joint ventures, public and private financings, and cross-border transactions.

Mr. Heaton received an undergraduate degree from California State University, Fullerton, a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and an MBA degree from Vanderbilt University. He began his professional career as a litigation attorney in Miami and eventually migrated into the corporate world as the General Counsel for Thomas Nelson Media. Having later served in various senior executive capacities for Lockheed Martin, CarMax, and WorldSpace, Mr. Heaton brings a deep and diverse background and extensive skill sets to the Elevation companies.

Mr. Heaton is a past board member of the Association for Corporate Growth, Orlando Chapter, and currently serves on the board of SuperFlex, LLC, an Orlando-based athletic equipment manufacturer. He and his wife, Carolyn, live in Oviedo with two of their five children.

Paul Morgan

Principal & Director, Elevation Financial Group, LLC | Director, Elevation Foundation

Paul Morgan is a native of north Georgia and attended the Georgia Institute of Technology where he received a Masters of Aerospace Engineering Degree. After working for most of the major defense companies, Mr. Morgan founded Engineering Technology, Inc., a defense oriented research and development company whose focus was the design, engineering, and test of special technologies for use by the counterterrorism, bomb disposal and military special operations communities. ETI was acquired by General Dynamics Inc. in 2004 and continues as General Dynamics Tactical Systems – Orlando Operations.

Mr. Morgan has been involved in various capacities with the “Elevation” efforts since their inception.

Mr. Morgan’s civic activities include: Every Kid Outreach, Eatonville, Fla. – Chairman, Board of Directors: Presbyterian Church, Maitland, Fla. – Elder, Clerk of Session, Chairman of Service Committee: Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, Orlando, Fla. – Board of Directors: Glenda G. Morgan Charitable Foundation, Altamonte Springs, Fla. – Founder, President: Haiti Fund Inc., Raleigh, N.C. – Board of Directors: Social Enterprise Fund, Altamonte Springs, Fla., – Co-founder, Board of Directors: Florida Fellowship Foundation, Orlando, Fla. – Board of Directors and lastly Georgia Institute of Technology, Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.

Mr. Morgan makes frequent trips to both Haiti and Nicaragua where he is involved with charitable development projects in the areas of fish farming, reforestation, teaching farms, medical clinics and alcohol rehabilitation.

 

Russ Prather, M.D.

Principal & Director, Elevation Financial Group, LLC | Director, Elevation Foundation

Dr. Russ Prather attended the University of Florida, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. He received his medical degree from the University of South Florida and recently completed a fifteen-year stint as a Pediatric Hospitalist at Arnold-Palmer Medical Center.

Dr. Prather is the Managing Member of Prather Properties, LLC, Seven Prathers LLC  and Three Prathers, LLC, with specific experience in property rehabilitation, renovation, and management. He is a past member of the Community Redevelopment Agency Board of Directors in Kissimmee. He recently celebrated the ten-year anniversary of Broadway Pizza Bar, a restaurant that he conceived, designed, and opened with a partner.

Dr. Prather lives in Winter Park, Florida, with his wife, Andi, and their five children, Liam, Ansley, Allie, Lilah and Graham.

Scott Lee

Vice President of Business & Philanthropic Development, Elevation Financial Group, LLC | President, Elevation Foundation

Scott Lee serves as the Vice President of Business and Philanthropic Development. In his business development role for the company, Mr. Lee provides leadership to the maintenance and growth of Elevation’s investor base, directing all communications with current and prospective investors. Within his philanthropic position, Mr. Lee founded and now serves as President of The Elevation Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 public charity which oversees the Elevation Scholars Program. Under Mr. Lee’s leadership, the Elevation Scholars Program has helped dozens of top students from Central Florida’s most distressed neighborhoods win scholarships to selective colleges and universities across the country.

With more than 18 years of experience as a nationally respected leader in the non-profit sector, Mr. Lee previously served for eleven years with Good News Jail & Prison Ministry, a global 501(c)(3) organization with 400 staff members in 21 countries. At the time of exiting his tenure with the ministry, he was the Vice President of Advancement, and was responsible for generating the $7M in annual revenue required to fund the organization’s initiatives and operation. Prior to that, Mr. Lee owned a consulting firm, in which he helped dozens of non-profits develop more effective strategies for fundraising; collectively increasing his client’s funding by more than $15M.

Mr. Lee received his MBA from Rollins College Crummer Graduate School of Business in 2016 and is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, where he served as an elder. He and his wife Amy reside in Orlando with their two young daughters, Maggie and Anna Kate.

Jennifer Morrill

Vice President of Senior Portfolio and Company Operations, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Jennifer Morrill is Vice President of Senior Portfolio and Company Operations for Elevation Financial Group. She is responsible for the management and day-to-day operations of all senior apartment properties owned by Elevation or its Affiliates as well as certain senior apartment properties owned by various non-profit organizations. Mrs. Morrill joined Elevation in 2009 and is extremely well-versed in many facets of the business. In her previous role with the Elevation, she was the Vice President of Accounting and Controller where she was responsible for the accounting and financial reporting, performance analysis and cash management for Elevation and all related companies.

Prior to joining Elevation in 2009, Mrs. Morrill was the senior accountant at K.S. Anderson, CPA, where she worked for 11 years. She has extensive experience with financial statement and tax preparation in diverse industries such as commercial real estate, multifamily housing, construction, restaurants, health-care consulting and event production. She partnered with wealth mangers, retail bankers, investment advisors, and mortgage lenders to serve high-net-worth clients. As senior accountant, Mrs. Morrill oversaw all areas of accounting functions and financial reporting.

Mrs. Morrill received both her MBA and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from the University of Central Florida. She holds the TCS tax credit certification. She is a member of FBLA-Phi Beta Lambda’s Professional Division and volunteers at their student leadership conferences. Mrs. Morrill and her husband, Douglas, live in Winter Garden.

Jim McDougall

Vice President of Investments, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Jim McDougall is the Vice President of Investments for Elevation Financial Group. He is responsible for identifying and executing strategic acquisitions and dispositions for Elevation Financial Group’s private real estate funds – including management of acquisition activities, market analyses, site selection, initial assessment of market value, environmental review, full physical and legal due diligence, negotiation of purchase agreements, financial analysis and analysis of structured equity and debt financing. During Mr. McDougall’s tenure with Elevation, he has structured the acquisition and disposition of over 4,677 units having an aggregate value in excess of $147.5 million.

Prior to joining Elevation in 2014, Mr. McDougall worked for a financial services firm that provided investor relations, financial media and research of publicly traded companies. In this role, Mr. McDougall served that company’s corporate clientele through coordinating retail and institutional roadshows, creating and producing strategic communications, and organizing investor conferences. Prior to that, he was employed as an Investment Sales Analyst at NAI Realvest in Orlando, FL. In that role, he provided sophisticated financial and market analyses related to commercial real estate assets throughout the Central Florida Region.

Mr. McDougall holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Crummer Graduate School of Management at Rollins College. He also holds a Master of Science in Real Estate degree from the Warrington College of Business at the University of Florida. He completed his undergraduate studies at Washington and Lee University and holds a Bachelor of Arts in European History. He is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC). He lives in Orlando with his wife, Rachel, and their three children, Shelton, Billings, and Mac.

Kelly Tomlinson

Director of Accounting and Controller, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Kelly Tomlinson is Director of Accounting and Controller of Elevation Financial Group and is responsible for accounting and financial reporting, performance analysis and cash management for Elevation Financial Group and affiliated companies. Mrs. Tomlinson develops and implements financial controls, prepares annual budgets, develops cash flow projections, prepares property performance analyses and variance reports, manages all tax reporting activities for Elevation and its affiliated companies and funds, identifies and implements accounting information technology programs and related technologies that are designed to increase efficiencies in financial reporting, and supports real estate investment sponsored by Elevation with property disposition analysis and investor distribution calculations. Mrs. Tomlinson manages the accounting team and supports Elevation’s finance and investor relations groups.

Prior to Joining Elevation in 2017, Mrs. Tomlinson worked in public accounting for over 15 years, initially employed by Ernst & Young and subsequently employed as manager in audit and tax at a local firm in Orlando, Florida servicing manufacturing, health care and real estate development clients. In 2010, Mrs. Tomlinson left public accounting to work for a firm client, Florida Capital Real Estate group as Controller. At Florida Capital ,she managed the accounting department and was responsible for the financial reporting for four hotels, one shopping center and fourteen Class A multi-family housing properties. She also prepared quarterly reports for investors, oversaw the audit and tax preparation for Florida Capital and all affiliated companies, and was responsible for compliance with regulatory agencies.

Mrs. Tomlinson holds an active Certified Public Accounting license, has a Master of Science in Taxation degree from the University of Central Florida, and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Baylor University. She is a member of several professional organizations including the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She lives in Maitland with her husband, Rod. They have two daughters and a son.

Dominique Rodriguez

Director of Human Resources, Elevation Financial Group, LLC

Dominique Rodriguez is Director, Human Resources of Elevation Financial Group, LLC and its affiliated companies. In her role, Ms. Rodriguez manages all employee development, leadership training and career pathing programs. In addition, she develops strategies designed to increase employee engagement and retention as well as oversees recruiting and hiring for all Elevation companies. Since joining Elevation in 2016, she has built a robust Human Resource infrastructure and implemented a full Human Resource Information System to increase efficiency and technology proficiency.

Prior to Elevation, Ms. Rodriguez worked in the Human Capital Management software industry where she focused on providing strategic workforce management solutions to organizations ranging from mid-size to Fortune 500 nationwide. Her specialized focus was in organizational growth and development where she leveraged technology and transformational techniques in leadership training, employee engagement and retention, and change management. In addition, Ms. Rodriguez worked in a business development role where she brought in $1.2 million in annual revenue through new and existing clients.

Ms. Rodriguez received a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior from Rollins College and a Master of Science in Human Resource Management from Florida International University. She is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Greater Orlando Society for Human Resource Management (GOSHRM). She and her family currently reside in the Lake Nona area of Orlando where she is a member of Pine Castle United Methodist church.