Team Bios

James Mead

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

James Mead serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Thomas James Homes. Prior to becoming CEO, Mr. Mead was President from June 2022 to June 2023, and Chief Financial Officer from March 2021 to June 2023.

Mr. Mead came to the company with 25 years of experience as Chief Financial Officer of publicly listed real estate companies in multiple sectors including apartments, retail, CBD office, hotels, and industrial, in addition to for sale condominium and single family residential. Prior senior executive experience includes Alexander & Baldwin, SL Green Realty, Strategic Hotels & Resorts and Irvine Apartment Communities (an affiliate of The Irvine Company). He serves on the board of advisors and fairness opinion committee for NYC-based investment bank the CenterCap Group, and is on the board of advisors for Tulane University’s School of Science and Engineering.

Mr. Mead is a board leadership fellow with the National Association of Corporate Directors, a member of Ascend Pinnacle Pan-Asian association of corporate directors, and was formerly an independent director and chairman of the audit committee for the public REIT Easterly Government Properties.

Mr. Mead completed his Master of Business Administration at the University of Virginia’s Colgate Darden School of Business.

Steve Kalmbach

PRESIDENT + CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Steve oversees all TJH homebuilding operations, including acquisition, development, and homebuilding across five divisions. He possesses more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry and brings expertise within homebuilding operations, land acquisitions, capital allocation, strategy, and people development.

Prior to joining TJH, he spent 20 years with PulteGroup where he served in multiple senior management roles, including Northern California Division president and area president for West Coast operations. During his tenure as Pulte’s Northern California Division president, he oversaw the construction and sale of more than 10,000 homes. He also launched Pulte’s infill urban housing group in Northern California. Prior to Pulte, Steve was vice president for Catellus Development (now Prologis) in San Francisco, focusing on building urban, mixed-income and mixed-use housing throughout Northern California.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), holds an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management, and serves on the board of directors for the California Building Industry Association (CBIA) and HomeAid Northern California. Steve was inducted into the California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame in 2021

Brian Reid

CHIEF SALES AND MARKETING OFFICER

Brian serves as chief sales officer and oversees sales strategy, company-wide marketing, and growth initiatives. He brings more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in high-growth environments as an entrepreneur and as a public company executive. His expertise also includes developing strategic partnerships to increase brand awareness and customer conversion.

Before joining TJH, Brian was executive vice president, head of enterprise sales and partnerships at private aviation company Wheels Up, where he led the creation of the Wheels Up Sales Academy and established innovative new partnerships across real estate, financial services, hospitality, and retail. Prior to Wheels Up, he served as the founder and chief executive officer for several companies focused on consumer engagement, brand activation, and advertising. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Connecticut, where he was the 1994 football team captain, Brian began his career in sales leadership roles in the mortgage insurance and wholesale lender industry.

Franco Tenerelli

CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER

Franco Tenerelli serves as the Chief Legal Officer of Thomas James Homes and brings extensive experience in the homebuilding industry. Before joining TJH, Franco served as the Chief Legal Officer for Landsea Homes, where he played a pivotal role in its transformation into Builder Magazine’s 2022 Builder of the Year. During that time, he led multiple homebuilder mergers, managed over $1 billion in capital market transactions, and implemented corporate governance guidelines for going public. Franco also previously served as regional counsel for Toll Brothers, overseeing legal affairs in the western region, and has provided counsel to various public and private companies during his time at international law firm Holland & Knight LLP.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from UCLA, a JD from Loyola Law School, and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. He is an active industry speaker and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the California Building Industry Association. In recognition of his exceptional work, Franco was named the 2022 “General Counsel of the Year” by the Orange County Business Journal.

Dan Ginsberg

CHIEF PEOPLE OFFICER

Dan is responsible for all things people-related, including employee experience, total rewards, payroll, talent acquisition, organizational development, HR systems, compliance, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Dan brings more than 30 years of related HR experience in retail, operations, hospitality, and consulting. Prior to joining the TJH team, he served as senior vice president of human resources at Macy’s for 12 years, and most recently, as a consultant, helping organizations build their people, processes, and practices. He was also an adjunct professor at Fairleigh Dickinson University for 20 years, where he taught courses for the industrial/organizational and organizational behavior psychology programs in the US and China.

Dan is a senior certified professional (SHRM-SCP) with the Society for Human Resource Management and a member of the board of directors for the Slippery Rock University Foundation. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications with a minor in business administration from Slippery Rock University, and a Master’s degree in organizational behavior from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Pete Girgis

CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER

Pete Girgis brings more than 20 years of experience in leading and developing technology for many organizations. Serving in both public and private global companies across diverse industries, Pete has led Information Technology teams dedicated to assisting companies in achieving their strategies, growing their business and mitigating risks. He has worked with teams to optimize processes, enable technologies and ensure all operate in a secure & compliant environment.

Pete joined Thomas James Homes after his tenure at CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP), a global leader in Internet Of Things solutions. During his time at CalAmp, Pete worked with the team to consolidate six entities onto a global Oracle cloud ERP, consolidate instances of Salesforce, and migrate to a common infrastructure and network globally. Prior to CalAmp, Pete served as the CIO for Dunn-Edwards Corporation, and held various IT leadership roles across many business verticals prior to that role.

Pete holds a bachelor’s degree from Portland State University, and honorably served in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.