Milton V. Peterson
Principal and Chairman
Milt Peterson is the Principal and Chairman of The Peterson Companies. Over the past forty years, he has built a family company with a reputation based on integrity and vision known for developing high-quality, well-designed, cutting-edge properties. A full-spectrum company, The Peterson Companies has developed, acquired, managed and leased more than 24,000 residential lots and approximately 34 million square feet of retail, hotel and office space.
Milt has received numerous awards both locally and nationally, and is recognized as an industry leader for state-of-the-art community real estate development. He has been awarded NAIOP’’s Developer of the Year”, Fairfax Chamber of Commerce “Man of the Year” and named “Trendsetter of the Year” by Trendlines. Urban Land Institute honored him with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contribution to the real estate industry and he has been inducted to the Washington Business Hall of Fame.
Milt is an ROTC graduate of Middlebury College and remains on the Board of Trustees of his Alma Mater.
Steven Peterson
President
Steven Peterson is the President of The Peterson Companies, one of the largest real estate development companies in the Mid-Atlantic. He is responsible for all development, property management and corporate aspects of the firm. In his 23 years of experience he has managed and directed development work on thousands of residential lots and over several million square feet of mixed-use projects. He oversaw the zoning, marketing, land planning and development, asset management and sales of the properties. Steven’s strength lies in his understanding of zoning, land planning and development, asset management, marketing and sales of properties.
He is a graduate of Middlebury College. He is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), Northern Virginia Building Industry Association (NVBIA) and serves on the Board of Directors at United Bank.
Jon Peterson
Senior Vice President
Jon Peterson is the Senior Vice President, Mixed Use Development for The Peterson Companies. He has worked in the family’s real estate development business since 1986. Peterson’s role as Senior Vice President of Mixed-Use Development has allowed him to be involved on a day to day basis in all aspects of build-to-suit, purchase and acquisition, sale, leasing and financing of commercial and retail properties as well as ground up development of commercial and retail product in the Washington Metropolitan area. His strength and expertise include Class A office leasing and mixed use development from acquisition of the land to stabilized cash flow.
Jon is a graduate of Middlebury College. He served as Chairman of NAIOP (National Association of Industrial and Office Properties) Northern Virginia Chapter in 2000, 2001 and 2005; and is currently the Chairman of George Mason Housing. Other professional memberships include INOVA Health Systems, Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA), Greater Washington Board of Trade, Virginia Association for Commercial Real Estate (VACRE), Prince William Economic Development, Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance (NVTA) to name a few.
William C. Smith
Senior Vice President
As head of Peterson’s Commercial Office Group, Bill oversees the effective operation of the entire commercial property group of the company. The company has developed, owned and/or managed over 6 million square feet of office space. At present, the company owns and/or manages approximately 3.75 million square feet of office space, and approximately 390 acres of commercial land. Since Bill’s entry into the business in 1973, he has been principally involved in more than 8 million square feet of the Washington areas most recognizable office projects. Over the past eight years, The Peterson Companies, under Bill’s guidance, has developed one of the region’s most successful platforms for the development and ownership of U.S. Government long term leased buildings.
Bill received his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He earned his Master’s in Business Administration at Stanford University. Bill is a member of Urban Land Institute, NAIOP, and has served as a board member/advisor to a number of charitable non-profit organizations.
Stuart S. Prince
Vice President
Stuart Prince serves as Vice President, Residential, at The Peterson Companies in Fairfax, Virginia. He is presently responsible for multifamily and residential lot development and sales at six projects in Virginia and Maryland comprising over 2,000 units. Mr. Prince plays a significant role in the residential development at the company’s National Harbor project, which currently features five active residential projects. He also has extensive experience in community association and condominium formation. Mr. Prince joined The Peterson Companies in 2005 from the Washington, D.C. office of Latham & Watkins LLP, a large international law firm. At Latham & Watkins from 2001 to 2005, Mr. Prince focused on company and underwriter representation in high-yield debt offerings, with transactions exceeding over $1.5 billion. Mr. Prince earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a juris doctor magna cum laude from the Washington College of Law at American University. He is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute.
Taylor Chess
Senior Vice President
Taylor Chess is Senior Vice President, Retail for The Peterson Companies. As head of the Retail Development department, Chess oversees 5 million square feet of existing retail which is owned, managed and leased by The Peterson Companies. Of Peterson’s 1,000 acres of developable land, Chess currently oversees 6 projects totaling in over 250 acres that are in various phases of development. Chess also served for 8 years as the Senior Vice President of Investments at Regency Centers, where he managed the D.C., Boston and Philadelphia Investment teams and oversaw Regency’s new developments in the Northeast. While at Regency, Chess led an investment team that developed over 2 million square feet of retail projects valued at over $250 million, as well as over $270 million in acquisitions.
Throughout his career, Taylor has been extremely involved in both professional organizations and local community charities. Taylor served as ICSC’s State Director of Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia for 4 years. He serves on the Board of Joe Gibb’s Youth For Tomorrow, United Way Regional Advisory Board and acts as a mentor to real estate students through ICSC mentoring programs at RECON. He is also an annual guest speaker at GWU Real Estate Program.
Taylor attended California State University, Northridge.
Nancy Zabriskie McGrath
General Counsel
Nancy McGrath serves as General Counsel for The Peterson Companies. With over 25 years experience in commercial real estate, she concentrates her practice on commercial real estate development including the structuring of complex mixed use projects, land and building acquisition, joint ventures, financing, construction, leasing (government and private sector), project management and operations, and dispositions. She also advises the company on general business and corporate matters. Before joining The Peterson Companies, she worked at the law firm of Melrod, Redman and Gartlan.
Nancy received her bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in history and political science from Duke University and her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia Law School. She is a member of the American Bar Association and the Virginia State Bar and a 1999 graduate of Leadership Fairfax.
James J. Vecchiarelli
Chief Financial Officer
Jim Vecchiarelli is the Chief Financial Officer for The Peterson Companies. He has been employed at The Peterson Companies for his entire career - over 34. Vecchiarelli and his staff are responsible for all financial, reporting and accounting functions of the company. As one of the Company’s senior financial officers, he is involved in all areas affecting the company’s financial relationships, including those with its partners. With the company’s other executive officers, he is involved in the strategic financial planning of the company.
Jim is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the University of Maryland, College Park with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.
