Our Team

Experienced Leadership Across Real Estate, Capital Markets, and Institutional Investment

Kinect Real Estate Partners is led by a team that combines decades of hands-on operating experience with institutional investment discipline and deep capital markets expertise.

Leadership

Founding Partners

Benjamin (BJ) Kuula

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

BJ serves as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Kinect Real Estate Partners and as Chief Executive Officer of American Capital Group (ACG), the firm’s affiliated operating platform. With more than two decades of experience in the real estate sector, Mr. Kuula’s expertise spans various domains including design, development, construction, acquisition, property management, asset management, and finance. His notable career achievements encompass $2 billion in real estate development, $1.5 billion value add acquisitions, and nearly $4 billion in real estate finance.

BJ is member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Boys and Girls Club of Bellevue, where he leads the Revenue Development Committee. He was nominated for Globe St.’s Top 50 under 40 in Commercial Real Estate in 2021.

BBA, University of San Diego; MBA, University of Washington Foster School of Business

Mike Paulus

Co-Founder & Managing Partner

Mike serves as Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Kinect Real Estate Partners. He is the Founder and CEO of PCM Encore, a multi-billion-dollar wealth management firm, and brings over 15 years of real estate investment experience with more than $300 million deployed across the asset class. Mike’s career spans entrepreneurship, venture capital, and institutional finance at the highest levels. He co-founded Assurance, an insurance technology company acquired by Prudential Financial for $2.35 billion, and served as Founding President of Addepar, a wealth management technology platform that today reports on over $7 trillion in assets. Mike has also served as a Partner at Andreessen Horowitz, one of the world’s leading venture capital firms with over $42 billion under management.

Through his family office, Mike has been a long-standing General Partner and strategic capital partner of American Capital Group, a relationship that served as the foundation for Kinect’s formation.

BA Economics and MS Management Science & Engineering, Stanford University

Investor Relations

Capital Formation & Investor Relations

Anna-Marie Allander Lieb

Director

Anna-Marie leads investor relations and fundraising at Kinect Real Estate Partners, where she focuses on building and deepening relationships across the private wealth and institutional investor communities. She works closely with firm leadership to position investment opportunities, support capital formation, and guide investors through diligence, closing, and ongoing engagement.

With more than a decade of experience in private real estate markets, Anna-Marie brings a strong understanding of investor needs, capital formation strategy, and the private wealth channel. Prior to joining Kinect, she spent 10 years at Crowd Street, where she led the real estate investment team and helped expand investor access to private market real estate opportunities. Earlier in her career, she held roles with PNC Bank's Tax Credit Investment Group and CBRE New England's Investment Sales team.

BS Economics, the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Ali Winrow

Director

Ali leads fundraising and investor relations for the east coast region at Kinect Real Estate Partners, responsible for capital formation and development of strategic fundraising initiatives. She works closely with institutional investors, family offices, consultants, and wealth management platforms to structure and execute real estate investment solutions, with a focus on delivering long-term value to investors and strategic partners.

Ali brings institutional real estate experience from Clarion Partners, one of the world’s largest real estate investment managers, where she was involved in capital raising and client relationship management across core and value-add strategies. She previously held roles at T-Rex Capital Group and began her career in advisory at Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she developed a strong foundation in financial analysis, due diligence, and transaction support.

Ali is also a member of the IPA Rising Leaders program, which recognizes emerging professionals who are helping shape the future of the investment and alternative assets industry.

MBA, Columbia Business School; BS Finance and Accounting, Villanova University