Team

Jody Kriss

Founder and Principal

Jody Kriss founded Kriss Capital LLC in 2019 to take an entrepreneurial and creative approach to value-add, opportunistic real estate lending and investing.

Prior to founding Kriss Capital, Mr. Kriss developed eleven ground-up and gut-rehab residential projects in NYC valued at over $250 million with a focus on historic properties such as the gut rehabilitation and re-use of three landmarked row-houses on the Upper West Side. He also acquired and sold a portfolio of approximately 500,000 square feet of multi-family and commercial properties focused in and around New Haven, CT. Several of those properties were historic and received historic tax credits for their renovation programs. 

Earlier in his career, Mr. Kriss was a partner in several large-scale developments in NYC and South Florida including a 47-story ground-up hotel development in Manhattan now known as The Dominick. Prior to that he spent two years as an investment banker at APC Realty Advisors focusing on raising debt and equity for middle-market real estate developers and sponsors. Jody began his investment and development career spending two years as an Analyst and Project Manager at The Athena Group where he focused on the landmark redevelopment of 838 Fifth Avenue, a condo project located at 65th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan, facing Central Park. 

Mr. Kriss received a B.S. Econ from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. Jody has was recognized with the annual award for historic preservation by the Victorian Society of New York for his adaptive reuse of a Lower-East Side synagogue to residential project.

Eyal Lev Ari

Principal

Eyal Lev Ari has been an entrepreneur in credit strategies and real estate since the early 1990’s when he founded Arlon Ltd, a developer of residential real estate in Israel and Hungary. Since then, he has founded multiple other companies including a mortgage loan financing firm (Quality Financial Rt), a car finance company (Quality Acceptance LLC), and a developer of shopping centers (Avivarlon Ltd). Eyal has been a member of the investment committee at Israeli credit fund Klirmark Capital since 2009. At Kriss Capital, Eyal is primarily responsible for deal origination and capital formation, areas where his experience in real estate and the international capital markets are of great assistance. Eyal holds a B.A in Law and Economics and an M.A. in American History, both from Tel Aviv University.

Harvey M. Lederman

Managing Director,
Head of Credit

Harvey M. Lederman is responsible for end-to-end credit, underwriting, and execution of loan transactions at Kriss Capital. He brings decades of experience in originating, structuring, underwriting and closing complex first mortgage bridge loans, mezzanine debt, B-notes and preferred equity investments at a number of top US lenders. Harvey previously held positions at Rialto Capital Management, ACRES capital, Arbor Realty Trust, and GE Capital Real Estate. He earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Journalism from New York University.

Mark Luehring-Jones

Vice President,
Originations and Asset Management

Mark Luehring-Jones is responsible for origination and underwriting of investment opportunities. He also manages Kriss Capital’s construction loan servicing department. Mark has years of experience in the financial analysis and underwriting of debt and equity investments, as well as in construction project management for both general contractors and developers. Mark holds an M.A. in Real Estate Finance from New York University and a B.A. in Philosophy from Skidmore College.