Michelle Kille
Managing Partner
Michelle Kille leverages over 20 years of high-impact experience at the intersection of commercial real estate, mission-driven finance, and digital transformation. An expert in navigating complex capital stacks, Michelle provides specialized strategic consulting, capital advisory, and technology consulting for both affordable housing and market-rate sponsors, institutional lenders, as well as non-profit organizations nationwide.
Prior to founding AHK Advisors, Michelle served as a Senior Portfolio Manager at Flagstar Bank. In this capacity, she managed the Bank’s LIHTC and CRA-focused portfolio, overseeing credit approvals, risk ratings, and covenant monitoring for a portfolio with deal sizes up to $150MM. Additionally, her tenure was marked by the rigorous underwriting of commercial real estate deals across diverse asset classes, including multi-family, industrial, and specialized office. Notably, she played a central role in the bank’s asset disposition strategy, conducting in-depth analysis and action plans for an $8.5B asset pool.
Michelle’s expertise extends beyond the balance sheet into the technical architecture of financial services. As Vice President of Operations for a prominent firm in the FinTech space for nearly a decade, she bridged the gap between traditional banking and modern operational strategy. She led nationwide software integrations and technology roadmaps, while spearheading the ground-up creation of company policies, and managing full P&L and asset-liability allocations. Her ability to translate complex financial challenges into clear, automated reporting and risk management systems remains a hallmark of her practice today.
Her unique trifecta of experience is rounded out by a foundational tenure in the public sector. As a Chief of Staff at the City of Sacramento, Michelle managed large-scale district projects with budgets ranging from $5MM to $20MM and oversaw the creation of public policy and regional legislative research. This background provides her with a rare, 360-degree perspective on how private capital, public policy, and community needs must align to execute successful mission-driven projects.
Michelle is fluent in Spanish and holds an MBA as well as a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Real Estate and Land Use Affairs from California State University-Sacramento.
Benjamin Goodnow
Managing Partner
Benjamin Goodnow is a commercial real estate finance executive who has structured and closed more than $8 billion in real estate financings across the United States. Over more than 25 years within major financial institutions, he has advised developers, private funds, REITs, family offices, institutional investors, and nonprofit affordable housing organizations on complex real estate transactions and capital strategies.
His experience includes construction, bridge, and permanent financing, as well as senior secured and unsecured asset-based revolving lines of credit (RLOCs) for real estate operating platforms and investment funds. Transactions have ranged from $10 million construction loans to syndicated credit facilities exceeding $1 billion, across markets from California to New York.
Having spent decades structuring transactions and negotiating directly with credit committees and chief credit officers, Ben brings clients an insider understanding of how lenders evaluate risk, structure financing, and ultimately approve credit.
Ben spent 18 years at BNP Paribas / Bank of the West (now BMO), where he served as Managing Director of the Commercial Real Estate group covering Northern California, Nevada, and the Pacific Northwest. During his tenure he structured and closed financings ranging from $10 million to syndicated credit facilities exceeding $1 billion for large developers, family offices, private funds, and publicly traded REITs. He also served as the primary U.S. point of execution for inbound BNP Paribas real estate transactions under the bank’s global “One Bank” initiative, working directly with international sponsors and BNP Paribas teams across Europe and Asia to originate and structure cross-border real estate financings. Through this platform he also collaborated with corporate banking and capital markets teams on complex institutional transactions, including leveraged buyouts and public-to-private acquisitions involving significant real estate collateral.
Most recently, Ben served as Managing Director and Co-Head of West Coast Commercial Real Estate at Flagstar Bank, where he also led National Affordable Housing and LIHTC originations. In that role he worked with affordable housing developers and nonprofit sponsors to structure LIHTC capital stacks, including construction financing, credit facilities, and tax credit equity investments provided by the bank. His experience also includes discounted payoff negotiations, distressed debt resolution, and capital raising, including coordinating $600 million in institutional equity capital for the acquisition of distressed real estate loan portfolios.
Ben holds a Master’s Certification in Commercial Banking (Honors) from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business, and a B.S. in Business with a Minor in Economics from Saint Mary’s College.