Meet the Team

Martin Slusser is a highly accomplished real estate investor and developer with a distinguished career spanning over three decades. As the Founding Partner of Magellan Value Partners (MVP), he leads the acquisitions team and plays a pivotal role as a member of the Investment Committee. Additionally, he is the Principal and Co-founder of The Magellan Group, a firm he co-established in 1990, which has become a major force in industrial and self-storage development across Southern California.

Under Mr. Slusser’s leadership, The Magellan Group has successfully developed nearly 7 million square feet of industrial and self-storage properties. A testament to the firm’s success, in 2016, Magellan sold a six-property self-storage portfolio spanning over 3,700 units across Los Angeles and Orange County for $105.5 million. Over the course of 15 years, he and his team built Magellan Storage into a premier self-storage brand, earning a reputation for excellence in local markets.

A milestone achievement came with the completion of Magellan Gateway, a 501,000-square-foot industrial park in El Monte, California. In recognition of its impact, the project was honored with the "Best Industrial Project" award by the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2017.

Before co-founding The Magellan Group, Mr. Slusser was a Division Partner at Trammell Crow’s Los Angeles office, where he spearheaded the acquisition and development of 24 projects valued at over $400 million. His leadership extended to managing more than 200 lease transactions and overseeing the Asset and Property Management Groups responsible for 13 million square feet of commercial space. As a leasing agent, he leased 3 million square feet of industrial space, earning the title of "Top Leasing Agent" for three consecutive years.

His early career includes experience in real estate finance at Morgan Stanley in New York and development roles with Newhall Land & Farming Company in California, further shaping his expertise in investment, acquisitions, and property management.

Mr. Slusser holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an AB degree from Stanford University. Committed to giving back, he volunteers for Stanford Undergrad OVAL, has received the Stanford GSB Recruiter Excellence Award(2006-2007), and has been recognized as a GSB Leader in Annual Giving and a contributor to the Stanford President Fund.

With a deep passion for real estate, strategic acquisitions, and value creation, Mr. Slusser continues to drive the success of Magellan Value Partners, shaping the future of industrial and self-storage development.

Mr. Martinez is a Managing Director at the Magellan Value Partners (“MVP”) focusing on acquisitions, sourcing and closing industrial, storage and multi-family deals. Mr. Martinez brings over twenty-three years of commercial real-estate experience including roles as President of Warmington Capital/BayHarbor Management, managing more than $650 million of commercial real estate development, including more than 2000 multi-family units, Chief Operating Officer role for five years at Rexford Industrial, where he was intimately involved with raising private equity capital, acquiring more than 3 million square feet of industrial real estate and overseeing the property and asset management departments. A Vice President of Telacu Development Corp., Mr. Martinez was intimately involved with the development of residential housing including several hundred townhomes and rental housing, new track homes for sale and public/private partnerships involving a wide array affordable housing financing. Mr. Martinez rejoins the Magellan Group after his work with the firm from 1995 to 2002, as a Principal focused on underwriting, due diligence, and acquisitions across value-add industrial properties.

Rick Martinez holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California, where he served as the Senior Student Manager of the USC football team. Rick is a world class family man and is extremely active within his community.

Somy Mukherjee is a Managing Director at MVP focused on storage and industrial acquisitions and asset management. Previously he was Chief Financial Officer and a member of the Investment Committee at the Magellan Group where he worked alongside Mr. Slusser for 20 years. He brings nearly 24 years of commercial and residential real estate experience to MVP. Mr. Mukherjee is responsible for acquisitions, underwriting, due diligence, financing and asset management of MVP’s assets. Mr. Mukherjee has underwritten and closed over $650 million of capital transactions including equity and construction/bridge/permanent debt. On the asset management side, he has overseen the redevelopment/repositioning, leasing, and sales of four million square feet of value-added industrial and self-storage properties.

Mr. Mukherjee was a member of the Faculty of the Master of Real Estate Development program, and a research and teaching assistant at USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate Development. He is the recipient of the Vance Otis Memorial Scholarship awarded by the California Association of Realtors. In addition, Mr. Mukherjee is a contributor to ULI’s bestselling book, “Professional Real Estate Development: The ULI Guide to the Business.” Mr. Mukherjee is a Ph.D. candidate in Real Estate Finance at the University of Southern California where he earned a Master’s Degree in Real Estate Development. Mr. Mukherjee holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India.

Ms. Nakielny's focus is on MVP's marketing, communications, public relations and business development. Working closely with the Managing Partners, she executes strategies that enhance our ability to identify and pursue new opportunities. Patricia's motivation is to drive development and enhance meaningful and long-term partnership opportunities. She seeks to build a positive company culture and enhance the quality of life within the cities we live and work.

Ms. Nakielny founded of Socialite Inc., a marketing firm located in Los Angeles that serves small businesses. She was Partner at YellO Media & Advertising and managed comprehensive marketing campaigns for numerous accounts such as Magellan Storage, where she became most familiar with the industry. Prior to YellO, she worked for OgilvyAction, managing marketing campaigns for Fortune 500 companies such as American Express, SC Johnson, Kimberly-Clark, and Nokia. She holds a degree in Communications from Arizona State University and is a member of the National Association of Professional Woman. She enjoys participating in non-profit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity and The Youth Business Alliance (YBA).

Dr. Peiser is on the advisory for Magellan Value Partners (“MVP”) focusing on multi-family investments. He has been the Michael D. Spear Professor of Real Estate Development at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) since 1998. He is also Director of the university-wide Real Estate Academic Initiative created in 2003. Dr. Peiser was previously on the faculty at the University of Southern California (1986-1998) as associate professor of urban planning and development, director of the Lusk Center for Real Estate Development, and Academic Director of the Master of Real Estate Development Program that he founded in 1986. His primary research has focused on developing an understanding of the response of real estate developers to the marketplace and to the institutional environment in which they operate, particularly in the areas of urban redevelopment, multi-family development, affordable housing and urban sprawl. Current research projects focus on non-performing loans, suburban redevelopment, and new towns.

A planner and entrepreneur-developer of residential and multi-family projects, as well as an expert in real estate finance, he has also demonstrated an interest in spatial and design issues as well as in the economics of land development. He received a BA from Yale University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He is a world traveler and values life experience.  Dr. Peiser continues to enrich the lives of his students and is the mentor we all wish we had.

Christopher H. Atayan has been Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AMCON Distributing Company since 2006. AMCON is a NYSE listed company with Consolidated Revenues of $2 Billion and distributes Branded Consumer Products through its own internal logistics and supply chain to 5000 Convenience Store Customers in 33 states throughout the Midwest and Mid Atlantic. For his work at turning around AMCON, he was a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2009 and was named CEO of the Year by the Turnaround Management Association in 2008.

In addition, he was a Managing Director and Co-Founder of Slusser Associates, Inc. from 1988-2020. Slusser Associates, Inc. was a national recognized Investment Banking and Merchant Banking firm with a generalist focus on negotiated transactions in the Middle Market throughout the United States and internationally. Prior to that Mr. Atayan was with PaineWebber Incorporated in the High Yield Finance and Leveraged Buyout Group, Goldman Sachs & Co in Equity Sales and Trading at the CBOE and started his career on at Morgan Stanley & Co in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department in 1982.

Mr. Atayan is a Director of Eastek International a manufacturing business serving leading industrial corporations with operations throughout the world. He has also been a frequent contributor to Real Money a publication of The Street.com. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with Honors in 1982 with a BBA majoring in Finance, Investment and Banking as well as Economics and was part of The Applied Security Analysis and Investment Management Program. He also attended The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business where he was a Morris Vehon Scholar and a Paine Webber Scholar. He was also elected to the Bronxville, New York Board of Education for two terms serving from 2009 to 2015.