Management Team

Owner, President and CEO of DBC Real Estate Management, LLC. President, John Hess began his career owning an open-shop construction company where he served as the general contractor/construction manager. The company constructed projects in the Commercial, Healthcare, Hospitality, Retail, Institutional, and Industrial sectors in addition to building over 4,000 apartment units. As he became more knowledgeable about the economics of building and operating multi-family properties, Mr. Hess began to invest in the ownership side of the business by taking equity positions in properties which he was building for others. By early 2008, he was ready to become the general partner by acquiring income-producing properties. DBC Real Estate Management, LLC is the manager of the acquired properties with any repairs or remodeling being facilitated and guided through prior building knowledge. This strategy has significantly contributed to the excellent current returns enjoyed by the investors in those properties. Mr. Hess has also served as Chapter President of the Associated Builders and Contractors trade association, and has been a member of their National Board of Directors as well as served on the Board of Directors of Enterprise Bank for over a decade. Through the formation of DBC Real Estate Management, LLC, he is now taking on the role of leading investment opportunities as Developer/General Partner.

John R. Hess joined the company in 2014 as Vice President with responsibilities related to operations and day to day contact with property managers of the existing portfolio. J.R. completed his academic undergraduate degree majoring in managerial economics at Allegheny College, one of the top National Liberal Arts Colleges in the country. He completed his academic career obtaining two masters’ degrees from Georgetown University, graduating magna cum laude with an MBA and MPSRE, Masters of Professional Studies in Real Estate.

Laura is a financial veteran of 30 years with a wide range of experience in a number of business areas including wholesale sales, restaurants and real estate. For 21 years, she worked for our CFO in an established multifaceted company located in Pittsburgh, PA where she held significant responsibility in the restaurant chain. Laura joined DBC Real Estate Management in 2011.

Victor Son, CPA, CGMA, is an Adviser to the firm and served as an executive of DBC Real Estate Management, LLC for 11 years until ultimately reaching his planned retirement, effective December 31, 2020. Mr. Son is a formerly named Pittsburgh Business Times CFO of the Year who joined DBC in 2010 and spent the prior 21 years as CFO of a Pittsburgh-based, vertically-integrated company which owned and operated multi-family housing, high-volume restaurants (with over 700 employees), commercial property and other investment operations including a medical device manufacturer. During his tenure there, he served as President of the Western Pennsylvania Restaurant Association. Prior to that, he was the Controller for Residential Construction for Forest City Enterprises (a large publicly-traded, multi-faceted, real estate company headquartered in Cleveland) and was the Controller for Diversified Construction (a single family and multi-family residential developer, construction and management company also located in Cleveland). He has proven experience working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development on HUD financed and contracted properties. Mr. Son was a municipal public official beginning in 1996 and Council President until the latter years of his career. He began his career with one of the “Big 4” national accounting firms and is a member of the PICPA and AICPA. Mr. Son has been nominated for the Pennsylvania Institute of Public Accountants Distinguished Public Service Award five times.