Our Team

As Cypress West’s Chief Executive Officer, Chris Cumella directs all aspects of the firm’s strategic development, including property investments and acquisitions.

Prior to forming Cypress West, Chris was directly involved in transaction management for the portfolios of two Fortune 500 companies, investment acquisitions and dispositions, as well as capital raising efforts. His cumulative experience represents more than $2.5 billion of aggregate transactions and finance assignments, encompassing over 25 million square feet of commercial real estate.

Prior to forming Cypress West, Chris’ direct involvement in medical office assets has included the acquisition, disposition, leasing, and financing of 1.4 million square feet and more than 30 assets. His career includes roles as vice president at a national medical real estate acquisition firm; director at the Steadfast Industrial and Multifamily REIT; western regional acquisitions manager with the Passco Companies; and associate with Cushman & Wakefield.

Chris holds a master’s degree with an emphasis in Real Estate Finance from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in Economics from Westmont College. Cypress West’s co-founders were recognized by leading real estate media outlet Globest.com as a top Healthcare Influencer. Chris was named as one of the LA Times 2022 Orange County Visionaries.

Jeff Johnson is Chief Operations Officer for Cypress West. In this role, he is responsible for oversight of the firm’s corporate and property operations, including property management, leasing, development, and construction management services.

Jeff brings more than 30 years of commercial and residential real estate management experience and over 25 years as a member of an executive team to his role with the firm. Throughout his career, Jeff has provided the day-to-day oversight of over 4.3 million square feet of commercial and medical office product and more than 10,000 residential units.  His experience includes the orchestration for the disposition of twelve fractured condominium projects totaling over 1,200 units in seven states and 500,000 square feet of medical office assets.

Prior to forming Cypress West, Jeff served as senior vice president of research and analytics and senior vice president of asset and property management for a national medical related real estate management firm. He has had direct involvement with acquisitions, dispositions, due diligence, construction management, repositioning, and day-to-day property management. Additionally, he has served as chief operating officer of J.A. Johnson Construction Company and held executive positions with Draper and Kramer and Forest City Management.

Jeff attended Eastern Illinois University and holds a Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).  Jeff is a Licensed Real Estate Broker in California and Nevada. Cypress West’s co-founders were recognized by leading real estate media outlet Globest.com as a top Healthcare Influencer. Jeff was named as one of the LA Times 2022 Orange County Visionaries.

As Director of Development for Cypress West, Jason Anzalone leads all ground up development including oversight of due diligence, design/engineering, entitlements, and construction for new projects. Jason’s ground up development background extends across 20 years in commercial real estate. His experience includes development for nearly $500 million in sports and entertainment venues, and smaller projects such as regional retail bank branches. He has led fully integrated project teams amassing a project portfolio of approximately $1 billion in total project value and 2.5 million square feet of space.

George Baker leads acquisitions for Cypress West in the central U.S. and Mountain Region as well as working on capital strategies, debt and equity relationships. Prior to joining Cypress West, George was a senior director in JLL’s Capital Markets Group specializing in debt and equity placements. George worked across product types and facilitated bridge, construction, permanent, acquisition, bond (CTL) financings for numerous property types including multifamily, senior living, net leased, aviation, and medical office. Prior to JLL, George was a managing partner and the chief investment officer at Montecito Medical, a medical real estate firm. George served on Montecito’s Investment Committee and Board of Directors overseeing over $500 million in medical real estate investments. George is a graduate from the University of Texas at Austin.

In his role as Vice President of Underwriting, Sam handles the sourcing and underwriting of investments on behalf of the firm. Prior to joining Cypress West in 2021, Sam was a senior financial analyst at MedProperties Realty Advisors.  Over the course of his career, he has underwritten and closed on more than $1 billon of healthcare facilities. Sam holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. He also holds a certificate in Healthcare Excellence as well as a certificate in Executive Leadership from Cornell.

Dominique Elhaj oversees all corporate and property administration and accounting functions and maintains rigorous institutional reporting schedules on behalf of Cypress West. Dominique coordinates corporate initiatives and provides instructional training to facilitate proper reporting. In addition, she supervises all accounts payable and accounts receivable, and cash management operations.  Prior to joining Cypress West, Dominique supervised accounting services for a national medical office property management company where she provided institutional-level reporting for private third-party management assignments.  Dominique holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Laverne, California, and holds a Real Estate License in the State of California.

As Director of Investments, Ed Hernandez is involved in property acquisitions, capital raising, and investment strategies. A 25-year commercial real estate industry veteran, Ed’s experience includes investment sales of office and industrial properties on the West Coast with Cushman & Wakefield and Trammell Crow Company. Since 2000, he has analyzed and transacted over 50 million square feet of assets valued at over $10 billion on behalf of institutional and private capital.

Prior to 2000, Ed was senior investment analyst and asset manager at Mutual of New York (MONY) and Pacific Gulf Properties where he oversaw investments, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and portfolio management, as well commercial loan origination.

Ed received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA and master’s degree. from Chapman University. He holds a California real estate license.

As Vice President, Portfolio Management, Eric leads operations, capital strategies, portfolio management, and corporate oversight for Cypress West.  Prior to joining Cypress West, Eric was managing director and investment committee member at MedProperties Realty Advisors where he was responsible for the daily operations of MedProperties. His role included fund and portfolio management, investor reporting, and oversight of other firm departments. During his time at MedProperties, Eric was either directly responsible for, or oversaw, the underwriting of several billion dollars of assets, and the ultimate investments in assets totaling nearly $1 billion, equating to over 3.2 million square feet of healthcare real estate. Prior to joining MedProperties, Eric worked at a Dallas-based real estate development, management and investment firm specializing in the healthcare industry. Eric’s real estate career also includes asset management responsibilities at UBS Realty Investors (UBS) and supervisor of a portfolio consisting of multifamily and office assets. Eric holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from University of Texas and a master’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate from Southern Methodist University.

Taylor Pasqua handles investor relations for Cypress West. In this capacity she manages investor relationships and investor documentation, provides investor support, distributions, as well as additional accounting functions. A member of the team since 2021, she had previously worked as a field office coordinator / project engineer for a construction company. Taylor holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Fullerton. She is also a notary public and pursuing her real estate license. Outside of Cypress West, Taylor is a passionate brand ambassador and Power Player for the Anaheim Ducks.

Elizabeth oversees property operations throughout the medical office portfolio in Southern Nevada on behalf of Cypress West. Elizabeth’s commercial real estate experience spans over 16 years with expertise in medical, office, retail, and industrial type properties. She has managed multimillion-dollar properties for private investors and third-party management companies. Prior to joining Cypress West, Elizabeth was employed by CBRE and Healthcare REIT where she managed various size portfolios. Elizabeth holds a BOMA RPA designation, a Real Estate License, and Property Management Permit in the state of Nevada.

Wendy oversees property operations throughout Cypress West’s Arizona medical office portfolio.  She brings with her over 20 years of property management experience. Wendy’s commercial medical office experience spans over 20 years and includes over 1.8 million square feet of medical, office, retail, and industrial property types. Wendy has extensive knowledge of the mechanical systems of a building including energy management systems and access control systems.  This gives her the ability to assist property managers and building owners in making the most beneficial decisions regarding their building’s performance. In addition, her long working relationships with local vendors provides additional benefits for the buildings and their owners. Wendy has expertise in reducing building costs and resolving issues to maximize the clients’ investment. She is a licensed real estate broker in the state of Arizona.