About Us
Pontifex
Pont– "Bridge"
–fex "Maker or Builder"
"Building Bridges for Capital"
Founded in 2008 by Lee Gientke, the company has explosively grown from owning and operating large multifamily and industrial projects to now being one of the premier home builders and residential developers in the Intermountain West. We specialize in building workforce homes and multifamily communities.
Mission Statement
We understand the indelible nature of our business. We strive to build great communities that allow people to flourish while serving our stakeholders with impeccable integrity.
Meet the Team
Lee Gientke Managing Partner
Lee is the Managing Partner at Pontifex Capital specializing in residential development and home building throughout the Intermountain West. For over 10 years, Lee has had success in private capital real estate development including value-add multifamily and commercial office buildings to bare bone land development. To date, Lee has been able to facilitate over $100 million in successful completed projects and has produced annualized returns from 15% to 200%.
When Lee isn’t in developer mode, he enjoys spending time with the CMO, sipping wine in Walla Walla wine country and getting his outdoor fix - skiing in the snow, hiking in the dirt and rippin’ lips in the river. Additionally, Lee is working on becoming a pilot. When traveling for multi-state development projects, why not fly yourself?
Jacob Wolbach Partner/CFO
Jacob Wolbach is a Partner and CFO at Pontifex Capital. He comes with significant residential real estate experience including structuring joint venture partnerships, acquisitions, due diligence and construction and development financing. Prior to joining the company, he was the top direct originator for the largest private construction lender in the United States originating over $750M in horizontal and vertical construction debt transactions in three years. Mr. Wolbach also has significant experience building sales teams, managing financial planning and analysis operations, performing due diligence and acquisition integration. Mr. Wolbach holds a Master’s of Accountancy in Taxation from Washington State University.
Maggie Sprenger Advisor
Maggie is an advisor to Pontifex Capital, assisting with sourcing equity investors. She is also the founder and Managing Partner of Audere Capital and co-founder of Cosgrove Capital, a real estate investment firm. Maggie’s real estate investments have experienced property appreciation ranging from 18% to 42% annually while also generating significant cash flow - dwarfing the same region’s average annual rate of appreciation of 6.48%. Maggie has an extensive track record of more than fifteen years in investments, including fund formation, capital raising, deal selection, asset strategy and operations, valuation and exit. She has an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania Warton School of Business as well as dual BA in Political Science and Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Barbara. She resides in New York with her husband and two children.
Pete Chief Morale Officer
Pete plays a particularly integral role within the Pontifex family. He possesses many high-level skills making him an invaluable asset. Those skills include: ability to motivate (falling asleep on your feet giving no option other than to remain seated working), networking (loves getting treats from neighboring businesses), conflict management (will physically insert himself between two humans to advert all attention to him), office security (aggressively barks at phantom noises), health and wellness coach (insists on multiple long walks during the work day), cultivates a welcoming environment (expects treats from all couriers dressed in blue or brown outfits), and lastly he will give you positive affirmation for a job well done (dog kisses and snuggles).
Investing tip from Pete, “Invest in tennis balls, they have a high rate of return!”