Dave Naus began operating Denver based Equity West Investment Partners, LLC in 2003 as a real estate opportunity investment entity. The firm was formed to capitalize on attractive, well-located, inefficiently priced real estate in the southwestern United States. Since inception, the firm, together with its capital partners, invested over $400 million and acquired office properties in Denver exceeding three million square feet, making it one of the largest owners in the Rocky Mountain region. Having sold the portfolio in 2017, he recently became a Partner at First Capital Ventures, a Denver based venture capital firm specializing in bridge equity placements to technology companies disruptive to an industry or in industries disruptive to the marketplace.

Dave previously had served as Executive Vice President, Real Estate Investments for Equity Office Properties in Chicago, then the nation’s largest owner of office real estate. In that capacity, he was responsible for co-managing acquisitions, dispositions, development, real estate joint ventures and M&A underwriting for the company. He engaged in over $15 billion of investment activity during his tenure at Equity Office which at the time was the largest NYSE traded Real Estate Investment Trust and US office real estate owner. Dave was the 13th employee hired at Equity Office by billionaire industrial magnate Sam Zell and left the firm when there were over 3,000 employees. Mr. Naus received a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in psychology and economics from Indiana University. In January 2017, he was recognized as the Outstanding Alumnus by the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at his alma mater.