Founding
Founding
Braintree Group was established by Jason Kotter and Ryan Van Alfen in 2006, with the founding of their first portfolio company, Athlos Academies. Both Kotter and Van Alfen have a passion for education and community service. After learning how difficult it was for charter schools to obtain facilities, Kotter and Van Alfen recognized they could fill a void and use their real estate development experience to help make school choices a reality. Athlos Academies is a real estate development platform specializing in educational properties that since inception, has developed 45 properties, Over $740 million in asset value, 6 states.
In 2018 after a $400 million bond offering, the largest single-year transaction in charter school history, Kotter and Van Alfen diversified Braintree Group into additional asset classes: Hospitality, Self-Storage, and Multifamily. In 2018, Braintree Group purchased a portfolio of eight select service hotels as well as a market-leading hospitality management company. The Firm quickly followed that with the acquisition of five additional assets and has remained active with additional acquisitions. Braintree Group also began to pursue ground-up multifamily and self-storage opportunities across the Mountain West and Sunbelt.
In 2022, Eric Danziger joined the Firm as Chief Executive Officer, with the mandate to expand the Firms core businesses. Today, Braintree Group is a diversified, national real estate holding company and the proud owner of Resolute Road Hospitality, a best-in-class, national third-party hospitality management company that offers third-party management services.
Braintree Group is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, and has offices in Dallas, Texas.
Jason Kotter
Jason Kotter was born and raised in Nampa, Idaho. Kotter is proud to be a native Idahoan.
A former owner of a local development firm, Kotter has worked in the real estate industry for most of his career. While helping a charter school obtain real estate, he became impressed by the idea of parental choice in education yet realized that obtaining facilities was a major challenge for these organizations.
This was one of the many reasons Kotter and Van Alfen focused on starting Athlos Academies— to continue working in an industry he is comfortable with, real estate development while contributing to reforming America’s educational system. Kotter is grateful for the chance to make a positive impact on the early education of any student.
Kotter remains involved with the strategic vision and investment decisions at Braintree Group.
Kotter is an avid bicyclist and enjoys spending time with his wife and children.
Ryan Van Alfen
Ryan Van Alfen, born and raised in Bountiful, Utah, was introduced to the world of education at a young age. His father, a financial advisor for charter schools, shared his knowledge about the charter school system with Van Alfen as a child.
Prior to founding Athlos Academies with his partner, Van Alfen was a successful dentist in Eagle, Idaho. When presented with the opportunity to return to the industry he grew up learning about, charter schools, he decided to follow his passion for education.
Kotter and Van Alfen now apply the lessons and traits learned through the development of Athlos Academies to successfully help grow the portfolio of companies and investments at Braintree Group.
Van Alfen remains involved with the strategic vision and investment decisions at Braintree Group.
Van Alfen lives the ideal Idahoan lifestyle by remaining active and enjoying spending time with his wife and children in the outdoors.