Team
Stratford Land is comprised of a team of highly trained land professionals with specialized expertise in rapidly developing areas of the country. The Stratford Land team works with private and institutional investors, land developers, sellers and buyers to build an impressive portfolio of land assets that deliver or exceed the expectations of our investors.
Phillip Wiggins, CEO & Founder
Phillip Wiggins has over 40 years of experience in land investment and brokerage. He began his real estate career in 1980 as a land broker. In 1983, he co-founded The Stratford Group, the first of several entities involved in real estate activities related to land. Since 1980, Wiggins and his associates have brokered in excess of $1.5 billion of land. In 1998, Mr. Wiggins was the sole founder of The Stratford Company (now known as Stratford Land), a land investment company, and in 2006, he was the sole founder of Stratford Realty Capital, a hard asset lender. He has raised in excess of $960 million of equity for these companies through a series of real estate funds.
Mr. Wiggins was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended the University of Mississippi on a tennis scholarship and received his B.A. in 1977 with honors in political science and sociology. He worked for Burroughs Corporation (1977-1979) in Memphis, Tennessee. In 1979, he left Burroughs to take a Rotary Fellowship to study economics in Geneva, Switzerland.
Richard Frapart, CFO
Richard Frapart, is Stratford’s Chief Financial Officer Mr. Frapart has over 35 years of financial, accounting and operational experience. Prior to joining Stratford, Mr. Frapart served as Managing Director of Fortress Investment Group LLC, where his responsibilities focused on Mount Kellett Capital Management LP (“MKCM”), where Mr. Frapart served as MKCM’s Chief Financial Officer from 2012 - 2016. MKCM was a $7 billion multi-strategy investment firm based in New York. Prior to 2012, Richard was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, which included serving for 19 years as the Chief Financial Officer of Archon Group, LP, a global full-service asset management company. Prior to 1993, Mr. Frapart was an audit manager for Arthur Andersen in its Houston and Austin offices.
Since 2005, Mr. Frapart has served as a member of the board of Uplift Education. Mr. Frapart is currently chair of the audit committee and is a member of the finance committee. Mr. Frapart received a bachelor’s degree in Management from Tulane University and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from The University of Texas at Austin.
Christian Nilsson, VP Investments
Christian Nilsson joined Stratford Land in 2013 and serves as the Vice President of Investments for Stratford. In this role, Mr. Nilsson is responsible for evaluating both debt and equity opportunities, managing active projects and Investor reporting. Previously, Mr. Nilsson assisted in identifying, evaluating, and underwriting potential equity opportunities for Stratford; he oversaw the asset management for the company’s Central and South Texas projects; and worked on the sales and marketing activities for projects across Central and South Texas.
Prior to Stratford, Christian worked as a consultant for Montgomery Coscia Greilich LLP. There he worked with companies to help design and implement financial strategies for start-up businesses and consulted on various accounting activities. Before Montgomery Coscia Greilich LLP, Mr. Nilsson worked for Inland American Communities (previously First Worthing) as well as Orix Capital Markets. Mr. Nilsson graduated from Baylor University with a BBA in Finance and Real Estate and has accumulated over 10 years’ experience in the real estate field.
Davis Wiggins, VP Investments
Davis Wiggins joined Stratford Land in 2016 and serves as a Vice President of Investments. In this role, Mr. Wiggins is responsible for evaluating both debt and equity opportunities, managing active projects and Investor reporting.
Prior to Stratford, Davis worked at JP Morgan Chase as a Credit Analyst within their Commercial Real Estate Bank. There he underwrote and managed a portfolio of real estate development loans located throughout the US. Mr. Wiggins earned an MBA from the University of Texas and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Alabama.