Our Team
Rodrigo Cantu
Rodrigo leads the finance, strategy, and operations side of Sierra Real Estate Partners. Before co-founding Sierra, he served as Director of Development at a Texas-based firm, where he led the development of over 1,000 multifamily units and 500 acres of land, with total project costs exceeding $500 million. In that role, he structured both debt and equity to capitalize the portfolio and led all financial aspects of the development process. Prior to that, he worked in real estate private equity, underwriting $1 billion in deals and raising and deploying more than $100 million in equity. Rodrigo holds an MBA with a real estate finance concentration from the UT McCombs School of Business and a B.S. in Management Science with a minor in Economics from SMU. He is also a lecturer at UT McCombs, where he teaches Real Estate Investments in the Finance Department.
Emilio Urias
Emilio leads the preconstruction, development, and construction management side of Sierra Real Estate Partners. Before co-founding Sierra, he worked at one of the nation’s leading design-build general contractors specializing in industrial projects, where he led preconstruction planning, managed permitting and municipal approvals, and oversaw procurement and construction execution for complex developments across the country—including the largest greenhouse in the U.S., a nearly $100 million build-to-suit facility with integrated packaging and distribution facilities. Prior to that, he worked in wastewater facility design and asset management for public utilities, including the expansion of El Paso’s largest wastewater treatment plant, increasing capacity from 39 to 51 million gallons per day. Emilio holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Georgia Tech.