Managing Through Change: Father and Son Team Build Successful 40-Year Track Record at WNC
By Caitlin Jones
2 min read
Tax Credit Advisor, March 2011: Will Cooper Sr. and Will Cooper Jr. own and operate WNC & Associates, Inc., an Irvine, Calif.-based syndicator of low-income housing tax credits. The privately-owned company also operates a community development entity and syndicates federal new markets tax credits. Recently, the pair discussed their company and industry issues.
When was WNC & Associates formed, and what is your role?
Will Sr.: WNC was formed in 1971. WNC started out as both a developer and a syndicator of affordable housing. As a developer we would mainly secure sites and financing and then raise the equity. We usually worked in joint venture capacity with local builder-developers and focusing on both the debt and equity financing. I am Founder and Chairman of WNC and am primarily focused now on lobbying on industry matters.
Will Jr.: I’m President and CEO of WNC, the parent company. I started with the company in 1988. As CEO, I oversee the company’s overall business operations. My primary focus is looking forward for the company and determining our strategic direction. In addition to our core business of syndication, we’re very active in preservation/development. We’re going back through our portfolio that was syndicated 20, 30 years ago and working with the original general partners to recapitalize and rehabilitate these older properties. In addition to giving our general partners the option to re-syndicate with us, we can do all the redevelopment work for them as their development partner, or we can just buy them out if they’re in retirement mode. That business has been going on for about five or six years. We also started in the new markets tax credit business from the beginning of that program.
