Rod Walz
Founder

Rod is the founder of The Walz Group and a visionary who has pioneered multiple award-winning enterprise software solutions and services that have significantly improved processes and reduced operational costs of educational, corporate and government entities in the United States.

In 1976, Rod developed and marketed the first financial aid eligibility software in the nation that transformed the approach to analyzing eligibility for loans and grants. He then introduced the first software program to fully automate the foreclosure process for mortgage lenders and title companies in California. During this time, he invented and patented the Walz Certified Mailer™, the first automated form set for preparing USPS® Certified Mail™ that has been marketed nationally to over 3,600 clients with sales of over 200 million Certified Mailers™. In 1990, he pioneered and marketed the first software application used on large corporate receiving docks to process and track inbound/outbound accountable items such as UPS, FedEx and other shipments. In 2003, he developed the first, highly secure outsourcing service focused specifically on the full life-cycle processing of default and breach notices for mortgage servicers and for other consumer debt-related industries.

Rod holds degrees in both marketing and education from St. John’s University including graduate studies at New York University (NYU) and City University in New York and has been a speaker at numerous national conventions.

Jim Welch
Strategic Advisor

Jim Welch was the founding investor of The Walz Group. He has had a long and diverse career in principal investing and real estate. He began his career in real estate in the early 1960s. A number of years later he co-founded the real estate development company Odmark/Welch. Located in San Diego, California the firm became a prominent regional commercial and residential building company. In addition to California, Jim had development projects in Arizona, Washington and Guam. After leaving active real estate development, Jim built a large-scale cattle ranching business in Montana. This business led to the establishment of a very successful proprietary commodities trading firm. Now retired, he and his wife Jeanne live in Ketchum, Idaho and Indian Wells, California.

Norman Zahler
Strategic Advisor

Norman Zahler has 36 years of experience in real estate, finance and entrepreneurial ventures. He specialized in real estate workouts for Citibank in New York, subsequently serving in both Asia and Europe. He then started the US operations for Brederso, one of the largest real estate firms in Europe at that time. Norman founded and served as the CEO of American Senior Inns, a chain of retirement communities that was taken public in 1988. He subsequently served on the board of Windrose Realty, a publicly traded Healthcare company that is now Health Care REIT (NYSE:HCN). Norman chaired the Audit Committe from 2003 through 2005. Norman has significant experience in capital markets, serving as a principal of and senior underwriter for Pacific Capital Investors in 1999 for the purchase of a $1.7 billion dollar pool of defaulted yen notes secured by real property in Japan. Norman also served as President of Zephyr Capital, LLC, developing properties in California, Oregon and Colorado.

Norman Zahler holds a Master’s degree in Business from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) , and undergraduate degrees from both the University of Oregon (Economics) and The Netherlands School of Business.