Finance transformation for real estate platforms.
Diagnostic-first engagements led by a former operator. We work with CEOs, CFOs, and platform leaders at integrated real estate investment and operating businesses.
Start with a DiagnosticThree ways we work.
The Diagnostic
A structured read of your finance function against the platform you're actually building. Org, systems, close, reporting, and operating rhythm — with a prioritized view of where the leverage is and where it isn't.
You leave with an engagement roadmap.
The 90-Day Engagement
Focused execution on a defined transformation — an ERP readiness stream, a close-cycle rebuild, an FP&A stand-up, a reporting redesign, a finance operating model refresh.
Not a binder. A working state.
Retainer
Ongoing partnership after the transformation lands — or for platforms that want senior finance-operations counsel on call. Capital events, integrations, systems decisions, hiring calls.
A senior sounding board with real context.
Every engagement starts here.
Two to three weeks. Fixed-fee. The Diagnostic exists because finance-function transformation done wrong is expensive, slow, and demoralizing — and the difference between the good version and the bad version is almost always visible in the first three weeks.
What we look at
- The finance operating model — org, roles, ownership, and where accountability actually lives
- The systems stack — ERP, consolidations, treasury, planning tools, and integrations between them
- The close and the reporting rhythm — cadence, ownership, and what breaks
- The forward book — capital events, portfolio moves, and strategic pressure landing on the function
What you leave with
- A prioritized roadmap of transformation moves
- Fixed-fee, fixed-scope proposals for the next engagement, if there is one
- A written point of view you can share with your CFO, your board, and your investors
- A read on your function that would take an internal team a quarter to reach
Built for one kind of platform.
Delta K works with integrated real estate investment and operating platforms. The finance function can appear uniquely hard: multiple entities, multiple stakeholders, JVs, waterfalls, complex consolidations, and a reporting burden that grows non-linearly with the platform. Delta K can help standardize optimal workflows, solve complex business challenges, and deliver meaningful organizational outcomes.
We're in the right room when
- You're moving from founder- or partner-led finance to an institutional operating model
- You're evaluating, mid-way through, or coming out of an ERP transition
- You're preparing the finance function for a capital event
- Your CFO or Controller has a mandate they don't have the bandwidth to execute
- You're a CEO who suspects finance is running uphill and want an outside read before you act
We're in the wrong room when
- The platform is pre-scale and needs a bookkeeper, not a transformation
- You want a big-firm binder and a deployment team
- You want a vendor. We're a peer.
Brian F. Long — Co-Founder and Principal
Brian brings 20+ years of finance and accounting leadership inside vertically integrated real estate operating and investment platforms — most recently as Vice President & Controller at GGP (formerly Brookfield Properties Retail), where he directed a 150+ person accounting and finance organization for a $50B integrated real estate platform. There he led a $30M enterprise ERP transformation, consolidating 30+ legacy systems into a unified platform, and architected an operating-model redesign that reduced workforce by 22% while generating $8M in recurring annual savings.
Before GGP, Brian was Senior Vice President of Finance & Accounting at CA Ventures, where he governed capital deployment and enterprise performance for a $4B vertically integrated portfolio of 54 student housing and multifamily assets across multiple fund vehicles. Earlier roles include Director of Finance & Accounting at Vantage Data Centers, project accounting and controls at Icon Venue Group for three concurrent development projects at Wrigley Field, and audit at Deloitte and Grant Thornton.
Brian holds a Master's in Accountancy from the University of Georgia and a BBA from the University of Notre Dame. He is currently pursuing a Master's in Learning and Organizational Change at Northwestern.
The firm is based in Chicago, IL and works with clients across North America.
Let's talk.
Every engagement starts with a 30-minute call. No pitch, no follow-up sequence — a conversation about what you're working on and whether Delta K is the right fit.
Email Brian