About Us

J.S. Watkins Partners was formed in 2005 to take advantage of our principals’ significant experience with large-scale capital markets, real estate and corporate transactions. Our partners are:

Jon Siegel
Prior to forming J.S. Watkins, Jon Siegel was Director, Structured Transactions in the Multifamily group at Fannie Mae. He had responsibility for identifying, structuring, negotiating and closing large scale financing transactions with many of the nation’s largest lenders and property owners. During a typical year, he led transactions that accounted for over $2.5 billion in financing. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, he was Director, Acquisitions at NHP Incorporated, the largest owner and manager of multifamily real estate in the nation at the time. At NHP, he was responsible for transactions involving the purchase of real estate, partnership interests and operating companies, including the placement of financing for those assets. He also has experience as a consultant to several national real estate firms, providing transaction advisory services and preparing comprehensive business plans. Additionally, in late 1999, Mr. Siegel formed the Orientation Group LLC to acquire and turnaround a portfolio of 35 residential properties that had performed very poorly historically. Upon acquisition, the portfolio operations were stabilized and the properties were disposed of individually. The final asset was sold in July 2003 and the venture generated very significant returns to all investors. He holds a BA in History from Tulane University and an MBA, with a concentration in Finance, from Emory University.

Todd Watkins
Prior to forming J.S. Watkins, Todd Watkins was Director, Capital Markets in the Multifamily group at Fannie Mae. In this role, he had responsibility for developing and implementing Fannie Mae's strategy for the purchase of seasoned loan pools from large financial institutions. Through this program he oversaw the acquisition of more than $13 billion of loans. He also served as Associate General Counsel for Fannie Mae, where he advised on structured transactions with many of the nation’s largest multifamily owners and lenders. Prior to joining Fannie Mae, Mr. Watkins was Vice President and Senior Counsel at Merrill Lynch, where he launched a $1 Billion REIT fund and was the lead lawyer on the launch of Merrill Lynch’s unit investment trusts in Canada. He was also an associate with O'Melveny & Myers, L.L.P., where he worked on a number of large-scale securities offerings and corporate acquisitions, including the $400 Million acquisition of a Chicago-based supermarket chain and a $1.3 Billion offering of short term notes for the County of Los Angeles. He holds an A.B. in Government from Harvard University and a J.D., cum laude, from The University of Michigan.