Experienced hands. Mission-driven hearts.
Madrone's leadership brings deep experience in public-private partnerships, tax-exempt finance, and complex facility development — in service of a charitable mission.
The people behind the projects
Nick Waugh
Nick leads Madrone's mission and strategy, guiding the foundations' partnerships with universities, local governments, and health systems and overseeing each project from concept through financial close and long-term stewardship.
Nick came to Madrone from a career in municipal finance — first as a credit rating analyst and later as an investment banker — working on many financings like Madrone's: tax-exempt, project-based transactions for student housing and other essential community facilities. Having evaluated these structures from the rating desk and executed them at the banking table, Nick brings both credit discipline and hands-on transaction experience to every Madrone partnership.
Blair Tavenner
Blair directs Madrone's operations and project execution — coordinating development partners, financing teams, and institutional stakeholders to keep every project on schedule and true to its charitable purpose.
Before joining Madrone, Blair spent a career in real estate development, leading projects of similar scale and complexity from site planning and entitlement through design, construction, and stabilized operations. That developer's perspective — knowing firsthand what it takes to deliver a building on time and on budget — shapes how Madrone selects its partners, structures its projects, and stewards its facilities for the long term.
Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP
Serves as outside general counsel to the Madrone foundations, advising on corporate, governance, and transaction matters across the foundations' projects and financings.
Guided by an experienced board
Each Madrone foundation is overseen by a board of directors that brings perspective from higher education, public finance, real estate, and healthcare — and holds every project to the foundations' charitable missions.
Nicholas Waugh
President of the Madrone foundations.
Thomas J. Higgins
Chairman of Prosetta Biosciences and Trustee of Rockhurst University; former Trustee of St. Ambrose University and former Trustee and Chairman of the SCAN Foundation.
Pria Hidisyan
Leads real estate management for a family office; former Board Chair of École Bilingue de Berkeley and former Partner at PFS Consulting.
Zachary Heineman
Architect, developer, and entrepreneur; owner of Team Projects.
A lean team, a deep bench
Madrone pairs its leadership with best-in-class development, construction, design, legal, and financial partners on every project — assembling the right team for each institution and each community, without the overhead of a large permanent staff.
Talk directly with our leadership.
Every Madrone partnership starts with a conversation. Reach out and we'll follow up promptly.
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