Mr. Spruce co-founded Education Development Specialists (EDS) in 2015 with Edward Masi (CEO/principal of Seawood Builders) to develop real estate/construction projects for educational institutions. EDS shifted its focus to multi-family and mixed-use projects in 2016 and is now Aventine Development, a full-service commercial real estate development firm.

An attorney by training for more than thirty years, Mr. Spruce took on his first development project in 1997. In 2005 he joined a Chicago based private equity firm as Senior Vice President of Real Estate and Development and managed numerous projects across the U.S., Mexico, Switzerland, and China.

At Aventine, Mr. Spruce takes the lead on all development projects representing the partnerships/investors throughout the process (initial due diligence; coordination and oversight of the third-party consultants including the design professionals, attorneys, and contractors, etc.); managing the project from concept through completion. Currently Seawood and Aventine have over 1,500 units under construction and have completed 2,500 units within the past 5 years with an additional 1,500 units ready to break ground.

Mr. Spruce is also responsible for the organization’s legal affairs. He oversees all aspects of transactional matters, including reviewing or creating contracts, reviewing insurance policies and programs, and advising his partners and senior management on such subjects.

Mr. Masi is the President and CEO of Seawood Builders. Mr. Masi moved from San Francisco to South Florida in 1982 after renovating Victorian Homes for five years following his graduation from the University of South Carolina. Ed credits his experience in San Francisco with being the driving force behind all that he has achieved while taking a small residential subcontracting firm into one of the leading contractors in the State of Florida. An avid wood worker and craftsman, Ed has imbued his sense of quality, focus of details, and discipline into the entire company as evidenced by the Kaizen philosophy espoused on the company website.

Kaizen is at the core of Seawood’s business philosophy, which Ed describes as the company’s pursuit of continuous improvement. One of Kaizen’s most notable principles is that big results come from many small changes accumulated over time. These changes have continually led Seawood Builders to grow at a restrained, coherent, yet forward-moving pace. Part of that commitment to excellence begins with the principals remaining hands-on in the company’s daily activities.

With completed projects approaching $2 Billion Dollars and not a single dollar lost to a bonding claim, Seawood is one of the most active and trusted general contractors in the region. Although most of the work currently being executed by Seawood is in the multi-family sector, Seawood has completed large scale commercial projects including but not limited to high rise condominiums, office buildings, parking garages, ultra-high-end resorts, hotels, restaurants, private schools, houses of worship, warehouses, etc.

Ed’s long-time vision of creating a fully integrated development-construction company came to fruition with the founding of Education Development Specialists (EDS), in 2015 with William Spruce. Bill and Ed met in 1997 while co-founding and developing the North Broward Preparatory Schools in Coconut Creek, Florida. What began as a single campus, middle to upper grade private school, grew into an internationally acclaimed institution with live in students from around the globe. Ultimately the original company was purchased by a private equity firm as part of a large portfolio transaction sale, which led to Bill and Ed reconnecting when he relocated to South Florida.
Although Bill and Ed remain active in the educational sector as analysts and consultants, opportunity led to the creation of Aventine Development which specializes in the acquisition, development, and disposition of multi-family projects throughout the State of Florida. Currently Seawood and Aventine have over 1,500 units under construction and have completed 2,500 units within the past 5 years with an additional 1,500 units ready to break ground. Along with the construction of the projects, Seawood and Aventine completely manage the entitlement process, production of the architectural plans, early procurement, stabilization of the projects with a leading Residential Property Management Company, and disposition, where applicable.

In addition to Mr. Masi’s personal achievements, Ed is equally proud of his contributions to the community. Ed’s work for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is of note. Ed was the organization’s first three-time chairman and has raised millions for this and other charities. Ed’s dream remains to build the finest, interactive trade school for disadvantaged young adults in South Florida, combining the principles that have made Seawood Builders a success while integrating the principles of Kaizen into the lives of these young people.

Mrs. Masi is responsible for the company’s financial oversight, information technology, and business administration. Under her financial leadership, Aventine Development has implemented sophisticated management tools for controlling costs of all company-wide construction projects. Betty also oversees banking and bonding-company relationships. Her financial prowess is at the core of the company’s growth from $3 million to more than $120 million in gross receipts.

In addition to her financial responsibilities, Betty is constantly advancing the firm’s IT and business administration systems. Recently, her team successfully completed a large data and mail conversion to a new cloud platform, ensuring that Aventine remains on the leading edge of technology. Betty also is in charge of the software platforms that run estimating, bidding, and project management. Beyond her daily responsibilities, Mrs. Masi is involved in all projects at some level - from attending and conducting owner-architect-contractor (OAC) meetings to negotiating contracts and change-orders. Betty has developed a priority-management structure centered around empowering management personnel to be self-sufficient decision makers, rather than having to rely solely on the typical chain of command customary of large construction companies. These management values have proven to be infinitely successful in achieving the company’s goal of excellence.

Mrs. Masi has more than 30 years of senior management experience following a successful career with IBM and American Express, where she reported to Ken Chenault, currently the CEO and chairman at American Express.

Denise Nemet is Assistant Controller and Job Cost Accountant at Aventine Development. With more than 30 years of experience, her responsibilities include overseeing all accounting operations at Aventine. She is responsible for working with the Controller to maintain the company’s financial records and running comprehensive controls and budgets designed to mitigate risk, enhance accuracy of the company’s reported financial results, and ensure that reported results comply with accounting principles.

Ms. Nemet also oversees Aventine’s compliance. She coordinates provisioning information to external auditors for the company’s annual audit; monitors debt levels and compliance with debt covenants; and ensures the company complies with local, state, and federal government reporting requirements and tax filings.

Denise supports the company executive team in establishing overall corporate objectives, networks with industry organizations, such as ABC, CASF, and AGC., and fosters the company’s culture of continuous improvement and teamwork. She is the recipient of the company’s Kaizen Award for excelling at kaizen’s philosophies of “Good processes bring good results” and “Speak with data; manage by facts."