Our Team
Point Reyes Management was established in 2008 to manage the assets of the Collier and Reynolds family. Our diverse team has complementary skills in early stage investing, the financial markets and real estate.
Sophia Collier, Principal
Sophia Collier is an active investor, entrepreneur and artist with a 40-year career including executive positions and successful startups and exits in consumer products, financial services and real estate.
For 16 years, Sophia Collier was the CEO of Citizens Advisers, Inc., a SEC registered investment advisor that attained $2.5 billion in assets and Citizens Securities, a 50 state registered broker-dealer. At Citizens she participated in the purchase and sale of billions of dollars of securities, created a number of funds and structured products, in addition to being an active investor in commercial real estate. Collier and her partners sold Citizens Advisers in April 2008 to the Sentinel Funds, a unit of National Life of Vermont.
Prior to founding Citizens, Collier co-founded American Natural Beverage in her kitchen in Brooklyn, NY when she was 21 years old. Under her leadership, the company achieved over $100 million in retail sales and was sold to the Seagram Beverage Company in 1989. Rockefeller and Co. was among the early investors in American Natural. The company's product, Soho Natural Soda, was the first in the new wave of alternative beverages and launched an industry generating billions of dollars in sales today.
Collier is also active as an artist, having developed a unique art form using computer simulation and computerized carving to replicate water surfaces. Her work has been in museum shows and is held in corporate and individual collections in the United States and internationally.
Chula Reynolds, Principal
Chula Reynolds focuses on opportunities in real estate and technology and was instrumental in our investment in SourceDNA, later sold to Apple Computer.
Ms. Reynolds has a long record in early stage investing and was a founder and former director of The Capital Network, which became one of the nation's largest venture capital networks. She was an early investor in Dell Computer and other Austin based startups.
She has been active in commercial real estate development in Texas. One of her early signature projects is 92 acre Parkline which she shepherded from a dusty field to a booming multi-use development anchored by Kohl’s and Home Depot.
Ms. Reynolds has served as Shareholder Representative to the Board of King Ranch, Inc., a company founded by her great, great grandparents, which engages in ranching, agribusiness, and energy-related enterprises. King Ranch is the United States’ largest juice orange producer.
Previously she was appointed to the Finance Commission of the State of Texas by Governor Ann Richards. Other former board affiliations include: Interfirst Bank Westlake, N.A.; founding Board member of Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders; Foundation for Women’s Resources which launched Leadership Texas and Leadership America; and the Advisory Board of School of Fine Arts, University of Texas at Austin.
Ms. Reynolds was educated at Duke University, Trinity University and The University of Tennessee. She earned an M.A. in English Literature.
Matt Esh, Managing Director
Matt Esh focuses on putting analytics into action in support of our super angel and real estate portfolios. Matt has a unique background spanning 21 years of investment, financial modeling, strategic planning and business analysis experience.
Previously, Matt designed and developed sophisticated planning applications for Chevron, including the one that is currently used to forecast its cash flow, which averages over $1 billion in daily transactions. In addition, the strategic staffing forecasting application that he designed and developed earned Chevron’s Chairman’s Award in 2013, the highest level of recognition awarded by the company.
Prior to that, he was the Chief Financial Officer of private equity-backed HerbThyme Farms. During his tenure there he led the company through three acquisitions thus creating North America’s largest producer and packager of fresh culinary herbs. Before taking the CFO position, Matt was Director at KZC Catalyst Partners, a private equity division of Marsh & McLennan Companies where he was responsible for transaction origination, due diligence and portfolio management.
Matt began his investment and finance career as a research analyst at Bear Stearns in New York. He had primary coverage of ten companies in the Internet sector, responsible for developing investment theses, publishing extensive company-specific research reports, presenting investment ideas to the internal sales team and external clients.
Matt holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and received his bachelor's degree in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara and an MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, where he graduated with distinction.
Gina Smith, Director of Administration
Gina brings a lifetime of practical experience in accounting and administration. Prior to Point Reyes, she managed the offices of a local accounting firm specializing in tax preparation and management of high net worth families.
At Point Reyes, she ensures that office, human resources and accounting functions are running smoothly as well as manages various regulatory filings.