Dev Motwani

Dev Motwani
President & CEO
Merrimac Ventures

Dev Motwani serves as President and CEO of Merrimac Ventures, a Fort Lauderdale based real estate firm that focuses on value-add investment and development opportunities. Property types owned and operated include hotels, condos, retail, office and rental apartments primarily in South Florida but also throughout the United States.

Dev is also Founder and Managing Partner of Ramesh Properties, a distressed real estate investment fund focused on opportunistic investments in residential and commercial development sites throughout South Florida. He currently oversees nearly $750 million in development projects. Current projects include the Four Seasons Hotel and Private Residences, The Gale Boutique Hotel and Residences, as well as Las Olas Riverfront, all in the Fort Lauderdale area.

Dev is Founder and Managing Partner of Chieftain Residential, a yield-oriented distressed residential fund purchasing single-family homes, and residential land, primarily in the Southeast US and Texas. The fund aims to balance current income opportunities through the rental markets for its single-family home inventory, while also targeting capital appreciation in single family homes and land as the US Residential Market continues to rebound.

Prior to his current role, Dev worked at Credit Suisse in New York City, where he first structured OTC Equity Derivative trades for the firm’s largest corporate clients and then for the firm’s largest hedge fund clients. Before that, he worked in the White House and on the 2000 Gore/Lieberman Presidential Campaign.

Dev plays an active role in the South Florida Community, through his involvement with numerous charities and business organizations, currently serving on the board of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Foundation, Fort Lauderdale’s Economic Development Advisory Board, and the Downtown Council. He was recently appointed to the Orange Bowl Host Committee.

He previously served on the boards of the Riverwalk Trust, Greater Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, and Broward County’s Small Business Advisory Board. Dev has served as Co-Chair for the Bonnet House’s Annual Impressions Fundraiser, the Ghost Light Society’s Annual Soiree, and the Jeb Bush Classic Beach Bash benefitting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This year the Motwani family co-founded the Laughing Out Loud fundraiser benefitting the Scleroderma Foundation, which raised over $170,000 for the charity.

Dev graduated from Duke University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Economics and Public Policy and from Columbia University’s Masters of Science in Real Estate Development Program. He has also studied at the London School of Economics.