Blount Development Group (BDG) is a land acquisition and development company specializing in acquiring acreage for single-family build for rent, multi-family, self storage, commercial, and senior living.

Richard W. Blount
President & CEO

Mr. Blount is a seasoned professional in the real estate industry, with a rich family legacy spanning back to the early 1950s in Central Florida. Following in his father’s footsteps, Bob Blount, Mr. Blount gained invaluable experience in construction from a young age, working on custom homes and commercial buildings during his teenage years. 

In 1983, he transitioned into sales and marketing, embarking on a successful career that lasted for several decades with a Fortune 100 company. Upon retiring at the age of 43, Mr. Blount redirected his focus towards his true passion: identifying and acquiring prime land development sites in Florida and the southeastern region of the United States.

Leveraging his extensive connections cultivated over generations of Florida development, Mr. Blount enjoys deep relationships with landowners, land-use attorneys, civil engineers, as well as city and county staff throughout Florida and parts of Tennessee. With an impressive track record, he has skillfully identified, acquired, and sold over 1,000 acres of land for residential and senior living development in Florida and Tennessee.

Currently, he spearheads Blount Development’s strategic initiatives, concentrating on acquiring land in Florida, Tennessee, and other high-potential areas across the United States. Recognizing the rising demand for residential housing, senior living, and self-storage, he is positioning Blount Development Group as a key player in meeting this deficit.

Under Mr. Blount’s leadership, Blount Development Group has assembled a formidable team of experts, boasting a collective career count of over 150,000 fully entitled residential units. This exceptional team enables the company to scale up its operations and capitalize on the abundant growth opportunities in the market. Over the next decade, Blount Development Group aims to bring thousands of units to the market, addressing the pressing need for diverse housing options across various regions.

Mary Blount
Vice-President

Mrs. Blount is an accomplished professional serving as the Vice-President and head of the Design and Construction Department at Blount Development Group. With a remarkable tenure of 30 years as one of the leading “Home Design Consultants” for the highest-selling master-planned community in the United States, she has established herself as an expert in the field.

Throughout her extensive career with the highly successful Central Florida Master Developer, Mrs. Blount has held diverse roles, including providing consulting services to customers for their custom homes. In addition, she has been involved in designing and supervising the construction of inventory/spec homes. Her contributions have been instrumental in the completion of over 5,000 new homes, from the initial planning stages to the attainment of the Certificate of Occupancy. Moreover, she has played a pivotal role in the design of innovative neighborhood styles within the master plan.

Mrs. Blount’s expertise encompasses various aspects of new home layout and construction, coupled with a deep understanding of resident preferences in terms of elevations, cabinetry, flooring, appliances, kitchens, and bathrooms. Her knowledge has been further enriched through numerous courses and training sessions offered by renowned suppliers in plumbing (Delta and Kohler), flooring (Mohawk, Trinity Tile), appliances (GE profile), cabinetry (Merillat, Homecrest), and other relevant areas.

After three decades of dedicated service with the same master developer, she retired in 2018. However, has re-entered the professional arena to pursue opportunities in the rapidly growing build-to-rent sector. In her role with BDG, she will collaborate with her husband, Mr. Blount, as BDG expands its operations to meet the significant demand for housing throughout the Southeast.

Dawson Ransome, CFA
Principal & Head of Entitlements

Mr. Ransome, CFA has developed/permitted roughly 5000 residential lots, the majority over the preceding 4-5 years.

He is Founder, Chief Investment Officer and lead Portfolio Manager of Ransome Asset Management, LLC a registered investment advisory firm. Mr. Ransome is an accomplished investment professional with over twenty years of experience as an investment advisor and owner/manager/partner of investment vehicles with holdings in equities, real property, and private partnerships totaling in excess of US$500 million in equity investment value. He has significant experience in all aspects of investment process across various asset classes. 

During the 2008-2011 global financial crisis, Mr. Ransome worked as an advisor to a national mortgage company as part of its acquisition of a two-billion-dollar portfolio of troubled assets.  The portfolio included collateral ranging from raw land, in process development, residential assets (including multifamily and single-family projects), retail, office, and hospitality. He advised the firms CEO on valuation and the realization potential of the portfolio to help guide the investment process.  

Mr. Ransome is a real estate portfolio manager for a single-family office using a similar investment approach as employed at BDG. He formerly managed a top performing all cap equity investment strategy which outperformed its benchmark and produced significant positive alpha between 2019 – 2021. 

Prior to founding Ransome Asset Management, Mr. Ransome was an independent investment manager with Raymond James Financial Services Inc. where he focused on asset allocation, wealth management, and estate planning.

​He graduated magna cum laude, Beta Gamma Sigma from the University of South Florida Muma College of Business with a Bachelor of Science in finance and concentrations in asset management and applied security analysis. He is an Alumni Board Member of the Student Managed Investment Fund at the University of South Florida, a fund under the USF Foundation and a Sr. Board Member of the University of South Florida Real Estate Society. Mr. Ransome has received the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and is a Florida licensed real estate broker.

 An accomplished athlete in both motocross and road cycling, Dawson is a former Amateur National Motocross Champion and is an inductee into the Amateur National Motocross Hall of Fame. The highlight of his cycling career was a 4th place finish in the individual time trial at the U.S. National Cycling Championships.

Greg Beliveau, AICP
Principal

Mr. Beliveau is a certified urban planning professional with over 44 years of experience providing land planning services. He holds the distinction of being certified by the American Institute of Certified Planners and has entitled 140,000 units throughout his career. He has worked extensively with both public and private sectors, assisting over fourteen governmental agencies and numerous developers.

As a planning professional, Mr. Beliveau is currently focused on investigating the entitlement capabilities of parcels for their highest and best use with Blount Development Group.

Before this, he founded and led LPG Urban & Regional Planners, where he supervised the creation of comprehensive plans, and comprehensive plan amendments, as well as offered guidance in land development regulations to local government agencies.

Mr. Beliveau’s expertise extends beyond urban planning, having served as Assistant City Manager and Airport Manager of Leesburg Florida for four years in the 1980s.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science in Public Administration from Florida State University and is a member of the American Planning Association, the American Society for Public Administration, and the Florida City and County Management Association.

Carl Williams
Senior Advisor, Finance & Strategy

With over 25 years of senior-level finance executive experience, Mr. Williams is Senior Advisor, Finance and Strategy for Blount Development Group.

Prior to joining Blount Development Group, Mr. Williams was Executive Vice President, CFO, Board Member, and President for various business units of Baha Mar Ltd, for nine years. He was finance and business lead for US$2.6 billion in financing through the China Export-Import Bank.

Mr. Williams served as CFO/Senior Vice-President of Hong Kong Disneyland from construction through the first year of operations and represented management on the Joint Venture Board with the majority of Hong Kong government officials. Before the Hong Kong assignment, he held various finance, strategy, and operations roles of increasing responsibility with The Walt Disney Company over the course of 18 years.

In addition to Strategy, Operations, and Finance, he has expertise in hospitality, theme parks, hotels, and very large resort-scale developments. Mr. Williams also has consulted with various organizations on finance, strategy, and leadership including Central Florida property developer, Lake Nona.  

After graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Systems Engineering, Mr. Williams went on to obtain a Master of Business Administration from Rollins College.

Mr. Williams has also held volunteer leadership roles with Coastal Conservation Association of Florida having served as President and Management Committee Chairman.

Mike Blount
Advisor

Mike Blount, one of BDG’s advisors, has been head project manager of over US$1 billion in ground-up Multifamily and Student Housing Construction with firms such as DeBartolo Development, Trammel Crow Residential, and Morgan Group.

Mr. Blount was head of construction for some of the first privately funded, student housing projects in the country at Mississippi State And Auburn University in the 1980s.