James Ketai

Biography: Jim co-founded Essex Title LLC with Starwood Capital Group. Essex Title is a multi-state licensed title agency, based in Detroit and New York. Essex Title provides title insurance in all 50 states focused primarily on commercial transactions and has agency agreements with all the major underwriters. Jim also co-founded Vokal Ventures LLC, a full-service real estate development and management company. Affiliates of Vokal Ventures own real estate to be redeveloped in Detroit, Michigan, and have developed ground up commercial real estate in Detroit and is acquiring retail and residential projects, including the Bagley Mobility Hub in Corktown. The Bagley Mobility Hub is a state-of-the-art, tech-enabled mobility center offering 1,252 parking spots, an autonomous vehicle testing area, e-bike and e-scooter stations, with ground floor retail, and two outdoor plazas. Prior to Vokal Ventures LLC, Jim co-founded Bedrock Real Estate in 2010, served as the CEO and Managing Partner for over 8 years and served as the company’s Chairman for 1 year. Jim led Bedrock in its investment and commitment of more than $5.6 Billion to acquire and develop more than 125 properties, totaling more than 18 million sq. ft in downtown Detroit & Cleveland, which included several ground up developments in addition to numerous acquisitions and historic renovations. Bedrock started out with 5 team members at its inception and through Jim’s leadership, grew to over 600 team members. While leading Bedrock, the team recruited more than 330 new businesses to Detroit’s Central Business District. Jim was instrumental in creating a private security command center that monitors the safety of the Central Business District of Detroit. Jim also initiated and led the placemaking of several public venues throughout the city to activate experiences for the residential and business occupants of the city. Prior to Bedrock, Jim was the Managing Partner of Etkin Equities LLC, a full-service development company, for over 21 years and led the development, management, construction and leasing of more than 8 million sq. ft. of owned and managed commercial real estate holdings. Immediately subsequent to Jim’s graduation from law school, he practiced law with Carson Fischer and Potts in Birmingham, Michigan for 3½ years specializing in Bankruptcy and Real Estate.