Prior to co-founding Red River, Ryan Watts founded Springbok Energy Partners, an oil and gas investment firm focused on investing in royalties. Ryan focused primarily on investment sourcing and capital formation, successfully raising 5 separate private equity partnerships. Springbok and its related entities invested more than $200 million into oil and gas royalty assets over the last ten years and completed over 13,000 individual oil and gas real property acquisitions. In early 2020, Ryan oversaw the sale of Springbok’s portfolio to a publicly traded strategic buyer.
Ryan’s focus at Red River is land acquisition, deal structuring, and corporate strategy. When he’s not assisting the operations team at Red River, Ryan serves on the board of directors for Lakeside Bank and enjoys playing tennis, golf, coaching youth sports, and spending time with his wife and two sons.
Steven Watts has undergraduate and graduate degrees from University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University. He founded Rose Rock Development Partners (RRDP), a multifamily development company that redeveloped, owns, and manages three historic redevelopment projects in Tulsa, totaling 180 total multifamily units and $40 million in value. RRDP has 520 multifamily units under development in Tulsa and Oklahoma City totaling approximately $100 MM in value.
Prior to founding Rose Rock, Steven worked for an Oklahoma based development, construction, and engineering company where he was responsible for identifying and executing real estate development projects. Steven initiated and completed approximately $90 MM worth of new development and redevelopment projects in the region ranging from multifamily to hospitality. When Steven is not developing real estate or serving in his community, he likes to spend time with his wife and two daughters.
After graduating from Southern Methodist University, Jay Dempsey spent 10 years in commercial banking / investment banking before forming his first real estate development company, Civitas Senior Living. By expanding and developing their real estate portfolio, Jay was able to take the company from one building in East Texas to 60+ buildings and $2B in portfolio value in 7 states in only 8 years.
At Red River, Jay works with the operations team and helps with capital formation and investor / bank relationships. When he’s not solving problems and creating strategies at Civitas and Red River, Jay enjoys playing golf, tennis, and spending time with his wife, daughter, and son.
Corbin Cross joined Red River Development (RRD) as Partner and Chief Financial Officer in 2021. Corbin is responsible for managing the firm’s corporate investment, finance, and accounting functions, debt and equity execution, strategic planning, and overseeing the planning and management of RRD’s development pipeline.
Prior to joining RRD, Corbin served as VP of Finance at Civitas Senior Living and was actively involved in the acquisition, development, and financing of transactions exceeding $1.5 billion. Before his time at Civitas, Corbin served as a Senior in EY’s assurance practice.
Corbin is a native of Fort Worth and holds a Master of Accountancy and BBA in Accounting from Abilene Christian University.
Corbin is an avid outdoorsman, and enjoys spending time with his wife, son, and daughter.
Scott is a seasoned business development and project manager with expertise in construction management, market research, product selection, historic tax credits, inventory management, and supply chain administration. Prior to his career in real estate, Scott worked for multiple e-commerce start-ups, where he orchestrated multiple international expansions into new markets and was fundamental in sourcing one company’s top-selling product, which became the #1 selling pillow on Amazon and generated over $1.5 Million in sales. Scott personally managed over 40 supply partners and $20 Million in inventory and was directly responsible for $100 Million in annual sales. Scott has a bachelor’s degree from University of Oklahoma. He is a graduate of Leadership OKC LOYAL Class XI and is an active member of Urban Land Institute. Scott currently lives with his wife in Tulsa.