Roland Warren Faassen (managing member)
Born in the Netherlands, Charly moved as a child with his parents and eight siblings to Monroe, NC where he lived until 2014. He began his career in the collision industry working his way up from washing cars to management and eventually partnering with his father-in-law (Don Wilburn) to expand the family business. During his tenure as president of Wilburn Auto Body Shop, Inc. (headquartered in Matthews, NC) the company grew from its original location in Matthews to encompass 13 locations throughout the Charlotte metropolitan area. As WAB grew, so did his family’s portfolio of commercial real estate holdings. When WAB was sold, Charly retained ownership of his commercial real estate leasing the properties back to the buyer and began investing in additional real estate where his sons opened their business in Florida. In 2019 Charly and his sons began to diversify their holdings moving into multifamily, mixed-use, and industrial real estate quickly building a portfolio of assets currently valued at approximately $85,000,000.
Roland Cooper Faassen (managing member)
Cooper Faassen, (Charly Faassen’s middle son) began his career at family owned Wilburn Auto Body (of Charlotte, NC) at the age of 16 learning the ropes before taking a full-time position as a collision service advisor in 2009. Three years later in 2012 Cooper was promoted to his first management position. The following year he became manager of WAB’s flagship store where he remained manager even after the company was acquired by ABRA 2014. Cooper subsequently moved to Fort Lauderdale where with other family members he opened Carolina Auto Body Shop, Inc in December of 2014.
During his time at Carolina Auto Body, Cooper served as president managing overseeing the company’s operations as well as helping identify new property acquisitions, negotiate purchases and leases, and working with city and county officials for collision center zoning requirements, and upfitting new properties to meet business requirements. Cooper’s leadership of the CAB unquestionably helped propel the start-up to the seven locations it operated until 2019. Upon the sale of CAB, Cooper and his brothers rolled their ownership in several pieces of commercial real estate as well as cash received upon sale of the enterprise into the CF Company to continue expanding their portfolio of real estate holdings.
Charles William Faassen (managing member)
Charles Faassen, (Charly Faassen’s youngest son) began his career in the collision industry at Wilburn Auto Body directly after graduating high school in 2011 where he served as a service advisor. When the company was sold in 2014, Charles moved with his parents and brothers to Florida where he co-founded Carolina Auto Body Shop, Inc. and resumed his role as a service writer. In 2016 Charles became the manager of the company’s flagship facility before being promoted to regional manager in 2018 overseeing operations of 4 of the 7 Carolina Auto Body collision centers. Charles’ operational management at CAB was instrumental in propelling the company’s growth prior to its sale in 2019. Upon the sale of CAB, Charles with his father and his brothers rolled their investments into the CF Company to continue expanding their portfolio of real estate holdings. Today Charles serves as a managing member of both The CF Company and Holly Leaf Partners.
John Picklesimer (Chief Financial Officer)
John Picklesimer graduated from Appalachian State University beginning his career weeks later with the oldest CPA firm in North Carolina. Over the next 6 years John found a niche working closely with mid-sized businesses primarily in the Construction and Automotive industries.
In 2014 John transitioned to work as Chief Financial Officer for the rapidly growing Wilburn Auto Body (Charlotte, NC) in 2004 bringing an array of knowledge and experience in accounting, finance, technology, and human resources. During his tenure at Wilburn Auto Body John oversaw all of the above areas of the business refining the company’s processes and capabilities assisting the owners in their acquisitions as they grew from six locations in 2004 to thirteen locations ten years later ultimately culminating in a successful sale of the enterprise to ABRA in March 2014.
When the Faassen family (former shareholders in WAB) moved to Florida and founded Carolina Auto Body, John was invited to take an equity stake in the enterprise and bring his talents and experience once more as CFO to the startup with the intent of building it. Instrumental in implementing systems, procedures, and growth strategies that allowed the company to scale John played a pivotal role from the inception of the enterprise through its growth to seven locations until it was successfully marketed and sold to Classic Collision less than 5 years later in December 2019.
Over the years John has been involved in a number of volunteer capacities with charitable and faith-based organizations including Team In Training (fundraiser), the International House (finance chairperson for fundraising events), Church at Charlotte (youth leader).
Today John continues to work closely with the Faassen family serving as Chief Financial Officer for The CF Company, LLC (Asheville, NC) and well as filling roles as Treasurer for Virginia Beach Community Chapel and board member for Sunnybrook Day School, Inc. (Virginia Beach, VA). He is a licensed Certified Public Accountant holding certificates issued by both North Carolina and Virginia.