Group Costa Rica Management Team

The principals of Group Costa Rica, Richard Masterson and William Knickman are seasoned professional businessmen with a combined experience of over fifty-five years in real estate, development, marketing, project management, residential/commercial construction and problem solving. Both are well known and respected in their marketplace both in the United States and Costa Rica.

Richard Masterson

Richard (Rich) Masterson is an entrepreneur active in technology, real estate, hospitality, philanthropy and private equity. Since 1999, Masterson has successfully developed over $150 million of real estate in Florida, Pennsylvania, Canada, Costa Rica and New Jersey. Projects range from land development in Costa Rica and single-family homes at the New Jersey shore to luxury condominium projects and a five-star hotel in the four-season resort of Mt-Tremblant, Canada.

Masterson is Chairman of Groupe Avantage, a Canadian based lifestyle real estate development firm. From 1999 to 2004 Masterson served as Chairman of GivingCapital. By partnering with Wall Street clients such as Morgan Stanley, Solomon Smith Barney and others, GivingCapital raised over $500 Million for charity before being acquired by Kintera, a publicly held company focused on philanthropic services.

Rich’s private equity interests include a limited partnership in Cross Atlantic Capital Partners, a venture capital firm with offices in Pennsylvania, London and Ireland. He is also investing in proprietary Internet marketing technologies and writing a book entitled “Selling the Google Way.”

In 1994 Masterson founded US Interactive, an internet professional services firm with clients including Microsoft, IBM, American Express, Disney, Toyota and the U.S. Senate. US Interactive completed its initial public offering in 1999 and Masterson was recognized as one of the pioneers in online marketing. Prior to starting US Interactive Rich was President of The American Lease Exchange, the first business-to-business advertiser on Prodigy Interactive Personal Service, an online videotext joint venture of IBM and Sears.

Masterson is active in philanthropy and has served on the board of numerous charitable organizations including The National Philanthropic Trust, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and The Wellness Community of Philadelphia. Rich endowed the first full business school scholarship at James Madison University in honor of his father Thomas Masterson. The scholarship requires all graduates of the business school to participate in a case study entitled “Ethics in Business” and one student is selected for the scholarship annually.

He is a graduate of James Madison University and the Executive Program of Harvard Business School and was named the first “Entrepreneur in Residence” of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

William J. Knickman

Bill Knickman is currently the CEO of Group Costa Rica LLC and American Consulting and Security SA and president of Masterson Development. He formerly was Sales Manager for Costa Rica Lifestyle Development, a real estate company, developing and selling property in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Knickman was deeply involved with the formation of CRLD and has been successfully project managing numerous development projects in Costa Rica and the USA. Bill has been marketing and selling properties, houses, condominiums, and commercial retail units in Costa Rica for the last four years. Previously he was the Head Project Manager and Sales Director for the Village of Safety Harbor Townhouse project in Safety Harbor, Florida as well as managing all Masterson Development projects in New Jersey, South Florida, and Pennsylvania. Knickman joined Masterson Development in early 2002 as Vice President of the company, and brings extensive construction and contracting expertise to the Masterson Development senior management team. In March 2003, Bill became President of Masterson Development.

Prior to joining the Masterson team he was most recently the Vice President and Partner at RS Electrical Contractors, Inc. (Buena, NJ). From 1974 through 2001, Knickman directed a number of activities at the electrical design and building contracting firm, including electrical engineering, design, sales, estimating, and project management. He developed the company’s electrical estimating program, and introduced AutoCAD to the electrical construction industry in Southern New Jersey. Most impressively, Knickman designed and supervised the electrical construction of more than 35 million square feet of building space during his 27 years with RSEC, and developed a 24-unit apartment complex located on the Mullica River in Sweetwater, New Jersey.

Previously, Knickman was a purchasing agent and estimator for W. V. Pangborne & Company, Inc. (Philadelphia, PA). A large electrical construction firm, and a division of Fishbach and Moore, Inc. (one of the largest electrical contractors in the world). Knickman worked on a variety of projects which included the New Jersey High Speed Transit Line, the Broad Street Subway (in Philadelphia), U.S. Steel, Children’s Hospital, Oscar Mayer, Lukens Steel Plant, and the Liberty Bell Racetrack. Knickman began his career as a purchasing agent for General Electric Corp. (1969-1971), in Philadelphia, PA. Mr. Knickman was educated at Villanova University, Villanova, PA