Dan Duryea – CFO @ Shelter Holdings

Paul Freed on September 29, 2026

Our Herd Freed Hartz executive search team was honored to partner with Shelter Holdings on a retained executive search to find their new Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

Shelter Holdings was founded in 2014 by Jeff Gow, Gary Young and Derek Straight following the sale of Polygon Northwest Company to William Lyon Homes. Gow and Young founded Polygon Northwest in 1991 and, over the following 23 years, developed approximately 17,000 homes throughout the greater Seattle and Portland markets. Today, Shelter is a real estate- and credit-focused family office that actively manages a diversified portfolio across the following core business lines: 

Vertically integrated real estate development. An in-house team manages entitlement, permitting, land development and vertical construction across residential projects in Washington and Arizona. 

Stabilized multifamily. Shelter asset-manages 2,460 units across 14 properties in the Puget Sound and Portland markets. Cascadian Property Management oversees the seven Puget Sound properties. 

Private lending. An internal team originates and manages approximately $100 million in traditional debt, mezzanine loans, preferred equity and distressed-credit investments. 

Northwest Bank. Shelter’s principals maintain majority ownership of Northwest Bank, a Boise-based commercial bank with approximately $1.4 billion in assets operating across four states. Jeff Gow serves as Chairman and CEO. 

Shelter is well capitalized, with abundant liquidity, conservative leverage and a long-term approach to capital allocation and risk. Its stable senior management team has experienced no turnover in more than a decade. With a bullish view of the Puget Sound region, the company is positioned to grow its real estate development business through future market cycles.

This retained executive search was led by Kevin Hartz/Managing Partner and Ryan Biancofiori/Partner.

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