About
We approach every project with intention, collaboration, and a long-term view of value and impact.
Overview
Upland is a real estate development company focused on creating enduring places with purpose.
We see every project as an opportunity to thoughtfully shape the built environment, balancing vision with practicality, creativity with responsibility, and immediate needs with long-term impact.
Our goal is simple: to create places that people are proud to call home, work, gather, and remember.
our values
At Upland, our values guide every decision we make and every place we create. We believe exceptional development begins with listening, succeeds through collaboration, and is measured by the lasting impact it leaves behind. These principles shape how we work, how we partner, and how we steward the communities we serve.
Leadership
Upland’s leadership team brings together decades of experience across real estate development, finance, capital markets, construction, operations, and entrepreneurship. Their complementary backgrounds allow Upland to approach each opportunity with creative vision, financial discipline, and an owner’s long-term perspective.
Kent Bowen
Kent Bowen is a seasoned entrepreneur, investor, and business leader with more than 35 years of experience across finance, real estate, and business development.
After beginning his career in commercial banking, Kent founded and grew an information technology and communications company to more than 5,000 employees before its acquisition by a publicly traded company in 2007. He has since founded, built, invested in, and successfully exited multiple businesses spanning technology, utilities, entertainment, and professional services.
Kent currently serves as chairman of ContactUs Communications and Nuvo USA and holds board positions with several prominent businesses and community organizations. He is also an active investor and developer across multifamily, office, retail, and commercial real estate.
At Upland, Kent helps guide the company’s strategic direction, partnerships, investment activity, and long-term growth. His entrepreneurial perspective and ability to recognize emerging opportunities are integral to Upland’s approach to development.
Michael Amicon
Michael Amicon is an accomplished real estate developer with more than 20 years of experience leading complex residential, multifamily, retail, and hospitality developments.
Throughout his career, Michael has overseen more than $2 billion in real estate projects, managing every stage of the development process from site selection and concept planning through entitlements, design, financing, construction, and lease-up. He also brings extensive experience working with municipalities and structuring public-private partnerships and economic development incentives.
At Upland, Michael leads the company’s development activities, coordinating with public partners, architects, engineers, contractors, and community stakeholders to move projects from opportunity to completion.
Known for his ability to align diverse interests and navigate complicated development challenges, Michael combines creative vision with practical execution to deliver projects that are thoughtfully designed, financially sound, and positioned for long-term success.
Robert Mason
Rob Mason brings more than 25 years of experience across finance, banking, capital markets, investment management, and real estate development.
Before co-founding Upland, Rob held senior positions with PNC, Merrill Lynch, RED Capital Group, First Financial Bank, and Skilken Gold Real Estate Development. During his career, he has helped finance more than $1 billion in real estate investments across multifamily, mixed-use, hospitality, office, and retail properties.
At Upland, Rob evaluates new development opportunities and directs the company’s financial strategy, capital structuring, investor relationships, and asset-level financial management. His background allows Upland to bring institutional-level underwriting and capital markets expertise to an entrepreneurial development platform.
Rob’s disciplined approach to risk, investment, and capital allocation helps ensure that Upland’s projects are appropriately structured, responsibly funded, and positioned to create lasting value for investors, partners, and communities.
Nick Bowen
Nick Bowen brings five years of experience in construction and real estate development to Upland, with a background in preconstruction estimating, construction budgeting, and subcontractor procurement.
Prior to joining Upland, Nick worked at Ruscilli Construction Company, where he focused on preconstruction estimating, subcontractor bidding, procurement, and contract buyout for mixed-use and multifamily developments. His experience spans projects throughout Central Ohio and other markets, including Indianapolis, IN, Tallahassee, FL, and Greenville, SC.
At Upland, Nick supports development underwriting, construction budgeting, and ongoing market analysis. He closely monitors market trends, rental rates, competitive properties, and evolving submarket conditions to help inform investment decisions, evaluate new development opportunities, and support asset performance. Drawing on his construction background, Nick also provides valuable insight into project costs and subcontractor relationships. Additionally, he manages the firm’s technology systems, implementing tools and processes that enhance operational efficiency.
Nick is a 2021 graduate of the University of South Carolina.