Groves, Zack

Joel was raised in Rockville, Maryland.  In 1993, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. with distinction and highest honors in history. In 1997, he graduated from George Washington University National Law Center and was admitted to the Colorado bar.

Joel is a director and shareholder of the law firm of Elkus Sisson & Rosenstein, P.C., which represents clients in a variety of transactional, government relations, divorce, civil litigation and criminal matters.  Joel practices in the areas of commercial real estate, real estate finance, special district and general corporate law. 

Until April 2011, Joel was a director and shareholder of Senn Visciano Canges Rosenstein P.C.  While there, he created a diverse client base and provided representation on many aspects of real estate law – leasing, acquisition, title, survey, disposition, development, finance, lending, zoning, land use and the formation and operation of Title 32 districts and other quasi-governmental entities.  Of particular note, Joel was the lead and primary counsel to Vestas Wind Systems in connection with all aspects of its acquisition and development of unimproved real property located in Windsor, Pueblo, Brighton and Greeley, Colorado. Joel represented Vestas in securing entitlements and incentives before the Governor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade and various cities, counties and urban renewal authorities along the Front Range.  Joel also successfully lobbied the Colorado State Legislature and the Governor’s office to secure legislation to solidify Vestas’s presence and corresponding investment in Colorado.  As part of this process, Joel helped craft key provisions of the underlying legislation.

During the spring of 2003, Joel organized and moderated a two-day forum for graduate students of the Denver University School of Public Policy.  The forum was entitled “Restarting Denver’s Economic Engine” and focused on issues concerning regional economic development.  Until 2011, Joel was the chairman of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce’s Water Task Force which, in 2003, drafted and published a white paper entitled “Water: What Its Means To Business.”  On behalf of the Water Task Force, Joel testified before a committee of the Colorado State Senate.  In December 2003, Joel helped draft and delivered testimony before the Subcommittee on Water and Power, Committee of the Interior, U.S. House of Representatives.  His testimony focused on the federal permitting process for water storage projects.

Since 2004, Joel has created various real estate companies that buy and lease properties located in the metro Denver area.  Over the last year, Joel has devoted considerable time, energies and resources to this endeavor.

In addition, Joel was an organizer of Solera National Bancorp, Inc., a bank holding company that owns Solera National Bank.  To facilitate the establishment of Solera, Joel played a meaningful role in raising $25MM in capital, over a 4-month period, from approximately 700 investors around the country.  After the successful capital raise, Solera opened its doors to the public in September 2007.  Solera is an OCC chartered, FDIC insured bank with its national headquarters in Lakewood, Colorado and has approximately 25 employees.  It is specifically targeting the growing Latino community – along with other markets (e.g. business community).  Joel has served on the board of directors, the executive committee and the credit committee.

During the 2006 fall semester, Joel taught an introductory course in political science at the Community College of Denver.