Jake Kaplan

Jake Kaplan is the Chief Financial Officer of Garman Homes, a Raleigh-area homebuilder where he has spent more than eight years proving that CFO can stand for a lot more than finance. Jake’s path to the C-suite was anything but traditional. After managing a pawn shop, selling real estate, and running a real estate school, he found his way into homebuilding and fell in love with the intersection of sales, marketing, construction, finance, technology, and people. Jake joined Garman as Controller in 2018, became VP of Finance, and now serves as CFO, overseeing finance and technology while regularly wandering into other departments to understand processes, connect the dots, and remove friction - earning him the unofficial title “Jake-of-all-trades.” Today, Garman closes 300+ homes annually while its two-person finance team manages thousands of lots, $100M+ in bank financing, and closes the books within one business day, typically. Jake has also helped develop Garman’s internal technology platforms, Stella and Kylie. His philosophy is simple: technology should eliminate repetitive work so people can focus on creating connections and memorable experiences. Named to Pro Builder’s Forty Under 40 in 2023, Jake is a Detroit native who now lives in Raleigh with his wife, four kids, and dog. He enjoys traveling, running, lifting weights and eating - which conveniently gives all that exercise a purpose.