About us
Our team is built for success.
With strategy led by our founder and principal, Wolfgang Wagener, partners in California and Germany anchor WOWA’s fundamental strengths: investment and development, planning, design, and communication. Our core team works together closely, building on decades of experience and successful collaboration. We continually cultivate an ecosystem of external partners, industry experts, professional networks, and resources to expand our capacity as needed.
As an organization, WOWA is designed to succeed in complex and uncertain environments. Our multifaceted perspective informs strategy at the highest level, and our experience grounds future-oriented decision-making. Our networked, adaptable structure enables us to selectively scale up, tailoring resources to meet the demands of each unique development.
Over the past 25 years, we have provided real estate development strategy for developers, organizations, communities, and industry leaders across more than 50 million square feet of corporate campus, mixed-use, smart and green office, research and development, and commercial and retail space; over 10,000 residential units; and open space and landscape for more than 100 projects.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) established the RIBA Client Adviser accreditation program in 2005, in recognition of the increasing demand for strategy, planning, and design oversight for real estate development clients. As one of the most highly regarded international professional governing bodies, the RIBA is at the forefront of formalizing this emerging field as an accredited professional practice. The program provides clients with a framework and resources for independent advice during the entire real estate life cycle—with particular emphasis on strategic planning at the earliest stages to establish certainty and control throughout, and safeguard clients’ investments. Our founding principal, Wolfgang Wagener, has been a practicing member of the RIBA since 1996. He successfully completed the rigorous RIBA Client Adviser accreditation process in 2017, thanks to the expertise he has gained in over 25 years of international architectural practice and corporate real estate leadership.
Our Team
Founder and principal
Wolfgang WagenerPhD, AIA, AKNW, RIBA
As founder and managing principal, Wolfgang Wagener exemplifies WOWA’s strategic approach. Throughout the development process, he combines big-picture vision and analysis with detail-oriented stewardship, to ensure that clients’, investors’, and users’ needs are met. His international career spans 25 years and multiple disciplines, combining experience as a real estate executive, practicing architect, and innovation thought leader. Wolfgang integrates business best practices, architectural excellence, digital leadership, and public-sector knowledge, tailoring effective and far-sighted strategy for real estate development.
Wolfgang Wagener holds a PhD in architecture from RWTH Aachen University in Germany and an advanced management degree in real estate from Harvard University. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute, the American Institute of Architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Society of Architectural Historians, Southern California Chapter, having followed his passion for midcentury modernism from western Europe to the coast of California.
Real estate investment and development, United States
Eric Morley
Eric Morley is a cofounder and principal of The Morley Bros. The Morley Bros. are Silicon Valley–based real estate developers, investors, and advisers specializing in urban development, investment, and navigation of the increasingly complex local regulatory environment. They stand at the intersection of land use, public policy, and politics in Silicon Valley. Their team has played a leading role in many of the region’s largest, most complex, and highest-profile residential, commercial, corporate campus, mixed-use, and economic development projects in Silicon Valley. WOWA strategically partners with The Morley Bros. on projects throughout Silicon Valley.
Real estate planning and design, United States
John S. SorcinelliAIA, RIBA
John S. Sorcinelli brings 30 years of international planning and design management experience to WOWA. He is the founder and principal of Design Source Studios, a California planning, architecture, and engineering practice. Formerly based in London, he worked for over a decade with Richard Rogers Partnership for clients including Lloyds of London, Burroughs-Wellcome, and The National Gallery in London. His broad international architectural experience combines with strong engineering grounding to bring innovative and pragmatic design solutions to WOWA developments. He is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Real estate investment and development, Europe
Niels FischerMRICS
Niels Fischer is the founder and managing director of Deutropolis. He has more than
25 years of experience in building, restructuring, and leading companies (as principal and consultant) within the international real estate industry, with a focus on investment and asset management. He has been a member of the boards of Herring Baker Harris Deutschland GmbH, DEFO Deutsche Fonds für Immobilienvermögen GmbH, Aareal Asset Management GmbH, and Deutsche Bau- und Grundstücks AG, Bonn and Berlin. His competencies and qualifications are in investment and asset management, strategic planning and change management, human resources and business development, project management, and project implementation. WOWA enters into strategic partnerships with Deutropolis in Europe.
Marketing and communications
Leslie Erganian
Leslie Erganian directs marketing and communications for WOWA. Her storytelling enables effective leadership, distilling the complexities of each development into a clear and compelling message. Before joining our team, she contributed to the production of numerous feature films and television series as a writer and correspondent for NBC, Discovery, and Hallmark, and as a designer for clients including Warner Bros., DreamWorks, MTV, PBS, and Showtime. She earned her MFA in performing arts at the University of California at Los Angeles School of Theater, Film and Television, and in fine art from the University of Illinois School of Art + Design. Her artwork is in the permanent collections of the Xerox Corporation and the California Museum of Photography.