Jeanne Kazel Wilcke is the principal and founder of Breithorn LLC, a privately held New York real estate company that has invested in buildings and portfolios of coops/condos and conversions. 

Kazel Wilcke, a native of Brooklyn, acts as principal in transactions, and has been particularly successful at distressed turnaround situations, calling upon her nearly three decades of structured finance and investment banking expertise to successfully rejuvenate properties. She sits on numerous co-op boards and has first hand experience managing and running cooperative corporations. 

Before founding her real estate investment company, Kazel Wilcke worked as an executive at some of the most recognized financial institutions, including CIT Group and Dean Witter. 

Kazel Wilcke earned a bachelor’s in mathematics from SUNY Binghamton, and an MBA in finance from New York University. 

Her maternal grandparents came from Drumlish, Co. Longford. During her college years she traveled throughout Ireland and visited the homes that her grandparents grew up in.  “Years ago, I visited an Irish relative, Father Michael, who presided over a parish in Scotland. He awed me with stories of the family’s Irish history,” says Kazel Wilcke. “One story in particular was fascinating. During the brutal days of Oliver Cromwell’s decimation of Ireland, an ancestor of mine rose up and attempted to assassinate the brutal lord ruling the area. Alas, my poor but brave relative was caught in the act — and hung! He risked his life to stop the obliteration of the people. 

“To me,” she adds, “being Irish means having the courage to take a stand.”

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