About US
Since 1983, Cold River Partners has been designing, developing, and constructing residential lots across the Southeast. In the 40 years of development, Cold River has developed over 60,000 residential lots for top national, regional, and local home builders.
Cold Rivers Leadership has over 80 years of combined experience in residential development, asset management, land management, property management, and project management.
The Management Team
Chip Pearson
Co-Founder and Managing Partner
In his nearly 40 years as a developer/contractor, Chip managed up to 400 employees in multiple states and work sites. Overall business strategy, along with planning of growth and markets, was his primary role. He also oversaw fleet management and the acquisition and disposal of equipment. During this time, the company also acquired two quarry services companies and grew that division to 8 crews servicing large national construction aggregate producers in the Southeast including Hanson, Martin Marietta, and Vulcan Materials. The company also started an in-house residential engineering and site design company.
A former member of the Board of Industry Trade and Tourism (now Georgia Department of Economic Development), Chip is a founding board member of the First Citizens Bank (now Coastal State Bank) of Georgia, in Dawsonville, Georgia.
As an Eagle Scout, he serves on the Northeast Council of the Boy Scouts of America board. He is currently or formerly a member of the Associated General Contractors, Georgia Utility Contractors Association, National Federation of Independent Business, Georgia Cattleman’s Association, Rotary International and Gideon’s International.
A licensed commercial multi-engine rated pilot, Chip graduated from Shorter College with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management.
Carmen Barnes
Director of Operations
With 20 years of real estate, management, and project management experience she serves as the Director of Operations and oversees the Due Diligence and Land Development Departments.
Before Cold River, Carmen served as the Chief Operating Officer at Executive Asset Management "EAM" and managed the daily operational activities of the company, ensuring that sales, margin, and profit goals were achieved in the most cost-effective manner while maintaining the highest level of customer service and customer retention rates. While at EAM, she built several successful teams within the organization consisting of 6-30 direct and 300 non-direct reports. Successfully liquidated over $1.7 billion in distressed assets. She also served as Vice President of Client Relations and Property Management.
Prior to her work in the real estate industry, she was responsible for coordinating the building of 25 Special Points of Distribution sites across the Southeast, for the McDonald’s Corporation.
Carmen obtained her MBA from Reinhardt University in the Spring of 2020. She holds an Associate's and Bachelor’s degrees in Real Estate from Georgia State University. She is also a licensed broker in the State of Georgia. She also maintains several Real Estate designations.
Janet Regnier
Janet is a J.D. Candidate at Concord Law School through Purdue University Global. She is President of the Student Bar Association and graduates in April of 2023. She has an undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma in Business Management and graduated from Louisiana State University’s Paralegal program. As a paralegal, she has experience in intellectual property and general litigation. Janet has been with Cold River Partners for two years and assists with contracts, development projects and investor relations.
Cory Huskins
Land Development Manager
Cory has over 25 years of Project Management infrastructure of public and private utility distribution systems including water, sewer, pumping (lift) stations, storm, and gas. He is knowledgeable in the land disturbance activities including clearing, erosion control best management practices, mass and lot grading and the installation of transportation facilities.