Doug Brien '90 graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1994 with a degree in Political Economy of Industrialized Societies– and later an MBA from Tulane University– before embarking on his career and life journey. Now a Super Bowl-winning NFL placekicker, successful entrepreneur, and real estate innovator, he resides in Piedmont, CA, with his wife and three children. When he’s not working he loves to spend time in Tahoe riding mountain bikes, wake surfing, and enjoying nature.
Doug played in the NFL for twelve seasons, with notable positions as NFLPA Players rep for the Saints, 2x Pro Bowl Alternate, 2nd all-time leading scorer at Cal, and Cal Hall of Fame inductee. In 2009, following the housing market collapse, he co-founded Waypoint Homes and embarked on a transformative journey in the real estate industry. They defied critics and scaled the company to build a remarkable $3 billion portfolio, comprising over 17,000 single-family rental homes. This success put the Single-Family Residential sector on the map as a profitable and scalable financial asset class, attracting institutional investors and private equity firms. Doug ultimately led Waypoint to a successful public markets debut in 2016 where they traded on the NYSE under the ticker SWAY.
Building on this achievement, Doug co-founded Mynd in 2016, driven by a mission to make real estate investing more accessible. Mynd leverages technology to unlock remote investing at scale, empowering a new generation of investors. With a proprietary all-in-one platform, Mynd streamlines the investment journey for both first-time individual investors and seasoned institutional players. Today, Mynd manages over 18,000 units in 26 markets across the country, intending to manage 20,000 homes by the end of 2023 and ultimately powering one million homes worldwide.
Doug was selected not only as one of the “Top 100 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs” by Goldman Sachs and won Ernest and Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” award, but also as a part of the NFL’s inaugural class for the Wharton Sports Business Initiative Program in Entrepreneurial Management at the University of Pennsylvania.
“My time as an SAE was a special period in my life,” says Doug of his time in the chapter, “I really enjoyed trying to strike a balance as a student-athlete and attempt to hang with my SAE brethren that were always trying to drag me to an event. I had the perfect life at Cal in terms of the optimal mix of fun and serious work. I still have many close friends from SAE and I value my involvement.”