Our Team

Mike Strodtman
Founder and President

Mike, as Founder and President of Blue Skies Equity, has been investing in real estate since 2009.  His passion for real estate developed during graduate school where he received his Masters in Urban and Regional Studies.  He began his professional career as a city planner following graduation. In this role he started working with developers and contractors constructing everything from industrial buildings, hospital expansions and apartments.  He continued to expand his knowledge of city development and growth by working alongside retailers such as Wal-Mart to develop site plans and building designs to ensure a mutually beneficial relationship between the retailer and the city.  It was during this time as city planner he realized he was on the wrong side of the table and began investing in real estate.

 Mike started his investing journey as many do, purchasing single family dwellings and small multifamily residential rentals.  Throughout that time he was responsible for the acquisition, rehab and asset management of each of the properties.  In addition, Mike has purchased and subdivided vacant land and overseen the design and acted as general contractor of ground up construction of rental properties in his portfolio.

As Mike’s portfolio expanded, people began asking how they could learn from him and invest in the opportunities he has developed.  This interest led Mike to realize how much he loves sharing his knowledge. Now Mike enjoys showing others the benefits of real estate investing and giving them the opportunity to invest alongside him.

Although Mike is thinking about real estate and investment opportunities nearly all the time, he does enjoy downtime in the outdoors of Northern Minnesota.  He resides in Bemidji, MN with his family of two amazing daughters and wonderful wife who has supported him through every step of the journey of building a business.  They are his WHY and the driving force behind Mike’s desire to build generational wealth for his family. 

Chris Miller
Advisor

Chris Miller is a Real Estate investor and operational executive with a proven track record of repositioning real estate assets, delivering quality tenant experience, and obtaining consistent returns to investment partners. 

Chris has experience acquiring properties, managing renovations, raising private capital, and managing single-family & multifamily investment properties. Chris began investing in 2012 with single-family and shifted focus in 2019 to multifamily. 

Chris has a very strong background in operations. In Early 2021, Chris left his full-time career to fully transition into real estate. Prior to this change, Chris led a Global operations team located in 4 different countries, with $150M in yearly revenue, and growing at 20% + yearly. Chris’ focus on people and processes led to his team delivering the best profit margins, customer experience, and employee experience across the company.

Chris is the founder of Smart Wealth Equity which manages all aspects of the acquisition, repositioning, and sale of multifamily properties. Smart Wealth Equity currently has an interest in over 1170 Multifamily units and 2600+ Storage units located in Texas and is valued at over $170MM.

Rod Khlief
Senior Advisor

Rod Khleif is a real estate investor, mentor, community philanthropist, and author of “How to Create Lifetime Cash Flow Through Multifamily Properties”, considered to be an essential “textbook” for aspiring multifamily investors.

As one of the country’s top real estate trainers, Rod has personally owned and managed over 2,000 properties.

Rod is passionate about business, life, success, and giving back.

Rebecca Scraper
Accountant / CFO

Rebecca has worked alongside Mike since 2015 and manages the financial side of his real estate business. Rebecca is the owner of Allegiance Custom Accounting Services, LLC and loves working in the real estate and rental industry.  She graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor’s of Business Administration with an emphasis in Financial Management.

She worked in the banking sector, in particular commercial lending before she ventured off to start her own accounting business.  Rebecca is passionate about working with business owners and loves to manage the financial side so business owners can focus on the growth and success of their business. 

Mike, as Founder and Managing Member of Blue Skies Equity, has been investing in real estate since 2009. He began investing in single family and small multifamily residential rentals and is responsible for acquisition, rehab and asset management of the properties. In addition, Mike has purchased and subdivided vacant land and over saw the design and construction of rental properties in his portfolio. Mike lives in Bemidji, MN with his two amazing daughters and a loving and caring wife. They are his WHY and the driver to build generational wealth for his family.
Mike Strodtman
President
Chris Miller is a Real Estate investor and operational executive with a proven track record of repositioning real estate assets, delivering quality tenant experience, and obtaining consistent returns to investment partners. Chris has experience acquiring properties, managing renovations, raising private capital, and managing single-family & multifamily investment properties. Chris began investing in 2012 with single-family and shifted focus in 2019 to multifamily. Chris has a very strong background in operations. In Early 2021, Chris left his full-time career to fully transition into real estate. Prior to this change, Chris led a Global operations team located in 4 different countries, with $150M in yearly revenue, and growing at 20% + yearly. Chris’ focus on people and processes led to his team delivering the best profit margins, customer experience, and employee experience across the company. Chris is the founder of Smart Wealth Equity which manages all aspects of the acquisition, repositioning, and sale of multifamily properties. Smart Wealth Equity currently has an interest in over 1170 Multifamily units and 2600+ Storage units located in Texas and is valued at over $170MM.
Chris Miller
Rod Khleif is a real estate investor, mentor, community philanthropist, and author of "How to Create Lifetime Cash Flow Through Multifamily Properties", considered to be an essential “textbook” for aspiring multifamily investors. As one of the country’s top real estate trainers, Rod has personally owned and managed over 2,000 properties. Rod is passionate about business, life, success, and giving back.
Rod Khlief
Rebecca has worked alongside Mike since 2015 and manages the financial side of his real estate business. Rebecca is the owner of Allegiance Custom Accounting Services, LLC and loves working in the real estate and rental industry. She graduated from the University of North Dakota with a Bachelor's of Business Administration with an emphasis in Financial Management. She worked in the banking sector, in particular commercial lending before she ventured off to start her own accounting business. Rebecca is passionate about working with business owners and loves to manage the financial side so business owners can focus on the growth and success of their business.
Rebecca Scraper
Accountant/ CFO