Mission Statement

Our mission at DTL is to achieve excellence in the multifamily apartment industry by providing quality management of affordable and conventional housing for our owner-clients, resident customers, and government agency partners.

Leadership

Eric Lynner, President & CEO

Eric Studied at Lake Forest College in IL and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA in 1994. He served as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Fernandes Guitars in Los Angeles, CA prior to joining DTL in 2005. 

Andrew Lynner, Vice President

Andrew received a Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing at Western State University College of Business in Colorado in 2000. He previously worked in the management program at Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Los Angeles, CA. He joined DTL in 2005 and is the head of Compliance and Supervisor of Operations.

Central Office

Kory Hobbs, Supervising Manager

Kory received a Technical Degree from Indian Hills Community College. He also has a Maintenance Diploma and carries a Refrigeration License. Kory started with DTL in 2014 as a Maintenance Technician. He was promoted first to Property Manager in 2014 and then to the company’s first Managing Supervisor in 2017. Kory’s unique skill set makes him an invaluable asset to DTL where he is responsible for hiring, training new as well as seasoned Managers, Compliance, REAC preparation, Contract negotiations, website development, and more!  

Chad Sparks, Accounting Manager

Chad received his Bachelor of Arts from Buena Vista University with emphasis in Finance and Accounting. Chad has been working in Accounting and Auditing since 2001. Chad joined DTL in 2023 as the Director of Accounting where he is responsible for accounting and payroll

Angie Funaro, Management & Compliance Specialist

Angie started her career in housing in 2004 with Anawim Housing, where she helped navigate homes for the homeless. Since her time in housing, she has worked in conventional, tax credit, USDA, and HUD housing. She first started at DTL in 2015 as an assistant manager. She moved on after 2 years to manage a senior housing complex but soon realized she missed DTL to much and she returned as the Management & Compliance Specialist in 2018. Angie is responsible for navigating the ins and outs of the HUD housing program, training managers, and keeping the compliance top-notch.

Cindy Schaefer, Executive Assistant

Cindy started with DTL in 2016 as a part-time assistant manager at River Hills Apartments #2. Cindy was soon promoted into the manager role at River Hills Apartments #2 and was in that role for almost three years. This management role soon followed up with another promotion in our home office as an Executive Assistant. Her knowledge of Property Management and attention to detail make her newest position an easy transition.  She is the person you’ll most likely reach when calling into the office and she’ll be happy to help get you where you need to go.

In Memoriam

Darwin “Dar” T. Lynner Senior 1916-1993

  Tribute

Dar’s family moved to Des Moines in the middle of the Depression after his father’s insurance company closed its doors. He graduated from Drake University in the 1940s with a degree in economics and was stationed in Boston Harbor and the North and South Pacific with the Navy during World War II. 

He founded the Darwin T. Lynner Company in 1946 with about $2,000 in capital and $2,000 in operating expenses per month, but managed to survive in a post war climate that was one of poor supply and great demand. Between 1948 and 1968 he developed 2,000 lots and 1,000 houses in the Des Moines area. 

From 1968 to 1980, Dar shifted the focus of his company and began developing and managing mostly low-income housing projects all over the state. He retired in the mid 1980s with his son, Tom, at the helm of the company.

Darwin “Tom” T. Lynner Junior 1944-2017

  Tribute

Tom earned a BA in English at Cornell College and his Master’s and Doctoral Degrees from the State University of New York in Buffalo. He worked as a copy editor at The Des Moines Register and taught at Drake University before joining his father at the Darwin T. Lynner Company in 1976. 

Tom was a consummate teacher and storyteller; he was widely read and could converse on any number of diverse topics from physics and the NFL to literature and the Bible. He was deeply invested in the Des Moines community and served on many boards including the Iowa Finance Authority, Investment Management Group, Humanities Iowa, and also served as President of the Home Builders Association of Greater Des Moines, and the Wakonda Club. 

Tom was one of the founding members of the Des Moines National Poetry Festival, which brought established, world-class poets to read in Des Moines and offer in-school programs to students for 16 years.

He was a quietly generous man, kind, strong, confident, and humble of heart. He was proud of providing jobs and housing for many people in Iowa and deeply gratified that his two sons, Eric and Andrew, chose to return to Des Moines and invest themselves in the good work he carried on from his own father.

History

Darwin “Dar” Thomas Lynner Sr. (1916-1993) founded the company that bears his name in Des Moines, Iowa just after World War II in 1946. The Darwin T. Lynner Company sold insurance and provided real estate construction and brokerage services as well building over 1000 single family homes in Des Moines in the 1950s and ‘60s. Des Moines’ Lynner Drive was one of the many subdivisions the company developed during this time.

In the late ‘60s Dar partnered with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to construct the first affordable housing property in the state of Iowa, Edgebrook Park Apartments in Marshalltown. Many other affordable housing developments followed and the company soon had controlling interest in several multi-family and elderly properties across the state of Iowa.

In the mid-1970s, Dar’s oldest son Tom began his career with the family business and oversaw the developments of many new projects throughout the state of Iowa as well as the growth of the company’s property management division. Having a great eye for value, Tom acquired many new properties over the years, thereby increasing the company’s assets and presence in Iowa. Tom also oversaw the growth of the company’s property management division and the renovation and of many existing properties within the portfolio as well.

In 2005, Tom’s sons Eric and Andrew joined the company’s central office to continue the family business tradition and served as vice presidents of operations and compliance until Tom’s passing in 2017.

Today the company provides property management services for profit and non-profit clients in both affordable and convention residential housing markets. We are committed to our tenants, clients, employees, and strategic partners in our quest to provide the absolute best in residential housing.