Our influencers come from diverse backgrounds—many can trace their beginnings to technology for instance—and they all have varied approaches to the market. Profiled in the coming pages are influencers that specialize in debt, equity, mezzanine and points in between.

Perhaps their greatest contributions, though, have to do with a deep understanding of the markets and where commercial real estate is headed. To be sure, none of them have a crystal ball but the ability to funnel capital to deals is the next best thing.

ACORE Capital In 2015, Boyd Fellows, Stew Ward, Chris Tokarski and Warren de Haan launched full-service lending company ACORE Capital with the goal of becoming a leading private lender in commercial real estate. In less than four years, the foursome has managed to accomplish that lofty achievement. ACORE has originated $16 billion since its inception, closing $5 billion in both 2016 and 2017 and $5.7 billion, a total of 81 loans, in 2018.

Boyd Fellows

Chris Tokarski

Warren de Haan

Stew Ward

Some of the firm's standout loans in 2018 include $169.8 million of senior and mezzanine debt for an industrial, office and retail portfolio controlled by Alto Real Estate Funds and Northstar Commercial Partners, and a $105-million bridge loan for sponsor LaSalle Investment Management for a new development condo project in Nashville.

This year, the capital firm doesn't plan on slowing down. It has a $1.6 billion capital commitment from Delphi Financial Group, a subsidy of Japanese insurer Tokio Marine Group, which positions them to provide real estate finance options to well-capitalized and savvy investors.

Fellows, managing partner and co-head of capital markets and operations;

Ward, managing partner and co-head of capital markets and operations; Tokarski, managing partner and head of credit; and de Haan, managing partner and head of originations, have a combined 100 years of industry experience. They have worked together for two decades at Nomura, Countrywide Financial and Starwood Property Trust, where they have originated more than $50 billion in real estate loans throughout their combined careers. In each of the last three years, this elite team has earned a place among the top professionals in commercial real estate finance, ranking number 39 in 2016 before soaring to the No. 10 spot in 2017 and No. 9 in 2018. As ACORE grows, the managing partners have stacked the company with a stable of high-quality professionals, with more than 78 professionals across the county, including 20 originators and 33 people focused on credit and asset management, along with a support team.

ACORE's priority goal is to capture market share in the $5 trillion US CRE industry and $3.8 trillion of commercial real estate debt. To grow its market share, the firm takes a real-estate first approach and offers a full suite of services that cover the full capital stack. It is also investing $5 billion annually into software and technology that will materially impact commercial real estate transactions and the lending industry, and it has partnered with M61 and UC Berkeley to develop artificial intelligence-based software that can read complex legal loan documents with better accuracy than a human.

Boxwood Means, LLC Capital markets research company Boxwood is illuminating trends in the commercial property and small balance loan markets, which includes assets valued at less than $5 million and under 50,000 square feet. Through its research, Boxwood tracks prices for 125 markets, updating its research monthly, to unearth a range of variations between large and small commercial real estate assets as well as uncovering trends in the market that will help direct how lenders and investors understand the small balance market, mitigate risk and reduce lending costs. To accomplish this, Boxwood has an experienced team of leading analysts, appraisers, researchers and technologists. Both commercial banks and non-bank lenders have come to rely on this information for risk management and in examining and monitoring the market. As more industry professionals have come to rely on Boxwood's data, the firm has grown substantially in the last three years, increasing its revenue by 30% year-over-year each year.

Randy Fuchs

David Colonna

Michaell Taylor

Boxwood's overarching mission is to provide reliable insights into the small balance market through its research and to help small balance lenders process loans faster and more economically. To accomplish the latter, Boxwood is leveraging technology to create specialized property valuation tools and technology to serve its lofty and growing community of 200 bank and non-bank lenders, investors and service companies. Its property valuation tools include FieldSmart-branded commercial evaluations, a program that is engineered to process small-balance loans quickly and at a lower cost of capital, often bypassing the need to procure a commercial appraisal. Boxwood pairs this program with a technology platform that tracks client report orders, progress and ensures delivery.

This combination of research and technology has been a winning formula for Boxwood. In addition to growing its revenue, the company has also received glowing reviews from clients. At the firm's annual survey earlier this year, a majority of its users gave high scores for the firm's services and the reliability and accuracy of its valuation reports.

CrowdStreet CrowdStreet has emerged as a leader in the fin-tech world by creating both efficiency in raising capital and increasing access to capital for investors and sponsors as well as those making their foray into commercial real estate investment. Since Tore Steen, CEO, and Darren Powderly, VP, co-founded the company in April 2014, the firm has grown into the largest online marketplace for direct equity investments in the commercial real estate sector. The numbers are astounding: $525 million invested through the marketplace in the last five years and nearly $12 billion in property value transacting through the marketplace.