McElyea, formerly a 20-year public accountant and consultant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers, is charged with developing new corporate business relationships as senior vice president of acquisitions at the locally based REIT. At PriceWaterhouse, the Texas A&M University graduate specialized in lease, joint venture and off-balance-sheet structuring, most recently in focusing on synthetic leases.

"Suzanne's depth and breadth of experience will be a tremendous asset to the growth of our company," says David W. Cobb, CNLR's executive vice president and chief investment officer. "We're looking forward to utilizing her extensive accounting knowledge and contacts in areas such as synthetic leases to assist the company in developing new property acquisition products."

In her professional career, McElyea, a certified public accountant, has taught real estate accounting and auditing courses to industry groups and has been published frequently.