Most recently, Johnston was an EVP of finance and administration for locally based Platinum Equity LLC. During his stint there, the firm acquired more than 40 companies, growing from a start-up with eight employees to more than 32,000 globally. His job also involved extensive work and travel in Europe.

While SCI remains very comfortable with its TIC product as distributed through real estate channels, Johnston notes that the company has been examining the possibility of adding a securities venue for TIC product. "We're not certain exactly how we're going to proceed," he says, "but if we do proceed in a dual fashion, I'll be championing that securities effort. If we decide to make a parallel offering of a securities type product, we would hope to capture some of that market."

Johnston is also looking overseas as a source of growth and estimates that 10% to 20% of its investors could be from overseas six months from now. "We see a global market here," Johnston says. "The TIC industry principally started out in Southern California, but the product itself, from an investor's standpoint, is a good one for European investors, among others."

Robert Robotti, SCI's co-chairman and chief investment officer, and Marc Paul, co-chairman and president, continue their roles at the firm, which currently expects to close in the neighborhood of $600 million of new deals in 2005. And Johnston, for one, expects the broader industry to continue to grow as well.

"TICs are in their first or second inning," he says. "It's not difficult to see a $10-billion industry in a couple of years."