Zech says the Multifamily Group will “continue the same business plan, essentially. We're buying apartments in the Western states, and we've bought about $500 million of apartments annually for the last three years. We're still focused on the target markets where we've been over the last 13 years: California, Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City and Denver.” Kennedy Wilson owns 18,000 apartment units globally, Zech says.

Previously, Hart served as a SVP of portfolio management for Heitman Capital Management. While at Heitman, he was involved with turn-around asset management and disposition of a $500-million real estate portfolio for various pension funds, endowments and domestic and foreign lenders. Earlier, he was director of real estate marketing for Executive Life Insurance Co. Enhancement Trusts, where he completed the liquidation of a $1-billion portfolio of real estate assets and securities.

Hart holds a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Mass., and a master of business administration degree from the Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Zech worked for L.A.-based private equity firm William E. Simon & Sons, where he was responsible for the financial and operational analyses of the firm's primary portfolio holdings and for research and analysis of new investment opportunities. He also worked for PricewaterhouseCooper's Management Consulting Group, where he was involved in devising finance, technology and strategy solutions.

Zech earned his MBA with an emphasis in real estate finance and a BA in business economics from UCLA.

As previously reported by GlobeSt.com, Kennedy Wilson teamed with Capri Capital Partners to purchase the massive Esprit multifamily complex in Marina del Rey.