No matter how competitive the current commercial real estate lending market has become, it can't compare with the uncertainty that characterized it this time last year. Indeed, the capital markets have undergone a 180 degree turnaround during this time period. Kudos must be given, therefore, to the men and women who have navigated these whipsawed forces.

In the following pages you will find our selection of this year's lender influencers. As always, we have made our guiding criteria the impact these people, teams and companies have had in their particular niche over the last twelve months. It can be a high bar to clear, given the skillset that is required to find and place capital with the right deals—which is no easy task even in the best of times.

And while the markets may be robust right now, it wasn't that long ago that companies were hunting for capital and trusting their financial intermediaries to find the best deal for them. Many of the stories you'll read are about how these influencers successfully concluded such a hunt—and their plans for continuing to do so in the future.