Debt, Equity and Finance Rainmakers In CRE

As we evaluated the applications for Rainmakers in CRE Debt, Equity and Finance we couldn’t help but marvel at how easy these men and women made these activities seem. They were navigating an environment where capital markets were becoming volatile, underwriting was tightening and interest rate hikes seemingly now the norm and yet the deals still got done. And while this category is very much a numbers game, we tried to look beyond the dol-lar figures to other trends, namely the people and their structures that made an impact in the market. With 2023 now underway, it seems clear that the environment will remain choppy for some time. We expect, though, that these players will still be conducting profitable business.

INDIVIDUALS

ARVIND BAJAJ During his 30-year career, Arvind Bajaj has survived and thrived in different markets and cycles. In addition to debt, he has worked on equity investments and advisory assignments, and he lived in London for seven years where he closed transactions throughout Europe and the Middle East. Bajaj is one of the founders of the CMBS market, starting his career at one of the first conduits. He was one of the 10 original members in 1994 of the Morgan Stanley conduit and helped expand its European business. He held senior positions on the buy side at Lightstone and Madison Marquette. Since rejoining Morgan Stanley five years ago as a senior banker, he has had a nearly perfect record of closing transactions. Bajaj currently manages a New York City-based team that originates commercial mortgage debt throughout the US. He mentors younger individuals inside and outside the firm. He has both a BA and MBA from Vanderbilt University and is involved with the university’s diversity expansion efforts. Born in India, Bajaj moved to the US when he was four years old. He and his family are active mem-bers of their community.

STEPHEN BITTEL With extensive roots in Miami, Stephen Bittel has dedicated his life to making a positive impact on his community through his career in commercial real estate. Bittel founded Terranova Corp. in 1980 with the operation of a single commercial property for a local partnership, and under his leadership, the company has become the largest property owner on both Lincoln Road in Miami Beach and Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, boasting a portfolio of more than $1 billion. Bittel seeks to not only purchase properties at coveted South Florida locations but also to fill them with quality tenants who will bring value and diversity to the surrounding South Florida communities. On the real estate equity side, Bittel has led the Terranova Corp. team to focus on under-managed and under-leased assets, to grow income quickly to maxim-ize yield. Bittel has played an integral role in closing big deals for Terranova Corp. In 2021, he closed a total of 858,251 square feet in capi-tal markets transactions totaling $230.1 million, and the firm closed gross lease values deals totaling 201,595 square feet and $61.4 million. Bittel shares his knowledge through lectures to real estate graduate and undergraduate students. Beyond his professional career, he has served on the boards of the National Jewish Democratic Council, the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority, the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, the Community Partnership for the Homeless, Teach for America and the Jackson Memorial Hospital Foundation.

JOHN BRODERICK Since 2020, John Broderick has been involved with the development or repositioning of 3,000 multifamily units, an accomplishment he is especially proud of as it helps address the nationwide housing shortage. An EVP at Colliers, Broderick secures all aspects of real estate finance, including permanent, development, mezzanine, joint-venture and equity placements. He counsels clients from the earliest stages of deals to help structure the appropriate capital solution to match each client’s business plan. Focused on building trust with his clients, Bro-derick has built a portfolio made up of 90% repeat clients thanks to his under-promise and over-deliver approach to client engagement. He works across all capital sources, including banks, life insurance companies, CMBS, debt funds and equity sources. In 2022, Broderick and his team arranged the $66.9 million acquisition and repositioning financing for a six-property, 933-unit multifamily portfolio across Columbia, TN and Memphis, TN. The portfolio needed acquisition financing as well as capital to renovate the properties and interior units, which would allow them to be repositioned in the marketplace. The deal contributed to solving the Memphis region’s aging housing stock and provided tenants with vastly improved homes. Colliers recognized Broderick with its Everest Award in 2020, recognizing the top 10% of Colliers pro-fessionals based on revenue production. He also earned this recognition in 2013, 2014 and 2016. He has originated and closed more than $7 billion in debt and equity transactions since joining the firm. Broderick is a member of ICSC, NAIOP, the Real Estate Finance Association and ULI.

BRANDON BROWN Brandon Brown has been a capital markets advisor and intermediary for 21 years–assisting clients of all sizes across the Sunbelt. He is a senior managing director at Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. and a leader in its Houston office, where he oversees the largest network of originators under the company’s national MMCC brand. Brown is known for working with new entrants in the multifamily space, helping them grow from their first deal to portfolios encompassing several thousand units. He not only sources the debt in a deal but also identifies and connects with partner organizations that can provide the required capital, credit enhancement, expertise and management support. Notable clients he’s worked with include Rockstar Capital, Vende Capital and Circulo Capital. His leadership role in the Houston office includes managing originators in Texas and serving as the capital markets advisor for Marcus Millichap sales offices throughout the Southwest. In this role, he locates financing that helps sales brokers close deals in addition to continuously updating multiple regional offices on lending mar-ket conditions as well as educating junior level originators. He leads a multi-product type financing team that repeatedly exceeds $1.5 bil-lion annually in deals. Although Brown’s primary focus is in the multifamily space, he also boasts extensive experience as a generalist transacting on all product types. As a manager, Brown continuously helps new graduates grow into originators. He coaches young profes-sionals on the CRE financing business and partners and guides them on deals until they are ready to take the lead. Brown is a member of MBA, NHMC and ACRP.

HARRISON COLE Harrison Cole is the youngest director at Greysteel and he has funded more than $200 million in capital during the past year in Austin and San Antonio. He started with the company as an analyst and has been promoted twice within the past year. As director, Cole co-leads the firm’s multifamily debt team in central/southern Texas. He specializes in structured debt, mezzanine and joint-venture equity placement for multifamily properties, conducts financial analysis for acquisition, refinance and other special situation workout loans, and he is responsible for sourcing and executing corporate and project-related debt solutions through numerous relationships. Cole leverages a variety of sources of capital markets information so that he is able to execute accretive solutions for his clients. He is described as a goal-oriented leader who encourages teamwork and aims to learn something new from each conversation in today’s volatile market. For Q4 2021, he ranked as one of Greysteel’s top two best brokers for closing the most volume, and for 2021 overall, he ranked among the firm’s top 10 of total origination credits. Outside of his professional role, Cole has assembled colleagues at Greysteel to join him in helping at My Starving Children to put together meals for children in impoverished areas.

JAMES CONLEY During his 20-year industry career, James Conley has completed more than $2 billion in commercial real estate transactions. During the challenges of the pandemic, Conley continued to successfully arrange financing packages—closing nearly $300 million in deals during the past year. Conley is a senior managing director in the Philadelphia and King of Prussia office at Institutional Property Advisors Capital Mar-kets, a division of Marcus & Millichap. He is primarily responsible for placing debt and equity for owners of retail, multifamily, industrial and office properties throughout the area. As part of the regional leadership team, Conley helps oversee deal flow for the office as well as sourc-ing new deals and maintaining relationships with key lenders. He also plays a pivotal role in the continued growth of the IPA Philadelphia office. Conley continuously finds solutions to complex financial challenges and he holds in-depth knowledge of the Philadelphia CRE mar-ket and lending environment. He has developed long-term relationships with clients as well as with numerous lenders, with the ability to always source the most competitive loan terms in the marketplace. Conley has received numerous sales recognition awards throughout his career and he was recently honored with a 2022 IPA national achievement award. He has worked at additional investment sales brokerage companies during his career, including Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp., JLL, as well as leading his own mortgage brokerage business.

JOHN DAY Early in 2022, John Day co-founded technology firm AXCS Capital and in June, he led its acquisition of George Smith Partners, a national provider of capital market services. By bringing GSP into AXCS, Day was able to join deep industry expertise and innovative technology, which enabled AXCS and Day to reimagine the lifecycle of capital markets debt and equity financing for middle-market commercial real estate transactions by mitigating inefficiency, friction and unnecessary delays. While serving as CEO of AXCS and GSP, Day was responsi-ble for leading both organizations and he focused on bringing his vision of digitizing the capital markets arena to life. On the GSP side, Day actively restructured the processes and workflows for delivering capital market advisory services to clients, so that the firm could scale into a national brand. On the AXCS side, Day was responsible for fundraising and for standing up additional businesses under the AXCS umbrella, with the goal to eventually include an investment management business and a note sales platform. Day is skilled in organizational restruc-turing, building high-growth businesses, negotiation, customer acquisition and retention, credit and risk management, as well as holistic business management. Within his role at the firm, Day managed and directed a team of nearly 20 capital markets advisors and more than 50 full-time employees. Day has since assumed a position at a new company.

CAROLINE DREYFUS With more than 23 years of experience, Caroline Dreyfus serves as a leading finance attorney who specializes in large, complex financing transactions involving loans from construction to mezzanine and multi-state portfolio. She also offers guidance and assistance with structur-ing and negotiating workouts of troubled real estate loans. Dreyfus, a partner with Cox, Castle & Nicholson, guides clients through every stage of a transaction, from brainstorming deal terms and post-closing asset management and workouts to restructuring loans. She repre-sents both lenders and borrowers and has represented every type of lender from large national banks and life insurance companies to private debt funds and regional banks. Dreyfus works on the full spectrum of property types including office, multifamily, hospitality, retail, industrial, student housing, senior housing, single-family home developments and raw land. Dreyfus also represents lenders in leveraged financing deals and borrowers in land banking facilities. Recently, she represented the senior lender in connection with a $104.7 million construction loan for a mixed-use project in Queens, New York, which was subject to affordability requirements, tax abatements, zoning issues and on-going remediation. The project required three separate loans. Dreyfus currently serves on the executive committee for the Los Angeles County Bar Association Real Property section, as well as the planning committee for the Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Benjamin S. Crocker Symposium. She is also a fellow of the American College of Mortgage Attorneys.

RANDY ECKERS Randy Eckers is an expert in Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing, which provides long-term, low-cost financing for energy efficiency improvements and renewable energy projects. Eckers, a partner with Reed Smith LLP, often provides advice and thought leadership on C-PACE financing. As a real estate finance attorney with more than two decades of experience, Eckers represents large lending institutions, private equity funds, debt funds, banks, bond investors, C-PACE lenders and administrators, and property owners in commercial real estate financing, structured financing and secondary market transactions. He leads a 14-member real estate finance team at Reed Smith, which adds to the firm’s existing real estate finance capabilities and enables the firm to support lenders on a complete spec-trum of legal needs, including debt origination, REIT formation and compliance, fund formation, securitization and CRE collateralized loan obligation capabilities, tax credit planning, and structured finance and repo facility representation. Eckers encourages his team to constantly evolve and diversify their practices. This focus on developing knowledge and experience in interrelated industry matters helps ensure that they are prepared for ever-changing markets, trends and client needs. Eckers serves as program counsel for a majority of the broker-dealers in the GNMA and FNMA bond trading space and has guided a number of the largest market participants from inception. He is often engaged to guide companies in their GNMA application process and company acquisitions of GNMA Issuers.

TREVOR FASE Trevor Fase has more than 25 years of industry experience and is one of the industry’s top originators of multifamily loans on the West Coast. He holds extensive experience in commercial conduit underwriting and multifamily originations. Fase is a senior managing director of mul-tifamily finance at Walker & Dunlop, where he is responsible for the origination of multifamily loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, with a primary emphasis on the Western region. Fase guides his four-member team to be meticulous when it comes to the execution of a loan, running timelines and meeting weekly to anticipate any problems in the pipeline before they get to the client. He travels all over the country and actively meets with industry pioneers to discuss current trends and outlooks, and he spends time with clients in a non-professional setting to connect with them on a deeper level. Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Fase served as an SVP at CWCapital LLC, where he originated agency loans out of the firm’s Los Angeles office. He also previously served as VP at PNC ARCS, where he was a top producer every year of his tenure. Fase is involved in charities introduced to him through clients and Walker & Dunlop, including Chrysa-lis, a program that helps clients overcome their barriers to reconnecting to the workforce by offering time-limited, paid employment to help them prepare to secure jobs.

KEYVAN GHAYTANCHI As chief investment officer of BEB Capital, Keyvan Ghaytanchi served as an instrumental component in the complex due diligence process leading to BEB Capital’s programmatic joint-venture partnership with Rockpoint Group in December of 2021. The JV targets an investment pipeline of up to $1 billion of industrial assets in the Northeastern US. When Ghaytanchi joined BEB Capital in 2006, he served as the firm’s general counsel and oversaw a wide array of transactions including financing, private equity and venture capital investments, and acquisi-tions. Within his current role, Ghaytanchi manages the firm’s day-to-day business activities and oversees all transactions and operations, including asset management, developments, legal affairs, leasing, reporting, due diligence and risk control. He also serves as a member of the investment committee and oversees all of BEB Capital’s joint-ventures, equity and debt transactions. Ghaytanchi was instrumental in spearheading the 2020 launch of the company’s finance platform, BEB Lending, for which he serves as president. BEB Lending provides creative financing solutions for CRE assets in primary and secondary markets across the nation, with typical loan sizes ranging from $5 mil-lion to $50 million. Ghaytanchi oversees the division, which has notched several successes in just two years of operation, including reaching a key milestone of $100 million in capital deployed in early 2022, as well as expanding to 11 states.

DANIEL JACOBS At 33 years old, Daniel Jacobs is one of the industry’s youngest creators and managers of an institutional-grade discretionary credit fund specific to multifamily investment. When Jacobs joined private equity real estate investment firm ACRE in 2016, his singular purpose was to create and incubate a credit business under the ACRE umbrella. He combined his industry connections and capital market savvy with the firm’s multifamily investment market knowledge to build an institutional lending platform within ACRE. This transformed the firm from a private equity owner-operator into a multi-disciplined investment firm with both debt and equity capabilities. As managing partner and head of originations at ACRE, Jacobs is responsible for the strategic vision, day-to-day management and all origination efforts for the firm’s credit platform. His duties consist of fundraising and fund management, origination, underwriting, asset management and overall portfolio man-agement. Since joining the firm, Jacobs has originated, syndicated, underwritten and executed more than $2 billion in direct multifamily loans in core-plus secondary markets across the US. Under Jacobs’ leadership, ACRE launched its first dedicated debt fund at the height of the pandemic, which has raised $509 million of equity. Amid challenges related to rising material costs, labor shortages and skyrocketing interest rates, Jacobs helped establish ACRE as a dependable option for capital, allowing dozens of multifamily projects to continue devel-opment and lease-up efforts.

BENJAMIN JACOBSON Benjamin Jacobson joined Vancouver-based Trez Capital in 2016 as a Florida-based associate with the primary responsibility of underwrit-ing deals for senior leaders while learning to generate and manage deals himself. Today, as managing director in the firm’s Florida office, Jacobson originates loans on behalf of some of the most well-known names in South Florida real estate development. During the past three years, he has originated nearly $1.1 billion in commercial real estate loans as one of the most productive professionals at the firm. In 2021, Jacobson achieved his best year by originating $345 million in construction loans—the second-highest amount in the Eastern US division. Some of his notable 2021 deals include a $78 million loan to build a 323-unit apartment development in an emerging Miami neighborhood; a $75 million construction loan for a 354-unit luxury rental project in Sarasota, FL; a $64.7 million construction loan to build a 293-unit apartment community in Dania Beach, FL; and a $20 million deal to fund construction of an ocean-side condominium project in Cocoa Beach, FL. In early 2022, Jacobson closed a $60 million deal for the Barrington Brothers in Miami and a $42.2 million loan for the Ritz-Residences in Orlando. Jacobson shares his knowledge as a guest speaker at South Florida real estate events and he writes thought-leadership pieces for real estate industry trade publications.

MICHELLE LORD Michelle Lord serves as SVP and head of project finance at Fairfield, where she is responsible for managing equity relationships and more than $6 billion in debt relationships for the multifamily operating company. Lord also serves as the portfolio manager of the $750 million Fairfield Create Core Multifamily Fund, which she helped develop. At Fairfield, Lord has negotiated and closed more than $13 billion in multifamily debt and equity with major banking institutions, life insurance companies and institutional investors. Utilizing long-term rela-tionships and quality communication throughout multifamily cycles, Lord understands the importance of structuring debt to weather changes. Fluent in Japanese, Lord has served in various additional positions, such as office manager in Tokyo, VP and assistant to the chairman of Prologis Trust, and associate at Archstone Trust. She was also previously a trader on the European and Asian currency desk with Asahi Bank in Tokyo. Lord serves as vice chair of the NMHC finance committee, as well as vice chair of membership and diversity and inclusion for the ULI transit oriented development council. She also serves on the UC San Diego Real Estate and Development School advisory board.

NATHAN LYNCH Nathan Lynch has had the benefit of working through several economic cycles during his 22-year career, throughout which he has developed best practices for maintaining and building real estate portfolios in all kinds of markets. Lynch was working as an analyst on a CMBS special servicer REO team during the dot com bust, and he was deep into his career when the Great Recession hit. These experiences helped him guide clients and colleagues through the uncertainties of the pandemic. When he arrived at Colliers six years ago, Lynch already had a decade of experience in running a debt and equity team and he was tasked with expanding the firm’s capital markets debt & equity service offering in central Florida. He primarily focuses on the industrial and multifamily sectors, and he often negotiates structured finance deals in construction bridge loans for value-add assets or LP equity raises. He worked closely with Colliers’ investment sales brokers across the re-gion to provide debt and equity financing services for all property types, and he often services loans originated by his own team. From Janu-ary to September of 2022, Lynch personally originated $400 million in loans. Notable recent transactions for Lynch include a $46.3 million multifamily bridge acquisition loan in St. Louis, MO; a $46 million construction perm multifamily development in Daytona, FL; a $140 mil-lion multifamily bridge acquisition in Indianapolis, IN; and a $58 million multifamily construction loan in Orlando, FL.

TODD C. MCNEILL Todd McNeill started his career as an analyst at Metropolitan Capital Advisors, where he eventually became a partner and co-managed the firm until he sold it to Marcus & Millichap in 2020. McNeill joined Institutional Property Advisors in 2021 to raise the profile of IPA’s capital markets arm both in the Southwest and throughout the country, bringing with him Dallas-based boutique company Metropolitan Capital Ad-visors. As senior managing director of Institutional Property Advisors Capital Markets, McNeill brings more than 24 years of debt and equity originating and structuring experience to his clients, including start-ups through well-capitalized middle-market and institutional players. He has been instrumental in building, recruiting, and managing the Texas-based team and is involved in the education, development and mentorship of his investment sales colleagues and the capital markets team he manages. He has led regional workshops to educate in-vestment sales professionals on how financing impacts their deals, and he holds weekly coaching sessions with individual members of his team to help them identify, secure and execute on business, which has helped several former analysts become originators. While co-managing a team of 34 professionals, McNeill closed more than $650 million in debt and equity transactions throughout the capital stack across multiple product types in 2021. He is also involved in overall operations to ensure that his team competes at a high level. Two nota-ble recent transactions for McNeill include a $150 million financing for a GSA portfolio and a $73 million refinancing deal for a recent-ly-developed multifamily asset. He has also helped develop a commercial real estate program within Oklahoma University’s business school through curriculum development and helping with fundraising to meet the $12 million goal for the program.

GEORGE MITSANAS Gantry principal George Mitsanas is an expert in the origination of optimized commercial mortgage and related finance structures for com-mercial real estate investments. During his 33-year industry career, he has secured more than $15 billion of total commercial mortgage and related debt. He attributes his success to a deep understanding of commercial mortgage financing structure and options along with creativity in structuring optimal financing solutions. In one of his deals, Mitsanas structured $325 million of development funding for the 41-story Arrive & The Sound multifamily and hotel tower in downtown Seattle. The complex financing project included a $225 million joint-venture partner-ship that he arranged and a $100 million construction-to-permanent loan from two life company lenders. The project was completed in 2018 and in 2022, Mitsanas refinanced the property and retired construction debt. A top producer at Gantry, Mitsanas is a member of the firm’s executive committee and he serves as the company’s president while maintaining his day-to-day loan production responsibilities. In addition to his work on Seattle’s Arrive Apartments & The Sound Hotel tower, Mitsanas’ notable recent accomplishments include structuring nearly $1.1 billion of credit tenant lease financings for a portfolio of new US Veterans Affairs specialized medical facilities and the $233 million refinancing with four unique lenders to optimize the individual financings of a seven-property mixed-asset portfolio. Outside of Mitsanas’ professional duties, he oversaw the $12 million renovation of his church’s Redondo Beach campus while serving as parish council president of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America. He is also an active member of MBA, Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, Strategic Alliance Mortgage and VOYA’s correspondent council.

KETAN PAREKH Early in his commercial real estate finance career, Ketan Parekh spearheaded his own rehab real estate projects, giving him a deeper un-derstanding of the trade from the front end. Twenty-eight years later, he now serves as managing director at Toorak Capital Partners and he has deep experience in residential structured products, mortgage and real estate banking. Parekh leads teams in the US and India on all processes around business development, loan acquisitions and capital markets management, including building and maintaining relation-ships with originator partners, overseeing loan acquisition teams and managing the firm’s securitization and loan sale programs. Parekh is also part of the senior team that reviews the firm’s strategy and assesses risk. Under Parekh’s leadership, Toorak Capital Partners has fund-ed more than $10 billion across more than 26,000 business-purpose loans backed by residential, multifamily and mixed-use properties across the US and the U.K.; enabling the construction, renovation or purchase of more than 50,000 rental and owner-occupied units. Prior to joining Toorak Capital Partners, Parekh served as a managing director and partner at Window Rock Capital Partners and he has been a member of the American Association of Private Lenders since 2020.

PAUL RAHIMIAN Parkview Financial founder and CEO Paul Rahimian manages a national debt fund that provides construction financing to ground-up real estate development projects. Through the fund, the firm provides short-term bridge and construction loans secured by first trust deeds to de-velopers across the country. Rahimian’s responsibilities include overseeing the growth of Parkview Financial’s team and offices and ex-panding the firm’s investor base for the fund. Since launching the fund in 2015, Parkview Financial has executed more than $4 billion in financing for multifamily, retail, office, industrial and mixed-use projects, with executed loans ranging from $5 million to $300 million. Rahimian founded the company in early 2009 during the Great Financial Crisis, and he has since originated hundreds of commercial and residential loans. In addition to being a critical driver of the firm’s growth, Rahimian also spearheaded the geographic expansion of the firm’s lending reach from the West to the entire US with offices in Los Angeles, New York, Denver and Atlanta. In 2021, Parkview Financial executed more than $1.2 billion in loan originations, doubling its previous record in 2020. This included a total of 38 construction and short-term bridge loans across 20 states. Prior to becoming a lender, Rahimian was a third-generation real estate developer and general contractor, during which he completed more than $350 million in commercial and residential projects. He continues to pursue professional development by participating in an executive program at Harvard Business School for owners and CEOs of companies around the world.

JODI SCHWIMMER Jodi Schwimmer has personally closed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of commercial mortgage-backed securities and similar debt se-curities during her 21-year industry career. A partner and global co-chair of the financial industry group at Reed Smith LLP, Schwimmer has extensive structured finance skills across a variety of underlying debt obligations. She has represented investment banks, specialty lenders, special strategy debt funds, real estate investors and participants in the secondary debt market. She leads Reed Smith’s commercial real estate-focused structured finance and securitization practice where her focus is CMBS, real estate finance and structured finance, concen-trating on esoteric structures, debt issuances, preferred equity raises, repurchase/warehouse facilities, and bridge-to-securitization structures. In connection with these structures, Schwimmer has developed expertise in real estate mortgage investment conduits and organizes private REITs. She structures public and private commercial mortgage securitizations, including the re-packaging of securities in re-securitizations, commercial real estate collateralized loan obligations and other structured transactions, representing issuers, underwriters, loan sellers and investors. Schwimmer has also worked on and led most of the non-performing loan transactions as issuer’s counsel since its re-emergence and she holds specialty knowledge and skills on issues relating to this product. Schwimmer has been a key player in Reed Smith’s Miami expansion, having practiced in New York for nearly two decades before moving to South Florida in 2019. Schwimmer is an ambassador for women in finance and the legal industry, she is an active member of Reed Smith’s women’s initiative network, and she is a member of Chief, an all-female organization for women in the C-suite.

KEVIN SWILL Thirty Capital Financial CEO Kevin Swill has been active in the industry since 1987; working in all aspects of the business including lend-ing, CMBS and development. He spent years traveling around the world and raising billions in equity for developers around the US, and he has participated in many skyscraper developments in New York City during the past 15 years. He joined Thirty Capital in 2020 to help build the brand and expand the firm’s financial services. Swill frequently sits on panels to educate peers in the industry on a wide range of sub-jects, including floating rate transactions, market dynamics, defeasance and springing rate caps. Within his role as CEO, Swill is responsible for all financial services and products that Thirty Capital provides in the industry, specifically defeasance/yield maintenance prepayment penalties, interest rate caps, swaps and swap terminations, and ESG initiatives. Among Swill’s greatest accomplishments is growing the firm’s derivatives business from the ground-up, as well as his role in building the Academy of CRE Finance & Innovation, where he is help-ing to educate newly-employed commercial real estate analysts and professionals. Swill expanded Thirty Capital’s entity management solu-tion, EntityKeeper, with a corporate services division, where users can access their documents within a portal and save time and money.

ANDY WARNOCK Andy Warnock plays many roles, including husband, father, philanthropist, real estate investor and commercial real estate lender. During his 17-year industry career, he has closed 330 loans totaling more than $3.3 billion. He currently is senior managing director of Lument with responsibility for the origination of Fannie Mae DUS, Freddie Mac, Agency small balance, FHA/HUD and balance sheet loans for market-rate multifamily housing. Warnock serves clients nationwide, with a focus on Columbus, OH, Cleveland, OH and Indianapolis, IN. Recently, he financed the most valuable apartment trade in Columbus’ history—valued by CoStar at $483,185 per unit. Warnock deeply values the rela-tionships that he builds with clients. He recently celebrated closing the 150th loan with the firm’s client Redwood Living. In addition to the relationships that Warnock has built in the industry, his accomplishments include expanding his team’s green expertise. The Columbus team has become fluent in the various green-housing options available to borrowers. Warnock has served on various apartment associations and Fannie Mae subcommittees. He is also the co-founder and chairman of Dot’s Tots Foundation, a charity that supports the Central Ohio foster care community, and he recently served as board chair of the YMCA.

BRAD WILLIAMSON When Berkadia opened its first Florida office nearly 10 years ago, the firm relied on Brad Williamson and Mitch Sinberg to make it a success. Since then, Williamson has been instrumental in increasing the firm’s market share in Florida and building a strong multifamily brokerage team. His success comes from his ability to work through challenges, cultivate long-term relationships with owner/operators, and cultivate talent within his team. Williamson has 20 years of experience working with institutional and private investors, during which he has under-written, structured and closed nearly $15 billion in commercial real estate transactions comprising both debt and equity. Playing a key role in Berkadia’s recent growth and expansion in Florida and its ranking as one of South Florida’s top commercial mortgage brokerage firms, Wil-liamson was promoted to managing director in 2020. In 2021, the Florida-based mortgage banking team originated $5.8 billion in loans on commercial properties throughout the US, breaking the team’s previous record of $3 billion in 2019. Within Williamson’s role as a producer, he has focused on bringing in bigger clients and generating repeat business. Among his accomplishments are arranging the first Spon-sor-Initiated Affordability Fannie Mae credit facility —a $204.6 million loan—with the most aggressive terms that Fannie Mae has ever ap-proved: a 1.20 debt service coverage ratio and a 35-year amortization period. Williamson is an active board member of Commercial Industri-al Association of South Florida and founding member of the NSU Real Estate Alumni. He is also involved with the NMHC and ULI.

TEAMS

ARIXA CAPITAL TEAM The Arixa Capital team provides the speed and execution certainty of a debt fund together with the relationship-based approach and white glove service that private banks offer. Doing both consistently has led to a high rate of repeat borrowers and an average Net Promoter Score more than 90. During the past year, Arixa surpassed $1 billion in loan origination in a 12-month period, and it surpassed $3 billion in cumu-lative loan origination since its inception in 2006. The team’s notable accomplishments include signing up an institutional joint-venture with Belay Investment Group and maintaining consistent returns and preserving capital for fund investors during a time when most investments lost a substantial portion of their value. During the height of the pandemic, Arixa’s on-balance sheet lending approach proved dependable, resulting in the company growing its originations dramatically. The company produces thought-leadership content for borrowers and investors, including a series of white papers about private debt funds, how such funds use lines of credit and various facts about topics ranging from loss reserves for private debt funds to trust deed investing. The team’s members are frequent speakers at industry conferences and the firm’s managing directors have guest lectured at UCLA Anderson School of Management for its capstone course on real estate entrepre-neurship.

BERKADIA JV EQUITY & STRUCTURED CAPITAL Focusing exclusively on the equity side of the capital stack, the JV equity & structured capital team at Berkadia works hand-in-hand with the firm’s debt originators and investment sales teams to create enhanced joint-venture matchmaking opportunities. With this niche focus, the team has played a key role in driving the expansion of many emerging and established local and regional sponsors operating in the multi-family space, including market-rate acquisitions, ground-up projects, SFR/BTR, hotel-to-multifamily conversions, student housing assets and property recapitalizations. Drawing on relationships with a wide variety of domestic and foreign capital sources, including high-net-worth investors, private equity, pension funds, insurance companies and family offices, the team works with clients to structure JV equity, senior equity, preferred equity/mezzanine debt, ground leases, stretch senior A/B notes and co-GP/entity-level partnerships. Led by senior manag-ing director Chinmay Bhatt and managing directors Noam Franklin and Cody Kirkpatrick, the nine-person team holds a deep understanding of the drivers and key players in dynamic real estate markets. Since launching in 2019, the team has capitalized more than $4.3 billion across more than 100 property transactions, comprising more than 20,000 multifamily, build-for-rent units and student housing beds across 21 states. The team has achieved its most productive years in the past two years; doubling transaction volume each year.

CAPITAL ONE AGENCY FINANCE With nearly 40 years of combined experience in originations and credit/underwriting, Charlie Mentzer and Brad Waite initially joined forces in 2018 to create an origination team at Capital One. During the past two years, the two SVPs of agency finance have originated $2.1 billion in agency loans, including large deals of more than $100 million and small balance loans of $2 million. Their combined view of each transaction encompassing both originations and credit/risk sets them apart from other teams. The duo’s end-to-end understanding of the deal process differentiates their approach, as they are able to anticipate potential challenges, address them early and provide creative solutions that meet their clients’ business goals. Within their roles, Mentzer and Waite are responsible for originating agency deals, building relationships with new clients, deepening relationships with existing clients and helping clients achieve their business goals through strategic property acquisition or refinance. While they specialize in multifamily finance, the team is experienced in multiple asset classes including affordable housing, manufactured housing and student housing. As a top 10 agency lender by volume for 2021, the team provides financing for investors nationwide through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and FHA programs. Within its portfolio, the team has closed 120 deals in the past two years.

CBRE DEBT & STRUCTURED FINANCE The CBRE debt & structured finance team offers an array of lending services, including agency, commercial, small balance lending, afforda-ble housing, manufactured housing and seniors housing, as well as portfolio sales, loan servicing, and joint-venture and structured finance. From 2019 through 2021, the team closed 6,909 loan transactions for a total deal volume of $170.1 billion. Founded in 1996 and led by global president of CBRE debt & structured finance Brian Stoffers, the team specializes in procuring equity and high-leverage capital solu-tions for requirements that exceed the parameters of conventional debt structures, and it is known for providing creative financial solutions for developers and commercial property owners. The team has long-term, established relationships with international lenders including banks, pension funds, life insurance and credit companies, conduits/CMBS entities, government-sponsored enterprises and offshore investors. Addi-tionally, in 2021, the CBRE debt & structured finance team was honored with Mortgage Banker’s diversity award.

EMPOWER COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE LOANS Empower’s commercial mortgage loans team finances a broad spectrum of properties throughout the country at competitive rates, terms and leverage points. The team was formed in 2003 and is led by head of commercial mortgage lending Jacob Cannon, senior manager of mort-gage investments Steve Pulver and manager of mortgage investments John Maher. The team, which finances commercial real estate throughout the US, manages a large mortgage portfolio and has grown originations from $100 million to more than $1 billion. It focuses on properties in top-tier locations with competitive pricing that present a win/win situation for both the lender and borrower. The CML team par-ticipates in Empower’s internship program by helping student interns learn to underwrite and learn portfolio management analytics to help them develop career experience, and its team members also separately mentor students that are looking to explore careers in commercial real estate. Along with Empower, the CML team gives back to the community through volunteer work and by providing capital that supports where people live, work and play. In 2021, 1,200 Empower associates participated in volunteer activities and the company matched $1.3 million in donations.

FRANKLIN STREET CAPITAL ADVISORY TEAM Founded in 2012, Franklin Street’s capital advisory team has created a strategic approach that is custom-tailored to each client’s specific needs. The team works with many private investors who do not always have the same resources, experience and leverage that institutional owners do. With expertise and relationships, the capital advisory team strives to level the playing field in order to allow its clients to be competitive in the market. Led by senior directors Casey Siggins and Ben Miller, the team focuses on the origination and placement of debt and equity for all types of income-producing real estate investments. To help grow the firm’s market share and client base, the capital advi-sory team is active in the local business community and collaborates with the firm’s investment sales, leasing, insurance, project manage-ment and property management teams. The growing team’s most significant accomplishment to date was reaching a total transaction vol-ume of $235.6 million in 2021, equating to 88% year-over-year revenue growth. Within the industry, the team’s members are highly active with organizations such as CCIM, NAIOP and CREW.

JEFF BLACK, BRYAN KOOP AND SEAN BURKE OF COLLIERS DEBT & EQUITY | BOSTON Colliers EVP Jeff Black, VP Sean Burke and VP Bryan Koop have built a track record of bringing investment and liquidity into communities and submarkets that have historically been overlooked by institutional investors and lenders. Black and Burke first joined together at Colliers in 2016 and in 2019, Koop joined the team. The team provides planning, advising and execution of client capitalization strategies for all asset types. The three professionals specialize in structuring and marketing a wide array of transaction profiles, including ground-up con-struction, transitional bridge financing, permanent financing, mezzanine debt, preferred equity and joint venture equity. The team’s first ma-jor institutional project in Lynn, MA sparked a wave of unprecedented investment in a city that had been overlooked by institutional capital for decades. The team effectively broke down the negative stigma around the city and contributed to a series of new residential develop-ments, totaling hundreds of millions in investment. The team has also recently been exclusively retained by Saxon Partners to capitalize The Marek medical center employee housing platform that will transform housing in secondary markets anchored by leading medical and hospi-tal systems throughout the US. Since its inception, the team has been ranked as Colliers US’s top debt team. The three professionals also provide thought-leadership to colleagues, clients and the industry, nationally, through speaking engagements, interviews, blog posts and market research updates.

KBS REALTY ADVISORS’ FINANCE TEAM The KBS Realty Advisors finance team has been instrumental in positioning the firm’s portfolio to outperform the market by driving property values and achieving favorable cash returns. Founded in 2008 and led by EVP of finance Robert Durand and VP of finance Marné Kaufman, the team has extensive acquisitions and principal investment expertise in value-add and opportunistic real estate, preferred equity, dis-tressed debt and structured finance, and its transaction experience spans numerous sectors. In 2022, KBS acquired UBS Tower, a 29-story, 605,000-square-foot class A office tower in Nashville, TN for $175.5 million, achieved with a $113.8 million syndicated financing facility arranged by the team. The team also arranged $65 million of financing secured by Park Place Village, a 484,000-square-foot mixed-use office and retail project in Leawood, KS, and the $39.9 million refinancing of 1000 Continental, a 205,000-square-foot office property in King of Prussia, PA. Beyond the commercial real estate community, the team is deeply involved in philanthropic pursuits. During Durand’s 14-year tenure with KBS, he has spearheaded more than $15.5 billion in transactions, and during Kaufman’s 16 years with KBS, she has directly assisted with the closing of $8.2 billion in transactions.

LIONHEART STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT’S INVESTMENTS DIVISION The investments division at Lionheart Strategic Management takes an equity-minded approach to real estate credit – underwriting risks from an owner perspective. The team was established in 2017 and is led by managing directors Andy Klein and Sebastian Post. Coming from roots in the real estate equity side, the team builds long-standing relationships, while seeking out new trends and emerging markets. During the past 18 months, the team has been helping a business increase investor capital from $130 million to more than $1 billion and helping to spearhead the fund management business line for Fisher Brothers. Additional recent notable deals for the team include the $250 million construction financing for 550 10th Ave. in New York City, the $230 million refinancing of 108 Leonard St. in New York City, and the $215 million financing of 801 South Canal Street in Chicago. Since its inception in 2017, Lionheart Strategic Management and its investments division have raised more than $1 billion in investor commitments for various real estate strategies in markets across the US and it has de-ployed $500 million of capital. Within their roles, Post has been involved in the creation of the fund management affiliate and he is respon-sible for sourcing new investments, capital raising and managing operations, while Klein is responsible for originating, underwriting and negotiating structured finance investments. Post also serves as a board member of the New York Private Equity Network Real Estate Group.

MATTHEWS CAPITAL MARKETS Established in 2015, the capital markets team at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services provides clients with financing solutions and expertise on debt requirements, lender competition, equity, risk profiles and joint-ventures. Led by EVP Cliff Carnes, the division comprises finance experts and specialized industry veterans that hold extensive experience working with borrowers and lenders across the country. In addition to providing unique custom finance solutions, MCM breaks down re-structured financing into three steps: capital, advisory and transaction. Through the capital phase, MCM associates guide clients in acquiring loans with the most competitive rates and terms by creat-ing lender competition for each debt requirement. Advisory consists of MCM understanding each client’s fiscal objectives and disposition and style to provide the best financial strategy for an investment. Each solution is based on risk analysis, underwriting and market research that allows MCM to provide clients with consistent market data to support financing initiatives. The transaction portion of the process manages every phase and detail, including the preparation of offering documents, submitting loan requests to best-suited lenders, negotiating terms and performing due diligence. In the first half of 2022, Matthews hired 10 MCM agents and entered several new markets, including Chicago, San Diego, Atlanta, Cleveland and Dallas. Within the past year, the team has closed 59 deals, totaling more than $111 million in loan vol-ume.

NEWMARK CAPITAL MARKETS STRATEGIES Since the Newmark capital markets strategies team was founded in 2018, it has raised the bar for client expectations of traditional debt bro-kers and lenders. Led by president of capital markets strategies Anthony Orso, the team provides services ranging from traditional debt bro-kerage and agency financing through Newmark’s Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae platforms to high-complexity special situations advisory. The group is composed entirely of former principal lenders averaging more than 15 years of experience at financial institutions including Cantor Fitzgerald, Credit Suisse, Aareal Bank, Bank of America and Fitch Ratings. It was one of Newmark’s top-producing finance teams in 2021 – closing more than $4.2 billion of debt and equity financing. The team works across all major asset classes and geographies, although its largest financings recently have been in multifamily due partly to post-COVID-19 tailwinds in investment flows. At the start of the pandemic, the team closed the largest multifamily transaction in the firm’s history, providing financing for Harbor Group International’s $1.85 billion acquisition of the Aragon multifamily portfolio. In 2021, the team arranged $364 million in financing to facilitate Harbor Group’s $475 million acquisition of the Dasmen multifamily portfolio. More recently the team oversaw the sale and financing of GVA’s $457 million acquisition of the Cedar Grove multifamily portfolio. The team continues to work on numerous private large portfolio transactions.

SRS REAL ESTATE PARTNERS’ DEBT & EQUITY Ben Townsend and Matt Marlin have been originating debt and equity for almost a decade, and as a team, they work each transaction to-gether, giving clients two producers for the price of one. The two VPs lead the debt and equity team at SRS Real Estate Partners, which formed in 2018 when they joined the firm’s national net lease group. The professionals pride themselves on finding debt for any deal and providing certainty of execution for tenants, owners and investors, and they works with brokers and principals to ensure a smooth and timely closing. Together, Townsend and Marlin run the division with responsibility for managing and originating client relationships, as well as arranging and securing debt and equity for transactions across the country. Their team is consistently ranked as a top producer within SRS Real Estate Partners and it has been recognized on numerous occasions for transaction volume. In 2021, the group of more than 160 bro-kerage professionals completed more than 899 sales across 49 states. Throughout Townsend and Marlin’s careers, they have structured and financed more than $1 billion of both debt and equity. They are actively involved with locally-sponsored industry-focused events for ICSC, NAIOP, CREF and MBA.

TAYLOR STREET’S CAPITAL MARKETS AND INVESTMENT TEAM Taylor Street’s capital markets and investment team has a combined 45 years of experience in the structured finance space. The team em-phasizes an advisory approach to acquisitions, dispositions, refinancing, recapitalizations and specialty situation scenarios. The Phoe-nix-based team was founded in 2017 and is led by CEO Patrick O’Meara and VP of capital markets Nick Martinez. It has established rela-tionships with more than 300 lenders, closed more than 100 loans and achieved more than $200 million in financings within the past five years. The team is multifaceted and specializes in acquiring, owning, managing and financing commercial assets locally and nationwide. On the investment side, it focuses on acquiring and repositioning mid-market commercial real estate properties in growing markets, and it also has expertise in arranging debt and equity financing for investors, brokers and developers for all property and project types throughout the country. The team provides off-market advice to institutional clients; advocating for them throughout the life of the loan. Its recent signif-icant transactions include a $12 million refinance of a historic office building in downtown Seattle, a $9 million refinance of a multifamily portfolio in Tucson, and a $3 million construction loan negotiated for the construction of 12 townhomes in Tempe, AZ.

THE DALLAS TEAM OF BELLWETHER ENTERPRISE The Dallas team at Bellwether Enterprise is dedicated to the preservation of naturally occurring affordable housing and it places debt and equity in the multifamily finance industry with a focus on workforce housing. The team leverages its passion for preserving affordable hous-ing to help provide more attractive loans with lower interest rates and higher loan processes for partners who share in its mission. The team facilitates direct loan originations through BWE’s various debt and equity programs including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS and life insurance companies. In addition to the origination of BWE’s direct capital products, the team is responsible for the origination and broker-age of multifamily debt and equity solutions that are sourced through its deep network of capital partners, a preservation effort that ties in with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mission in the multifamily finance industry to provide housing to lower-income families and tenants. During the past two years, the Dallas team has engineered first-of-its-kind financing structures with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that allow owners to self-impose rental restrictions that are regulated by the Fannie/Freddie loan documents – allowing multifamily operators to receive financing benefits for setting aside units as affordable. In many markets, this restriction has a minimal impact on the overall return profile of the multifamily investment. The team is co-led by VP Andrew Russell and assistant VP Ronnie Jewell. In its first year of originating loans, the team closed more than $500 million in loan volume through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, banks and other lenders, and it procured more than 35 new client relationships.

WALKER & DUNLOP’S GRACE/MONTAKAB TEAM Mark Grace and John Montakab’s partnership grew out of a friendship strengthened by the pandemic, during which time they spent many Facetime coffee calls discussing different ways they could work together to build a business. Watching the market evolve, Grace and Mon-takab realized clients’ needs were more focused on capital solutions and that relationships were strengthened when teams leveraged multi-ple verticals of expertise. The two professionals teamed up at Walker & Dunlop in 2021, where they both serve as managing directors of capital markets. The duo aimed to serve a different need than most debt providers – bringing deals together that most others may see as a lost cause. During the past two years, the team has focused on providing solutions and finding opportunities for their clients, whether through sourcing equity, forming new partnerships or providing financing options, while using their deep connections to facilitate JV part-nerships and new lender relationships that expand beyond the traditional model of mortgage banking/debt brokerage. The team collaborates with colleagues and across verticals, and it has brokered more than $3 billion in the past two years. Responsible for new loan origination, Grace utilizes direct relationships with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, HUD, CMBS, bank and life insurance companies to provide financing solu-tions to commercial real estate developers and owners nationally. Montakab focuses on sourcing and structuring financing for all commercial real estate asset classes on the West Coast with a special focus on Southern California.

ORGANIZATIONS

BASIS INVESTMENT GROUP Founded in 2009, Basis Investment Group has proven itself as a trailblazer in the industry with a track record of success and outstanding relationships with sponsors, institutional investors and private equity partners. The diversified commercial real estate investment platform invests across the capital stack throughout the US, and primarily focuses on investments in the middle market. As a registered investment advisor and lender that invests in both debt and equity strategies, including fixed-rate senior mortgage loans, bridge loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, structured equity, joint-venture equity and B-piece investments, Basis Investment Group has invested and loaned more than $1 billion to MWBE commercial real estate borrowers, developers and property owners, and it has closed more than $4 billion in debt and equity transactions nationally. In 2019, the company closed its first fund totaling $410 million, which oversubscribed its target by $10 million, and in 2021, the firm closed its second commingled fund of $830 million, which was also oversubscribed. Priding itself on diversity in expe-rience and thought, Basis Investment Group is comprised of 77% women and minorities, and it is one of few commercial real estate compa-nies that is led by an African American female. As CEO and founder, Tammy Jones guides the firm through an intentional approach to diver-sity, equity and inclusion. As the first black woman to receive the Freddie Mac seller/servicer license and one of the first black women to serve as a board chair for a REIT, Jones is an active advocate within the industry and she continually promotes opportunities and education in real estate with underrepresented groups through the BIG Foundation.

COTTONWOOD GROUP Cottonwood Group aims to combine structured finance expertise with operational know-how in order to unlock the full value of real estate opportunities. The multi-strategy private equity real estate investment firm targets equity and debt investments across all property sectors and geographies, and its transformative projects include large-scale developments, ranging from project sponsorship to debt investments. Cot-tonwood Group’s operational structure, deep resources and in-house expertise allow it to act as not only an equity investor, but also a lender, developer and sponsor. In addition, the company’s investment vehicle utilizes an open-ended, multi-strategy approach, allowing for the flexibility to invest in any part of the capital stack. The firm’s national portfolio focuses on key gateway cities and its capital partners include both US and international institutional investors, Global 500 institutions and family offices. The Los Angeles-based firm has led more than a dozen landmark real estate projects since its inception in 2012, and it has organically grown to more than $3 billion of assets under man-agement, with more than $5 billion in cumulative transactions closed. The firm launched the Cottonwood Real Estate Founders Fund during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and it continues to serve as the new cornerstone of the company’s ongoing growth. The company is led by founder and CEO Alexander Shing, who is regularly sought out by prominent institutional investors looking for guidance on the best way to unlock value or address operational, financial or structural challenges.

CP CAPITAL US During the past three decades, since its inception in 1989, CP Capital US (formerly HQ Capital Real Estate) has fine-tuned its rigorous in-vestment approach in order to execute investments in the most efficient way, and it has developed deep relationships and partnered on mul-tiple deals as an equity partner with top national and regional real estate developers, owners, operators and brokers. Delivering value to the commercial real estate finance and equity space as a capital partner and manager of multifamily investments, CP Capital US keeps a pulse on emerging trends in the market, understands how to strategically invest and manage equity, and adapts its investment strategies to capi-talize on market cycle, favorable supply and demand fundamentals. CP Capital US has invested in $15 billion worth of US real estate as-sets on behalf of global institutions, family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals. Its investments total more than 70,000 multifamily units and 21 million square feet of commercial space. Beyond being a capital provider, the firm’s in-house capabilities include asset and construction management, capital markets, legal, reporting, and tax structuring expertise. During the past year, CP Capital US has entered seven joint-ventures with leading development and management partners to bring best-in-class multifamily projects to high-growth markets. Each new development features class A unit interior finishes and a range of high-end community amenities. In 2021, CP Capital US also facilitated the disposition of 12 properties, representing a total volume of nearly $850 million.

DRIFTWOOD CAPITAL As a hospitality-focused, vertically-integrated commercial real estate investment, development and lending firm, Driftwood Capital fortui-tously had a significant amount of committed capital readily available to deploy at the time of the pandemic, when hotel owners and devel-opers desperately needed capital and traditional senior lenders began to shy away from hospitality lending. Ideally positioned to help the hospitality sector weather the storm, Driftwood Capital launched the Driftwood Lending Partners fund in late 2020, and immediately identi-fied a niche for small- to mid-sized loans. During the fund’s first 18 months, DLP participated in more than $900 million of financings for high-quality hotels and sponsors across the country, while simultaneously exploring distressed opportunities, land purchases and purchasing loans that were in default. The company has quickly become a dominating lender within the niche hospitality lending space; primarily offer-ing equity injections, mezzanine loans and well-capitalized joint-venture partnerships. Established in 2015, the company deeply under-stands the challenges that hotels face in today’s unprecedented market. The firm analyzes all lending opportunities through an equity lens and leverages decades of industry knowledge when issuing loans, while its in-house team of experts oversees deal sourcing, underwriting, financing, asset management, operations, development and legal issues. Led by founder, chairman and CEO Carlos Rodriguez Sr. and founder, president and COO Carlos Rodriguez Jr., Driftwood Capital contributes to its communities through support of non-profit organiza-tions and it is also heavily focused on energy and water conservation through building systems and amenities.

FREEDOM FINANCIAL FUNDS LLC As a proven reliable source of capital, Freedom Financial Funds LLC provides real estate professionals in the western US with the bridge and construction capital that they need to add value to commercial real estate projects. The firm has always been guided by the philosophy of having a plan B, C and D, so when many lenders disappeared in 2020 due to fear or funding issues, Freedom Financial Funds was pre-pared to assist its clients. This philosophy is discussed in a best-selling book authored by Freedom Financial Funds CEO Michael Klein and principal Stanley Kafka. Written prior to the pandemic, the book is based on a six-step process that the firm follows and its basis proved to withstand the policies and actions that loans and borrowers faced during COVID-19. In April 2020, the firm closed two construction loans, while most lenders were closed for business. With 85% of the firm’s annual volume coming from repeat borrowers, Freedom Financial Funds proves to be a bespoke lender that well-qualified borrowers prefer instead of a bank. Founded in 2016, the company has originated and managed $1.6 billion in bridge and construction loans without suffering a single loss and without ever having to foreclose on its collateral.

IBORROW As traditional lenders have become more conservative in recent months, iBorrow has pioneered the non-bank bridge loan space by deliver-ing a needed source of funds for entrepreneurs. As a non-bank financing source for the commercial real estate market, iBorrow focuses on providing timely financing to typically underserved borrowers, which has driven a shift for real estate entrepreneurs to seek and secure fund-ing from sources other than incumbent banks and has created new opportunities on both the investor and developer sides. Priding itself on applying non-discriminatory lending practices, the firm is focused on creating a vehicle for short-term real estate financing transactions, where the entrepreneur and their visions are seen for the opportunities they are—not just credit ratings and cash flows. As an efficient and reliable commercial real estate lending provider, the firm provides short-term bridge financing to commercial property owners at highly com-petitive interest rates on a non-recourse basis, and it offers loan closing times as short as two to four weeks. Due to its strong underwriting and understanding of its borrowers’ needs, the firm has never missed a funding, its investors have never lost principal, and it has completed more than $1.3 billion in private loans, ranging from $3 million to more than $100 million, since its inception in 2013. During the past three years, iBorrow has closed 65 transactions valuing $850 million and it was on track to double its 2021 origination volume in 2022, while also doubling the size of its team.

KAY PROPERTIES & INVESTMENTS Established in 2010 with an emphasis on providing real estate investment options to high-net-worth clients looking for passive real estate ownership, Kay Properties & Investments now serves as one of the nation’s most experienced investment firms specializing in Delaware Statutory Trust and private equity real estate investments. Led by founder and CEO Dwight Kay, the firm has created one of the largest 1031 exchange and real estate investment online marketplaces. The fully-integrated platform provides clients access to a marketplace of DSTs, independent advice on individual DST sponsor companies, customized DSTs available to only Kay Properties clients, due-diligence and vetting on each DST property, and the industry’s first DST secondary market for investors wanting to sell their DST interests prior to the prop-erty selling. In 2021, the company’s clients participated in thousands of transactions, and the $610 million of equity invested through the Kay Properties platform was invested in more than $8 billion of real estate offerings, totaling 50 million square feet of space nationwide. The firm’s investment approach strategies help mitigate the risks of real estate ownership and investment, while maximizing the potential to achieve income, shelter income from tax and realize asset-value appreciation. Kay Properties & Investments is deeply committed to sharing its knowledge of the DTS marketplace. The firm created an educational platform for DST 1031 investors, which includes weekly webinars and interactive conference calls, monthly seminars and workshops, a blog, a podcast, and it offers a custom one-on-one consultation.

KAYNE ANDERSON REAL ESTATE Alternative investment manager Kayne Anderson Real Estate has been a leading investor in sectors such as medical offices, senior housing, student housing, multifamily and self-storage since its inception in 2007. Proven to be active in all market cycles, the firm provides certainty of efficient execution to borrowers and strong risk-adjusted returns to investors. With more than $14 billion of assets under management across its opportunistic equity, alternative core equity, and real estate debt funds, Kayne Anderson Real Estate primarily invests in Freddie Mac K-deals and it directly originates whole loan solutions. As one of a limited number of Freddie Mac select sponsors, Kayne Anderson Real Estate has developed a $10 billion relationship with Freddie Mac and it is one of its largest borrowers and B-Piece buyers. The firm boasts a highly-seasoned leadership team, a more than 80-person vertically-integrated team, and experienced in-house investment and operations professionals for multi-tiered evaluation and underwriting processes. The company launched its debt platform in 2015 and ex-panded it in 2018 with the launch of the direct origination lending arm Saperean Capital. Since its inception, Saperean Capital has origi-nated $3.7 billion in loans, including $2 billion in volume in the first seven months of 2022. In 2022, the firm also closed its largest debt fund with $1.88 billion in capital commitments. Kayne Anderson Real Estate is also a founding governor of the PREA Foundation, which furthers the values of the institutional real estate investment community by advancing industry-wide diversity and inclusion.

LEV Utilizing proprietary technology that automates transactions, matches lenders with loans and closes deals quickly, Lev aims to help real estate owners and investors access the best financing available. Dedicated to digitizing the space and meeting the demand of fast, digital experiences that mirror the best practices of consumer lending, Lev reimagines industry transactions by bringing speed and transparency to commercial real estate financing through an AI-powered user experience. It has rewritten the rules for commercial real estate financing by ridding lenders and borrowers of lengthy and tedious paperwork, while adding a layer of transparency. Despite launching the company just before the COVID-19 pandemic, co-founders Yaakov Zar and Sammy Greenwall successfully guided Lev through a challenging first year and ended 2021 with more than $1 billion mortgages closed and a company that was five times its original size. Since its inception in 2019, Lev has become one of the industry’s top 100 loan originators—having facilitated more than $1.6 billion in just under three years. Closing deals up to three times faster than traditional brokerages, the firm provides quotes 20% faster than the industry average, and 72% of its deals re-ceive more than five quotes within a week of being posted. Lev continues to roll out new technology, work with notable partners and expand into new verticals. Most recently, the firm launched the first open-source lending database for commercial real estate lending, which allows borrowers to search real-time financing options from top commercial real estate lenders.

LONE OAK FUND Lone Oak Fund continues to grow organically through its relationships within the mortgage brokerage community and its commitment to providing reliable, fast service and flexible, fair pricing. The un-leveraged debt fund provides first trust deeds from $1 million to $50 million on California commercial real estate and non-owner occupied residential properties. As a direct portfolio lender, the firm services all loans in-house, with no prepayment penalties, no minimum yield maintenance and non-recourse. Founded in 2003, Lone Oak Fund plays a vital role in providing bridge financing for time-sensitive and value-add transactions in the private lending space. Often sought out when bank financing is not a viable option, the firm assists borrowers in closing purchases quickly and efficiently. Lone Oak Fund has more than 1,500 investors and more than $1.3 billion in capital. Prior to the pandemic, the company invested heavily in proprietary software for its origination and loan servicing departments and it was committed to making safe, low leverage first trust deeds. Its foresight in these areas enabled a seamless transition for continued efficient work and it allowed the firm to withstand market volatility. The firm’s commitment to making safe loans has fueled its growth in recent years. In 2021, Lone Oak Fund funded more than $800 million in new loans, and it expects its 2022 year-end volume to be comparable.

METROGROUP REALTY FINANCE Since its founding in 1983, MetroGroup Realty Finance has stayed true to its mission of understanding individual client needs and delivering creative capital solutions that allow each client to achieve their business goals, regardless of volatility in the market. Specializing in real estate financing and capital advisory services, the full-service commercial mortgage banking firm analyzes and underwrites commercial mortgage requests, prepares loan submission packages for lenders, manages the loan closing process, prepares marketing information for current and potential clients, and continually expands capital sources and lender networks. The firm is also experienced in the execution of 1031 exchange and NNN lease deals across asset types. With a national presence and 40 years of experience, the firm works to secure strategic financing for clients across a versatile range of asset classes. Since its inception, MetroGroup Realty Finance has executed more than $5 billion in commercial mortgage financing transactions. In the past three years, the firm has provided more than $200 million in fi-nancing related to commercial properties, and since early 2020, the firm has funded more than $17.5 million for 10 single-tenant, NNN retail properties in various markets.

WAY CAPITAL Capital market veterans, Malcolm Davies and Zachary Streit launched WAY Capital in early 2022 with a double mission to provide strategic, white-glove capital advisory services and to take an investment banking approach to capitalizing commercial real estate ventures. As a for-mer developer and a former lender, the co-founders provide an in-the-trenches perspective to commercial real estate capital advisory ser-vices, which is represented in the firm’s name—an acronym for “We Are You,” meaning they are bankers and developers and understand both sides of the table to help clients with their needs and priorities. The strategic capital markets advisory firm specializes in structuring complex capital transactions across various multi-faceted scenarios within the capital stack, including non-recourse senior debt, mezzanine, preferred and joint-venture equity financings in the construction, value-add and permanent finance marketplace. The firm operates on a fully-integrated team structure that allows for the allocation of resources in order to find strategic solutions and build deal momentum. The firm also curates each deal through a proprietary capital tracking system, which allows the team to provide real-time, transparent information. WAY Capital team members only work on deals that they have personally originated, which gives them the ability to skillfully navigate challenges. In under a year, the 12-member team realized robust success by arranging more than $1.8 billion in financings, equaling more than $2.5 billion in capitalizations. While already competing with the industry’s top contenders, the firm expanded its operations and established a second office in Nashville, TN to support its nationwide focus.