2024 Influencers in Net Lease

W. P. Carey W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,282 net lease properties covering 168 million square…

Thomas Company Net Lease Thomas Company Net Lease was founded by Jeffrey Thomas in 2013 and has developed a reputation for innovative dealmaking and setting benchmarks in the market since then. The company has executed complex…

NNN Pro Led by founder and CEO Glen Kunofsky and COO Nicoletti DePaul, NNN Pro is an investment advisory services firm that provides creative real estate solutions and strategies on single-tenant net lease…

Net-Trade.com Net Lease MLS Founded in 2019, Net-Trade.com pioneered a multiple listing service database exclusively for net lease assets. Specializing in a variety of retail and restaurant categories, including automotive, banks…

LNL Capital LLC Toward the end of 2022, Joseph Yiu, a 24-year CRE veteran, recognized vulnerabilities in the capital markets driven by rising interest rates, tightening bank credit and shifting regulatory requirements. That…

ElmTree Funds Founded in 2011, St. Louis-based ElmTree Funds targets industrial investments in primary and secondary US markets that are net leased to investment-grade tenants on a long-term basis. ElmTree’s investment…

Organizations

SRS Real Estate Partners’ National Net Lease Group Based in Newport Beach, CA, SRS Real Estate Partners’ National Net Lease Group is the firm’s exclusive net lease investment advisory platform with more than 25…

Newmark’s Jerry Hopkins & Leighton Hopkins The Dallas-based father-daughter team of Jerry and Leighton Hopkins launched at Newmark last year after Jerry’s successful run as a founding member of a team in…

Matthews Real Estate Investment Services’ Sonny Molloy & Jared Kaye Sonny Molloy and Jared Kaye teamed up in 2015 to build one of the Southeast’s most highly specialized retail teams and joined Matthews Real Estate Investment…

Horvath & Tremblay’s Executive Team Robert Horvath and Todd Tremblay set out to build a collaborative investment real estate brokerage organization in 2016 supported by a centralized professional services team…

Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors’ Jeff Lefko & Bill Asher Top producers Jeff Lefko and Bill Asher, both EVPs at Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors, formed a partnership in 2018 that has achieved $3 billion in…

Cushman & Wakefield’s San Francisco Net Lease Group Innovation is a cornerstone of The Net Lease Group, which drives it to push boundaries and challenge the status quo. Led by Andrew Bogardus, Christopher Sheldon and…

Colliers’ Ladt Patel Investment Advisors The Ladt Patel Investment Advisors team at Colliers was founded in 2020 and advises developers and private investors on the acquisition and disposition of net-leased…

Colliers’ Net Lease Investment Team Founded in 2008, the net lease investment team at Colliers, led by EVP Peter Block, has negotiated record-setting transactions in Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Working with senior associate Christian…

CBRE’s Matthew Gorman & Michael Shover Matthew Gorman, Michael Shover, Thomas Finnegan and Robert Thompson lead CBRE’s Mid-Atlantic net lease team, specializing in the sale, purchase and recapitalization…

Berkeley Capital Advisors – West Coast Partners Gary Chou, Calvin Short and Aron Cline lead Berkeley Capital Advisors’ West Coast single-tenant net lease team, founded in 2021. Among the most active NNN…

TEAMS

Milo Spector Milo Spector has been a thought-leader in the education space across Stan Johnson Co., now Northmarq, and in…

Mark Ruble Mark Ruble has been with Marcus & Millichap’s Phoenix office for two decades, where he is a market…

Tzvi Rokeach Tzvi Rokeach has helped reshape net leasing in the casino and resort sector and across the nation’s other real estate…

Camille Renshaw Together with her team at B+E, CEO Camille Renshaw built an online trading platform for net lease real estate that…

Richard Murphy Avison Young SVP Richard Murphy specializes in single-tenant NNN properties working with…

Chad Kurz A top broker at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, EVP Chad Kurz is focused primarily on the net lease retail…

David Krasnoff David Krasnoff is a top producer in the New York office of Avison Young as well as within its debt and structured…

Geoffrey Harris Tower Capital executive managing director Geoffrey Harris is a top loan originator who has closed more than…

Dennis Cisterna A thought-leader in the net lease sector, Sentinel Net Lease chief investment officer Dennis Cisterna…

Matea Bozja Known as a go-to lawyer for complex and high-profile commercial real estate transactions, Matea Bozja was…

Matt Berres Matt Berres joined Newmark in 2019 to establish and lead the company’s net lease capital markets…

Ryan Bennett Ryan Bennett founded the NNN Investment Group at Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate…

Bryan P. Bender Fortis Net Lease managing director Bryan Bender has 16 years of experience with more than $2.25 billion…

INDIVIDUALS

W. P. Carey ranks among the largest net lease REITs with a diversified portfolio of high-quality, operationally critical commercial real estate, which includes 1,282 net lease properties covering 168 million square feet and a portfolio of 89 self-storage operating properties. Founded more than half a century ago, W.P. Carey pioneered the pooling of real estate assets into funds that allowed individuals to invest in the net lease sector. The company first focused on limited partnerships and then non-traded REIT vehicles. Among its accomplishments were using sale-leaseback proceeds as a component of the capital stack for leveraged buyouts, and completing sale-leaseback investments in Europe, opening its London office 25 years ago. Since its conversion to REIT status in 2012, W. P. Carey has continued to demonstrate the value of its diversified investment strategy, which has enabled it to source and execute on a range of net lease investment opportunities across several geographies, property types and tenant industries. In 2022, despite market challenges including higher interest rates and investment cap rates that were slow to adjust, W. P. Carey executed more than $1 billion in investments for the second consecutive year. Last year, W. P. Carey executed $1.3 billion in investments while also accelerating its exit from office through the spinoff of 59 office properties into a separate publicly traded REIT and the establishment of a program to sell its remaining on-balance sheet office assets. It also completed the $468 million sale-leaseback of an industrial portfolio comprising four pharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing campuses in the Greater Toronto Area. The portfolio is leased to Apotex Pharmaceutical Holdings Inc., a global pharmaceutical company and the largest generic drug manufacturer in Canada. W. P. Carey is led by CEO Jason Fox.

W. P. Carey

Thomas Company Net Lease was founded by Jeffrey Thomas in 2013 and has developed a reputation for innovative dealmaking and setting benchmarks in the market since then. The company has executed complex and high-value transactions across a diverse spectrum of net-leased properties, achieving $6.9 billion in sales since 1997 and more than 838 properties sold. Its work includes dispositions in retail, industrial, office and data center properties, totaling millions of square feet and spanning almost every state in the country. Throughout the past three years, Thomas and his team have completed more than $1 billion in net lease sales nationally including more than five million square feet sold encompassing both multimarket dispositions and one-off transactions for traditional cash-flowing investments as well as a substantial number of zero cash flow investments. The company’s impact is further highlighted by its strategic handling of complex zero-cash-flow investments and sale-leasebacks that require deep understanding and strategic planning. Thomas’ background as a senior executive at firms including HFF and CBRE, combined with his technology tenure at LoopNet.com, equip him with unique insights and strategies that he has leveraged to elevate Thomas Co. to a leadership position in the market.

Thomas Company Net Lease

Led by founder and CEO Glen Kunofsky and COO Nicoletti DePaul, NNN Pro is an investment advisory services firm that provides creative real estate solutions and strategies on single-tenant net lease assets nationwide. Founded in 2000, the company has scaled from two industry veterans to more than 100 team members across multiple cities and has closed more than $35 billion in transactions. NNN Pro provides services such as structured disposition programs for public REITs, and sale-leaseback programs for private equity sponsors, multi-unit franchisees and developers. On the retail side, NNN Pro has helped individual clients, high-net-worth individuals, family offices, developers and owner-operators navigate investments on a one-off basis and on a portfolio-level basis through 1031 exchanges, asset diversification strategies and advising individuals on their net lease real estate needs. On the institutional side, NNN Pro structures creative sale-leaseback programs for large-scale operators, private equity sponsors and REITs. The company opened regional offices in Boston in 2022, Scottsdale, Arizona, in 2023, and Washington D.C. in 2024. With the addition of these new team members, NNN Pro’s headcount surpasses 110 agents and employees. In the beginning of 2023, NNN Pro separated from Marcus & Millichap after 20 years to pursue new strategic business opportunities as an independent group.

NNN Pro

Founded in 2019, Net-Trade.com pioneered a multiple listing service database exclusively for net lease assets. Specializing in a variety of retail and restaurant categories, including automotive, banks, dollar stores, grocery, pharmacy, QSR, cell/tel, big-box and medical, the platform serves as a comprehensive MLS solution for net lease sellers, buyers and brokers. More than 200 net lease listing brokers use the platform, which has more than 3,000 listings that are updated to ensure real-time accuracy. Listings are onboarded by the Net-Trade team and appended with images, lease highlights and location, value features of the asset, a full profile of the tenant, and site-specific demographics and traffic. The platform goes beyond standard MLS offerings by providing transparency and customized discovery tools, including more than 40 niche filters, 50 value features and 29 ways to sort results. Furthermore, it offers 750 tenant profiles including more than 400 franchisees. In addition to its role in on-market transactions, Net-Trade.com supports off-market net lease buyers and sellers through a marketplace that allows users to announce unique buyer requirements or available off-market properties. Led by founder and CEO B. Quentin Foster, Net-Trade also equips investors with niche-specific knowledge through educational articles and curated news and market reports to help them acquire, operate and exit NNN assets with managed risk.

Net-Trade.com Net Lease MLS

Toward the end of 2022, Joseph Yiu, a 24-year CRE veteran, recognized vulnerabilities in the capital markets driven by rising interest rates, tightening bank credit and shifting regulatory requirements. That led him to found LNL Capital LLC in 2023 to fill the capital markets void with a projected $1.5 trillion of CRE debt maturing during the next 24 months by providing creative debt solutions to corporations and developers nationwide. LNL Capital is strategically partnered with Leste Group, a multibillion-dollar asset manager deeply rooted in Latin America and headquartered in Miami. The team’s investor base includes insurance, pension and family offices based in the US and Latin America and it finances retail, healthcare, industrial, data center and cold storage properties. Throughout the past eleven months since its inception in June 2023, LNL has closed on 48 construction and bridge loans. Yui brings deep experience to the firm, including $10 billion in NNN equity and debt transactions. He co-founded The Norseman Group in 2002 and ElmTree Funds in 2011 and worked with Equity Capital Management investing in sale-leaseback and build-to-suits, primarily in retail, industrial and office properties. For LNL, Yiu partnered with Mark Hong, previously CIO of Mitsui Sumitomo Transverse, where he managed an investment portfolio of three U.S. insurance companies. Although LNL is focused on the net lease sector, its leadership has experience investing in various asset classes including traditional private equity, venture capital, real estate development, litigation finance and liquid strategies.

LNL Capital LLC

Founded in 2011, St. Louis-based ElmTree Funds targets industrial investments in primary and secondary US markets that are net leased to investment-grade tenants on a long-term basis. ElmTree’s investment philosophy focuses on making strategic investments in the commercial real estate net-lease industrial build-to-suit sector, taking advantage of its extensive relationships, established infrastructure and deep expertise. The company’s AUM has increased nearly 650% during the past eight years, the majority coming in the past three years. During the past year, the company raised $377 million and executed a $1.6 billion sale of portfolio assets to an investor. Led by founder and CEO Jim Koman, the firm prides itself on maintaining an entrepreneurial spirit, a supportive culture and a focus on being good stewards of the communities where it operates. The result is a smaller company with national coverage. ElmTree’s deep commitment to helping its employees grow includes fully funding and supporting various educational advancement and professional development opportunities and encouraging team members to attend industry events and serve in professional and community organizations.

ElmTree Funds

The Dallas-based father-daughter team of Jerry and Leighton Hopkins launched at Newmark last year after Jerry’s successful run as a founding member of a team in Tulsa. They have completed $350 million in sales, including one of their favorite transactions, a $5 million retail sale in Texas with all proceeds donated to Friends of The Children, a program that pairs mentors with at-risk youth from kindergarten through high school. Jerry, an executive managing director at Newmark, brings 19 years of experience to the team, including more than 400 transactions and $3 billion in sales. His notable transactions include the sale of 116 FedEx-leased properties totaling more than $1.5 billion. A former IBM employee, he embraces technology and is excited about the possibilities that generative AI can bring. Leighton joined Newmark last year as an associate, leveraging her background in retail tenant representative expansion projects and advanced technology utilization. She was quickly identified as a rising star at Newmark and has been a catalyst in growing the retail side of the team’s net lease business. She is also focused on bringing a net lease conference to the Dallas market as soon as next year. Jerry is actively involved in several professional organizations, including SIOR and ICSC, while Leighton is a member of CREW, the Texas Real Estate Commission and ICSC and is working toward her CCIM designation.

Newmark’s Jerry Hopkins & Leighton Hopkins

Sonny Molloy and Jared Kaye teamed up in 2015 to build one of the Southeast’s most highly specialized retail teams and joined Matthews Real Estate Investment Services earlier this year. Together, they have completed $2.9 billion in investment real estate assignments in 29 states, 67% of which were single-tenant net leases. At Matthews, they lead the company’s single-tenant net lease practice throughout the Southeast and transact small to mid-sized retail centers. They bring an advisory approach that involves a strategic introduction, capital facilitation for a development program, guidance on repositioning an asset, lease marketability review and tailoring a marketing strategy before bringing an asset to market. In just the past three years, Molloy and Kaye have completed 92 transactions totaling nearly $374 million and 1.04 million square feet. Notable work includes selling 26 Circle Ks with an aggregate value of $114.6 million, a two-unit Tesla portfolio in Chattanooga, TN and Silver Spring, MD valued at $25 million, and a 202,050=square-foot shopping center in Melbourne, FL with lead anchor Publix. Beyond brokerage, Kaye is involved in the Jewish Educational Loan Fund budget committee, which provides no-interest loans to Jewish students who demonstrate need for their higher education, including undergrad, graduate, vocational or technical school. They are also involved with Desire Street Ministries, which originated in 1990 in the Desire neighborhood of New Orleans. Today, the program coaches and cares for ministry leaders.

Matthews Real Estate Investment Services’ Sonny Molloy & Jared Kaye

Robert Horvath and Todd Tremblay set out to build a collaborative investment real estate brokerage organization in 2016 supported by a centralized professional services team that manages all tasks within the brokerage continuum. Their goal was to eliminate the inefficiencies and variation that detract from final results by creating a consistent process, product and messaging throughout the firm coupled with uniform branding in the marketplace. When building their team, they decided to create a business model similar to the staffing industry where senior agents work to exclusively list property and buyside agents move 1031 capital into listings throughout the US. Horvath and Tremblay specialize in facilitating the acquisition and disposition of single-tenant net leased and multi-tenant retail assets nationwide and are dedicated to being a reliable source of information and expertise in the marketplace for private investors, developers, institutions and industry professionals. They are recognized as top brokers in the Boston and New England markets and are consistently at the forefront of the net lease retail industry on a national level. In the past five years, they have grown their sales team and opened nine offices across the country. Horvath and Tremblay built the firm to be technology-driven with all data, systems and processes based in the cloud, allowing for a collaborative environment. This outlook and implementation were key in succeeding during the pandemic, establishing a model for future risks by keeping the company connected and online.

Horvath & Tremblay’s Executive Team

Top producers Jeff Lefko and Bill Asher, both EVPs at Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors, formed a partnership in 2018 that has achieved $3 billion in retail sales nationwide. Despite a challenging rising interest rate environment, their transactions have set nationwide records for multi-tenant price per-square-foot and the lowest-cap rates for single-tenant net-lease properties. Lefko&Asher is known for transforming net-lease car washes into a viable product type and has sold $340 million in single-tenant net-lease car washes throughout the US. The team also has focused on helping California investors find higher yields out of state. Last year, Lefko&Asher closed transactions in 19 states and achieved multiple record-low-cap rates for properties in various regions, including the sale of $440 million in retail properties in the Midwest during the past 48 months. The team also has facilitated both on- and off-market net-lease transactions to meet the tight timelines of 1031 exchange requirements and structured ‘pre-sales’ or ‘development flips’ prior to the completion of construction and before tenants begin paying rent. Known for its break-up-sale strategies, Lefko&Asher has achieved significantly more value by selling net-leased-occupied outparcels or pads separately. This sale strategy capitalizes on the demand for net-leased retail investments priced under $10 million, whether stabilized or value-added. In the past three years, Lefko&Asher has sold more than 400 retail properties valued at $1.8 billion, with more than half of its sales coming from repeat clients.

Hanley Investment Group Real Estate Advisors’ Jeff Lefko & Bill Asher

Innovation is a cornerstone of The Net Lease Group, which drives it to push boundaries and challenge the status quo. Led by Andrew Bogardus, Christopher Sheldon and Douglas Longyear, the team seeks innovative approaches to broaden its base, including capitalizing on emerging markets and technologies and focusing on marketing trends and a client-centric approach. The team heavily invests in research, education and development, leveraging social media, data analytics and machine learning to enhance its efforts. The group specializes in the disposition and acquisition of single-tenant net lease investment properties nationwide on behalf of institutional and private capital clients. With intimate knowledge of the national net lease investment market for industrial, retail, flex and office properties, the team offers clients expertise in pricing, market penetration, targeting active buyers and efficient dispositions. Its combined 65 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry includes single- and multi-tenant investment sales, sale-leaseback structuring, mortgage banking services and office leasing. The team has sold more than $2 billion of net lease investment properties, and all three members of the group are consistently ranked CoStar Power Broker Deal winners. Longyear is a member of both the Net Lease Industrial Group and Cushman & Wakefield’s Capital Markets Group. He has completed more than 130 industrial property sales in 32 states with total proceeds exceeding $2.3 billion. Sheldon specializes in the disposition and acquisition of single-tenant and multi-tenant net-leased investment properties nationwide on behalf of institutional and private capital clients. Bogardus is an executive director in the Net Lease Group on the Capital Markets platform of Cushman & Wakefield in San Francisco. He specializes in net leased investment sales of investment-quality commercial, office and industrial properties.

Cushman & Wakefield’s San Francisco Net Lease Group

The Ladt Patel Investment Advisors team at Colliers was founded in 2020 and advises developers and private investors on the acquisition and disposition of net-leased properties and shopping centers nationwide. Services include investment sales, advisory, capital markets, research, 1031 exchange and tailored consultation. The team is led by EVP Thomas Ladt and vice chair Jay Patel and is a market leader in single-tenant investment sales specializing in retail, restaurants, healthcare, fitness centers, automotive services and more. With their relationship-based and results-driven approach, Patel and Ladt communicate one-on-one with clients every day. Since 2008, the team has participated in more than $2.5 billion in transactions across 47 states. The pair provides thought-leadership through involvement in ICSC and social media platforms, and Patel authored an article called “The Appetite is Growing for Medical Net Lease Properties” in Colliers’ Knowledge Leader, a publication focused on shaping the future of commercial real estate with expert-driven thought-leadership and analysis. Ladt provides leading-edge market information and analysis and partners with clients to develop strategies that maximize the value of their retail assets. Both have been inducted into Colliers’ Everest Club for the past three years. So far this year, the team has closed numerous multilocation transactions for high-profile tenants including Fresenius, DaVita, Fast Pace Health Care, Aspen Dental, Whataburger, Take five Oil Change, Chili’s, Chick-fil-A, Raising Canes and Shake Shack.

Colliers’ Ladt Patel Investment Advisors

Founded in 2008, the net lease investment team at Colliers, led by EVP Peter Block, has negotiated record-setting transactions in Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Working with senior associate Christian Pera, Block has developed a strong net lease team favored by franchises and major retail corporations. Largely focused on restaurants within the NNN space, the team advises retail property investors on the acquisition and disposition of single-tenant net lease investments and multi-tenant shopping centers and has developed expertise in all facets of restaurant operations. The team closed 30 transactions in the past year valued at $62 million. One of the team’s most notable recent deals was the sale-leaseback of a high-profile Harley Davidson dealership in Orlando. The team also completed the sale of a seven-property strip center portfolio, and it advised long-term client Taco Bell on a strategy to recycle capital back into the business and completed sale-leaseback transactions for the restaurant. The team leverages its experience and resources to identify new and out-of-the-box opportunities in difficult markets. For example, last year the team sold several land parcels by repositioning the underutilized sites for retail tenants.

Colliers’ Net Lease Investment Team

Matthew Gorman, Michael Shover, Thomas Finnegan and Robert Thompson lead CBRE’s Mid-Atlantic net lease team, specializing in the sale, purchase and recapitalization of single-tenant net-lease retail properties including banks and restaurants, discount stores and drug stores. In addition, multi-tenant properties make up part of its business. It handles the disposition of real estate portfolios for corporations, financial institutions, real estate investment trusts, insurance companies and private investors. During its 16-year history, the team has sold more than $2.8 billion in net lease properties nationwide. Recently, the team executed a corporate Auto Lenders sale-leaseback portfolio transaction of 10 properties located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey for $55 million, the sale of At Home in Princeton, NJ for $15.8 million, and the sale of Cedar Hill Shopping Center in Voorhees, NJ for $13 million. Throughout the past few years, the team has been an educated advisor to clients both new and old, providing realistic expectations, especially about struggling retail tenants. It created a strong online process for marketing properties and has learned to adjust the team’s proposal and listing process to handle different product types. Gorman and Shover support various charity organizations CBRE supports throughout the year including Pamoza International, build day at the North Light Community Center in Philadelphia, a Toys for Tots drive held each winter, Operation Yellow Ribbon and Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

CBRE’s Matthew Gorman & Michael Shover

Partners Gary Chou, Calvin Short and Aron Cline lead Berkeley Capital Advisors’ West Coast single-tenant net lease team, founded in 2021. Among the most active NNN brokerage teams in the country, Chou, Short and Cline have brokered more than 2,859 transactions totaling more than $18.2 billion. The trio established the Berkeley Capital Advisors West team and opened the Orange County office in 2021 to lead the national expansion of BCA’s net lease division. The team, which includes more than 15 members, is characterized by a culture that values and focuses on diversity, transparency and collaboration. The three partners are responsible for business development, managing the office, establishing long-term strategy and mentoring future leaders. Prior to joining Berkeley Capital Advisors in 2021, the partners co-founded Matthews Real Estate Investment Services where they were involved in the company’s early growth strategy and technology development. During their five-year tenure at Matthews, they ranked within the firm’s top three producing agents. During the past four years, the BCA West team has closed more than 1,400 transactions totaling more than $4 billion, including the largest sale-leaseback within the auto collision sector, and several large portfolios with a combined value totaling more than $560 million. The team supports Animal Interest, an animal welfare organization founded by Short and his wife.

Berkeley Capital Advisors – West Coast

Milo Spector has been a thought-leader in the education space across Stan Johnson Co., now Northmarq, and in the industry as a whole. He has brought education assets, including preschools, daycares and charter schools into the net lease space as single-tenant net lease transactions based upon NNN lease terms, working with owners on both sale-leasebacks and traditional net lease transactions. Spector is an SVP and one of the founding brokers of Stan Johnson Co.’s Walnut Creek office in the San Francisco Bay Area, specializing in net leased investment sales specifically in the education space. His skills include sale-leaseback, portfolios, joint-venture equity partnerships, build-to-suit, standard acquisitions and dispositions, forward commitments and 1031 exchanges. Spector’s clients consist of franchisees and operators, developers, high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. Throughout his career, he has sold more than 100 early education properties across the country, in addition to several QSR properties and net-leased properties across different net-leased segments. Since January 2023, Spector has closed more than 37 net lease transactions, totaling more than $144 million in sales volume. He is known as a team player and recognized by many of the large early education operators as well as leading investors and developers in the early education sector as one of the market leaders and their go-to person for advice.

Milo Spector

Mark Ruble has been with Marcus & Millichap’s Phoenix office for two decades, where he is a market leader and net lease influencer. He is the company’s executive managing director of investments and has sold 2,051 properties totaling more than $6.27 billion in transaction volume across 46 states. In 2023, Ruble along with his net lease advisory group closed 211 transactions. Ruble provides clients with information and advisory services, assisting them in navigating the commercial real estate market. While his primary focus is his clients, he also mentors younger agents who focus on net lease properties. Throughout the years, Ruble has mentored nearly two dozen agents, assisting them with client meetings, calls and navigating options for their clients’ assets as they learn the best practices in the industry. Ruble’s accomplishments include ranking as one of the top 10 agents companywide and multiple Chairman’s Circle of Excellence awards. Ruble made a significant impact as a leader throughout the pandemic and economic downturn by consistently working with junior agents, team members and clients. Ruble executed at a high level and grew his business by nearly $100 million in sales transactions during that time. Ruble is involved in numerous charitable organizations benefiting children as well as supporting youth athletics in volunteer and coaching roles.

Mark Ruble

Tzvi Rokeach has helped reshape net leasing in the casino and resort sector and across the nation’s other real estate sectors. Rokeach has developed a net-lease and ground lease model for highly sophisticated land and asset purchase and complex leases during the past several years working with a large experiential real estate-focused company and other clients. A partner at Kramer Levin, Rokeach represents developers, institutional investors, major lenders, Fortune 1000 corporations and prominent individual investors, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to a wide range of transactions. This includes work on large-scale development and construction projects, joint-ventures, acquisitions, and sales and dispositions across asset types, including commercial, industrial, retail, residential, gaming, hospitality and entertainment properties. He has deep experience handling a variety of sale-leaseback, OpCo/PropCo, ground lease, net lease and master lease transactions, as well as representing lenders and borrowers in complex real estate financings, workouts and complicated restructurings and recapitalizations. Notable matters include representing an ad hoc group of bondholders holding more than $3.5 billion of first-lien bonds issued by Caesars Entertainment Operating Co. in connection with the real estate aspects of its Chapter 11 restructuring, including the $2.2 billion CMBS financing of Caesars Palace Las Vegas and the negotiation of the master leases by which Caesars leases much of its real estate from VICI Properties Inc. “I like puzzles and I like to get things done,” Rokeach says of his work. He does pro-bono work for several local not-for-profit organizations, including recently negotiating a settlement resolving litigation related to a dispute between the parties to a lease for real estate located in Manhattan. He worked with the same not-for-profit organization to find a new headquarters site in Manhattan.

Tzvi Rokeach

Together with her team at B+E, CEO Camille Renshaw built an online trading platform for net lease real estate that includes user-friendly dashboards, real-time predictive pricing and an AI-driven exchange. Using the platform, buyers and sellers can conduct transactions online and review real-time credit news and tenant data while they trade. B+E brokered the largest commercial real estate transaction by a digital platform with the $324 million Cabela’s sale-leaseback. The 11 Cabela’s properties represented more than 1.6 million square feet of space and an additional 277 acres of land. B+E’s ongoing investment in technology, data and research provides net lease clients with predictive analysis and asset management planning, which prepares for the market’s worst-case scenarios while assuring strong investment returns. Renshaw makes frequent speaking appearances, authors articles and is quoted extensively in the media. She serves as a corporate board member and advisor to multiple companies, including Blace.com, CapWay and Artemis Bow Real Estate. She also serves on the CREW Network’s board of directors for 2024-2025.

Camille Renshaw

Avison Young SVP Richard Murphy specializes in single-tenant NNN properties working with investors, developers, 1031 exchange buyers and companies performing sale-leasebacks. His experience spans more than a decade at Calkain Cos., where he executed more than $300 million in investment sales and led the asset management business. Since joining Avison Young, Murphy has played a crucial role in expanding Avison Young’s net lease capabilities, contributing to the firm’s robust portfolio of successful deals. His work in structuring sale-leasebacks and facilitating 1031 exchanges has provided clients with valuable tax advantages and financial flexibility. A key aspect of Murphy’s influence is his oversight of net lease research, which is made public to investors and other net lease professionals. This research includes cap rate reports, tenant insights, credit rating reports and current events analysis. Murphy’s background in public accounting at Ernst & Young, where he provided audit and tax consulting services to real estate clients, further solidifies his comprehensive understanding of the financial intricacies involved in net lease transactions. One of his notable transactions was the sale of a $327 million, 2.7-million-square-foot industrial deal for Amazon. He also played a crucial role in securing a $200 million portfolio spanning seven states with Appreciation Homes. Murphy is a pet and foster advocate in Fairfax and Loudoun County. He has served as the treasurer for the Save the Sheepdog Foundation for the past six years, and he donates his time to the Suicide Prevention for Veterans and First Responders Initiative.

Richard Murphy

A top broker at Matthews Real Estate Investment Services, EVP Chad Kurz is focused primarily on the net lease retail sector. After the company’s founding, Kurz led its net lease division, which included recruiting and mentoring agents while working alongside executive leadership to develop and promote the division. Today he manages the entire transaction process. Whether working on an off-market or on-market listing, Kurz promotes investments through extensive marketing campaigns and his client portfolio of investors across the country. He also mentors newer agents in the Orange County, CA office, in deal-making, relationship-building and local market research. Throughout his career, Kurz has been involved with the sale of nearly $2 billion of assets. Having worked through several downturns, he maintains a business-as-usual approach and avoids distractions. He studies economic trends to ensure he is giving his clients the most accurate information available and builds their portfolios with safe and secure assets. Prior to his current role, Kurz was the company’s Dallas office market leader before transitioning back to brokerage. He is a member of the Matthews Corporate Social Responsibility program which is designed to encourage agents and employees to give back to their communities through charitable events and fundraisers organized by their peers. Kurz has supported local and national nonprofits such as Support Our Troops, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Pat Tillman Foundation and various local food banks and shelters.

Chad Kurz

David Krasnoff is a top producer in the New York office of Avison Young as well as within its debt and structured finance group nationwide, leveraging 21 years of experience. He has financed more than $1 billion in net lease assets during the past few years for clients including large institutional investors as well as local and regional players. He prides himself on providing a high-touch, transparent, client-centric approach with integrity, tenacity and candor. Some clients joke that they only come to him with their complicated deals because they know he’ll find a way to get them done. His main responsibilities include originating, structuring and closing debt and equity financings in the net lease space across the country. One of his more notable deals throughout the past year includes financing a one-million-square-foot glass manufacturing facility in a tertiary market which included overcoming lender concerns surrounding the unique use of the asset. Krasnoff completed the financing against the backdrop of several regional bank failures and volatility within the wider capital markets. He also mentors the younger members of his team and can often be found explaining some of the basic principles of the business to first-year analysts and summer interns. Krasnoff has long been a proponent of the commercial real estate industry’s emphasis on community and networking. He is a past treasurer and executive committee member of the New York City chapter of NAIOP and supports several community and charitable organizations outside of his professional life.

David Krasnoff

Tower Capital executive managing director Geoffrey Harris is a top loan originator who has closed more than 2,400 transactions totaling more than $13 billion in funded loans during his 25-year career in CRE finance. More than 80% of Harris’ completed transactions have involved single-tenant net-lease properties. Harris joined Tower Capital this year to lead a newly formed, retail-focused capital markets group specializing in net lease transactions and arranging capital for clients in California, Texas and the Sun Belt. His extensive experience includes arranging financing and servicing loans at commercial mortgage banks, brokerage firms and financial institutions. Harris previously served as an EVP of BMC Capital responsible for managing a team involved in originating debt and equity transactions nationwide. The two most recent Harris-led STNL loans were Canlak Industrial in Osseo, Minnesota, and L&W Supply in Houston. Canlak Industrial was a $4.9 million, NNN 20-year sale-leaseback acquisition loan involving a 90,000-square-foot industrial asset. Harris secured financing for the acquisition. The 20-year absolute NNN lease, which commenced at close of escrow, included 2% annual rental increases scheduled throughout the initial term and in each of the four 5-year renewal options. Harris holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Southwest Texas State University and is involved with ICSC and MBA.

Geoffrey Harris

A thought-leader in the net lease sector, Sentinel Net Lease chief investment officer Dennis Cisterna challenges conventional wisdom and pushes his colleagues to understand why the market behaves in certain ways so they can capitalize on new opportunities. He has a significant social media following where he shares commentary. Cisterna launched the $100 million Sentinel Opportunity Fund I at a time when many are sitting on the sidelines, and his conviction in acquiring attractive net lease investments in the office sector shows he is not afraid to buck the trend of the greater market. Cisterna is responsible for all acquisitions, dispositions and capital market functions within Sentinel as well as guiding the firm’s overall investment strategy and underwriting. He was responsible for one of the most successful net lease office investments in the post-COVID-19 environment, acquiring and selling one of the largest call centers in the US occupied by a Fortune 25 tenant in just 24 months. With a focus on investment basis, he generated a 190% return on investment in just 23 months, amounting to nearly $9 million in profit for Sentinel’s investors in January 2024. He addresses risk through scenario planning, a staple of his strategic analysis since he began his career as a housing market analyst before the Great Recession. Since then, he has seen firsthand the benefit of underwriting best and worst-case scenarios for Sentinel’s investment strategies, which led him to secure long-term fixed-rate financing on all of its acquisitions during the period of ultra-low interest rates, giving the Sentinel net lease portfolio a protective barrier and strong cash-on-cash returns for years to come. Cisterna is involved in CRE industry associations including ICSC and NAIOP, and he spends much of his free time contributing to social and philanthropic organizations.

Dennis Cisterna

Known as a go-to lawyer for complex and high-profile commercial real estate transactions, Matea Bozja was promoted to partner at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP last year. Since she was a junior associate, Bozja has acted as the lead associate on numerous transactions, including complex joint-ventures with sophisticated tax structures, portfolio acquisitions, sales and restructurings, loan transactions and real estate-heavy M&A transactions. Her practice includes property acquisitions and sales, joint-venture formations, real estate take-private and strategic M&A transactions, and financing and leasing transactions, including triple-net lease transactions. Bozja has played an integral role in transformative transactions in the net lease sector, recently representing GIC on its $15 billion acquisition, in partnership with Oak Street, of STORE Capital and the related $2.6 billion acquisition financing, which was one of the largest REIT take-private transactions in 2022. STORE is one of the largest and fastest-growing net-lease REITs in the US, investing in single-tenant operational real estate. Bozja’s net lease sector experience also includes representation of Brookdale Senior Living Inc. in its entry into a series of transactions with Healthpeak Properties Inc. Healthpeak acquired Brookdale’s 51% equity interest in its joint-venture structure, representing 13 entry fee continuing care retirement communities, for $510 million. Bozja often leads large cross-office teams on high-profile real estate transactions. “Ms. Bozja is an outstanding lawyer that is the total package,” says Nancy Olson, head of Skadden’s Chicago Real Estate Group. “She is smart, thoughtful, diligent, confident, inspires client confidence, and a great leader. She is the future of the Chicago real estate group.”

Matea Bozja

Matt Berres joined Newmark in 2019 to establish and lead the company’s net lease capital markets practice group. He is a top producer nationwide and has closed more than 500 transactions totaling nearly $5 billion in sales throughout his career. His track record of transactions includes the Walgreens corporate headquarters, Kroger Net Lease Grocer Portfolio, Federal Express warehouse buildings, more than 150 bank branch facilities, Topgolf locations, Veterans Affairs/GSA facilities and mission-critical office assets. Berres is a vice chairman at Newmark specializing in the sale, purchase and recapitalization of net leased retail, industrial and office properties throughout the US. He and his team offer core services including net lease disposition and acquisition advisory, 1031 exchange transactions, sale-leasebacks, portfolio analysis, valuation analysis, market and demographic evaluation, build-to-suit and capital markets consultation. In the past three years, the team has completed more than 100 sales transactions totaling $1 billion. Berres has internalized a relationship-first approach through multiple recessions and economic downturns, which has helped position his team to offer valuable counsel to clients in all types of markets. Berres is president of Young Real Estate Professionals and an active member of the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association, ICSC, ICSC Next Generation, ULI and ULI Young Leaders.

Matt Berres

Ryan Bennett founded the NNN Investment Group at Lee & Associates Commercial Real Estate Services Inc. in 2008. Focused on quality over quantity, the team has built deep relationships and a global proprietary database of investors and developers. The team uses the Lee & Associates network to provide an additional service to other Lee teams which have been able to expand this support and experience to their clients. By opening up this investment sector to other agents in the Lee network, they have expanded the organization’s outreach. Bennett focuses on the day-to-day transaction oversight of deals in process, communicating with interested parties, negotiating with potential buyers, and outlining financial strategy with clients to determine the best result for every transaction. In addition, Bennett coordinates all marketing activity, including listing proposals, property blasts, marketing brochures and social media. He leads associate training and has created a system through which new agents learn key financial terms and investment strategies for 1031 exchanges, portfolio management and extension negotiations. Bennett has led the NNN Investment Group with more than $2.75 billion in transactions and more than 750 total closed transactions. He contributes to his communities through coaching and being a group leader for Indian Guides/Princess tribes.

Ryan Bennett

Fortis Net Lease managing director Bryan Bender has 16 years of experience with more than $2.25 billion in net lease sales, the vast majority in the dollar store market. He has closed record cap rate numbers in several states throughout his career. Bender is client-focused as well as open to working with other brokers to learn what works and what doesn’t. Colleagues say he is versatile and truly cares about each transaction. His responsibilities at FNL include securing deals, managing current transactions, identifying new and unique opportunities, staying informed of the market and political/world climate, and being available to assist young brokers. From 2021 to 2023, Bender averaged more than 100 transactions each year, totaling $746 million in sales. He has been awarded the CoStar Power Broker Award nine times and is a repeated Crexi Platinum Broker award recipient. Bender is currently under contract with several large portfolios. In recent uncertain market conditions, he has excelled at mixing traditional and progressive business ideas to meet his client’s goals and continue to move inventory. Recently, Bender became a developer and business owner when he opened two Scooter’s Coffee franchises in Michigan. He is a Cub Scout leader, president of his HOA, and a charitable donator to local community events.

Bryan P. Bender

Design by Chris Nicholls

Illustration: xy/Adobe Stock

Based in Newport Beach, CA, SRS Real Estate Partners’ National Net Lease Group is the firm’s exclusive net lease investment advisory platform with more than 25 offices across the nation. The team of 90 net lease professionals provides advisory services for investors of single-tenant and net lease retail properties across the US, including all underwriting and marketing efforts. Team co-founders Matthew Mousavi and Patrick Luther manage the team, which had $2.2 billion in transactions with more than 500 properties sold in more than 30 states at the end of last year. Using SRS’ internal deal match platform was critical to the team’s success in 2023, matching buyer and seller requirements nationally and often off-market, to achieve the goals and objectives of clients quickly and efficiently. The platform is structured to perform as one group, facilitating coast-to-coast cooperation among brokers. Another influential factor in NNLG’s success is its collaboration with SRS Real Estate Partners’ retail tenant representation and retail project leasing teams throughout the country, as well as its in-house debt and financing advisors. The team’s notable transactions include ground lease acquisitions of two Chick-fil-A locations for $15 million in Palm Desert and Mission Viejo. The blended closing cap rate was 3.83%, marking the lowest cap rates for Chick-fil-A-occupied properties sold year-to-date in the Western US. SRS continues to transact this credit throughout the country in the 3% to 4% cap rate range.

SRS Real Estate Partners’ National Net Lease Group