Mr. Grossman is a Senior Managing Director at Meridian Capital Group. He opened the firm’s San Diego office in May 2011 charged with expanding the company’s presence throughout the western and southwestern states. In his 10+ years leading the west coast for Meridian, Mr. Grossman has built a team that has originated and closed more than $12 billion of debt and equity transactions spanning more than 600 loans across primary and esoteric asset types.

Prior to opening Meridian’s San Diego office, Mr. Grossman was a Structured Finance Analyst Fitch Ratings, a Principal at Mission Peak Capital, and worked in Meridian’s New York City office where he closed in excess of $3 billion.

Mr. Grossman attended NYU, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management.

Industry Recognition:

2013: Named to Commercial Observer’s national list of “Top 20 Commercial Mortgage Brokers under 35”

2015: Named to Commercial Property Executive’s list of 17 national “Stars to Watch” in the real estate industry

2015: Named by Real Estate Forum as one of 20 “Tomorrow’s leaders of Southern California”

Mr. Traenkle is the Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of Colony NorthStar, Inc., having previously held the position of Executive Director and Chief Investment Officer for Colony Capital, Inc., the predecessor to Colony NorthStar.

Mr. Traenkle is involved in many facets of Colony NorthStar, including business strategy, product development, global client relations, oversight of individual investment and divestment decisions, as well as portfolio construction and risk management.

Prior to rejoining the Colony Capital business in 2002, Mr. Traenkle worked for a private equity investment firm, where, among other responsibilities, he focused on the firm's real estate-related investment and management activities. Prior to originally joining Colony Capital in 1993, Mr. Traenkle worked in the municipal finance department for the investment bank First Albany Corporation in Albany, New York.

Mr. Traenkle received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering in 1992 from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.

Mr. Friedman is a co-founder of Mesa West Capital. Prior to co-founding Mesa West in 2004, Mr. Friedman spent three years at Maguire Partners as a principal and was in charge of capital market activities which included the restructuring of the firm’s debt, the buy-out of partners and the firm’s eventual $800 million initial public offering. Mr. Friedman transitioned into real estate finance in 1994 initially as a Vice-President originating large loans at Nomura Asset Capital Corporation and later as a Director at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. Mr. Friedman began his career as a corporate lawyer, working initially in Tokyo, Japan for an affiliate of Sidley & Austin and then in New York for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Mr. Friedman graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a master’s degree in Applied Economics and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Zach is the co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Pender Capital. Zach co-founded Pender in 2015 and brings over 16 years of experience in both commercial real estate finance and capital markets expertise. Zach oversees the firm’s Investment and Research program which includes deal sourcing, research, and structuring and is a member of the Investment and Research Committee and the Management Committee. Prior to Pender, Zach served as Managing Director/ Senior Vice President for Liberty SBF, a commercial finance company based in Philadelphia, where he was responsible for establishing Liberty’s Western Regional HQ in Los Angeles and directed West Coast originations and operations. Zach personally originated over $60 million of commercial loans during the first year of operations on the West Coast. In 2008, Zach joined Silver Point Capital, LP in New York, a Goldman Sachs partner fund, where he was responsible for commercial real estate loan originations and insurance-linked securities trading. During his tenure at Silver Point, Zach traded more than $500 million in distressed commercial real estate debt, insurance-linked securities, and assets in the capital markets. From 2004 to 2008, Zach served as Senior Vice President/Division Director of Velocity Commercial Capital where he was the company’s highest grossing originator in e