San Francisco-based RealtyShares has added Edward Forst to its board of directors. The former CEO of Cushman & Wakefield also will join RealtyShares’ advisory board, which is made up of several industry veterans, including Apollo senior partner Joe Azelby, Third Point former partner and chief credit officer Keri Findley and Fogelson Group of Cos. founder and CEO Gerald Fogelson.
Forst oversaw 16,000 real estate professionals in 60 countries at Cushman & Wakefield. He joined the brokerage after 16 years at Goldman Sachs, where he was a partner and global chief administrative officer, global co-head of the investment management division and a member of the company’s global management committee.
RealtyShares has a diverse group of capital partners such as CBRE and institutions including hedge funds, insurance companies and family offices. A key focus for the crowdfunding real estate investment company is to broaden its reach into institutional capital markets. CEO Nav Athwal believes Forst will help make a contribution to that effort.
RealtyShares has facilitated 88 commercial deals since the beginning of 2016. It has raised more than $300M across 550 investment opportunities in 35 states since its inception. Since March of 2017, the company has raised capital for several deals, including $3M in debt for Rincon Partners, $3.5M in equity for Avesta and $5.9M in debt and equity funding for Hamilton Real Estate Capital.
The company hired Bill Lanting in 2016 to head up commercial debt originations and expects to fund more than $300M in commercial debt in 2017.
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