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CrowdStreet, the leading real estate crowdfunding platform that has faced a major scandal and seen dwindling deal volume over the last year, has a new leader.
The company named a new CEO Tuesday afternoon: John Imbriglia, who previously served as managing director at alternative investment marketplace iCapital.
His appointment will take effect July 15, the company said. He will succeed Jack Chandler, who took over as interim CEO in August when longtime chief Tore Steen stepped down after the revelation that Nightingale Properties misappropriated more than $50M in funds raised on CrowdStreet.
Imbriglia spent eight years with iCapital from 2014 to 2022 and has since been a general partner at Platform Capital Management, according to his LinkedIn page. He also previously worked at BNY Mellon, Probitas Partners and Barclays Private Bank. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in 2003 and his master of business administration from the University of Virginia in 2009.
CrowdStreet board member Lawson DeVries said the board began an “extensive and highly selective” search process in the fall.
“John’s unique blend of experiences in the alternative investment space is a perfect fit — he is an innovator who truly understands this ecosystem, and he will bring incredible new value to the entire CrowdStreet community,” DeVries said in CrowdStreet’s release.
Austin-based CrowdStreet, which was founded in Portland, Oregon, said Imbriglia will launch the company's first New York office, and he will set the strategic direction of the company and oversee its growth plans.
CrowdStreet is still facing fallout from the Nightingale scandal that came to light last summer. In January, a group of investors who lost money in the Nightingale deal filed an arbitration claim against CrowdStreet.
The claim, filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, sought more than $3M in damages and an injunction that could effectively shut down the platform. Investors said CrowdStreet failed to conduct the proper due diligence on Nightingale and its CEO Elie Schwartz, and acted as an unlicensed broker-dealer when Schwartz raised money on the platform multiple times in 2022.
The company said Imbriglia's hiring comes one year after its “successful transition” to the broker-dealer model.
Beyond the scandal, CrowdStreet has suffered from a larger downturn in the crowdfunding industry due to rising interest rates slowing deal volume. The company, which has hosted nearly 800 crowdfunding campaigns that have raised over $4B, had just one crowdfunding deal on its platform as of last month, Bisnow previously reported.
A CrowdStreet spokesperson told Bisnow last month the company believes that the potential for falling inflation and two interest rate cuts this year “may create additional opportunities for investors on our platform in the months ahead.”
Imbriglia, in Tuesday’s release, said he believes CrowdStreet has a timely opportunity to court investors who are looking to diversify into private alternatives.
“We anticipate seeing an increase in the velocity of investment opportunities ahead so we will immediately focus on initiatives that best position us to thrive in the upcoming investment cycle,” he said.
UPDATE, JUNE 11, 5 P.M. ET: This story has been updated with comments from the release and additional context.
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