S2 Capital, L&L Holding Company, Peachtree Group, Avison Young, Slate Asset Management, Octane Capital, Real IS
S2 Capital – Patrick Connell has joined the US residential real estate investment firm as head of capital formation and investor relations. In this new position at S2, Connell will lead fundraising and manage the firm’s growing relationships with sophisticated institutional investors globally. He will also lead S2’s investor relations team and open the New York office. Connell was most recently managing director and head of capital raising at L&L Holding Company. Previously, as principal of fundraising and investor relations at Riverstone Holdings, he held a senior position within the limited partner relations team responsible. Connell also managed relationships with institutional investors including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, and family offices during his more than six years at Riverstone.
Peachtree Group – Michael Bernath has been appointed senior vice-president of acquisitions. In this role, he will report to Brian Waldman, Peachtree’s CIO, and oversee the company’s national hospitality acquisition programme. Bernath brings more than 15 years of hospitality real estate experience to Peachtree. He most recently served as a principal with Avison Young’s national hospitality group and its predecessor, Hotel Assets Group. Before his brokerage tenure, Bernath was vice-president of acquisitions and finance for Peachtree Hotel Group, an affiliate of Peachtree. He began his career at Moody National Companies as an analyst in the hospitality division.
Slate Asset Management – The global real assets investment firm has announced six new partner and managing director promotions. Jerry Cain, who joined Slate in 2020 has been named partner. Prior to joining Slate, Cain supported the firm’s capital-raising efforts in an advisory role, first as a director in the private capital advisory group at Lazard Freres and subsequently as MD and head of funds advisory – Americas at JLL. Previously, Cain directed fundraising efforts for North American and European real estate funds while at Harbert Management Corporation. Brendan Shanahan has been named managing director. Shanahan joined Slate in 2021 and oversees the firm’s debt investment origination and execution in the Midwest and Western regions of the US. Prior to joining Slate, Shanahan led commercial real estate originations across the Midwest for Annaly Capital Management and previously served on the investments team for Pacific Coast Capital Partners in San Francisco. Connor O’Brien has been promoted to managing director. O’Brien joined Slate in 2012 and is responsible for overseeing the origination and execution of acquisitions and dispositions across the US. In 2016, O’Brien transferred to Germany to open the firm’s Frankfurt office, which established Slate’s business in Europe. Most recently, Connor has played a key role in scaling Slate’s US platform and supporting the growth of the US team from Chicago. Katie Fong has been promoted to managing director. Fong joined Slate in 2014. In 2021, she took over leadership of Slate’s Canadian private real estate team and has led Slate’s private funds business in Canada. Prior to joining Slate, Fong worked at RealNet in commercial research. Marc-André Flageole has been named managing director, public markets and head of Presima. Flageole joined Slate in 2022 as global portfolio manager and head of investments for Presima, Slate’s boutique asset manager focused on global real estate securities. He previously worked as a risk manager at the Caisse de dépot et de placement du Québec. Molly Mahoney has been appointed managing director. Mahoney joined Slate in 2020, bringing over 13 years of experience in capital raising and marketing alternative products and services to the firm’s investor relations function. Prior to joining Slate, Mahoney served as managing director on the funds advisory team at JLL where she advised Slate on their capital raising efforts.
Real IS – Pamela Hoerr will step down from the management board with effect from 15 March 2023. Management board members Jochen Schenk and Bernd Lönner will perform her duties on the management board until further notice. Hoerr has been responsible for asset and fund management at Real IS since January 2020. The firm’s supervisory board has appointed Stephan Mühlbauer as chief representative of Real IS and managing director at Real IS Investment. The in-house tax adviser and former certified auditor is global head of tax and operations and succeeds Silke Weber in the role of managing director at Real IS Investment. Weber will take on new responsibilities in the industry at the start of 2023. She has been with the company for about 10 years and is currently managing director of the subsidiary and head of corporate and business innovation at Real IS Group. Katharina Hanselmann will shortly take over responsibility for this business area as a new hire.
Octane Capital – Richard Deacon has joined the specialist property lender as managing director for sales. Deacon, who’s worked for Masthaven Bank for 14 years, started his career in financial services in 1997. He joins from Tuscan Capital where he has been for the past five months. Josh Knight has been appointed sales and marketing director, an expanded role which Knight will step up to, having been at Octane for four years as senior BDM and before that as BDM. Mark Posniak, managing director and co-founder of the business will be exiting by the end of this year, having sold his shareholding in Octane. Liam Lawlor is also leaving the business to join an investment fund with operations in Ireland and Spain.
