PGIM Real Estate has promoted Jamie Shen to become head of agriculture.
Shen is currently chief investment officer and head of PGIM Real Estate’s agriculture equity business.
Upon her appointment, Shen aims to leverage PGIM Real Estate’s expertise across agriculture debt and equity to drive client growth and expand a combined debt and equity agriculture platform.
Since joining in 2017, the firm said that Shen has been instrumental in the build-out of PGIM Real Estate’s agriculture investment platform, which has grown from $3.5 bn (€3.25 bn) 10 years ago to $10.5 bn today.
The company is now one of the largest investors in agriculture in the world.
Bryan McDonnell, head of US debt and agriculture and chair of global debt, commented: 'We have ambitious plans to grow our agriculture platform, and Jamie’s appointment is central to them.
'Agriculture assets tend to have stable, long-term income characteristics and can act as a strong inflation hedge. These qualities are fuelling strong demand for what remains a nascent asset class, but accessing the underlying assets can be challenging.'
Shen brings deep industry expertise to her expanded role with a career spanning 30 years in real estate.
Prior to joining PGIM Real Estate, she was an executive vice president and practice leader of alternative investments consulting with Callan Associates.
Rachelle Schlesinger will continue to lead the agriculture finance business, reporting to Shen. Chris Jay, chief financial officer and chief operating officer, will continue to report to Shen.
Under Schlesinger’s leadership, the debt side of the agriculture business has experienced significant growth over the past few years. Mostly recently, Chris Porter and Jason Denton were hired in 2022 as executive directors dedicated to driving US lending activity in the agribusiness and timber sectors respectively.
Shen will assume her responsibilities effective 1 October. Her promotion follows the decision of current head of agriculture Jess Jarratt to retire at the end of 2023.
