Mr. Shields founded Griffin Capital in 1995, serves as the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and is based in the firm’s headquarters in El Segundo, CA. Griffin Capital is the sponsor of a series of Reg. D Private Placements, including the Griffin Capital Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund and Griffin Capital Development Partners Fund series (collectively representing approximately $1.4 billion of equity committed to supporting the ground-up development of 30 multifamily communities totaling over $3 billion in development expense).  Griffin Capital previously sponsored two ‘40 Act Interval Funds: the Griffin Institutional Access^® Real Estate Fund and Griffin Institutional Access^® Credit Fund, for which Mr. Shields served as the President for each such fund and also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Capital Advisor, LLC and Griffin Capital Credit Advisor, LLC, each SEC-registered investment advisors and advisor to Real Estate Fund and the Credit  Fund, respectively, until such fund advisors were sold to Apollo Global Management, Inc. in May 2022 (representing approximately $6.5 billion in equity).  Griffin Capital has also sponsored or co-sponsored a series of public, non-listed real estate investment trusts including: Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, Inc. (sold to Northstar Realty Finance, Inc. in December 2014 for $4 billion), Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III, Inc. and Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, Inc. (which trusts were merged and the management team internalized into the combined $4.7 billion healthcare REIT in October 2022) and Griffin Realty Trust, Inc. (“GRT”), an entity formed via the April 2019 $4.7 billion merger of Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. and Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT II, Inc, (the management team was internalized in December 2018 and GRT subsequently acquired via merger $1.1 billion of assets from the former CCITII REIT to form a now $5.8 billion enterprise). Mr. Shields formerly served as the Chief Executive Officer of each Griffin Capital Essential Asset REITs until their internalization and currently serves as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors.  Mr. Shields also formerly served as a Board of Director’s observer for each of the Griffin-American Healthcare REITs until their internalization. Mr. Shields was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Capital Securities, LLC as well, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer that served as the dealer manager for the REITs and private placements sponsored by Griffin Capital and the exclusive wholesale marketing agent for Credit Fund and the Real Estate Fund.  Griffin Capital Securities was also sold to Apollo in a transaction that closed March 1, 2022.

Before founding Griffin Capital, Mr. Shields was a Senior Vice President and head of the Structured Real Estate Finance Group at Jefferies & Company, Inc. in Los Angeles and a Vice President in the Real Estate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers Inc. in both New York and Los Angeles. Over the course of his 35-year plus real estate and investment banking career, Mr. Shields has structured and closed over 300 transactions totaling in excess of $30 billion of real estate acquisitions, financings and dispositions.

Education

• Juris Doctorate, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley Law School (f/k/a Boalt Hall School of Law)
• MBA, Haas Graduate School of Business, University of California at Berkeley, graduated Summa Cum Laude with Beta Gamma Sigma distinction
• BS, Haas Undergraduate School of Business, University of California, graduated Phi Beta Kappa distinction

Professional Licenses

• FINRA Securities Licenses: Series 7, 63, 24 and 27
• Member, California Bar Association (inactive)

Industry Activities

• Chairman Emeritus, Institute for Portfolio Alternatives (IPA)
• Executive Member, Public Non-Listed REIT Council, NAREIT
• Associate Council, Real Estate Roundtable
• Policy Advisory Board Member, Fisher Center for Real Estate
• Former Council Member, Urban Land Institute
• Guest Lecturer, Haas Graduate School of Business, University of California at Berkeley

Mr. Kaplan is President of Griffin Capital Company, LLC.

CAREER SUMMARY

Mr. Kaplan has over 30 years of hands-on experience in commercial real estate, encompassing over 100 transactions totaling over $8 billion throughout North America. Mr. Kaplan’s career has focused on property acquisition, ownership, asset management and debt and equity financing. Prior to joining Griffin in February 2013, Mr. Kaplan served 11 years at IRG, LLC, a privately-held opportunistic buyer of commercial real estate. He was one of three partners responsible for acquisition, ownership and management of over 90 million square feet of primarily office and industrial real estate in 23 states. While Mr. Kaplan was ultimately responsible for identifying, underwriting and closing acquisitions, he was also responsible for leading all due diligence on acquisitions, procuring debt and equity financing and maintaining investor relationships. Prior to IRG, Mr. Kaplan was employed for approximately 14 years in various acquisitions, asset management and debt and equity capital raising roles with Morgan Stanley, JMB Realty Corporation, Chemical Bank and J.P. Morgan.

EDUCATION

• MBA, University of California at Los Angeles, Anderson Graduate School of Management, with honors
• BS, Clemson University, Financial Management, with honors

INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES

Member, Urban Land Institute; Active in many civic organizations

PERSONAL

Married, father of three children; resident of Los Angeles, CA

Mary Higgins is the General Counsel – Real Estate of Griffin Capital Company, LLC  and is based in the firm’s Chicago office. Ms. Higgins formerly served as General Counsel to GCEAR from 2009 to 2020.

CAREER SUMMARY

Prior to joining Griffin Capital, Ms. Higgins was a partner at the law firm of Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon LLP in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Higgins has been Griffin Capital’s primary real estate transaction counsel for more than 16 years and she worked together with Griffin Capital’s principals on nearly all of the firm’s acquisition, due diligence, leasing, financing and disposition activities during that time period.

Ms. Higgins has over 30 years of experience representing both public and private real estate owners, tenants and investors in commercial real estate matters, including development, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions, and securitized and non-securitized financings. Representative transactions include sales and dispositions of regional malls, including some of the premiere regional malls in the nation; sale of a golf course in an UPREIT structure; a $38 million credit tenant loan transaction; acquisition of various Florida office properties for a $150 million office property equity fund; representation of the ground lessor in a subordinated tenant development ground lease and a $350 million property roll up. Ms. Higgins has extensive experience in commercial leasing issues, including office, retail and industrial properties (including multi-state industrial sale/leasebacks) and originally authored the chapter entitled “Due Diligence on Commercial Leases” in the Real Estate Transactions volume published by the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education. She assisted the Chicago Economic Community Development Law Project by training volunteer attorneys to provide legal services to participants in the CHA “Choose To Own” program. She is a mentor in the Harold Eisenberg Foundation mentoring program and was certified as a mediator through the Center for Conflict Resolution, Chicago, Illinois.

EDUCATION

• JD, DePaul University College of Law
• BS, Legal Administration, Mallinckrodt College (now part of Loyola University)

Mr. Snell serves as the Chief Financial Officer for Griffin Capital Company, LLC and oversees all accounting, tax, reporting, treasury, and related functions.

CAREER SUMMARY

Prior to joining Griffin Capital, Mr. Snell served as Senior Vice President of Finance for Turner Impact Capital, one of the country’s largest real estate social impact investment firms focused on the development of education and healthcare facilities and the enrichment of affordable workforce housing in underserved communities nationwide. During his tenure at Turner Impact Capital, he was responsible for leading all accounting, tax and valuation matters, financial and investor reporting, and internal controls and treasury functions across all private equity funds and the investment adviser. Prior to Turner Impact Capital, Mr. Snell was the Controller of Mesa West Capital, a leading U.S. commercial real estate lending platform, where he managed the accounting and reporting functions across all real estate credit funds and the investment adviser, including the integration of various processes and systems resulting from the acquisition of Mesa West Capital by Morgan Stanley. Prior to Morgan Stanley/Mesa West Capital, Mr. Snell started his career at KPMG, managing multiple financial audits of various public and private real estate funds and financial services clients.

Mr. Snell is a Certified Public Accountant in California with over 12 years of real estate and financial services experience and earned a B.S. in Accounting from Santa Clara University.

Mr. Messori is a Managing Director of Real Estate Development for Griffin Capital Company, LLC. He focuses on the company’s development activities and plays an integral role in the direction and oversight of all development projects.

Prior to joining Griffin Capital in 2015, Mr. Messori was a Senior Vice President with Mar Ventures, Inc. where he developed over 2 million square feet of office, industrial and retail space along with obtaining entitlements for over 150 acres of land for over 2 million square feet of commercial space and more than 300 residential units. Prior to Mar Ventures, Mr. Messori was a Senior Manager – Real Estate with Hughes Electronics where he managed a portfolio in excess of 55 million square feet of leased and owned space with an asset value of over $10 billion.

Mr. Messori has over 35 years of real estate development experience across office, industrial, retail, residential and hospitality. He holds an MBA from University of Southern California and a Certificate in Executive Management from Claremont Graduate University.

Mr. Rosenthal serves as Managing Director – Wealth Solutions at Griffin Capital Company, LLC. He is responsible for overseeing the capital formation for Griffin Capital Company investment strategies across the firm’s multifamily investment platform. In this capacity, Mr. Rosenthal is responsible for managing external partner relationships across the family office, multifamily office, Registered Investment Advisor, Wirehouse and Broker-Dealer Channels. With extensive experience and expertise in the real estate industry, particularly multifamily, Mr. Rosenthal has authored whitepapers on real estate investing and associated financial planning strategies. He is highly regarded for his thought leadership and is often featured in industry publications and events, offering insight into the current investment dynamics in the property markets. Mr. Rosenthal has been involved in the underwriting and acquisition of a number of multifamily and industrial real estate investments and has been directly responsible for raising over $2 billion of investor capital across various real estate strategies and investment structures.

Mr. Rosenthal is a registered Series 7 and 63 licensed representative. He is a Graduate of George Washington University and a resident of Newport Beach, California, where he resides with his wife and two sons.

Mr. Marohnic is a Director of Acquisitions at Griffin Capital Company, LLC, focusing largely on sourcing and closing on acquisition and development opportunities, assisting in raising equity capital, interfacing with institutional partners and pursuing new investment ventures.

Mr. Marohnic originally joined Griffin Capital in 2015 as an associate and was responsible for assisting in the underwriting of acquisition opportunities for Griffin Capital-sponsored investment vehicles. He rejoined Griffin Capital in May 2018 after serving as an Associate Vice President for Mirae Asset Global Investments.

During his 11-year career in real estate, Mr. Marohnic has been involved in the acquisition, financing, development, management and disposition of over $2.4 billion of commercial real estate transactions throughout the United States. He holds an MBA from the University of California at Los Angeles – Anderson Graduate School of Management, and an M.S. and B.S. from Arizona State University.

Mr. Street is a Senior Vice President – Operations and Due Diligence for Griffin Capital Company, LLC and is primarily responsible for overseeing the due diligence relations, fund development and marketing functions of Griffin Capital Private Equity, LLC.

Prior to joining Griffin Capital in 2018, Mr. Street served in several capacities for KBS Capital Markets Group, the last of which was Director of Product and Due Diligence.

Mr. Street has over a decade of real estate and financial services experience. He is a CFA® charterholder and holds a B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara

Louis is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, negotiating and closing multifamily acquisition opportunities for the eastern half of the United States.  He brings more than 22 years of multifamily investment management experience and has been responsible for acquiring more than 23,800 apartment units nationally with an aggregate value of more than $6.1B.  Additionally, he plays an integral role in devising and executing Griffin Capital’s multifamily investment strategies.

Prior to joining Griffin Capital, Louis held executive-level positions with some of the nation’s largest multifamily investment managers, including Capmark Investments, The Hunt Companies, JRK Property Holdings, Resource REIT, and Lend Lease.

Louis holds a M.S. in Real Estate Finance and Development from New York University, an MBA in Finance from LaSalle University, and a BA in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

Lynn Berger serves as Director of Strategic Partnerships for Griffin Capital Company. Ms. Berger is tasked with managing Griffin Capital’s long-standing intermediary partnerships across the Wealth Management Channel to include Griffin’s relationships with Family Offices, Multi-Family Offices, Registered Investment Advisors, Wire-Houses and Broker-Dealers. Ms. Berger brings 23 years of experience in the financial services and alternative investment industry. Ms. Berger earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from West Chester University of Pennsylvania, currently holds FINRA Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses, and holds the CAIA Fundamentals in Alternatives designation and the CRPC designation.

Brandi Gordon serves as Senior Vice President, Head of Human Resources (HR) for Griffin Capital Company and is responsible for strategic direction and operational execution of the HR function, including talent management, organizational effectiveness, and leadership development.

CAREER SUMMARY

Ms. Gordon has worked as an external HR Consultant to Griffin Capital since 2011 and now joins the firm to lead and support people initiatives that will further the firm’s vision and employee experience. She has over 25 years of experience leading the human resources function in the financial and professional services sectors. Ms. Gordon joins Griffin Capital from ABD Insurance and Financial Services, where she managed strategic initiatives and fulfilled outsourced HR leadership roles as a senior HR Consultant. Prior to her consulting tenure, Ms. Gordon held senior HR management positions with Wachovia Financial (Wells Fargo), leading the development and delivery of HR for wholesale banking divisions. She has also served as an instructor for the Society of Human Resources Management.

EDUCATION

• Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Communications and Human Resources Management, San Francisco State University
• SHRM-SCP and SPHR certifications

Mr. Moratorio serves as the Chief Information Officer for Griffin Capital Company, LLC where he is responsible for overseeing all technology and application platforms, as well as leading digital transformation initiatives to streamline business operations.

Prior to joining Griffin Capital in 2016, Mr. Moratorio served as the Senior Vice President, IT for American Residential Properties [NYSE:ARPI], which was subsequently acquired by American Homes for Rent [NYSE:AHR].

Mr. Moratorio has over 25 years of real estate and financial services experience and holds a B.A. from the University of California at Irvine.

Debi Sambuchi serves as head of Marketing for Griffin Capital Company and is responsible for managing and executing strategies to expand the Company’s brand awareness among its key constituents including investors, financial advisors and their broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. Mrs. Sambuchi also oversees the digital marketing initiatives across various media platforms.

Mrs. Sambuchi joined Griffin Capital in 2005 as a Transaction Coordinator and assisted in marketing the firm’s 1031 Exchange and Delaware Statutory Trust transactions. During her tenure, Mrs. Sambuchi has evolved through several marketing positions and has become an integral part of the firm’s ability to adapt and succeed in various sectors.

With over 16 years of industry experience, Mrs. Sambuchi has been intimately involved in the development of the Company’s direct real estate divisions and is an active member in several of the firm’s committees. She holds a B.A. from the University of Connecticut.

Mrs. Madden serves as head of Investor Relations for Griffin Capital Private Equity, LLC and manages the daily subscription and closing process, partners with the division’s fund administrator on the implementation of effective processes, client services and compliant record keeping, and oversees post-closing communications to ensure timely and accurate reporting and distributions for investors and financial advisors.

Mrs. Madden joined Griffin Capital Company, LLC in 2005 as a Transaction Coordinator and was responsible for processing and closing the firm’s 1031 Exchange transactions. During her tenure, Mrs. Madden has held a range of positions and has been an integral part of the firm’s growth and successes.

With over 16 years of industry experience and a diverse knowledge background, Mrs. Madden has been acutely involved in the development of the Griffin Capital Private Equity, LLC division and actively participates in several of the firm’s committees. She holds a B.A. from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Ms. Tello is a Vice President – Asset Management for Griffin Capital Company, LLC and is responsible for asset management oversight of the multifamily portfolio. She also aids in the acquisition and disposition of investments, investor reporting, and development with institutional joint venture partners.

Prior to joining Griffin Capital in 2020, she was Assistant Vice President – Asset Management for American Realty Advisors. Prior to that, she was an Asset Manager for Passco Companies, LLC.

Ms. Tello has over a decade of hands-on multifamily asset management experience. She holds a B.S. from the University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business.

Mr. Rupert is Vice Chairman of Griffin Capital Company, LLC.

CAREER SUMMARY

With over 35 years of commercial real estate and finance experience, Mr. Rupert’s career includes over $12 billion of transaction volume on four continents. Mr. Rupert served as the President of Griffin Capital from 2010 until June 2022 and served as Chief Operating Officer of Griffin Capital from 2000-2008. Mr. Rupert’s career began in the early 1980s when he worked for Chemical Bank (now JP Morgan) in the credit analysis, loan workout and commercial lending areas, and continued at investment banking firm Salomon Brothers (now Citi), where for a decade he was a senior member of the real estate finance department, working in various capacities providing advice and raising debt and equity capital for leading public and private real estate institutions and entrepreneurs; his final responsibilities included heading the firm’s REIT underwriting effort.

For over 23 years, Mr. Rupert served on the Real Estate Advisory Committee of the Cornell University endowment fund; from 2011 until mid-June 2019 when Mr. Rupert rotated off the Committee, he served as Co-Chairman of that group.

Mr. Rupert is a founding board member of the master’s program in real estate at Cornell and has served as a guest lecturer in graduate-level courses and as a student mentor for over 25 years. He currently serves as president and member of the Board of the 2,300-member Cornell Real Estate Council. Mr. Rupert is also president of the Harvard Business School Real Estate Alumni Group.

In October 2020 Mr. Rupert was appointed to the Corporate Financing Committee of FINRA, the securities industry regulatory organization; in that role, Mr. Rupert will represent the interests of the REIT and direct private placement industries in regulatory matters.

EDUCATION

• MBA, Harvard Business School
• BA, Cornell University

Mr. Pescara is a Vice Chairman of Griffin Capital Company, LLC.

CAREER SUMMARY

Mr. Pescara’s 32-year real estate career includes more than $500 million of transactions. His career began in 1985 at Cushman & Wakefield where he became a successful broker of office and industrial properties and was promoted to the Financial Services Group where he focused on institutional property sales and acquisitions. In 1990, Mr. Pescara joined Republic Realty Mortgage (now GMAC) as a Vice President of Production where he established an institutional sales force and developed relationships with various lending institutions including Mass Mutual, New York Life, and Met Life. Mr. Pescara joined CB Commercial as a Regional Director in their Mortgage Banking Group in 1993 where his responsibilities included placement of debt on behalf of their exclusive conduit relationship with Merrill Lynch, representation of CB Commercial’s Real Estate Mortgage Fund, and broker training for the Midwest region.

Mr. Pescara’s relationships with CB’s top broker colleagues and trainee graduates continue today and lead to extensive acquisition opportunities. Mr. Pescara joined Cohen Financial, a leading financial services firm headquartered in Chicago, in 1996 as a Senior Director. Mr. Pescara joined Griffin Capital in 1997 when Griffin acquired an asset he was selling. Mr. Pescara’s clients have included some of the largest and most active institutional investors and lenders including ABB, Computer Associates, Prudential, Household International, Oaktree Capital, and ITW. While at Griffin, Mr. Pescara’s responsibilities have focused on sourcing acquisitions directly from corporations, institutions, and the brokerage community.

EDUCATION

• BA, Economics and Finance, University of Illinois