Personnel News From Berkadia, Eastern Union
Berkadia Expands Proprietary Lending Platform
Berkadia, New York, expanded its proprietary lending platform by launching the BRC Multifamily Bridge Loan Fund LP, an open-ended fund managed by Berkadia Capital Advisors LLC. The firm hired Chuck Lee as Senior Managing Director of Capital Markets.
Lee is an industry veteran with more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience, most recently as Head of U.S. CRE Securitization and Warehouse Finance at Credit Suisse. Hired in 2014, Lee was one of the key players in establishing Credit Suisse’s new CRE Capital Markets platform in addition to recently serving as the President and Chairman of the CRE debt industry’s primary trade group, the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council. He spent most of his career at JPMorgan in a variety of senior securitization, structuring, advisory and lending capacities, as well as some time at Deutsche Bank between 2007 and 2010, where among other responsibilities, he served as an advisor to the FDIC and assisted in the launch of the Freddie Mac K-series CME program.
Victoria Smith Joins Eastern Union as Senior Data Specialist
Eastern Union, New York, named Victoria Smith Senior Data Specialist in the company’s newly launched Commission Data Broker Division.
Smith joined the firm earlier this year as a summer intern. She will play a central role in managing and training Eastern Union’s commission data brokers. Specialists in research and analysis, commission data brokers function as research-oriented lead generators. They access and examine ownership records of commercial properties in selected locations. They then identify specific owners who might represent qualified leads. These leads, in turn, are contacted by loan originators. If a commission data brokers pinpoints an owner who ultimately closes a mortgage with Eastern Union, they share in the commission generated by the transaction.
Eastern Union president and co-founder Ira Zlotowitz said there have traditionally been two primary career entryways into commercial real estate, brokers and underwriters. “The CDB position now adds a third route,” he said. “CDBs can be employed full-time or part-time. Work can be performed remotely and at any time of the day. Work hours can be tailored to the individual’s needs and fit around one’s own schedule. Commission data brokers may also choose to take on broker-related responsibilities.”
The position is for detail-oriented and analytically minded people, Zlotowitz noted. Eastern Union provides the necessary training and support. Smith will be based in Jacksonville, Fla.
