Cushman adds to Northern California team; CIM boosts insurance services; Trilogy expands New York investment group

Cushman & Wakefield added Joe Fischer as a director in Northern California, where he will focus on Napa Valley and Solano County, the brokerage said. During Fischer’s two-decade career, he has completed nearly $400 million in transactions across multiple categories, including retail, restaurant, industrial, office, multifamily, land and hospitality properties. A University of Washington graduate and Napa Valley resident for nearly 25 years, his transactions in the region included a deal bringing a new Cinemark movie theater to Napa, California, in 2012. “As an industry veteran, Joe boosts our experience and coverage across the North Bay area, and particularly the Napa Valley,” Cori English, regional managing principal for Cushman & Wakefield, said in a statement.

Real estate developer and financial services provider CIM Group expanded its offerings geared to insurance company investment clients with the formation of a team headed by Bernard “Bernie” Ryan. He joined CIM as managing director and head of insurance. The company is seeking to broaden alternatives for institutional investors in areas appropriate for insurers, such as infrastructure debt and credit offerings, CIM Principal Emily Vande Krol said in a statement. Ryan has 23 years of investment management experience, including 17 years leading insurance-focused services at DWS Investments. Before that, he worked with Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. He will be building CIM’s insurance team from his base in Boston, the firm said.

David Beare joined Trilogy Investment’s credit group as managing director for structured credit and investments as the firm expands its New York operations. The company said Beare will focus on sourcing deals and raising capital for clients in real estate categories such as private homebuilder financing.

Beare’s investment and development career spans more than 18 years, including co-founding Ark Residential, a build-to-rent investment platform. Trilogy also named Sal Ariganello as director of asset management and investments, spearheading underwriting geared to areas such as land acquisition and development. Ariganello previously directed investments at Ark Residential after earlier work in multifamily operations at Greystar and Wells Fargo.

Atlanta-based development and investment firm Vista Residential Partners named Scott Henley as its new CEO. Henley has experience in the acquisition, development, disposition and management of multifamily real estate across the U.S. During his nearly 30-year career, he has overseen transactions involving over 28,000 apartment units with an aggregate value of $4.5 billion. He previously worked at development firms such as Simpson Housing and JLB Partners. Vista founder and Chairman Ed de Guardiola said Henley will oversee the company’s active development pipeline involving 5,000 units across nine regions with a $1.5 billion valuation.

Thomas Stewart Jr. joined Bradley Arant Boult Cummings as a partner in the law firm’s real estate practice group in Dallas, as the firm looks to expand its real estate client services in Texas. Prior to joining the firm, he was a founding partner at a boutique law firm in Dallas that focused on commercial real estate transactions, finance and corporate law matters. Stewart has architectural engineering and law degrees from the University of Texas and is a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation and Dallas Bar Foundation.