LOS ANGELES-Real estate investment firm BentleyForbes has appointed Jeff Warwick as its CEO and managing partner, GlobeSt.com reports in this exclusive story. With national experience managing acquisitions and investments, Warwick was the company's prime choice to lead an aggressive expansion of its current portfolio.

“BentleyForbes has built a strong company. It has an incredible team of people who have been together for a long period of time, and a good foundation that has positioned itself well for the turnaround in the economic recovery,” Warwick tells GlobeSt.com. “My strengths and their strengths complement one another, and I am very, very excited about the new platform and about what we are going to be able to accomplish.”

Prior to joining BentleyForbes, Warwick was the managing director of US investments at Portman Holdings and a senior executive at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In his 28 year career, he has principaled, negotiated and closed more than $50 billion in real estate capital investments and generated more than $1 billion in corporate revenue. With this experience, Warwick plans to take advantage of opportunities in primary, secondary and emerging markets to diversify the firm's investments and position the firm as a leader in acquisition and management for commercial office, retail, multifamily, and industrial real estate assets.

“We are going to be thoughtful and careful how we grow this business from an expansion standpoint, but we are also going to be assertive and proactive. That is how we build up the business,” says Warwick. “The business will expand via acquisitions that come through corporate mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, portfolio acquisitions and also single assets purchases and developments.”

The Los Angeles market, where BentleyForbes' headquarters is located, can except to see the company's expansion firsthand by seeking acquisition opportunities in the local market and enhancing the staff to accommodate the anticipated growth. Although the L.A. market will feel the growth directly, Warwick will be leading the national expansion from Atlanta. “My role is going to be internal from a practical  standpoint and a day-to-day management standpoint of pushing the platform where I want it to go,” Warwick explains. From a visionary standpoint, I will be pulling the platform to where I think it should be.”