Cohen To Run Investments and Strategic Initiatives at Cortland
Cohen, a Cortland board member for the last four years and a Cortland advisor for the past six months, will report directly to Cortland CEO Steven DeFrancis.
ATLANTA, GA—Bruce Cohen was named senior managing partner of Investments and Strategic Initiatives at Cortland, an Atlanta-based multifamily real estate company. Cohen, a Cortland board member for the last four years and a Cortland advisor for the past six months, will report directly to Cortland CEO Steven DeFrancis.
“Bruce has provided valuable insights and contributions as a Board member and an advisor,” DeFrancis says. “We’re glad to add his expertise in operating platforms and enterprise capital structures to our team. With his long and successful history in real estate investment – and his belief in Cortland’s vision – we’re now even better positioned to accelerate our growth.”
Having grown to more than $8 billion in assets under management, Cortland plans to double in size over the next five years. Cohen will lead an array of growth initiatives, including increasing the company’s discretionary capital under management and both geographic and product expansion.
Cohen brings unique qualifications and deep expertise to Cortland’s leading investment team. Before joining Cortland, Cohen was CEO of Wrightwood Financial, a successor to Wrightwood Capital, where he oversaw more than $5 billion of investment activity before the sale of its operating platform to Ares Management.
While at Ares, Cohen was a senior partner responsible for its real estate debt platform and served as president and chief operating officer of Ares Commercial Real Estate, its externally managed, publicly traded REIT. Wrightwood Financial has been focused exclusively on investing in real estate operating companies, during which time it met or spoke with more than 300 companies.
“Over the last two years, our team developed a deep insight into how real estate operating companies create value and how they differentiate themselves,” says Cohen. “That was nowhere more evident than with Cortland, with 1,800 associates all working to deliver an enhanced environment and experience for residents. This highly unusual approach has generated outsized returns and will continue to outperform as the market becomes increasingly competitive and challenging.”