Johnson Capital Names Cliff Carnes as COO

IRVINE, CA-Johnson Capital has named former senior vice president Cliff Carnes as the company’s new chief operating officer. Carnes, who has been with the investment banking firm since March, succeeds former COO Tom Copeman.

Carnes will oversee human resources, accounting and finance, marketing, public relations, information technology, vendor management and administration in 20 domestic and foreign offices. Copeman, who will remain with the company and will serve as a senior adviser on the firm’s advisory board, is stepping aside from the COO role to devote more time to his role as managing partner of an international private equity firm that he launched in the beginning of 2007. Guy Johnson, president of Johnson Capital, and Peter McMillan III, former chief investment officer of AIG/SunAmerica, are affiliated with Copeman’s new venture.

Guy Johnson notes that Carnes steps into his new post after playing a crucial role in managing the firm’s growth over the past year. Before joining Johnson Capital, Carnes served as a US Navy Reserve officer during a tour in Iraq and then worked as the director of public affairs for the First Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. He also served as vice president of finance and operations at an educational consulting firm for a numberof years.

Johnson Capital is one of the largest real estate investment banking and commercialmortgage brokerage firms in the nation, with 19 domestic offices and one international location. Since its inception in 1987, its aggregate transaction volume has grown to more than $25 billion.