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California People and Company News, Week of April 25, 2025
- Kidder Mathews has made a series of new hires and promotions in Northern and Southern California. Darren Tappen has been promoted to regional president of brokerage for the company’s Greater Los Angeles, Southern California, and Arizona markets. He will oversee 215 brokers across eight offices and be responsible for recruitment, business development, client relationships, and integration across service lines. Darrell Levonian will serve as managing director in Century City, leading the office’s 30 brokers. Kidder Mathews also appointed David Mastro as SVP and market leader for the firm’s asset services division in Southern California. Mastro brings more than 35 years of experience in commercial real estate asset management and operations to his new role. In addition, Tom Conwell has joined Kidder Mathews as SVP in the firm’s Sacramento office. Conwell brings more than 20 years of experience in Northern California’s commercial real estate market.
- Newmark has also made hires across California. Tenant leasing advisors Sean McCallum and Tyler Paratte have joined the company, continuing its growth in the Bay Area and bolstering its occupier practice. McCallum joins as executive managing director and Paratte as director, bringing a combined 24 years of experience managing multimarket accounts for office and R&D companies. The company has also hired Lex Yoo and Brent Koo as senior managing directors. Based in Los Angeles, they will be part of the company’s newly formed South Korean Advisory Group, with a focus on office and industrial leasing and sales.
- Bridger Fund, a private commercial real estate lender focused on California, appointed Spence Sarazin as VP of investor relations. Sarazin brings more than a decade of experience in real estate finance and investor relations, including leadership roles at Anderson Roberts Financial and First Republic Bank. In his new role at Bridger Fund, Sarazin will oversee investor relations and capital-raising efforts while forging new relationships with accredited investors, family offices, and institutional partners.
- Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP expanded its Construction Law Practice,with the return of Eric Hieber to the firm’s San Francisco office. Building on his background in civil engineering and a previous position at a general contracting firm in the Bay Area, Hieber will focus on clients’ transactional planning, from the commencement of construction projects through completion.
- San Francisco-based general contractor Dome Construction named Tim Cadenasso director and shareholder. Cadenasso has overseen more than $250 million in projects, working with leading institutions such as Kaiser, UCSF and Stanford.
- LTC Properties, Inc., a REIT that invests primarily in seniors housing and healthcare properties, appointed industry veteran David Boitano as EVP and CIO, following the promotion of Clint Malin to co-CEO in December 2024. Boitano has spent most of his seniors housing and healthcare finance career at Ventas, with direct underwriting responsibility for more than $5.0 billion in transactions.
- Gallelli Real Estate, an independent full-service commercial real estate company based in Roseville, added two of the Sacramento region’s top-producing brokers. Industry veterans Rick Phillips and Ed Benoit have joined the firm. Both joined from TRI Commercial.
- UC Ventures, a boutique real estate investment management firm headquartered in San Francisco, has added Julie Chang as managing director of investments. Chang joins UC Ventures from ACORE Capital, where she spent nine years on the San Francisco-based loan originations team.
- Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP, a leading full-service law firm specializing in real estate, has been named the #1 firm in the Los Angeles Times Studio’s list of Top 25 Law Firms in Real Estate for the second consecutive year. In addition, Cox Castle ranked #37 on the Top 100 Los Angeles Law Firms list by attorney headcount.
- Clearwater Living, a real estate and property management company in the senior living sector, said eight of its California and Arizona senior living communities have received “Best of” and “High Performing” recognitions from U.S. News & World Report as part of its annual Best Senior Living ratings. U.S. News awards the designation of “Best Senior Living” only to those communities that satisfy U.S. News’ rigorous, data-driven standard, reflecting the viewpoints from more than 450,000 consumer surveys.
- Griffin Capital Company, a multifamily-focused real estate investment firm with $4B AUM, has hired Riley Wilson as SVP, Acquisitions in El Segundo, CA. He will lead the multifamily acquisition activity for the western half of U.S. which includes the acquisition of existing assets and working with development partners to underwrite and acquire development sites. Riley was previously Head of Acquisitions for Kushner Companies in New York. Executive search firm RETS Associates handled the search.
- ◦People
