We're excited to announce that we've expanded our leadership team with the appointment of three senior executives to help drive the growth of our Marketplace. New executives include Genni Combes as the Chief Financial Officer, Kristen Howell as General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, and Sheldon Chang as the Vice President of Investment & Wealth Solutions. These strategic hires bring decades of experience from real estate, investment/wealth management, private equity in alternative assets, and public equity markets.
“These executives are exceptional additions to our talented leadership team. They bring invaluable experience in a wide variety of real estate investing and financial markets to CrowdStreet. They will be instrumental in helping take to the next level the largest and most diverse marketplace that serves as a main funding platform for sponsors and investment platform for new and established investors,” said our CEO Tore Steen. "We have seen tremendous growth over the past few years, even during the pandemic, as investor demand for our commercial real estate investing opportunities has increased exponentially. Our expanded team makes CrowdStreet even more strongly positioned to scale while meeting the needs of both commercial real estate professionals and investors."
Genni Combes joins CrowdStreet as our new Chief Financial Officer. Over the past 15+ years, Genni has served as a finance and operations executive at both public and private companies with a focus on leading tech firms through growth stages from startup to IPO. She started her career on Wall Street, having served as an equity analyst covering the e-commerce, FinTech, and broader tech sectors on both the buy and sell side. During that time, she acted as underwriting analyst in over 20 equity transactions for companies such as Intuit, E*Trade, E-Loan, Amazon.com, and Pixar. She most recently served as the CFO at ApplePie Capital Prior to that, Genni held senior executive roles at Sungevity and ZipRealty, in addition to serving as a Managing Director at JP Morgan H&Q. Combes holds a BA in Economics with highest honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
“I look forward to being part of CrowdStreet’s growth agenda at this critical time for the company. CrowdStreet is a recognized leader in the industry and is successfully democratizing real estate investing at a time when investors are becoming more self-directed and looking to diversify their investments. Unlike any other platform in the market, CrowdStreet provides the ultimate destination for self-directed investors looking for commercial real estate opportunities,” said Genni.
Sheldon Chang joins CrowdStreet as the Vice President of Investment & Wealth Solutions. He will lead CrowdStreet’s investment management and advisory services, including Funds, Private Managed Accounts & Wealth Management Solutions. Sheldon is a seasoned financial services executive with 30+ years of experience in leading alternative investment product and distribution businesses and investment banking transactions. Sheldon has led over $50 billion in institutional and retail fundraisings and product development, including debt and equity financings for companies and investment funds for high net worth investors. He was the Head of Product & Distribution Strategy at Artivest, an alternative investments FinTech platform, and a Partner at Pantheon Ventures, a private equity and real assets investment manager, where he established its Private Wealth unit. Sheldon also built and led the private equity and real assets products business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and was an investment banker at Merrill Lynch, UBS and Goldman Sachs, serving corporate and government clients in North America, Asia and Latin America. Sheldon earned his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and his BS in Economics from Cornell University.
“CrowdStreet has been transforming real estate investing by giving investors and their financial advisors direct access to private commercial real estate opportunities. I’m excited to join CrowdStreet to help grow its investment management and advisory services, especially as clients are increasingly turning to CrowdStreet for advice and better ways to build their real estate portfolios,” said Sheldon.
Kristen Howell joins CrowdStreet as our General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer. Kristen brings more than 20 years of legal experience in FinTech, corporate securities, and financial services. Prior to joining CrowdStreet, Kristen was a partner at Am Law 100 law firm Fox Rothschild, LLP, where she led the firm’s national investment funds practice. Kristen previously served as General Counsel for a registered investment adviser with $19B in assets under management and six publicly traded mutual funds. Kristen has been featured on NPR – Marketplace Tech and InsideCounsel, been quoted in Law 360 and other publications, and has spoken widely on FinTech, investments and crowdfunding. Kristen holds a BS in Political Science from Texas Christian University and a JD from The University of Colorado School of Law in Boulder.
Spending her career with capital markets, technology and law, Kristen brings a unique perspective to CrowdStreet. “I am joining CrowdStreet at a time when alternative investing platforms are in the spotlight and CrowdStreet in particular has proven that its marketplace is becoming the de facto standard for sponsors looking to raise capital and for investors who are interested in participating in real estate investing.”
