In a significant step to restructure its senior management, the CRE Finance Council’s board of governors selected Lisa A. Pendergast to serve as the trade association’s new executive director.

Pendergast, a managing director at Jeffries where she was head of CMBS Strategy & Risk in the firm’s Fixed Income Division’s MBS/ABS/CMBS Group, previously served a term as president of the CREFC in 2010-2011 and has since served on the association’s board for over nine years.

Pendergast will join Michael P. Flood, an experienced lobbyist who was named deputy executive director earlier this year, to head up the association’s new management team.

They replace the group’s former chief executive and president, Stephen Renna, and former executive vice president Stacy Stathopoulos, who abruptly left the CREFC in late March.

Pendergast brings 25 years of industry experience in structured finance markets to her new position advocating for the $3.5 trillion commercial real estate finance industry. Prior to Jefferies, she was a managing director in the Fixed-Income Strategies Group at RBS.

“Lisa Pendergast is highly qualified and universally respected in our industry, making her the ideal choice to lead the commercial real estate finance industry’s principal association as the market continues to evolve, mature and grow,” said Greg Michaud, managing director and head of real estate finance for Voya Investment Management and chairman of CREFC’s board of governors, in a statement announcing the new hire.

“Enthusiasm for Lisa is strong. She is one of us and will well-represent the interests of the industry at the national policy level and relative to industry support and market making for commercial real estate debt products going forward,” Michaud continued.

The decision to tap an industry pro with demonstrated real
estate investment experience, as opposed to someone with more experience managing a trade association, was viewed as the board’s preference for a highly qualified candidate capable of testifying before legislators and staff on industry issues and working with regulators on real estate financial matters.

Over the past several years, the CREFC has sought to expand its membership beyond its original focus on CMBS to include the gamut of commercial real estate debt market, including portfolio lenders and investment funds. However, given the sometimes competing differences between its buyside and sell-side members, the role of the CREFC with its broader CRE finance mandate can sometimes be a delicate balancing act.

Member firms include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers and rating agencies, among others. The organization seeks to promote capital formation and protect the commercial real estate finance market from what its members view as unnecessary regulations and barriers to liquidity for real estate investment.