![]() But it was a fantastic three-year run and I have so many good stories from it - it was just awesome. Today Acore is a top four firm, but at the time it was four guys with Gmail accounts. 8 at Acore and helped build out the New York office with Tony Fineman.Īt the time, it took some courage to go from a huge institution to Acore. My wife did not want to move to Abu Dhabi, so it was an easy decision, and I was employee No. Minute interview - but I had too much pride for that I could go to Abu Dhabi with ADIA or I could go to Acore. I could interview for my job at GE - it was almost like that movie “Office Space,” the guys from Wells came in and everybody got a 10. But then he and I had dinner at the Viceroy Hotel, and four tequilas later we figured out we actually liked each other. I also had a conversation with the Acore guys, but I didn’t know if it was going to work out, and I think Warren de Haan felt the same way. I interviewed with Tom Arnold and was thinking of going to work at ADIA and move to Abu Dhabi. It happened around the time that GE sold their real estate business to Wells Fargo and Blackstone. I still see Joe now, and tell him, “I hated you for three months straight.” I was so pissed at the time, but I wouldn’t have gotten the Acore job if I hadn’t done that, and I wouldn’t have gotten this job if I hadn’t done the Acore job. Without Joe, I would have probably had a good career, but I wouldn’t have the depth and breadth that I have right now. I learned so much more and realized that while I knew the analytics, I had no idea how to be a true investor. They were smaller deals, but that’s when everything finally clicked for me. When you’re doing joint venture equity investing, you’re buying an apartment building in Atlanta, or you’re financing an industrial building in Houston. Go and learn real estate.” I was like, “But I’ve been doing this for, like, eight years, Joe - I know real estate.” At that point, I was ready to leave, because I thought he was trying to crater my career, but I did as he said. I think you should go be a joint venture equity investor instead. ![]() I told him I wanted to be his staff executive and he said, “No. GE was being very acquisitive, and, working for Joe, I’d been working on things like taking REITs private and selling platforms - really cool cocktail party stuff. Īt GE I was working for Joe Parsons, who ran equity. Phil then moved to Asia, and I was done following him after that. Soon after I started, Phil left Merrill to go run M&A at GE Capital Real Estate, and so I went back to GE with him. When I first came out of business school I thought I wanted to be an M&A banker in real estate, so I went to work for Philip Mintz who ran M&A at Merrill. The constant theme in my life is I’ve always worked for great leaders, but I’d say it wasn’t really until the GFC when things finally slowed down that I had time to stop and realize how much I’d learned. When did you connect the dots and realize that real estate was the career for you? But sometimes opportunity happens, and in the end it all comes together. I didn’t know I wanted to work in real estate, and, candidly, I spent the first 15 years of my career doing equity, not doing lending or credit. Somebody once told me, and this is so true, careers only look elegant in retrospect. So, while I didn’t necessarily choose real estate, I joined that team. My best friend got the credit card one, and I got the real estate one. After doing my first few rotations, I said to myself: “Oh, my god, I do not want to be a CFO or an accountant.” In my last rotation, there were two non-įinance roles: one was an analyst in the large transaction group in the real estate business, and the other was an M&A role in the credit card business. ![]() When I graduated college, I went to work for GE, and was in the financial management program where they want you to become a CFO or an accountant. Jason Hernandez: I was born and raised in Chicago, and I didn’t choose real estate, per se. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.Ĭommercial Observer: Where did you grow up, and how did you get into real estate? Hernandez chatted with Commercial Observer in late April, a little more than a month after the banking crisis unfolded, to describe his path to Nuveen and the key market opportunities he sees today. SEE ALSO: Regional Banking Crisis Dooms More Bank Branches
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