Mr. Jacobson has over 17 years of commercial real estate investment experience investing in direct equity, JV equity and structured debt investments across all product types domestically.

Prior to joining AEW, Mr. Jacobson acted as a principal investor at CrossHarbor Capital, an institutional commercial real estate fund manager. At CrossHarbor, Mr. Jacobson invested on behalf of the firm’s fully discretionary institutional fund in opportunistic equity and high-margin debt opportunities across all asset classes, primarily in the United States and Bermuda.

Prior to CrossHarbor Capital, Mr. Jacobson worked at Merrill Lynch where he originated primarily mezzanine debt and preferred equity in commercial real estate assets across the United States. Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of Cornell University (B.A.) and the MIT Sloan School of Management with a major in Real Estate (M.B.A.).

Additionally, Mr. Rugg is a member of the investment committee overseeing balance sheet lending activities in commercial real estate. Before joining Deutsche, he was an integral part of the CMBS large loan team at Wells Fargo Bank. 

Prior to that, Mr. Rugg had similar roles at Wachovia Securities where he focused on large loan activity, mezzanine and b-notes, whole loans, and CMBS floating rate structure and syndication. Since joining Deutsche Bank, the bank has demonstrated leadership in issuance, innovation and product mix within the CMBS and single borrower space, including an active book of mezzanine loans and b-notes for syndication. Deutsche Bank is a global leader in U.S. CMBS issuance reflecting a number of landmark transactions by Deutsche Bank’s CMBS team in the conduit space, single borrower space, and the single asset space. Mr. Rugg received a B.A. degree in Economics from Vanderbilt University.

He is also a member of the firm's Investment and Management Committees. Prior to joining the firm in 1996, Mr. Lyons was Vice President of Equity Institutional Investors, Inc. where he was responsible for merchant banking activities. Previously, he worked in the New York Real Estate Capital Markets groups for Bankers Trust Company and Merrill Lynch & Co.

Mr. Lyons earned a BA from Amherst College and a MBA from Harvard University. He is a member and Trustee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA).

In addition Mr. Lyons is currently or has been a Trustee and member of several non-profit boards, including the Loomis Chaffee School, Lycee Francais de Chicago and St. James Cathedral.

He is responsible for overseeing portfolio construction and asset allocation for CIM Real Estate Finance Trust, Inc. (CMFT) including handling first mortgage and mezzanine loans on real estate assets, single-tenant credit lease assets, broadly syndicated corporate loans and CMBS securities.

Prior to joining CIM, Mr. Ottensoser was a Partner and Managing Director at H/2 Capital Partners. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from The City University of New York, Queens College and a Juris Doctor degree from the Columbia University School of Law.