Clairmont Fund Management Team
Clairmont has assembled a team of motivated real estate professionals with a combined 35+ years. Clairmont principals have exited 7 investments to date from their vintage Funds, generating a realized IRR of 37.34%** with equity multiple of 1.82x, on average hold period of 2.0 years.
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Christian S. Wenger
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Principal
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Christopher B. Schwanitz
Chief Operating Officer & Principal
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Jason A. Wilson
Chief Underwriting Officer & Managing Director
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Michael S. Rosenblum
Advisory Board/Counsel
Chief Executive Officer & Managing Principal
Mr. Wenger is CEO and Managing Principal of Clairmont Capital Group and is Chairman of the Investment Committee. Mr. Wenger has over 12 years of experience executing investments in real estate (most notably spending the past 5.5 years focused solely on sourcing, structuring and executing GP co-investment opportunities for his current and prior Funds) and publicly traded securities and has sourced and negotiated more than $1.85 billion in structured capital for owners and operators throughout the United States and abroad. Mr. Wenger is also a principal of a Los Angeles-based real estate company focusing on entitlement and development of Small Lot Subdivisions and multifamily communities in Southern California. In that capacity, he has overseen over $115 Million worth of successful acquisition and development initiatives.
Prior to Founding Clairmont Capital Group, Mr. Wenger Co-Founded and served as President and Investment Committee member of Township Capital and pornolio managed thirty-seven (37) GP equity co-investments across four (4) investment vehicles with approximately $2.5 Billion of notional real estate exposure and fourteen (14) unique operator partnerships. Prior to that, Mr. Wenger held senior positions within the Private Wealth Management divisions of JPMorgan, Merrill Lynch and Jefferies & Co. Mr. Wenger received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.
He currently resides in Bel Air, California is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and, as an Eagle Scout, maintains active involvement with the Boy Scouts of America organization.
Chief OperaLng Officer & Principal
Mr. Schwanitz is a Principal of Clairmont Capital Group, sits on the investment committee, and is responsible for originating new investment opportunities on behalf of the Fund as well as overseeing and asset managing all development-related investment exposure. Mr. Schwanitz brings more than ten (10) years of real estate finance experience to Clairmont, including originating, evaluating and executing on north of $100 Million of structured capital for personal acquisition and development projects in Los Angeles, CA.
Prior to joining Clairmont Capital, Mr. Schwanitz held Analyst and Associate positions with Genton Barth Real Estate Group and Watt Commercial Real Estate Group, respectively.
Mr. Schwanitz received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles. He currently resides in Silverlake, California and enjoys golfing, hiking, traveling and tennis.
Chief Underwriting Officer & Managing Director
Mr. Wilson is Managing Director of Clairmont Capital Group. Mr. Wilson has over 18 years of experience executing public and private equity and debt transactions, mergers and acquisitions, valuations, deal structuring, business strategy and operations in real estate and investment banking. Mr. Wilson has been involved in both public and private real estate transactions with an aggregate transaction value exceeding $13.8 billion.
Prior to joining Clairmont Capital Group, Mr. Wilson served as Senior Vice President and Head of Capital Markets for a real estate development company based in California where he raised and structured the company’s LP and GP capital for its $200 million hotel joint venture while also sourcing and evaluating its investment opportunities. Prior, Mr. Wilson was co-founder and Senior Managing Director of HOA Capital Advisors, LLC, where he was integral in developing a niche program to purchase and monetize non-performing debt in the homeowner and condo owner association space as well as raising $1.0 billion in joint venture investment capital. Additionally, Mr. Wilson has been involved in several landmark real estate transactions and held various positions within the real estate investment banking groups at Cohen & Steers, Raymond James, FBR Capital Markets, Prudential Securities, The Carlton Group and Skyway Capital Partners.
Mr. Wilson received a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations Research from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and prior to beginning his career in finance, he served the United States Army as a light infantry officer in the 101st Airborne. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida.
Advisory Board/Counsel
Mr. Rosenblum serves on the Advisory Board at Clairmont Capital Group providing valuable legal counsel. Mr. Rosenblum is the principal of the Law Offices of Michael S. Rosenblum, which represents a diverse assortment of private business entities, from investment, hedge and real estate funds to prominent entrepreneurs, in numerous complex corporate, securities and real estate law makers. With over 30 years of experience as an attorney and in the field of finance and investment, Mr. Rosenblum is a valuable legal and business adviser for Clairmont Capital Group. In addition to his work as an attorney, Mr. Rosenblum has been a real estate investor in Southern California and South Florida. In 2011 he formed a real estate fund to invest in the depressed residential real estate market, primarily in Broward and Dade Counties.
Mr. Rosenblum earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and received his J.D. from University of California, Los Angeles Law School. He is an active member of Penn and Wharton Alumni networks, and is a member of the Real Estate and Construction Cabinet of the United Jewish Fund. Mr. Rosenblum is based in Los Angeles, California.
Advisory Board
Sandor Valner has over 30 years of investment banking, merchant banking and private equity experience. Currently Mr. Valner is an investor and an investment advisor. He was a partner in Walton Street Capital, a global private equity real estate asset manager, where he co-founded the Latin American operations. Previous to this, he served as a partner at VALOR and EMVA, two investment banking boutiques which focused on real estate and financial restructurings. Before that, he was the country head of Credit Suisse for Mexico and before he worked in the corporate finance and M&A groups of JP Morgan in New York. Mr. Valner has led more than $20bn of capital raising, M&A and real estate investment transactions.
Mr. Valner obtained and MBA degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MS degree in Engineering with concentration in Artificial Intelligence from Stanford Graduate School of Engineering. He has served on numerous private, public, charitable and family office boards and is an active member of the Young President ́s Organization. He has a series 7 and a series 66 securities licenses.
Mr. Valner lives with his wife Monica in Los Angeles. Their children a4end Stanford University and Washington University, St. Louis. He enjoys classical music and participating in triathlons.
Advisory Board
Dan is the President of Corridor Ventures, and a co-founder of Corridor’s property and asset management divisions. Dan has primary responsibility for the direction, strategy, and financing of the company’s overall activities, which includes developing new relationships and growth initiatives that fit with the company’s long-term strategy to create a deeply skilled, multi-faceted real estate enterprise with client relationships and assets across the United States.
Dan has a diverse background as a real estate entrepreneur and investor, having started four companies in the past 20 years, as well as investing in many transactions, both in real estate and across the private equity landscape. Over the course of his career, he has developed particular expertise in structuring, negotiating, and closing acquisitions, and in raising capital. He has been involved in the acquisition and management of over 30 companies and properties, raising hundreds of millions in equity and debt.
Dan holds an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Tufts University. He is a member of the Connecticut chapter of YPO, and sits on the board of The Cobb School Montessori in Simsbury, CT.
Principal & Chairman of Limited Partner Advisory Board
Mr. Wenger is a Principal of Clairmont Capital Group and serves as Chairman of the Firm’s Limited Partner Advisory Committee, offering counsel and guidance from his more than 42 years of corporate business and investment experience across multiple industries.
Most notably, Mr. Wenger served as Co-Founder and COO of UK-based Altair Filter Technology Group Limited, a renowned provider of inlet filtration solutions for the power generation, oil and gas and marine industries.
In 2006, Altair, in partnership with Gresham Private Equity, was acquired by GE Energy.
Marketing Operations Manager
Mr. Burk is Associate Vice President of Clairmont Capital Group. He is responsible for developing and managing investor relationships, supporting the oversight of asset management operations, as well as sourcing and analyzing investment opportunities on behalf of the Fund vehicles.
Prior to joining Clairmont Capital, Mr. Burk served as the Project Manager for George Raveling, the International Director of Basketball for Nike, Inc. Nick managed all projects, investments, and day-to-day operations related to Mr. Raveling. His diverse experience provides a unique perspective within Clairmont, as well as creates additional conduits of capital sources. Mr. Burk also previously worked at TownshipCapital, a real estate firm founded by Clairmont's CEO to focus on “Co-GP” Equity investments. At Township, Mr. Burk conducted capital markets research and assisted in establishing relationships of both capital providers and operators which led to the successful execution of Township’s first fund. Additionally, Mr. Burk operates his own real estate investment company, concentrated on the acquisition of distressed single-family homes, apartments and condominiums in greater Los Angeles.
Mr. Burk received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California and enjoys playing basketball, traveling, and fine cigars.