Catalyst Capital Partners offers clients the unique advantage of having expertise from both the lender and borrower sides of financing transactions.  Our combined experience structuring and negotiating loans from an institutional ownership/operator and lender perspective is invaluable. 

The firm’s Principals include Lori Lewis, a principal-side financing expert, and David Kennard and Clifford Chew, lending-side financing experts, each having 30 years of experience.

Ms. Lewis' background includes sourcing, structuring, negotiating, and closing debt on commercial real estate as an institutional principal/borrower on behalf of a variety of investment ownership vehicles, including co-mingled funds, separate account pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and REITs.   She also led the acquisition underwriting and due diligence on over 70 million square feet of major commercial property types across 29 states. 

Mr. Kennard has spent his entire lending career originating, structuring, negotiating, and closing senior fixed-rate debt, mezzanine debt, and floating-rate debt on stabilized and transitional properties throughout the United States on all major asset classes, including multifamily, office, retail, hospitality and self-storage facilities.  

Mr. Chew has a diverse background in commercial real estate which began in the real estate advisory and consulting group of PriceWaterhouse Coopers.  He transitioned to originating, underwriting, and closing various fixed and floating rate debt products on all commercial property types through the U.S. for several New York-based CMBS lenders, including Nomura Capital, JP Morgan, Daiwa Securities, and Greenwich Capital Partners.  Over his career, Mr. Chew has been directly responsible for underwriting over $1 Billion of structured real estate debt.  Mr. Chew joined Catalyst Capital Partners in 2019 as its Chief Operating Officer. 

Together, Catalyst Capital Partners provides an invaluable level of hands-on borrower and lender expertise that is uncommon in today’s marketplace.  Collectively, they have been personally involved in $16.5 billion of commercial real estate financing transactions and are dedicated to the success of every financing outcome for their clients.

Meet the Partners