David Woodward
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Home Office: LONDON
Previous experience:
Brookfield, Fortress, Security Capital Group, Archstone
Mr. Woodward is the Chief Executive of Global Apartment Advisors (GAA), a London-based advisory firm focused on residential real estate globally. Mr. Woodward is also the Chairman and Co-Principal of GAA-AUS, a Sydney-based investment management platform. Mr. Woodward brings more than 25 years of leadership experience to this role, with expertise in real estate investment, asset management, property management, development and construction for some of the world’s premier public and privately held real estate companies.
Rental apartment sectors, similar to what has existed in the U.S. for several decades, are in the early stages of being established in many countries around the world. GAA advises companies on all aspects of financial feasibility, design, development, construction, operations and funding. GAA operates as an extension of each client’s real estate group and ensures that their apartment developments are at the leading edge of the industry based on the latest global innovations occurring in this sector.
Mr. Woodward is also the Founding Principal of SVN | CompassRock, a leading provider of institutional-quality asset and property management services to the apartment, office, retail and industrial sectors in the U.S. CompassRock was originally founded in partnership with Fortress Investment Group (NYSE: FIG) to provide asset and property management to a large apartment and commercial real estate portfolio. Most notably, CompassRock was responsible for the dramatic turnaround of Stuyvesant Town in New York City – the largest rental apartment community in the United States totalling 11,232 units and 25,000 residents of Manhattan. CompassRock’s turnaround of “StuyTown” culminated in a sale to Blackstone for $5.4 billion, the largest single-asset transaction in U.S. real estate history. CompassRock is no longer affiliated with Fortress.
Mr. Woodward was previously the Global Head of Multifamily for Brookfield (NYSE: BAM), one of the largest asset managers and real estate investors in the world with AUM of $250 billion. Brookfield owns 50,000 rental apartment units in the U.S. and also owns Fairfield Residential, a California-based owner, developer and property manager of apartment properties across the U.S. Brookfield owns other multifamily portfolios across the United States and controls development sites in major cities in the U.S. and in international capitals around the world including Canary Wharf in London where 3,000 units of rental housing are being developed and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin where there are numerous apartment properties on the estate.
Mr. Woodward was previously the CEO of The Laramar Group where he assembled a portfolio of owned and third-party managed properties totalling over 40,000 rental apartment units as well as a nationwide commercial portfolio. Mr. Woodward was responsible for growing Laramar into a widely-recognized and well-regarded national platform.
Prior to Laramar, Mr. Woodward was a Senior Vice President at Security Capital Group (NYSE: SCZ) and its affiliate, Archstone Communities (NYSE: ASN), which was one of the largest and best regarded U.S. apartment REITs with a portfolio that totalled approximately 75,000 units. At Archstone, Mr. Woodward held key positions in Asset Management, Property Management and the New Ventures Group where he identified and funded start-up companies related to the real estate industry. The New Ventures Group created many companies that transformed the industry including the leading online resident screening company, SafeRent (now part of CoreLogic), and the leading online revenue management company, LRO (now part of RealPage).
Mr. Woodward is on the Board of Directors of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), the Executive Forum of the National Apartment Association (NAA), the Global Outreach Committee of the NAA, the Sustainability Committee of the NMHC, the Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics at U.C. Berkeley, the Board of Directors of Shelters to Shutters, a non-profit focused on providing housing and jobs to homeless veterans, is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and is a regular speaker at real estate industry events around the world. Mr. Woodward is a Senior Advisor to Quintain, a subsidiary of Lonestar, which is developing the largest rental apartment scheme in the UK which will include over 5,000 rental units. In 2007 Mr. Woodward was named Executive of the Year by Multifamily Executive magazine and again in 2013 was named Executive of the Year by MultiHousing News magazine. Mr. Woodward holds a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley.
