California People and Company News, Week of May 22, 2026

Newmark has hired industry veteran Drew Petersen as Executive Vice President and Market Leader of Newmark’s San Francisco office. Petersen will lead Newmark’s San Francisco office to further expand the firm’s Bay Area advisory capabilities and strengthen collaboration across local and regional teams. He will work closely with Northwest Market Leader Jon Mackey.

Newmark has also hired Shivu Srinivasan, a multifamily investment sales advisor with more than a decade of acquisition and disposition experience across value-add, core and core-plus properties in Northern California, as Senior Managing Director in its San Francisco office. Over the course of his career, Srinivasan has built a strong track record in private client and mid-market multifamily transactions throughout the Greater San Francisco Bay Area, the I-80 Corridor, Sacramento and the Central Valley.

Preservation Equity Fund Advisors has formed the PEF Advisory Board, bringing together a distinguished group of leaders across institutional real estate investment, affordable housing, private equity, capital markets and fund governance. The inaugural Advisory Board includes: Tony Breault, Managing Director of portfolio management at Ascentris and former Senior Real Estate Officer for Oregon State Treasury; Gena Cheng, Founder of Prospect Avenue Partners, an advisory firm focused on real assets and former senior executive at USAA Real Estate, JT Partners, and APG Asset Management; Lawrence J. Hass, Attorney at Difede, Ramsdell & Bender; John Hurley, Chief Investment Officer and co-founder of Penwood Real Estate Investment Management, an industrial fund platform; and Trisha Malone, President of Anton DevCo, an affordable and market rate apartment developer.

Senior Resource Group LLC (SRG), a leader in the development and operation of award-winning senior living communities, appointed Helen Lee as executive director of The Village at Northridge in Northridge, Calif. Lee brings more than 25 years of executive leadership and hospitality management experience, along with a deep connection to the community she now returns to lead.

Jay Recla has been promoted to principal/construction services of SOCOTEC in Irvine. He has nearly 30 years of industry experience in Materials Testing and Inspections, Project Management & Special Inspections Construction. He is thoroughly knowledgeable on standard test methods including in-place density, sieve analysis, and concrete strength testing, as well as special inspections, including soils, reinforced concrete, prestressed concrete and spray-applied fireproofing.

Belmont Village Senior Living announced that UC San Diego Stein Institute’s Living Lab at Belmont Village La Jolla has been awarded the 2026 Argentum Best of the Best Award. Argentum, a national trade association serving companies that own, operate, and support professionally managed senior living communities, presents this award to programs that advance excellence in senior living. The award was presented during the 2026 Hero Awards ceremony at Argentum’s annual Senior Living Executive Conference & Expo.

ExchangeRight announced the full subscription of Essential Income 6 DST amid continued investor demand for accelerated access to the Essential Income REIT. Essential Income 6 DST is a closed offering and is not accepting new investors. The $42.46 million portfolio of net-leased real estate is backed by recession-resilient tenants and provides investors with a current cash flow rate of 5.50%.

Dealpath,an AI-powered operating system for real estate investing, introduced Dealpath AI, a suite of AI capabilities natively embedded across the real estate investment lifecycle. Following an early access period with leading institutional investors, Dealpath AI marks the release of additional workflow-native capabilities spanning sourcing, screening, underwriting and pipeline management.