Owen Bouton and Michael Cozza to join as CMBS managing directors, Christopher West to serve as production manager
Irvine, Calif. – February 16, 2021 – Sabal Capital Partners, LLC, a diversified financial services firm specializing in commercial real estate, lending and investing, today announced it has added 14 new hires to support its strategic growth as a nationwide lender providing a comprehensive range of multifamily and commercial real estate (CRE) debt solutions. The new team members span Sabal Capital Partners’ agency and non-agency programs, which include Freddie Mac Optigo Small Balance, Freddie Mac Optigo Conventional, Fannie Mae Small Balance, Bridge AFR and S-CRE, Sabal Capital Partners’ CMBS program.
Owen Bouton and Michael Cozza have been hired as managing directors of the company’s Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) group, which provides non-recourse loans up to $50 million on commercial real estate properties nationwide.
With more than 15 years of experience, Bouton is a skilled CRE loan originator. Most recently, Bouton served as an executive director of loan production at CIBC, where he headed southeastern balance sheet and CMBS origination efforts for floating and fixed rate loans totaling $100 million. He has also served as vice president of loan production at Hunt Mortgage Group and vice president of loan production at LStar Capital. Based in Atlanta, he has been involved in more than $2.75 billion in financing throughout his career. He graduated from Wake Forest University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and earned his MBA from Georgia State University.
“With an impressive breadth and depth of loan offerings, Sabal boasts some of the industry’s most comprehensive debt solutions,” said Bouton. “I look forward to leveraging my experience in the CMBS space to further expand Sabal’s presence in the marketplace.”
With more than 25 years of experience, Cozza is a knowledgeable and innovative originator with strong client relationships and extensive borrower and mortgage broker contacts. Previously, Cozza served as executive director and senior loan originator at CIBC World Markets, where he generated more than $19 million in revenue across all property types and closed approximately $1.1 billion in fixed and floating rate CRE loans. Cozza has also served as vice president and loan officer at Northfield Bank as well as vice president and senior loan originator at JP Morgan Capital. Based in New Jersey, he earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from Hofstra University.
“Providing a unique life of loan experience, Sabal’s CMBS offerings fill an important gap in the marketplace,” said Cozza. “The company is well positioned to expand its CMBS business in 2021, and I look forward to being part of such a dynamic, client-centric team.”
Additional hires for Sabal’s non-agency loan programs include:
- Darius Rybinski, conventional underwriter (Nashville, Tennessee)
- Lisa Dunn, conventional underwriting analyst (Lebanon, Ohio)
- Luan “Jay” Tang, portfolio analyst (Pasadena, California)
On the agency lending side, Christopher West joins Sabal as production manager of term lending sales, where he originates loans through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. With 10 years of experience, West is a client-oriented originator with extensive experience in real estate finance, multifamily loan origination, underwriting and property valuation. He previously served as mortgage originator at Greystone Servicing Co., where he originated approximately $20 million in multifamily loans. He has also served various roles at Basis Investment Group, Walker & Dunlop and CBRE. Based in Atlanta, he earned his bachelor’s degree in management and entrepreneurship from Clemson University.
“These hires will be extremely instrumental in Sabal’s growth as we continue to expand our loan pipeline and teams to serve more borrowers and brokers nationwide,” said Pat Jackson, founder and CEO of Sabal. “We have continued to counsel and provide solutions for our customers without interruption throughout COVID-19 and look forward to a strong year in 2021 bolstered by the expertise of these additional team members.”
Additional hires for Sabal Capital Partners’ agency programs include:
- Collin Rodgers, senior underwriter, term lending (Sarasota, Florida)
- Varduhi Hunanyan, underwriter, term lending (Sunland, California)
- Judy Huynh-Smith, underwriting analyst, term lending (Murphy, Texas)
- Scott Regan, senior associate, production and sizing (New York City)
- Gamil Saad, servicing associate (Pasadena, California)
- Kerri Spalding-Thompson, underwriting manager (Irvine, California)
- Brendan Whaley, underwriting analyst (Kansas)
- James Nguyen, programmer analyst (Ontario, California)
For information on Sabal’s loan programs, visit www.sabal.com for details and eligibility.
About Sabal Capital Partners, LLC
Headquartered in Irvine, California, Sabal Capital Partners, LLC and its commercial real estate lending and servicing subsidiaries and affiliates have originated over $4 billion nationally through their highly specialized wholesale lending platform. Sabal strives to keep clients and investors ahead of the curve, representing a corporate philosophy based upon the core practices of innovation, partnership, commitment to excellence and entrepreneurship. Sabal’s dedication to advancing the financial services industry has led to the development of SNAP™, an innovative platform designed to optimize the lending and investment processes and enable a highly efficient interaction between Sabal and its client and investor base. Sabal is a nationally rated Commercial Primary Servicer and Commercial Special Servicer by Morningstar with a CS2 ranking, an S&P Global rated Commercial Mortgage Loan Special Servicer with an average ranking, as well as a Fitch rated CMBS Primary Servicer with a CPS2- ranking and CMBS Special Servicer with a CSS3+ ranking. For more information about Sabal, visit www.sabal.com.
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