Los Angeles-based global investment management firm Colony Capital announced a new CEO on Wednesday as Executive Chairman Thomas J. Barrack Jr. took the helm of the company he founded in 1991.
Barrack had been CEO of Colony since it began as a private company in 1991 until 2014, when Colony merged into publicly traded real estate investment trust Colony Financial and went public. Colony completed a merger with NorthStar Asset Management Group and NorthStar Realty Finance Corp. in 2017.
The new CEO replaces Richard Saltzman, who “reached a mutual agreement” with the company’s board of directors to leave, Colony said.
“I completely respect and embrace Tom’s interest in returning to the CEO role as the Founder and driving force behind the company for decades,” Saltzman said in a statement. “I remain a substantial shareholder, and he has my full support.”
Saltzman, who also was president and a director of the company, will remain in a non-executive capacity as chairman of both Colony Credit Real Estate and NorthStar Realty Europe, externally managed by subsidiaries of the company.
Colony Capital also announced that Chief Financial Officer Darren Tangen has been named president, effective immediately, and will resign as CFO effective Jan. 1. Also effective Jan. 1, Chief Operating Officer Mark Hedstrom will assume the additional responsibilities of CFO, a position he held before Colony’s 2014 merger into Colony Financial.
The firm has $44 billion in assets under management. As of Sept. 30, those assets included a healthcare portfolio with 192 senior housing properties, 99 skilled nursing facilities, 108 medical office buildings and 14 hospitals, as well as hospitality and industrial properties, according to company materials.
The top two U.S. senior living operators in the healthcare portfolio, by net operating income, are Senior Lifestyle and Frontier Management, according to a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The top U.S. skilled nursing operators in the portfolio are SentosaCare, Wellington Rehabilitation and Healthcare, Miller, Opis, Grace and Consulate Health Care.
