Michael O'Brien
Senior Advisor
Michael O’Brien is a Senior Advisor to Park Madison Partners. Mr. O'Brien brings 40 years of experience in the institutional real estate investment industry, with most of it in capital raising and client relations roles.
As a Managing Director at JP Morgan Asset Management, he led the JP Morgan Real Estate client portfolio management and marketing team for most of his 15 years there. Prior to that he was at Equitable Real Estate/ Lend Lease for 22 years where he had various responsibilities including real estate product management and senior client relations and marketing positions. Mr. O'Brien and the teams he led raised substantial capital for a broad range of products and strategies including open and closed-end commingled funds and separate accounts across the risk/return spectrum - from core to opportunistic. He was also instrumental in the creation and launch of new investment products and strategies.
Mr. O'Brien earned a BA in Economics and an MBA with a concentration in Marketing and Finance from Rutgers University.
Questions
& Answers
Which past experiences prepared you best for your role at Park Madison?
Having been competitive from an early age, whether that was kid games, school sports, or academics, so I’ve always enjoyed the competitive dynamics of institutional capital raising. I’ve spent decades learning to establish and enhance relationships with investors to understand their specific objectives, needs, motivations, guidelines, and impediments to making commitments. I have navigated through multiple real estate and economic cycles for over 40 years, dealing and managing with a range issues and challenges. I have also played a key role in creating new products and bringing them to market, have managed teams of client relations and marketing professionals in different organizational structures, and have raised substantial new capital for established and new products as well as preserved capital in open end funds during times of challenge.
What do you like best about your job?
Being a team player, aiding in achieving the goals and objectives for the firm including the goal of satisfying the investment objectives of investors, the business objectives of its clients, and thus its own business goals, and the individual success of my colleagues. Park Madison is also comprised of smart, successful, talented professionals who tackle the issues of the day with skill and humor.
When you're not at the office, what are you usually doing?
Mostly spending time with family. Many hours are spent at the barn and at horse shows given our daughter’s equestrian pursuits. We like to travel and have enjoyed trips to multiple destinations over the years – an educational experience in and of itself. Having dinners together is an important part of life for us as a family. As the family cook, I spend time planning, shopping for, and preparing dinner. As for personal time, my windsurfing days are likely behind me, but I do enjoy a little golf to be with friends. Reading, crossword puzzles, researching areas of interest, and watching sports are among my other pastimes.