David J. Lynn, Ph.D., CRE

Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Unity Medical Properties REIT, LLC

David Lynn has a highly-successful track record of investing in real estate investments in the United States and globally. Lynn has invested in over 220 transactions totaling over $15 billion over the course of his career. Lynn possesses extensive experience in the five major real estate asset classes including industrial, office, retail, multifamily, hotel and three niche asset classes. Lynn founded, led and sold Everest Medical Properties to a leading, $95 billion global multinational firm, achieving an equity multiple of 40. Everest achieved excellent investment returns on $230 million AUM (20 properties) in ten states. Lynn managed the overall firm’s activities including investment strategy, sourcing, research, acquisitions, underwriting, equity and debt financing, portfolio management, leasing, repositioning/value-add activities and financial reporting. Prior to founding Everest in 2015, Lynn was CIO and Executive Vice President at Cole Investments where he managed the firm’s $12.3 billion dollar investments including acquisitions and portfolio management. He was a member of the Executive Committee, the Investment Committee and the Operating Committee. At Cole, the team executed two REIT sales and one $8 billion dollar REIT IPO on the NYSE. These capital markets executions were some of the most successful in modern real estate history. Lynn is the winner of the “Best Equity Deal of 2019” awarded by Real Estate Finance and Investment (REFI).

Prior to Cole, Lynn was a Partner and Managing Director at ING Clarion Partners (ING was one of the world’s largest and most successful real estate asset managers at $130 billion in assets), where he was Global Head of Strategy and Head of Research, leading all the firm’s strategic and tactical investment decisions for the $45 billion portfolio. As a key member of the Investment Committee, he helped lead strategies and investments across five asset classes, four niches, several open-and-closed-ended funds, three publicly-traded REITs, and eight separate accounts, working with over 150 institutional clients. He created and led several niche strategies including senior housing, student housing, storage and medical office. Lynn’s work helped propel Clarion from a bottom-quartile performer to a top-quartile performer through his strategic and tactical guidance. Prior to ING Clarion, Lynn was Head of Strategy for AIG Global Real Estate, where he led real estate investment strategy across five asset classes and four niche strategies around the world. Lynn led AIGGRE into China, India, Brazil, Latin America, and several new and highly profitable strategies in the US and abroad, helping AIGGRE to achieve a portfolio equity IRR of 34%. He led multifamily development for AvalonBay in Northern California, where he developed several large and highly successful multifamily apartment communities. He was Head of Regional Investments for the Keppel Corporation (one of the largest property groups in Singapore comprising a $43 billion portfolio) where he purchased, developed and managed multi-family housing, office buildings, medical buildings, mixed-use and retail around the Southeast Asia region and London, UK. Lynn was a national development manager with the Target Corporation, developing retail all around the US, responsible for all phases of development, including entitlements, development and construction management and tenant coordination.

Lynn’s academic credentials were earned at leading universities. He earned his Ph.D. and MS in Financial Economics at the London School of Economics. His Ph.D. dissertation, later published in book form, broke new ground in finance theory. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Sloan School of Management, MIT, where he was a Sloan Fellow. He earned an MA at Cornell University in Planning and Real Estate where he was a Cornell Professional Scholarship recipient and a New York Urban Fellow. He earned a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was the recipient of three academic scholarships. Lynn is a Counselor of Real Estate, a ULI Council Member, a Homer Hoyt Fellow, a former Cornell AAP Advisory Board Member, and a recipient of many awards including “Best Equity Deal of 2019” awarded by “Real Estate Finance and Investment.” Lynn is a preeminent industry researcher, economist, author and thought leader. He has written six critically-acclaimed books and over 80 widely-referenced articles in the industry including: Active Private Equity Real Estate Strategy (John Wiley and Sons 2009), Emerging Market Real Estate Investment (John Wiley and Sons, 2010) and Real Estate Mathematics (Private Equity International 2011), and The Investor’s Guide to Commercial Real Estate Investment (ULI 2015). “The Tectonic Forces of Global Real Estate” article is one of his many industry classics. Lynn’s real estate and economic forecasts are viewed as among the most predictive and rigorous in the industry.