Carson Faris is co-founder and CEO of Phoenix Investment Funds, a multi-strategy investment firm specializing in the acquisition and repositioning of debt instruments secured by commercial real estate. He is responsible for directing the firm’s investment strategy and is an active manager in all of the firm’s various funds and companies. Carson was also the founder and President of Western Bay Investments, a real estate development firm, as well as Fundamental Real Estate, a boutique real estate brokerage firm.

Prior to founding Western Bay, Carson acted as Director of Development for Red Mountain Group, Inc., where he oversaw the company’s diverse and growing national development portfolio. It was also during this busy time that he was elected President of the Association of Southern California Real Estate Executives and founded the Real Estate Industry Network.

Carson discovered his true passion for business in the late 1990s when serving as a Senator for the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee Lubar School of Business and developing a diverse group of small companies. He credits these first companies—which focused on people, process, and product—for providing him with a deep understanding of business fundamentals, the value of integrity, and the importance of relationships.

Brandon Ghiossi is the VP of Asset Strategy for Phoenix Investment Funds. Brandon oversees the firm’s portfolio of debt and real estate assets and manages the creation and execution of the strategic business plans for each asset.

Prior to joining Phoenix, Brandon worked for respected Southern California based developers Nexus Development and Lewis Operating Corp. in a variety of roles that included asset management, construction management, and sales and marketing. Brandon began his career at Wells Fargo Bank underwriting debt instruments for technology companies in Silicon Valley. Brandon’s diverse real estate product experience, his extensive network of industry contacts, and his desire to create win-win solutions give him the expertise and freedom to create maximum value for the firm’s investors and partners.

Brandon earned his degree in American Literature from the University of Southern California and is a licensed real estate broker in the state of California. Brandon loves playing golf, reading, and spending time with his three younger brothers. For over the last 10 years, as part of a larger organization, Brandon annually leads a group of high school students in the construction of a new home for impoverished families in Tecate, Mexico.

As Vice President of Business Development & Operations at Phoenix Investment Funds, Dori is responsible for sourcing and developing deals, as well as overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company. She develops business and marketing plans, as well as introduces key systems and processes that add efficiency and streamline the company’s already well-defined methodology. Dori oversees accounting and customer relationship management (CRM) activities and implements and manages the company’s EOS® business system. She makes use of her extensive background as a business strategist to work with the Phoenix Team in providing unique, win-win-win solutions that benefit our investors, our partners, and the many lenders, asset managers, and legal professionals who depend on us to help them dispose of challenged, nonperforming assets.

Before joining Phoenix, Dori founded a successful consulting company that continues to work with small and medium-sized businesses and solopreneurs interested in building new holdings, growing existing service-based companies, and advancing new aspects of their current businesses. She earned a B.A. in Economics, with a minor in Business, from Indiana University in Indianapolis, where she graduated with Highest Honors and was named one of the Top Ten Women on Campus.

Danny Greene is the Managing Director for Phoenix Investment Funds, overseeing investor relations, organizational strategy, and financial analysis. Leveraging his expertise in quantitative modeling, business affairs, and communications, Danny focuses on creating an outstanding experience for Phoenix’s capital partners.

Prior to joining Phoenix, Danny served as the interim Director of the Resnick Family Office, supervising a team of finance professionals responsible for over $500 million. In his capacity as a consultant and market associate, Danny has worked with major brands, such as Activision, Google, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay, and Samsung.

Danny earned his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BA from Stanford University. He currently chairs the building finance committee of IKAR, a spiritual community rooted in Jewish values and committed to social justice.

Adam has represented borrowers and lenders in all facets of real estate finance, including with regard to loan facilities for real estate developers, mezzanine loans, acquisition loans conduit loans, refinances, workouts and bankruptcies. Adam’s experience also ranges over several different types of property products, including raw land, retail, single and multi-family residence and hotels.

Adam has extensive experience representing a variety of lenders in loan originations and workouts (both real estate secured and mezzanine). Adam has substantial experience in securitized loan origination transactions as well. Since 1994, Adam has been a member of Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP’s Pacific Rim Group. Working in this group, Adam has concentrated on bridging the cultural divide between East and West and on using his expertise for the benefit of primarily East Asian lenders and borrowers. From 1994–1996, Adam was on the Board of Directors of the Pacific Resources Conference, a major real estate conference which matches Pacific Rim capital sources with California builders and owners of real estate.

Chair of the firm’s Environmental Team, Preston assists property owners, developers, pension funds, lenders, and municipalities to craft environmental risk management strategies in the context of real estate acquisition, financing, and development. He specializes in identifying legal risk associated with contaminated properties, and in finding solutions to address those risks. Preston also represents purchasers of contaminated properties, known as brownfields, negotiating with government agencies to help minimize his clients’ environmental liabilities using tools such as the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act, the Polanco Act, and the Brownfields Revitalization and Environmental Restoration Act. One of Preston’s foremost areas of expertise is in assisting clients to obtain and tailor environmental insurance policies to address environmental issues associated with real property. In that capacity, he has helped clients procure over 500 environmental insurance policies for brownfields sites.