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.