Russel S. Bernard 

Managing Principal, Westport Capital Partners, LLC

 

Russ Bernard is the Managing Principal at Westport Capital Partners, LLC, an investment management company focused exclusively on opportunistic and distressed real estate investments.  The company was founded in 2005, and invests in real estate through direct and indirect property ownership and through public and private real estate securities and financial instruments.  It focuses specifically on distressed assets, value-added transactions, and domestic and international development opportunities.  Westport Capital Partners was Endowment and Money Management Magazine’s 2010 Real Asset Manager of the Year.

Prior to founding Westport Capital Partners, Mr. Bernard was a Principal at Oaktree and the Portfolio Manager for Oaktree’s real estate funds.  He was responsible for the management of a series of closed-end real estate funds with over $2 billion in total committed capital.  Prior to joining Oaktree in 1995, Mr. Bernard was a Managing Director at TCW and Portfolio Manager of the TCW Special Credits Distressed Mortgage Fund.  Prior to that, he was a partner at Win Properties, Inc., a national real estate investment company for eight years.  Before joining Win Properties, Mr. Bernard was with Time Equities, Inc., a New York real estate company for three years.  He began his career as a Staff Accountant at Price Waterhouse in New York.  Mr. Bernard has been on several corporate and university and charity boards.  Mr. Bernard holds a B.S. in Business Management and Marketing from Cornell University.