American Healthcare Investors Expands Senior Management Team with Key Hires

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Jan. 10, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- American Healthcare Investors, a commercial real estate investment firm that specializes in the acquisition and management of healthcare-related properties, and that serves as the co-sponsor of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, announced today the hiring of several division heads and other key executives: Stefan Oh, senior vice president of acquisitions; Chris Rooney, senior vice president of asset management; Shannon Johnson, senior vice president of finance and accounting;  Trevor Drummond, vice president of finance and accounting; and Cora Lo, senior vice president, securities counsel.  In December, the company announced that Damon Elder had joined as senior vice president of marketing and communications.  

"We couldn't be more pleased to welcome this extraordinarily talented and experienced group to our senior management team," said Danny Prosky, principal of American Healthcare Investors and president and chief operating officer of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II.  "Each of these professionals has worked together, and with me and the other two principals of American Healthcare Investors, Jeff Hanson and Mathieu Streiff, for more than half-a-decade.  During this time they helped us build two leading non-traded healthcare REITs and acquire nearly $3 billion of healthcare properties on behalf of thousands of investors."  

Prosky added: "They each have extensive expertise in the specialized field of healthcare-related real estate investment and we are honored that they have elected to join our organization to continue building one of the best performing non-traded REITs in the nation."

Stefan Oh's 18-year career in commercial real estate began as an auditor within Ernst & Young LLP's EYKL Real Estate Group in Los Angeles, California in 1993.  In 1999, he joined Health Care Property Investors, Inc., the largest publicly traded healthcare REIT in the nation, where he served as director of asset management and later as director of acquisitions. Oh joined Grubb & Ellis Company in 2007 as vice president of acquisitions, healthcare real estate, and helped launch Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II in 2009, serving as an officer of the REIT and as its senior vice president of acquisitions ever since.  He has participated in the acquisition of more than $10 billion of healthcare real estate during his career. Oh received a bachelor's degree from Pepperdine University and is a certified public accountant.

As senior vice president of asset management, Chris Rooney directs the strategic asset and portfolio management function of the rapidly growing Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II portfolio.  Rooney previously served as vice president of asset management for the investment management subsidiary of Grubb & Ellis Company, where he oversaw portfolios exceeding more than $1 billion on behalf of various private and public real estate investment programs, including the first Grubb & Ellis healthcare REIT and Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II (now known as Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II).  He possesses extensive asset management experience spanning the four core clinical healthcare real estate types, medical office buildings, hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and assisted living facilities.  Rooney is a graduate of Arizona State University.

Shannon Johnson serves as senior vice president of finance and accounting for American Healthcare Investors, as well as chief financial officer of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, a role she has filled since the REIT's inception in 2009.  She leads a team of 14 experienced accounting professionals, all of whom have specialized experience in healthcare-related commercial real estate investment.  Johnson previously served as the financial reporting manager for the investment management subsidiary of Grubb & Ellis Company since January 2006 and has served as the chief financial officer of two other public REITs previously sponsored by Grubb & Ellis. From 2002 to 2006, she served as an auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and with Arthur Andersen LLP from 1999 to 2002, where she worked on a variety of public and private company accounts. Johnson is a certified public accountant and received a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Trevor Drummond serves as vice president of finance and accounting, as well as controller of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, a role he has served in since the REIT's inception in 2009.  Prior to joining American Healthcare Investors, Drummond served as REIT controller at Grubb & Ellis Company since 2006, originally for Grubb & Ellis' first healthcare REIT.  Earlier in his career, he served as financial reporting manager at Commercial Capital Bank, accounting manager with New Century Mortgage, and as assistant controller with Consumer Portfolio Services.  Drummond is a certified public accountant and a graduate of the University of Arizona.

Cora Lo serves as senior vice president, securities counsel of American Healthcare Investors. She began serving as an officer and secretary of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II in November 2010, having previously served as assistant secretary since March 2009. Prior to joining American Healthcare Investors, she served as senior corporate counsel for Grubb & Ellis Company since December 2007.  Lo also served as senior corporate counsel and securities counsel for various investment management subsidiaries of Grubb & Ellis since 2005.  Prior to joining Grubb & Ellis, she spent more than three years as general counsel of a publicly traded company and an additional three years in private practice. Lo received a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and a juris doctorate from Boston University. She is a member of the California State Bar Association.

American Healthcare Investors has established a joint venture with Griffin Capital Corporation and affiliates to co-sponsor Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, a publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust that seeks to raise up to $3.0 billion in equity capital for investment in clinical healthcare-related real estate.  To date, the REIT has made geographically diverse acquisitions comprised of 56 buildings valued at approximately $438.7 million, based on aggregate purchase price, with another $270 million of property acquisitions under contract, most of which are expected to close this month.  Once the pending acquisitions are completed, the portfolio will total 73 buildings valued at more than $710 million, based on purchase price, representing 266 percent growth in the portfolio since the beginning of 2011.

About American Healthcare Investors, LLC
American Healthcare Investors, LLC is an investment management firm that specializes in the acquisition and management of healthcare-related real estate, including medical office buildings, skilled nursing facilities, assisted living facilities and hospitals.  The company was founded by nationally recognized real estate investment executives Jeff Hanson, Danny Prosky and Mathieu Streiff, who have completed in excess of $15 billion in aggregate acquisition and disposition transactions during their careers, approximately $5.5 billion of which has been healthcare-related real estate transactions.  Approximately $8.0 billion of the $15 billion was completed as a team while they led Grubb & Ellis' national investment management subsidiary for more than half a decade.  American Healthcare Investors is committed to providing investors with access to the potential benefits that healthcare-related real estate ownership can provide. For more information regarding American Healthcare Investors, please visit www.AmericanHealthcareInvestors.com.

About Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, Inc. (formerly known as Grubb & Ellis Healthcare REIT II)
Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, Inc. is a real estate investment trust that seeks to preserve, protect and return investors' capital contributions, pay regular cash distributions, and realize growth in the value of its investments upon the ultimate sale of such investments. Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II currently holds in excess of $438 million in assets, based on purchase price, and is seeking to raise up to approximately $3.0 billion in equity and to acquire a diversified portfolio of real estate assets, focusing primarily on medical office buildings, skilled nursing facilities, hospitals, and assisted living facilities. For more information regarding Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, please visit www.HealthcareREIT2.com.

About Griffin Capital Corporation
Los Angeles-based Griffin Capital Corporation has a sixteen-year track record sponsoring real estate investment vehicles and managing institutional and retail equity capital. Led by senior executives, each with more than two decades of real estate experience who have collectively closed more than 400 transactions representing over $14.0 billion in transaction value, Griffin Capital has acquired or constructed over 11 million square feet since 1996, and currently manages a portfolio of more than 8.5 million square feet located in 13 states, representing approximately $1 billion in asset value. Griffin Capital is the co-sponsor of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II and the sponsor of the Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, publicly registered, non-traded real estate investment trusts.  Griffin Capital Securities, Inc. serves as dealer manager of the offerings of both REITs, shares of which are distributed through leading independent broker-dealers.  For more information regarding Griffin Capital, please visit www.GriffinCapital.com.

Contact:  Damon Elder
(714) 356-1460
[email protected]

SOURCE American Healthcare Investors, LLC