Merit Hill Capital Hires Anne Hawkins as Chief Operating Officer

NEW YORK, May 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Merit Hill Capital, a leading real estate investment firm focused on the self-storage sector, announced that Anne Hawkins has joined the firm as Chief Operating Officer.

Ms. Hawkins brings nearly two decades of operational leadership and investing experience to Merit Hill. Most recently, she served as Chief Operating Officer of Self Storage at Morningstar Properties, a top private operator with over 85 owned and operated facilities. At Morningstar, Ms. Hawkins led a team of over 200 employees across more than 10 states and drove a number of strategic initiatives to deliver exceptional financial performance. Prior to that, she served as Executive Vice President at STR, Inc., helping to build out STR's competitive benchmarking and analytics in new sectors, including self storage. Ms. Hawkins also was an investor with Great Hill Partners, a growth equity fund, and Thoma Bravo, a private equity fund focused on software and technology. She graduated from the University of Georgia as a Foundation Fellowship Scholar, the University's most prestigious undergraduate merit scholarship, and has a degree from Harvard Business School. 

"Anne brings a wealth of experience, a strong network and a differentiated background that will be invaluable to Merit Hill as we scale to meet the rapidly expanding opportunity set ahead of us," commented Liz Schlesinger, Founder & CEO of Merit Hill. "Anne's appointment comes at a transformational time for both Merit Hill and the self-storage sector as we continue to grow and diversify our investor base. I honestly cannot imagine hiring a more perfect addition to complement our existing, experienced construction and asset management team and to enhance our unique value–add strategy."

"Merit Hill has built an incredible franchise in the self-storage sector under the visionary leadership of Liz," said Ms. Hawkins. "The firm is uniquely positioned to purchase self–storage facilities within a still fragmented industry and capitalize on robust industry fundamentals to deliver sector-leading results. I am excited to join the team and build on the firm's spectacular track record, deep industry relationships and strong support from investors."

About Merit Hill Capital

Merit Hill is a market-leading, self-storage real estate investment firm managing 239 properties across 32 states. Over the past five years, Merit Hill has built the 9th largest self-storage portfolio in the United States and has established a reputation as one of the most experienced firms in the sector. The Merit Hill team has reviewed over 5,500 individual properties, invested in 327 properties in 188 transactions and sold 88 properties since 2016, producing significant returns for investors on realized investments. The firm engages third-party property managers, including some of the largest publicly-traded self-storage REITS, and deploys a hands-on, "manager of managers" asset management strategy to monitor the individual asset and portfolio performance. Merit Hill was founded by Elizabeth Raun Schlesinger, who has been investing and deploying an active and hands-on asset management approach exclusively in the self-storage sector since 2006 and previously built from inception the 8th largest self-storage portfolio in the United States.

SOURCE Merit Hill Capital