Creating a Focused Approach to
Real Estate Investing
Meet Our Team
Forum’s personnel bring a wide range of capabilities and experience that enable us to identify opportunities that others miss.
The backgrounds of our team members include real estate, private equity, public equity, investment banking, investment management, securitization, and international law. Our collective knowledge and experience provide us the advantage of an all-encompassing and uniquely focused approach to real estate investing.
Russell C. Platt Co-founder and CEO
Russell C. Platt is a Co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of Forum Partners and is based in London. He has over 30 years’ experience in real estate finance and investment in Europe and North America including a period as Managing Director of Morgan Stanley & Co. Russell founded and managed the global real estate department of Morgan Stanley Asset Management and was Director of the company’s real estate fund. Before founding Forum Partners, he was Managing Director of Security Capital Research & Management and President of JER Partners. Russell has a BA in economics from Williams College, Massachusetts, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Noah Hopkins Managing Director and Head of North America
Noah Hopkins is a Managing Director and head of North America. He has over 10 years of experience in real estate investment banking, M&A, corporate advisory and principal investing. Prior to joining Forum, he worked in JLL’s M&A, Strategic Advisory and Private Capital group. Previously, Noah worked at FBR Capital Markets & Co. focusing on private equity capital raising and formation capitalization transactions. Noah started his career in the principal investment group at Choice Hotels International focusing on select-service hotel transactions.Read More
Andrew FaulkManaging Director and Head of Australia
Andrew Faulk is a Managing Director and Australian country head for Forum Partners. Previously Andrew was head of St. George Bank’s structured and institutional real estate, which originated and managed A$3.5 billion in senior and mezzanine loans across commercial and development property assets nationally. Prior to this Andrew practiced law with Weil Gotshal in London and Clayton Utz in Sydney. He was also previously a senior manager with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Sydney, specializing in structured finance, transactions and restructures. Andrew holds bachelor degrees in Arts and Laws, Masters of Laws (Taxation) Masters of Applied Finance (Corporate Finance) and a Masters of Business Administration. He is a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australia and a Member of the Law Society (NSW).Read More
Gavin Norris Managing Director
Gavin Norris is a Managing Director and has over 20 years of international experience in investment management specializing in real estate and infrastructure. Previously he was head of opportunistic real estate at Eureka Funds Management (AXA Asia). Prior to this Gavin was with Colonial First State’s real estate funds management team. Gavin holds a Bachelor of Civil Engineering (Honors) and a Master of Commerce, International Finance.Read More
Renee Farmer Senior Advisor -
Asset Management & Administration
Renee has over 25 years as a Senior Executive driving strategy, operations, investment management, and business development Prior to joining Forum as an advisor, Renee spent 15 years in Investment Management within Goldman Sachs and Asset Management at Westfield Shopping Center Group. Renee started her career in Retail Real Estate and has a Global Executive MBA from Georgetown University.Read More
Jonathan (Bo) Sutcliffe Asset Management & Administration
Jonathan Sutcliffe is responsible for residential asset management and administration including due diligence and execution. Previously Bo was a residential portfolio manager with McGrath Limited and commercial property manager for Ooh Media Limited.Read More
JulieAnn Villanueva-Barela Director of Finance
JulieAnn Villanueva-Barela is a Director and the Firm Controller in Forum Partners’ office in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Julie has primary responsibility for the firm’s accounting and financial reporting. Prior to joining, she spent six years with the accounting firm Neff & Ricci LLP, most recently as an Audit Manager. She has a BA (cum laude) in business administration from the University of New Mexico. While at UNM, she was an intern in the university’s internal audit function. She is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a member of the AICPA.Read More
Patrick LeBlanc National Sales Director
Patrick LeBlanc brings almost 15 years of professional experience to his role with Forum Partners. Most recently he worked at Megatel Capital Investment, where he directed their West Coast regional sales team in capital raise efforts for residential real estate funds. During his tenure, he led its top producing territory, and prior to that, he served as top wholesaler for 10 consecutive quarters at Hartman Income REIT.
He started his career on the insurance side of the business as a senior marketing consultant for Dressander BHC, where he managed a book of nearly $50 million in annuity production and assisted as many as 30 carrier partners and broker-dealers, and over 500 financial planners conceptualize individual marketing plans to increase their business.
LeBlanc earned his bachelor’s degree from Sam Houston State University and holds his FINRA Series 7 and 66 licenses. He is also licensed to sell life and health insurance.Read More