Rockwood adds IR executive

The real estate investment firm has hired Sharon Ann M Miller to lead the firm’s investor relations activities. It comes on the back of promoting David Streicher to partner and Jennifer Levy as CFO.

Rockwood Capital has appointed Sharon Ann M Miller as managing director to help lead its investor relations team.

Miller was previously global managing director at Trammell Crow’s global services group and has worked with Hart Advisers, JP Morgan Investment Management and JW O'Connor & Company.

Ed Kavounas, Rockwood chief executive officer, said in a statement the appointment was important “at this time in the real estate cycle”.

Private equity real estate firms are actively working with their limited partners as they struggle against the so-called denominator effect, declining distributions from existing investments and the fear of capital call defaults. Kavounas added it was important to have a “strong understanding of [LPs’] needs and the challenges they face in this environment”.

Last week, White Plains, New York-based Rockwood promoted David Streicher to partner and Jennifer Levy to chief financial officer.

Streicher, formerly senior vice president, is based in New York and will now be responsible for all of Rockwood’s financing and debt structuring and capital market activities. Levy has been at Rockwood for 10 years and was most recently a San Francisco-based managing director. She will be responsible for financial accounting, tax compliance and structuring, and financial reporting while maintaining oversight of human resources, information technology and administration.

Rockwood has roughly $2.7 billion in equity commitments under management and closed its seventh value-added real estate fund, Rockwood Capital Real Estate Partners Fund VII, on $1.1 billion in December 2006 with commitments from 54 limited partners.