Ethan Penner
Rising from humble beginnings, Ethan Penner rose to the top of the business world, building some of America’s most innovative companies and sharing the knowledge he’s acquired as an author and educator.
Raised by a single mother in a working-class house hold in Yonkers, New York, Ethan grew up facing the same challenges many Californians face today: struggling to make ends meet and provide the quality of life their children deserve.
Ethan began his career on Wall Street, rising to lead mortgage credit trading and finance at Morgan Stanley. He learned how markets move, how economies bend, and how to navigate systems when they fail. He managed large teams and oversaw billions in financial activity–experience that would prove vital.
In the early 1990s, with the real estate market in crisis, Ethan charted a path forward and built the largest real estate financier in U.S. history from the ground up. He restored stability to a collapsed industry and built a system that democratized access to real estate capital for every American – not just the wealthy.
Over decades in business, he’s launched and led multiple investment firms including CBRE Capital Partners, Mosaic Real Estate Investors, Hill Street Realty, and Reven Office REIT. He’s been named one of the Real Estate Forum’s “65 Living Legends” and is internationally recognized as an innovator of real estate finance.
Ethan has authored two books, writes an influential financial newsletter, and teaches graduate-level business courses at the USC School of Business and Pepperdine University.
Ethan and his wife Marisol – a proud immigrant from Venezuela – live in Calabasas and are raising five children, including two adopted sons from Ethiopia and Venezuela. Their family reflects the same diversity, grit, and spirit of possibility that defines California itself.
