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30 Years of Building Value: Greg Papazian shares his story of a career in CRE and helping to build Brookwood Financial Partners.

Greg Papazian’s 32-year private capital journey: real estate, timing, investor trust, and building retail-operating scale with Brookwood.

Ferdi Roberts & Greg Papazian

57 MINS

In this episode of The People of Private Capital, Greg Papazian, recently retired Managing Partner at Brookwood Financial Partners, recounts a 3 Decade-long journey from the post-S&L crisis start-up to billions in real-estate transactions and building an operating business in convenience retail.

We cover early fundraising without a track record, why Brookwood became net sellers before the GFC, how the team stood up Yesway and integrated Allsup’s, and where he sees “essential,” consumer-driven assets outperforming today. Greg also shares his approach to investor relations, culture, and what’s next in impact-oriented work.


Key Topics


  • Origins of Brookwood and early HNW fundraising post tax-shelter era

  • Opportunistic thesis across asset types and geographies (not sector-bound)

  • A tough early development lesson (Jupiter, FL) and why Brookwood avoided ground-up thereafter

  • Pre-GFC discipline: selling most pre-2005 assets by 2007; sitting out ~22 months before buying again

  • Standing up an operating company: launching Yesway (2015), acquiring Allsup’s (2019), and expanding to ~440 stores across ~9 states

  • Why convenience retail is resilient (merchandising margins, Amazon-proof missions, location)

  • Today’s market: caution on office demand; preference for “essential,” consumer-driven real estate (grocery-anchored, medical, services) and Sun Belt migration dynamics

  • Investor relations philosophy: transparency, quarterly reporting/webinars, frictionless digital onboarding/portal experience

  • Culture that scales: entrepreneurial, operator-led, “work hard, support people”

  • What’s next for Greg: applying private-markets tools to impact themes (sustainability, social/economic justice, child & animal welfare)


What You’ll Learn


  • How to earn trust and momentum when you don’t yet have a track record

  • Practical signals that said “sell now” pre-GFC and why dry powder matters

  • The operator edge: why having more levers to pull matters more than just owning real estate

  • Why consumer-driven, location-critical uses can be more cycle-resilient

  • Ways to professionalize investor experience without creating friction

  • How an opportunistic firm stays nimble while scaling to billions in AUM

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Frequently asked questions

What is Asset Class?

Asset Class is a platform built for private capital firms. It combines CRM, investor relations, fundraising, and portfolio management into a single connected platform built on Salesforce infrastructure, serving PE, VC, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, and wealth management firms.

Who uses Asset Class?

Asset Class is used globally by private capital firms across private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, registered investment advisers, wealth managers, corporate venture capital arms, and fund administrators, from emerging managers to large multi-strategy firms.

What problem does Asset Class solve?

Asset Class solves fragmented workflows at private capital firms by bringing CRM, investor relations, fundraising and portfolio reporting into one system of record, where every piece of data is connected, auditable and real-time. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, answers plain-language questions on any record and drafts reports and follow-ups for your team to approve. Every answer cited to source.

Is Asset Class built on Salesforce?

Yes, Asset Class is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, inheriting the world's leading CRM engine, enterprise-grade security, and access to thousands of pre-integrated apps on the Salesforce AppExchange. Existing Salesforce clients can easily deploy Asset Class within their current org.

How does Asset Class help private capital firms grow?

Asset Class helps private capital firms grow by automating fundraising, investor onboarding, capital calls, distributions and portfolio reporting on one platform, so teams can spend their time on deals and investor relationships. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, ranks your book by opportunity with its Relationship Score and drafts tailored follow-ups for your team to approve, so firms engage the right LPs first.

What is Athena in Asset Class?

Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, gives every member of your team their own Claude-embedded AI agent for investor relations, business development, finance, compliance or portfolio management. Each agent works only within that person's permissions. Athena reads your firm's data, drafts the work and queues it for review. Your team approves, amends or rejects each item, and the decision, approver and timestamp are recorded.

Which AI model does Asset Class use?

Asset Class uses Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, embeds Claude across the platform and connects it to your records, documents and actions. Asset Class accesses Claude through Anthropic's commercial API, so your firm's data is never used to train AI models. Each agent can only see and act on data its user is permitted to access.

Does Asset Class automate data entry?

Yes, Asset Class captures data from the sources your firm already has. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, scans subscription agreements, side letters, statements, notices, meeting transcripts, email, calendars and external data sources, then stages the extracted details on the right record. Nothing Athena stages updates a record until a permitted user signs off, and each approver is logged.

What is Asset Class?

Asset Class is a platform built for private capital firms. It combines CRM, investor relations, fundraising, and portfolio management into a single connected platform built on Salesforce infrastructure, serving PE, VC, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, and wealth management firms.

Who uses Asset Class?

Asset Class is used globally by private capital firms across private equity, venture capital, real estate, private debt, family offices, hedge funds, registered investment advisers, wealth managers, corporate venture capital arms, and fund administrators, from emerging managers to large multi-strategy firms.

What problem does Asset Class solve?

Asset Class solves fragmented workflows at private capital firms by bringing CRM, investor relations, fundraising and portfolio reporting into one system of record, where every piece of data is connected, auditable and real-time. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, answers plain-language questions on any record and drafts reports and follow-ups for your team to approve. Every answer cited to source.

Is Asset Class built on Salesforce?

Yes, Asset Class is built on Salesforce's Force.com platform, inheriting the world's leading CRM engine, enterprise-grade security, and access to thousands of pre-integrated apps on the Salesforce AppExchange. Existing Salesforce clients can easily deploy Asset Class within their current org.

How does Asset Class help private capital firms grow?

Asset Class helps private capital firms grow by automating fundraising, investor onboarding, capital calls, distributions and portfolio reporting on one platform, so teams can spend their time on deals and investor relationships. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, ranks your book by opportunity with its Relationship Score and drafts tailored follow-ups for your team to approve, so firms engage the right LPs first.

What is Athena in Asset Class?

Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, gives every member of your team their own Claude-embedded AI agent for investor relations, business development, finance, compliance or portfolio management. Each agent works only within that person's permissions. Athena reads your firm's data, drafts the work and queues it for review. Your team approves, amends or rejects each item, and the decision, approver and timestamp are recorded.

Which AI model does Asset Class use?

Asset Class uses Claude, the AI model built by Anthropic. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, embeds Claude across the platform and connects it to your records, documents and actions. Asset Class accesses Claude through Anthropic's commercial API, so your firm's data is never used to train AI models. Each agent can only see and act on data its user is permitted to access.

Does Asset Class automate data entry?

Yes, Asset Class captures data from the sources your firm already has. Athena, the AI layer of Asset Class, scans subscription agreements, side letters, statements, notices, meeting transcripts, email, calendars and external data sources, then stages the extracted details on the right record. Nothing Athena stages updates a record until a permitted user signs off, and each approver is logged.

See how AI transforms Private Capital operations

Your competitors are still filling in spreadsheets. You're closing rounds. Asset Class is the unfair advantage that separates the firms who scale from the firms who stall

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See how AI transforms Private Capital operations

Your competitors are still filling in spreadsheets. You're closing rounds. Asset Class is the unfair advantage that separates the firms who scale from the firms who stall

Request a Demo