CLEVELAND, OH – Bellwether Enterprise Real Estate Capital, LLC. (BWE), a national commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company, today announced that DJ Effler, currently the company’s President, will become Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a member of the Board, effective July 1, 2023. The Board of Directors has approved the senior executive succession plan and Ned Huffman, the current CEO, will remain a special advisor to the company.
“After an exceptional year, BWE’s future has never been brighter and DJ is the clear choice to lead the company into the next phase of its growth,” said Huffman. “I am immensely proud to have been part of such a dynamic team over the past 11 years and to have served as the company’s CEO since its founding. I am tremendously grateful to have had the opportunity to build BWE into what it is today with my co-founder, Debbie Rogan. I feel that now is the appropriate time for me to focus on strategic initiatives with DJ and spend more time on my personal interests. DJ has been a close colleague and friend of mine for many years, and I look forward to collaborating on a seamless transition and continuing to support the team.”
DJ has served as President since 2020, leading multiple company initiatives with a focus on production, talent retention and recruitment efforts along with overseeing the Columbus office and numerous investor relationships. He previously served as an Executive Vice President and built the Columbus team from 2011 through 2020 while consistently ranking as a top producer in the firm. Prior to joining BWE in 2011, DJ spent a decade in commercial real estate finance as both a life company lender at Nationwide and a private equity investor at Rockbridge Capital.
“I am grateful for this opportunity to lead BWE into the future with the team I have worked alongside for over 10 years,” said Effler. “I appreciate the confidence that Ned and the Board have placed in me to uphold our strong track record of execution and to continue delivering long-term value for our clients.”
“On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Ned for his distinguished leadership and steadfast commitment to BWE throughout his tenure,” said Chairman Charlie Werhane. “Ned has been instrumental in BWE’s growth since its earliest days, including recruiting and developing the current leadership team. We congratulate him on the extraordinary success he has achieved on behalf of all our stakeholders. We are extremely fortunate to have such a deep bench of talent and experience. As we transition the company’s leadership to DJ during 2023, the Board maintains complete confidence in and excitement for the future of BWE.”
BWE provides flexible financing solutions for clients covering the entire spectrum of commercial and multifamily real estate. For more information on BWE’s services, visit us at: https://www.bwe.com/.
BWE is a national, full-service commercial and multifamily mortgage banking company with production offices across the country and an integrated servicing platform based in Cleveland. With local market expertise, national lending relationships and financing structure experience, we provide clients with competitive, creative solutions for their financing needs. BWE provides loans for a range of institutional investors including life insurance companies, pension funds, commercial banks and CMBS lenders and is a Fannie Mae Delegated Underwriting and Servicing (DUS®) lender, Freddie Mac Optigo™ seller/servicer for Conventional and Targeted Affordable Housing Loans, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approved Multifamily Accelerated Processing (MAP) lender and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Section 538 Rural Development lender.