SAN FRANCISCO — PLUM Inc., a national financial technology firm headquartered in San Francisco, has added industry veteran Rick Gallitto as president and head of real estate. Gallitto will work to grow PLUM’s commercial real estate lending platform and drive new loan production. He assumed his new role on Jan. 15, 2019.
“[Rick] has a track record of building and scaling real estate lending platforms and deep expertise in originating and structuring first mortgage and mezzanine loans, preferred equity and joint venture investments,” says Bill Fisher, founder and CEO of PLUM. “I am excited to have Rick lead the commercial real estate team.”
PLUM is a data-driven lender backed by equity investors such as Elliott Management, a $35 billion hedge fund manager based in New York. Other investors in PLUM include RenRen, a Chinese social networking platform, and Nomura Holdings, a financial services company based in Japan.
“PLUM has been able to combine market data intelligence with an approach to lending that will lead the future for commercial real estate owners,” says Gallitto about how the company will compete in the commercial real estate lending space. “We are well positioned to build and expand lending opportunities for commercial real estate investors in underserved markets and across the United States. The current space is wide open, so these are exciting times for PLUM.”
Prior to joining PLUM, Gallitto served as co-president and chief investment officer for Tremont Mortgage Trust. Gallitto also co-founded Tremont Realty Capital and served as the firm’s president.
After earning his bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard University, Gallitto began his career in commercial banking working for several predecessor firms of Bank of America. As a former senior vice president of CBRE, Gallitto opened and managed the firm’s Northeast Mortgage Banking Division.