Gary Bechtel is Chief Executive Officer & Managing Principal of The Oak Companies, a national vertically integrated commercial real estate finance platform.
Over the course of his more than 40-year career, Gary has been involved in the origination, underwriting, structuring, placement and closing of more than $10 billion in commercial debt transactions, utilizing various financing structures including permanent, bridge, equity, mezzanine, and construction loans. At Oak, he has direct oversight of all loan portfolios and operations for the firm, a national, multi-fund manager focused on the institutional investment sector.
Gary has held multiple leadership roles with both lenders and intermediaries throughout his career. He joined Oak’s predecessor companies in 2020 after serving as President of Money360, where he directed and executed the firm’s expansion strategy and sat on its Credit Committee and Board of Directors. Prior to that, he was Chief Lending and Originations Officer of CU Business Partners, LLC, a major national credit union service organization, preceded by positions with such companies as Grubb & Ellis, Meridian Capital, Johnson Capital and FINOVA Realty Capital.
Gary attended the University of California, San Diego, majoring in economics. He currently sits on the Executive Board of the California Bankers Association and has been a longtime member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America (MBA) and International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Gary has been a featured moderator/speaker at numerous industry events and is a frequent contributor to several regional and national publications.
