Michael W. Brennan

Michael W. Brennan is a member of our Board of Directors and Chairman of its Compensation Committee. From 1999 to 2008, Mr. Brennan served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: FR), the nation’s largest provider of diversified industrial real estate. Mr. Brennan was also a co-founder of First Industrial, which was formed in 1994.

Mr. Brennan has orchestrated more than $10 billion in industrial real estate transactions in the course of his 25-year career. From 1994 and leading up to his appointment as President and Chief Executive Officer in 1999, Mr. Brennan served as First Industrial’s Chief Operating Officer and its Chief Acquisitions Officer. From 1986 through First Industrial’s IPO in 1994, Mr. Brennan was a Partner of The Shidler Group. He was also a founding investor of TriNet Corporate Realty Trust, Inc. (formerly NYSE: TRI). He began his career as an Investment Specialist with CB Commercial.

Often sought as an industry expert on industrial real estate, Mr. Brennan has appeared on CNBC, CNNfn and Bloomberg Television. Mr. Brennan is a prominent leader in the real estate community and is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Policy & Planning Committee; the President’s Circle Real Estate Roundtable, America’s leading public policy advocate for commercial real estate; the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts; and the Young Presidents Organization. Mr. Brennan was named Commercial Property News’ “Industrial Property Executive of the Year” in 2000 and one of Irish American Magazine’s Top 100 Business Leaders in America in 2003.

Mr. Brennan earned his bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Notre Dame. He serves on the Board of Directors of Strategic Hotels & Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: BEE). He is a United Way Tocqueville Society member and is a director of the Chicago Public Library Foundation.