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Steve Erdman

President

As President and Founder of Canfield Development Inc., Steve Erdman has led the firm’s investment, development and construction operations since founding Canfield Development Inc. and Westside Contractors Inc. over 30 years ago. Steve has been involved in the development of over 7,000 residential units and over $2B of development projects. Since founding the firm as a sole principal in 1990, Steve has established Canfield Development as one of the premier residential development firms of Southern California.

Steve began his career in real estate in 1977 at Goldrich and Kest, a company specializing in the development and construction of thousands of housing units and retirement facilities throughout California. In 1983, Steve became a Vice President in charge of Goldrich and Kest’s entire Construction Operations division including all phases of the development process. While at G&K Steve managed large developments of multifamily subsidized apartment projects, high-end and high-rise apartments, condominiums and single-family homes, master planned communities, housing tracts, board and care facilities, convalescent hospitals, hotels, commercial, and large industrial projects. Steve contributions helped grow G&K to one of the largest apartment owners in the state of California.

Steve has a wealth of experience in dealing with many government and public agencies such as HUD, CRA, CHFA, OSHPUD, Los Angeles Housing Department. Steve earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting from California State University. He is a member of the AIPAC board of Southern California, Advisory board member of American Friends of Tel Aviv University and is a sponsor of the Birth Right Program and numerous other international and local charities.

Serge Shirikjian

Chief Financial Officer

As Managing Partner and CFO of Canfield Development, Serge Shirikjian is responsible for all financial functions including deal analysis, tax planning and management of Canfield Development’s projects and investments. Additionally, Serge oversees and structures sales and acquisition transactions, debt and equity placements. Serge has over twenty-one years of experience acquiring, asset managing, developing and building over $4.3 billion worth of multifamily and commercial real estate throughout the United States.

Serge began his professional career at Disney and in the public accounting firms of BDO Seidman and Deloitte & Touche, where he held a CPA designation. From 2002 to 2006, Serge served as project controller at Westfield, Inc., one of the world’s largest shopping mall owners and operators. At Westfield Serge was involved in acquisitions and operations of over 5.2M square feet of retail and 400K square feet of office space worth over $2.4B. In 2006, Serge joined Live Nation as a director of real estate acquisitions and development finance. In that role, Serge was in charge of analyzing and executing the company’s real estate expansion strategy. The company was involved in acquiring and operating clubs, theaters (including “The House of Blues”) and amphitheaters as well as promoting music concerts. During his time at Live Nation Serge handled all acquisitions and capital spending on a portfolio of 40+ amphitheaters, clubs and venues worth over $1.8B.

Serge Shirikjian earned his MBA from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management and a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from USC. He was formerly a Certified Public Accountant and is an active member of the ULI.

Brian Gelt

EVP Construction & Development

As Managing Partner of Canfield Development, Brian Gelt is responsible for all facets of development, permitting, pre-construction, and construction activities for the company. Additionally, he is part of Canfield’s Executive Team assisting in feasibility underwriting and due diligence. In addition to Brian’s role at Canfield, Brian leads and is the Responsible Managing Officer of Canfield’s affiliated General Contractor, Westside Contractors Inc. In total Brian has over twenty years of experience developing and building over $1 billion worth of multifamily and commercial construction projects throughout the Western States.

Brian began his career estimating and managing large-scale commercial construction projects for Lusardi Construction Company, including an industrial business park and a high school. He then worked for Jackson Pendo Development and Williams Homes managing the entitlement and construction processes of infill residential development projects. During his career, Brian built hundreds of single-family and multi-family dwelling units, repositioned hotels, entitled a retail center, and advanced the Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) on a 5,000 acre master planned community.

Brian earned a Masters of Real Estate Development (MRED) degree from University of Southern California (USC) and a bachelor’s degree in City Planning as a scholarship athlete from San Diego State University. Brian also holds a California Real Estate Broker’s license and a California ‘B’ Contractor’s license. Brian is active in USC’s Graduate of Real Estate Association, National Association of Home Builders, and Urban Land Institute.