PGIM Elevates Jamie Shen to Drive Agriculture Real Estate Business
By Andrew Coen May 18, 2023 11:53 am
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PGIM Real Estate has promoted Jamie Shen to take on an expanded role scaling the firm’s focus on agriculture assets.
The lender announced Thursday that Shen will assume the role as head of agriculture on Oct. 1 when she will replace Jess Jarratt, who is retiring at the end of the year. Shen, who arrived at PGIM in 2017, is currently chief investment officer and head of the firm’s agriculture equity business.
“We have ambitious plans to grow our agriculture platform, and Jamie’s appointment is central to them,” Bryan McDonnell, PGIM’s head of U.S. debt and agriculture and chair of global debt, said in a statement. “Agriculture assets tend to have stable, long-term income characteristics and can act as a strong inflation hedge. These qualities are fueling strong demand for what remains a nascent asset class, but accessing the underlying assets can be challenging.”
Prior to joining PGIM, Shen spent 17 years at Callan Associates as an executive vice president and practice leader of alternative investments consulting. She has helped drive PGIM’s agriculture investment platform to $10.5 billion compared with $3.5 billion 10 years ago.
“I am pleased that we have someone of Jamie’s caliber leading this business as we continue to leverage our industry-leading expertise across debt and equity,” McDonnell added.
Shen was not immediately available for comment.
The agriculture finance business at PGIM will continue to be led by Rachelle Schlesinger reporting to Shen along with Chris Jay, chief financial officer and chief operating officer. Schlesinger recently hired Chris Porter from MetLife Investment Management as an executive director geared toward driving PGIM’s U.S. lending activity in agriculture.
Andrew Coen can be reached at acoen@commercialobserver.com
