Nailah Flake

What’s been the biggest highlight and biggest challenge of 2025 for your team thus far? 

The most significant highlight for us has been the growth of our real estate credit platform and the expansion of our capital sources. Over the past 25 years, our assets under management have grown from $600 million to $30 billion, fueled by our continued focus on investing insurance capital and structuring customized strategies, including private funds and separately managed accounts that allow us to invest in real estate credit across the capital stack.

With growth comes new challenges — chief among them, keeping our resources and infrastructure aligned with the pace of expansion. At the same time, competition for deals has intensified across the market, but we view that as a healthy sign of capital flowing into the space. Our focus remains on leveraging our experience, relationships, and flexible capital to identify opportunities where we can deliver value others might overlook. 

Which lending opportunities that didn’t exist last year are you seizing today?  

We are finding new and unique ways to partner with banks. Our European origination team recently worked on a first-mortgage strategy with a European bank, and we’ve already originated $600 million in new deals through that partnership. We will continue this trend globally.

Which financing source is your biggest competitor, and what’s your competitive advantage over them? 

The financing landscape has become increasingly competitive as new sources of capital, particularly from insurance investors, have entered the market. 

Brookfield’s advantage lies in our access to large-scale, flexible capital, our speed and certainty of execution, and our proven track record across market cycles. In today’s environment, where more capital is flowing into real estate credit, our $280 billion real estate equity franchise serves as a key differentiator. We believe that market and asset selection are more important than ever, and the insights we gain from our equity teams, who see trends in real time, allow us to identify compelling lending opportunities and deliver attractive risk-
adjusted returns for our clients. 

How have lending conditions the past three years compared to the GFC when you were at Morgan Stanley? 

The distress we saw during the Global Financial Crisis resulted heavily from financial overleverage in the market. Today, leverage has been more moderate, but we have been battling different challenges, including the pandemic, a prolonged high-rate environment, and the regional banking disruptions. Unlike the GFC, today’s stress reflects a repricing of risk rather than systemic overleverage, and the overall health of the financial system is much stronger. 

 You’ve recently been actively lending on office-to-residential conversions. Why is this a good fit for Brookfield, and how much longer does the conversion trend last?

Office-to-residential conversions are a great fit for Brookfield because we can back complex projects with scale, capital and expertise. We don’t see this as a short-term trend and believe there’s a real opportunity to reposition underused office buildings in strong markets.

The key is picking the right assets and sponsors, and we’ll continue pursuing opportunities while watching closely how local government incentives can help bring more conversions to life.

Lighting Round:

 “The Summer I Turned Pretty” or “The Morning Show”?

“The Morning Show.”

Biggest moment of 2025: TSwift’s engagement or Fed rate cuts?

Fed rate cuts. 

Holiday wish?

Deals, deals, deals, and not just loans. Also shopping deals, travel deals and maybe even a few spa day deals.

How do you shake off market stress?

Pilates is my reset button.

NFL or college football?

NFL.

What song would be the theme tune of your life?

“I’m a Survivor” by Destiny’s Child. 

Thanksgiving: Are you the chef or spectator/taster?

Chef of the same two dishes every year: mac & cheese and stuffing.