Aristotle believed everything had a purpose and he called that purpose, telos (‘TELL-os’ or ‘TAY-los’). Telos can mean purpose, intent, end, or goal. The Greek philosopher used it in a more distinct and subtle sense—the inherent purpose of each thing, the reason for everything being the way it is, whether created by human beings or nature. Telos Ventures is about building with a purpose.
Brett Merrill is the Managing Principal at Telos Ventures having founded the company in 2018. Building on his prior experiences at institutional-level investment companies, Brett strives to bring the same focus and approach to the boutique commercial real estate space.
Prior to founding Telos Ventures, Brett was Director of Asset Management at Blaze Partners, a multifamily-focused operator, where he was responsible for the performance of the investment portfolio, optimization of portfolio level returns through asset strategy implementation and standardization of protocols to drive efficiency, accuracy, and benchmarking of operational metrics. Brett was previously a Vice President of Asset Management at Jamestown, a national, vertically-integrated real estate investment company and operator, where he served in various roles across the acquisitions and asset management groups. Most recently, he worked directly with the Head of Portfolio on fund and property-specific strategic investment decisions for approximately 60 assets valued in excess of $11 billion domestically. Over his 10-year career at Jamestown, Brett was also directly involved in the growth of Jamestown’s West Coast and Southeast portfolios through the acquisition of nearly $800 million of assets, including the Lantana Entertainment and Media Campus in Santa Monica, CA and the iconic Ghirardelli Square retail complex in San Francisco, CA. Prior to his role in acquisitions, he worked in the asset management group with a focus on urban office and retail properties in gateway cities, as well as, multifamily, medical office, and industrial office types in the Southeast.
Brett earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Furman University in 2005 and a Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in 2007. He has been involved with the Urban Land Institute and ULI’s Young Leader Group throughout his career.
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