Starwood Capital Appoints Rob Allard as Chief Investment Officer of Starwood Insurance Strategies

Associated Press

08-05-2025

Starwood to open up its $30 billion real asset credit platform to the insurance industry
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., May 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Starwood Capital Group ('Starwood Capital') today announced the appointment of Rob Allard as Chief Investment Officer for Starwood Insurance Strategies, a new extension of Starwood Capital's credit platform. Mr. Allard brings more than 27 years of financial industry experience to his new position, including deep expertise in insurance markets, asset-backed finance and private assets.
Starwood Capital is a global leader in real estate and infrastructure investing and lending with approximately $115 billion of total assets under management. The firm has originated more than $100 billion in credit investments since 2010 across several industry-leading verticals including Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), Starwood Infrastructure Finance, and LNR Partners, a $110 billion commercial mortgage special servicer.
'Starwood Capital is well positioned to build upon our extensive relationships with the insurance industry by providing them with access to our expertise across real assets and our leading credit platform,' said Barry Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital. 'We manage an unrivaled real asset credit origination and servicing platform that is a plug-and-play solution for the duration, return and risk profile of these investors. As the owner of more than 15,000 properties globally, we have unique insights and market access that drive our investment activity. Leveraging our expertise to meet the evolving needs of our clients is at the core of what we do, and I am confident Rob and his team will enable us to do just that.'
'We have a large-scale platform that delivers exactly the products our insurance clients are looking for, and unlike many of our peers, we do not have a captive client for this risk-return profile, making us an attractive partner,' added Jonathan Pollack, President of Starwood Capital. 'Rob's expertise and relationships will have an immediate impact on our ability to deliver.'
'I am thrilled to be joining Starwood Capital, one of the preeminent investors in real estate and infrastructure over the past 30 years,' said Mr. Allard. 'I look forward to replicating the success in my previous roles to build a high-quality insurance asset management platform to complement Starwood's existing capital base.'
Mr. Allard's extensive background includes helping set up and build Rothesay Asset Management North America, where he served as Chief Investment Officer and Head of Rothesay North America over the last seven years. Rothesay, originally founded within Goldman Sachs, was sold to Blackstone, GIC, and Mass Mutual in 2017.
About Starwood Capital Group
Starwood Capital Group is a private investment firm with a core focus on real assets globally. Since its inception in 1991, Starwood Capital Group has raised over $80 billion of capital, and currently has ~$115 billion of assets under management. Through a series of comingled opportunity funds and Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, Inc. (SREIT), a non-listed REIT, the Firm has invested in virtually every category of real estate on a global basis, opportunistically shifting asset classes, geographies and positions in the capital stack as it perceives risk/reward dynamics to be evolving.
Starwood Capital also manages Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), the largest commercial mortgage real estate investment trust in the United States, which has successfully deployed over $102 billion of capital since inception and manages a portfolio of over $25 billion across debt and equity investments. Additionally, Starwood Capital manages approximately $4 billion in several private debt funds investing across the globe.
Starwood's large owned portfolio and its active affiliates provide significant real-time information that can be acted on, across asset classes and geographies. These affiliates include: Starwood's in-house property management company with over 2,000 people, Starwood Digital Ventures – Starwood's in-house data center platform with over 60 people fully dedicated to Starwood's data center investment strategy, Starwood Hotels – Starwood's affiliated hotel brand management team with almost 4,000 professionals, Essex Title – which acts as a title agent for one or more underwriters in issuing title policies and/or providing support services, and Starwood Oil & Gas – which leverages Starwood's industry knowledge and extensive transactional experience to capitalize on conventional and unconventional assets in North America. Over the past 33 years, Starwood Capital Group and its affiliates have successfully executed an investment strategy that involves building enterprises in both the private and public markets. Additional information can be found at www.starwoodcapital.com, www.starwoodnav.reit, www.starwoodpropertytrust.com and www.starwoodhotels.com.
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SOURCE Starwood Capital Group