MIAMI, Feb. 18, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — CGI Merchant Group, LLC (CGI) — a global investment management firm with a focus on real estate and private equity — recently welcomed Euclid Walker as senior managing director. An investment management veteran with 27 years of experience, Walker is leading strategy and acquisition efforts for CGI’s signature Hospitality Opportunity Fund (H-Fund) while also managing the firm’s additional investment vehicles, including fundraising and investor relations initiatives.
“CGI’s strategic, yet bold approach to investing also extends to our people. Building our team with like-minded and proven visionaries, like Euclid Walker, will pay dividends for our clients and their portfolios for years to come,” said CGI Founder and CEO, Raoul Thomas. “Euclid joins CGI at a unique and opportune time. His diverse skillset and breadth of expertise will be invaluable as we unlock the potential of our groundbreaking hospitality partnerships and progress our various industry-changing ventures currently in the works.”
In his new role, Walker will leverage his considerable experience advising institutional and family office clients to advance CGI’s recently announced $650 million H-Fund. Working closely with CGI leadership and partners, Walker will curate CGI’s rapidly growing hospitality asset portfolio. The properties will be located across North America and the Caribbean and housed under Hilton’s brand platform.
Beyond expanding CGI’s hospitality portfolio, Walker will be tasked with investor relations and fundraising efforts for all CGI investment strategies, helping forge and further solidify partnerships across the firm’s growing list of institutional investors, capital market players and other high-profile collaborators. He will also help advance and reimagine Nexus Workspaces, CGI’s portfolio of flexible office solutions with a growing footprint across highly sought-after suburban locations.
“Throughout my career, I’ve had the opportunity to work with families, companies and governments from nearly every continent, yet I have rarely seen the combination of innovative investing and thoughtfulness exhibited by CGI,” said Walker. “CGI not only has a proven track record of delivering top-quartile returns but also is committed to creating a measurable impact with mindful initiatives that advance both the communities in which they operate and the hospitality industry as a whole. I am thrilled to be part of a team that shares my commitment to going beyond the bottom line and look forward to proving what conscious investing can achieve.”
A natural entrepreneur, Walker founded and led several successful businesses prior to joining the CGI team, including the investment and advisory firm Parkway Investment Management, LLC, which holds ownership stakes in Opportunity Zone Advisors, LLC, and Global Oak Capital Markets, LLC, a registered broker dealer and investment banking firm. Walker also founded Renascent Capital Group in 2004, which executed transactions and co-investments for global private equity funds and assisted top Wall Street firms with international mergers and acquisitions assignments.
Before these ventures, Walker spent a decade with Morgan Stanley, where he held senior positions, including executive director in the Investment Banking Division and operations officer for Corporate Finance and Mergers and Acquisitions Departments, with leading roles in Johannesburg, London, Chicago and New York.
In addition to his professional endeavors, Walker is a committed civic leader, supporting the local business community as a former member of the Chicago Plan Commission and the Palm Beach County Investment Policy Committee, a position he was appointed to by the Palm Beach Board of Commissioners to help set investment policy for the county’s roughly $2 billion budget.
Walker’s emphasis on community advancement is not limited to the United States. He has served on the boards of LEAP Africa, a nonprofit devoted to youth leadership development in Africa, and Africare, a non-governmental organization with the mission of improving the quality of life for people on the continent.
Walker is also a champion of higher learning, serving on the board of his alma mater, Morehouse College in Atlanta. As a historically black men’s liberal arts college, Morehouse has produced civil rights legends such as Martin Luther King Jr., Maynard Jackson and Julian Bond. Walker is helping the school create the next generation of leaders as a member of the Executive Committee and chair of the Governance and Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel Committees.
“Euclid’s prolific charitable and philanthropic efforts prove one’s professional endeavors should not and need not stand in the way of community involvement,” said Thomas. “He is an inspiration not only to our team but also to the broader business community, reminding us that we have a civic duty to leverage our skills, networks and visions to improve the markets we live and work in.”
About CGI Merchant Group, LLC
CGI Merchant Group (CGI) is a global investment management firm focusing on real estate and private equity. Through our people, unique strategies and investment platform, we work to create long-term value for our investors and shareholders and seek to improve the communities where we invest.