Chris Kelly is a Managing Director at The Ardent Companies. Chris has 32 years of experience in commercial real estate credit and institutional asset management and has had direct responsibility for more than $12 billion in originations. Prior to joining Ardent in January 2020, Chris served as the Managing Director and Head of CRE Lending at Amherst Capital Management (“ACAM CRE”).  As a founding member, Chris  was responsible for all facets of the business including the development and execution of ACAM CRE’s middle market transitional lending strategy and well as the development and management of ACAM CRE’s institutional client base.  Prior to Amherst, Chris was the Managing Director and Head of Real Estate with CapitalSource, a division of Pacific Western Bank. During his 12-year tenure at CapitalSouce, Chris was responsible for all aspects of CapitalSource’s national CRE lending business, including the development and management of a 35-member, six office platform. Prior to CapitalSource, Chris was a Managing Director and founding member of Natixis (f/k/a CDC Mortgage Capital) where he was responsible for the origination of senior and mezzanine loans. Previous to this, Chris was with Lehman Brothers where he originated interim and permanent debt for the Fixed Income Group. Prior to Lehman, Chris spent over eight years in the real estate division of Heller Financial in Chicago and New York. At Heller, Chris was involved in numerous activities including the origination of a wide array of senior and mezzanine debt for all types of commercial real estate.   He is a member of various real estate organizations including CREFC, ULI, MBA, ICSC, WREAA and Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center. Chris is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a former board member for the Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association.