2026 LARE Spirit of Life Campaign

Join City of Hope and the industry's key leaders in celebration of the continued support and generosity of Griffin Capital Chairman and Co-CEO, Kevin Shields.

For 30 years, The Spirit of Life Award has been presented to individuals who exemplify the ideals and values that have guided City of Hope for over a century- compassion, service, integrity, curiosity, excellence and collaboration. Recipients have a track record of professional and humanitarian accomplishments that have made a difference in the lives of others.

2026 also marks the 30th anniversary of the Los Angeles Real Estate and Construction Council (LARE). We invite you to join us this fall for a milestone industry event.

Mr. Shields founded Griffin Capital in 1995, serves as the Company’s Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, and is based in the firm’s headquarters in El Segundo, CA. Griffin Capital currently sponsors a series of Reg. D Private Placements, including the Griffin Capital Qualified Opportunity Zone Funds I-IV, Griffin Capital Development Partners Fund II and III and a series stand-alone multifamily Delaware Statutory Trust offerings. Collectively, these private offerings represent over $2.5 billion in equity committed to supporting the ground-up development and/or acquisition of 40 multifamily communities representing over $4.5 billion in total project costs.

Griffin Capital previously sponsored two ‘40 Act Interval Funds: the Griffin Institutional Access Real Estate Fund and Griffin Institutional Access Credit Fund, for which Mr. Shields served as the President for each fund and also served as the Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Capital Advisor, LLC and Griffin Capital Credit Advisor, LLC, each an SEC-registered investment advisor and the advisor to Real Estate Fund and the Credit Fund, respectively. The Interval Fund management business and the advisors thereto were sold to Apollo Global Management, Inc. in May 2022 (representing approximately $6.5 billion in equity).

Griffin Capital has also sponsored or co-sponsored a series of public, non-listed real estate investment trusts including: Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II, Inc. (sold to Northstar Realty Finance, Inc. in December 2014 for $4 billion), Griffin-American Healthcare REIT III, Inc. and Griffin-American Healthcare REIT IV, Inc. (which trusts were merged and the management team internalized into the combined $4.7 billion healthcare REIT in October 2022 that, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in February 2024) and Peakstone Realty Trust, Inc. (“PKST”), an entity formed via the April 2019 $4.7 billion merger of Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT, Inc. and Griffin Capital Essential Asset REIT II, Inc, (the management team was internalized in December 2018 and PKST subsequently acquired via merger $1.1 billion of assets from the former CCITII REIT to form a $5.8 billion enterprise that was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in April 2023). Mr. Shields formerly served as the Chief Executive Officer of each of the Griffin Capital Essential Asset REITs until their internalization and served as the Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors until its listing. Mr. Shields also formerly served as a Board of Director’s observer for each of the Griffin-American Healthcare REITs until their internalization. Mr. Shields was formerly the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Griffin Capital Securities, LLC, a FINRA-registered broker-dealer that served as the dealer manager for the REITs and a series of Reg. D private placements sponsored by Griffin Capital and the exclusive wholesale marketing agent for Credit Fund and the Real Estate Fund. Griffin Capital Securities was also sold to Apollo in a transaction that closed March 1, 2022 after having raised and issued over $23 billion of equity through its retail distribution network consisting of wirehouse, independent broker dealer and registered investment advisor clientele.

Before founding Griffin Capital, Mr. Shields was a Senior Vice President and head of the Structured Real Estate Finance Group at Jefferies & Company, Inc. in Los Angeles and a Vice President in the Real Estate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers Inc. in both New York and Los Angeles. Over the course of his 35-year plus real estate and investment banking career, Mr. Shields has structured and closed over 300 transactions totaling in excess of $30 billion of real estate acquisitions, financings and dispositions.

Mr. Shields is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree (graduating with Phi Beta Kappa distinction), a Masters in Business Administration degree from the Haas School of Graduate business (graduating magna cum laude with Beta Gamma Sigma distinction) and a Juris Doctorate Degree from Berkeley Law (f/k/a Boalt Hall School of Law). Mr. Shields lives with his wife in Manhattan Beach, California and, together, they share four children and five grandchildren.