Chris Watson '79 CV

Mr. Watson is a co-founder and Managing Member of Watson Setzer Real Estate Partners LLC, a private real estate investment and development enterprise focused on San Francisco Bay area opportunities. With 37 years of first-hand real estate industry experience, Mr. Watson, shares the responsibility for day to day investment and asset management activities and leads all equity and debt origination. Mr. Watson is also a Managing Member of Lakeshore Partners LLC a separate investment vehicle.

Prior to forming Watson Setzer Real Estate Partners LLC, Mr. Watson was a Partner and Management Committee Member at Maier Siebel Baber Real Estate Investment Advisors, a division of U.S. Trust Company, where for 10 years he was responsible for securing all investor equity, spearheading investor relations and the oversight of the portfolio asset management for 20 Class A office properties totaling in excess of 3 million square feet. These responsibilities included direct involvement in marketing, leasing, construction management, and budgeting for all properties owned by Maier Siebel Baber throughout the Western United States.

Previously Mr. Watson was Executive Vice President of Pacific Gateway Properties, a publicly traded real estate investment trust, where for 6 years he was responsible for the operations of the company’s portfolio, including marketing, leasing, acquisitions, dispositions and construction services.

Mr. Watson began his real estate career in 1982 as an office leasing and investment sales specialist with CBRE in Walnut Creek California, servicing the needs of domestic and international clients. During his ten-year career in commercial brokerage at CBRE, Mr. Watson was awarded the Rookie of the Year in his first year of production and was a qualifier as a top “5” producer in the office each year thereafter.

Mr. Watson is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.