2017 Hot List Recipient
2020 Hot List Recipient
2021 CEO of the Year
Accolades
Media
Avenue Living is founded with the company’s first multi-family investment property in Brooks, Alberta
2006
A steady cadence of real estate investment
As the chief investment officer of Avenue Living, Jason Jogia plays a key role in the firm’s strategy: looking past trophy real estate to focus on everyday assets like workforce housing, commercial real estate, farmland, and self-storage.
That commitment to looking at fundamentals and necessities rather than chasing the shiny and sexy resonates deeply with Jogia, whose fascination with real estate began at age 16 when he watched his parents build a small commercial strip mall in Calgary.
“Watching them through the process of buying the land and building this mall for their own operating business and others got me super interested in and passionate about in real estate,” he recalls.
As his parents continued to dabble in real estate development and investment, Jogia went on to study finance, eventually earning his master’s degree in corporate finance. That led to his first job working as an analyst
in the real estate division at TD Canada Trust.
“I was actually supposed to work in another department. But two days before I was meant to start, the person who ran the real estate group called and said they had an opening,” he says. “I thought to myself, ‘I like finance, I like banking, and I love real estate,’ so that catalyzed my entry into the world of real estate investment.”
From partnership to mentorship
Jogia broke into the industry at an opportune time: it was during the 2006–2007 period, when Alberta’s real estate market was going through its longest boom. The experience and skills he amassed proved vital as he moved on to other financial institutions. Eventually, he landed at Scotiabank in 2013, where he ran real estate banking for the Prairies region and eventually grew it into a $1.5-billion portfolio.
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages of the development life cycle … anything from the starting point of land all the way to the investment’s capital allocation,” he recalls. “Learning every aspect of the real estate value chain really gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction.”
“Anthony said, ‘I’d like you to come and work with me,’ and it was a crossroads in my career. I recognized he was blazing a trail in the real estate market,” Jogia says. “In true banker fashion, I took about nine months to pull the trigger and join the Avenue Living family, and I’ve never looked back.”
Three businesses, one voice
In 2016, Jogia officially joined Avenue Living Asset Management as its CIO, as well as the CEO of the Avenue Living Real Estate Opportunity Trust.
“Originally, the Opportunity Trust was a project Anthony had me advise him on as a banker. I gave him my thoughts about how it should be created,” Jogia says. “When I presented the final structure, he asked, ‘Why don’t you set it up and run it with me?’ And I was happy to do it.”
Since he came aboard, Avenue Living has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2017, the company launched its flagship Avenue Living real estate core trust. In 2020, it introduced its US real estate trust – which would go on to be absorbed into the core trust – and its mini mall storage properties trust; that same year, it hit $2 billion in AUM. The company continued to gain momentum as it achieved $3 billion in AUM by 2021.
“We’re now north of $4 billion in AUM, and my objective is for the company to continue to grow sustainably,” Jogia says. “Two years ago, we became signatories to the UN Principles of Responsible Investing, and we’ve partnered with the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to establish a framework
to do deep energy retrofits on multi-family buildings in Canada.”
Jogia’s ambition for steady and sustainable growth is underpinned by the company’s solid threefold business model. One piece, the property management business, focuses on a best-in-class experience for Avenue Living’s multi-family residential tenants and self-storage customers.
“As the CIO, I ensure that when we’re looking at investment decisions within that arm of our business, we are doing right by the customer,” Jogia says. “That has a direct correlation to doing right by the investors, which is another group of stakeholders we serve as an asset manager.”
The asset-management face of the business, he says, involves strategically acquiring assets and leveraging them into strategies that transcend the day-to-day. Assets are bought with 10-year plans in mind, and Avenue Living’s proprietary operating platforms help ensure they deliver appropriate returns. The asset manager also assesses and approves capital investments that can create value and thus pay for themselves.
The third pillar of Avenue Living’s success lies in its fund management function. As a steward of capital amassed from alternative investment markets, Avenue Living has created a cadence of capital raising that moves along with the wealth of its ownership, principals, partners, and founding investors. Auditors, third-party appraisers, and other validators are also involved to ensure integrity with best practices throughout the process.
“As Anthony has said before, ‘We run our businesses with one voice: how we speak to our bankers is how we speak to our investors is how we speak to our employees,’” Jogia says. “When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors, you’re thinking about them not only as investors of the broader alternative market but as your family. It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day.”
Spotlight
With his keenly developed eye for risk mitigation, Jogia established a clean track record in real estate lending, with no material default that led to a loan loss. He also became a valuable partner to many clients including Anthony Giuffre, founder and CEO of Avenue Living and Jogia’s personal mentor.
“What Anthony was looking to accomplish in the secondary, tertiary, and some of the primary markets in the Prairies was so against the grain,” Jogia recalls. “A lot of my clients at the time gravitated toward trophy assets and big-game hunting, but he wanted to find and add value to assets hidden in plain sight.”
Over the course of their collaboration, Giuffre grew from being a small client on Jogia’s book to a relationship representing north of $100 million in business. As the two men came to understand each other’s thinking and styles, their relationship developed into friendship, which eventually led to a life-changing professional invitation.
Avenue Living Asset Management, which operates as part of the Avenue Living Group, is a leading Canadian alternative asset manager. With a shelf of four alternative investment products as of 2022, Avenue Living entities own and operate assets throughout Canada and the United States that support sectors essential to the everyday lives of North Americans: workforce housing, commercial real estate, farmland, and self-storage. Through a disciplined, diversified, and analytical approach, Avenue Living executes its investment strategies with an eye toward creating long-term value for investors as well as the communities where it operates.
Company Profile
Over
$4.1 billion
AUM as of 2022
Over 15,000 multi-residential apartment units
Size of multi-residential portfolio
496,500 square feet
Size of commercial real estate portfolio
Over
4.6 million square feet
Size of self-storage portfolio
Approximately 83,000 acres
Size of agricultural portfolio
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
Years of Experience
15+ in the industry; 10+ years teaching real estate investment analysis at the University of Calgary, where he is pursuing his doctorate in business administration
Tenure at current position
2017 – Present
quick facts
Chief Investment Officer at Avenue Living
CIO of Avenue Living on his industry journey and his role in the firm’s threefold business model
Read on
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages.… Learning every aspect of the real-estate value chain gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
“When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors.… It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
Share
2017 Hot List Recipient
2020 Hot List Recipient
2021 CEO of the Year
Accolades
Media
Milestones
2011
2012
2015
2016
2019
2021
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2012
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2015
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2016
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2019
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2021
A steady cadence of real estate investment
Karen Adams has had a remarkable journey to her current role as CEO of Fundserv. Originally from Toronto, Adams earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics at Queens University, followed by an MBA in international finance at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, she set off across the globe, holding various positions with HSBC that took her to London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Mumbai.
That global experience gave Adams a unique perspective, prompting her to develop a leadership style that’s based on developing relationships with each individual, listening and understanding to help them reach their potential. That approach goes well beyond her own team, allowing Fundserv to succeed in creating solutions for its members.
“Having worked in many different countries, people ask if I am an expert in multicultural leadership,” Adams says. “I always say there is no such thing because that assumes you manage people based on their background. I have learned that people all want the same things: to develop our careers, give our kids a good future, etc. When she returned to Canada learned that people all
“I was actually supposed to work in another department. But two days before I was meant to start, the person who ran the real estate group called and said they had an opening,” he says. “I thought to myself, ‘I like finance, I like banking, and I love real estate,’ so that catalyzed my entry into the world of real estate investment.”
From partnership to mentorship
Jogia broke into the industry at an opportune time: it was during the 2006–2007 period, when Alberta’s real estate market was going through its longest boom. The experience and skills he amassed proved vital as he moved on to other financial institutions. Eventually, he landed at Scotiabank in 2013, where he ran real estate banking for the Prairies region and eventually grew it into a $1.5-billion portfolio.
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages of the development life cycle … anything from the starting point of land all the way to the investment’s capital allocation,” he recalls. “Learning every aspect of the real estate value chain really gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction.”
With his keenly developed eye for risk mitigation, Jogia established a clean track record in real estate lending, with no material default that led to a loan loss. He also became a valuable partner to many clients including Anthony Giuffre, founder and CEO of Avenue Living and Jogia’s personal mentor.
From those forums, a common theme arose that has plagued the industry for years: the amount of paper required in transactions.
“We have a motto to ‘axe the fax,’ and we saw this opportunity where members didn’t want their staff going into the office, but there are still physical cheques going back and forth,” Adams explains. “We put in place, in just six months, Ad-Hoc Money Movement [A$M]. We responded to the industry and are in the process of replacing cheques, which I think is awesome. We launched in January and have seen so much volume. We think ultimately we are keeping people healthier by not having to travel into the office.”
Since he came aboard, Avenue Living has grown by leaps and bounds. In 2017, the company launched its flagship Avenue Living real estate core trust. In 2020, it introduced its US real estate trust – which would go on to be absorbed into the core trust – and its mini mall storage properties trust; that same year, it hit $2 billion in AUM. The company continued to gain momentum as it achieved $3 billion in AUM by 2021.
“We’re now north of $4 billion in AUM, and my objective is for the company to continue to grow sustainably,” Jogia says. “Two years ago, we became signatories to the UN Principles of Responsible Investing, and we’ve partnered with the Canadian Infrastructure Bank to establish a framework to do deep energy retrofits on multi-family buildings in Canada.”
Jogia’s ambition for steady and sustainable growth is underpinned by the company’s solid threefold business model. One piece, the property management business, focuses on a best-in-class experience for Avenue Living’s multi-family residential tenants and self-storage customers.
“As the CIO, I ensure that when we’re looking at investment decisions within that arm of our business, we are doing right by the customer,” Jogia says. “That has a direct correlation to doing right by the investors, which is another group of stakeholders we serve as an asset manager.”
The asset-management face of the business, he says, involves strategically acquiring assets and leveraging them into strategies that transcend the day-to-day. Assets are bought with 10-year plans in mind, and Avenue Living’s proprietary operating platforms help ensure they deliver appropriate returns. The asset manager also assesses and approves capital investments that can create value and thus pay for themselves.
The third pillar of Avenue Living’s success lies in its fund management function. As a steward of capital amassed from alternative investment markets, Avenue Living has created a cadence of capital raising that moves along with the wealth of its ownership, principals, partners, and founding investors. Auditors, third-party appraisers, and other validators are also involved to ensure integrity with best practices throughout the process.
“As Anthony has said before, ‘We run our businesses with one voice: how we speak to our bankers is how we speak to our investors is how we speak to our employees,’” Jogia says. “When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors, you’re thinking about them not only as investors of the broader alternative market but as your family. It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day.”
Spotlight
Fundserv is the indispensable connectivity hub for the Canadian investment industry. Headquartered in Toronto, we electronically connect Manufacturers, Distributors, and Intermediaries, enabling them to buy, sell, and transfer investment funds. With more than 100 employees, Fundserv serves hundreds of members—executing up to 63 million yearly network transactions—and provides online access to more than 70,000 investment fund products.
Established in 1993, Fundserv is a private corporation that is owned by the industry we serve. Our 10 shareholders are a cross-section of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Service Providers who represent our members.
We operate using a cost-recovery model, meaning any unused profit may be rebated back to our members. In addition to our network and applications, we lead and facilitate industry committees and working groups that promote automation initiatives and establish the industry’s electronic standards.
By ensuring every trade is processed timely, accurately, and securely, Fundserv has rightfully earned a reputation for service excellence—a hallmark of more than 25 years in the investment industry.
Company Profile
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages.… Learning every aspect of the real-estate value chain gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
“When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors.… It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
Years of Experience
15+ in the industry; 10+ years teaching real estate investment analysis at the University of Calgary, where he is pursuing his doctorate in business administration
Tenure at current position
2017 – Present
BAsed In
Toronto, Ont.
quick facts
Recognized among the Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine (Calgary) in 2020
President and CEO at Fundserv
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
Read on
Share
Share
2017 Hot List Recipient
2020 Hot List Recipient
2021 CEO of the Year
Accolades
Media
Milestones
2011
2012
2015
2016
2019
2021
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2012
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2015
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2016
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2019
Curabitur feugiat eget leo id tempus. Maecenas commodo, nibh at ultricies pulvinar, ipsum erat porta metus, et tempus justo tellus euismod dolor.
2021
A steady cadence of real estate investment
Karen Adams has had a remarkable journey to her current role as CEO of Fundserv. Originally from Toronto, Adams earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics at Queens University, followed by an MBA in international finance at the University of British Columbia. After graduating, she set off across the globe, holding various positions with HSBC that took her to London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul and Mumbai.
That global experience gave Adams a unique perspective, prompting her to develop a leadership style that’s based on developing relationships with each individual, listening and understanding to help them reach their potential. That approach goes well beyond her own team, allowing Fundserv to succeed in creating solutions for its members.
“Having worked in many different countries, people ask if I am an expert in multicultural leadership,” Adams says. “I always say there is no such thing because that assumes you manage people based on their background. I have learned that people all want the same things: to develop our careers, give our kids a good future, etc. When she returned to Canada learned that people all
From those forums, a common theme arose that has plagued the industry for years: the amount of paper required in transactions.
“We have a motto to ‘axe the fax,’ and we saw this opportunity where members didn’t want their staff going into the office, but there are still physical cheques going back and forth,” Adams explains. “We put in place, in just six months, Ad-Hoc Money Movement [A$M]. We responded to the industry and are in the process of replacing cheques, which I think is awesome. We launched in January and have seen so much volume. We think ultimately we are keeping people healthier by not having to travel into the office.”
Jogia’s ambition for steady and sustainable growth is underpinned by the company’s solid threefold business model. One piece, the property management business, focuses on a best-in-class experience for Avenue Living’s multi-family residential tenants and self-storage customers.
“As the CIO, I ensure that when we’re looking at investment decisions within that arm of our business, we are doing right by the customer,” Jogia says. “That has a direct correlation to doing right by the investors, which is another group of stakeholders we serve as an asset manager.”
The asset-management face of the business, he says, involves strategically acquiring assets and leveraging them into strategies that transcend the day-to-day. Assets are bought with 10-year plans in mind, and Avenue Living’s proprietary operating platforms help ensure they deliver appropriate returns. The asset manager also assesses and approves capital investments that can create value and thus pay for themselves.
The third pillar of Avenue Living’s success lies in its fund management function. As a steward of capital amassed from alternative investment markets, Avenue Living has created a cadence of capital raising that moves along with the wealth of its ownership, principals, partners, and founding investors. Auditors, third-party appraisers, and other validators are also involved to ensure integrity with best practices throughout the process.
“As Anthony has said before, ‘We run our businesses with one voice: how we speak to our bankers is how we speak to our investors is how we speak to our employees,’” Jogia says. “When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors, you’re thinking about them not only as investors of the broader alternative market but as your family. It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day.”
Spotlight
Fundserv is the indispensable connectivity hub for the Canadian investment industry. Headquartered in Toronto, we electronically connect Manufacturers, Distributors, and Intermediaries, enabling them to buy, sell, and transfer investment funds. With more than 100 employees, Fundserv serves hundreds of members—executing up to 63 million yearly network transactions—and provides online access to more than 70,000 investment fund products.
Established in 1993, Fundserv is a private corporation that is owned by the industry we serve. Our 10 shareholders are a cross-section of Manufacturers, Distributors, and Service Providers who represent our members.
We operate using a cost-recovery model, meaning any unused profit may be rebated back to our members. In addition to our network and applications, we lead and facilitate industry committees and working groups that promote automation initiatives and establish the industry’s electronic standards.
By ensuring every trade is processed timely, accurately, and securely, Fundserv has rightfully earned a reputation for service excellence—a hallmark of more than 25 years in the investment industry.
Company Profile
1983
AUM as of 2022
Over 15,000 multi-residential apartment units
Size of multi-residential portfolio
496,500 square feet
PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG FUNDSERV EMPLOYEES
Over 4.6 million square feet
PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
63,514,128
NUMBER OF ORDERS PROCESSED IN 2019
Years of Experience
Years of experience – 15+ in the industry; 10+ years teaching real estate investment analysis at the University of Calgary, where he is pursuing his doctorate in business administration
Tenure at current position
2017 – Present
BAsed In
Toronto, Ont.
quick factS
Recognized among the Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine (Calgary) in 2020
President and CEO at Fundserv
Career highlight
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
Read on
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages.… Learning every aspect of the real-estate value chain gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
“When you’re shoulder-to-shoulder with your investors.… It gives you a very different lens as to how you go to work every day”
Jason Jogia,
Avenue Living
IN Partnership with
In Partnership with
In Partnership with
2006
2014
2016
2017
2020
2022
Avenue Living is founded with the company’s first multi-family investment property in Brooks, Alberta
2006
Avenue Living expands to 6,099 units throughout the Prairie provinces and raises its first round of outside capital
2014
Jason Jogia joins Avenue Living as chief investment officer and forms its opportunity trust as chief executive officer
2016
Avenue Living forms its flagship core trust, an alternative investment product enabling retail participation alongside its founding partners
2017
Avenue Living enters the self-storage and multi-family space in the US, and surpasses $2 billion total AUM
2020
Avenue Living opens US headquarters, grows to over 900 employees, and surpasses $4 billion in total AUM
2022
Milestones
Recognized among the Top 40 Under 40 by Avenue Magazine (Calgary) in 2020
Originated over $10 billion in real estate loans and $1 billion in equity for Avenue Living
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Originated over $10 billion in real estate loans and $1 billion in equity for Avenue Living
63,514,128
NUMBER OF ORDERS PROCESSED IN 2019
Over 4.6 million square feet
PROPORTION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP
496,500 square feet
PROPORTION OF WOMEN AMONG FUNDSERV EMPLOYEES
Over 15,000 multi-residential apartment units
Size of multi-residential portfolio
1983
AUM as of 2022
Companies
About us
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Copyright © 1996-2022 Key Media Pty Ltd
Contact us
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Your Practice
Investments
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Best in Wealth
Subscribe
Originated over $10 billion in real estate loans and $1 billion in equity for Avenue Living
From partnership to mentorship
Jogia broke into the industry at an opportune time: it was during the 2006–2007 period, when Alberta’s real estate market was going through its longest boom. The experience and skills he amassed proved vital as he moved on to other financial institutions. Eventually, he landed at Scotiabank in 2013, where he ran real estate banking for the Prairies region and eventually grew it into a $1.5-billion portfolio.
“The portfolio of debt I managed included real estate projects at various stages of the development life cycle … anything from the starting point of land all the way to the investment’s capital allocation,” he recalls. “Learning every aspect of the real estate value chain really gave me the discipline to distinguish between a bankable transaction and a non-bankable transaction.”
With his keenly developed eye for risk mitigation, Jogia established a clean track record in real estate lending, with no material default that led to a loan loss. He also became a valuable partner to many clients including Anthony Giuffre, founder and CEO of Avenue Living and Jogia’s personal mentor.
“What Anthony was looking to accomplish in the secondary, tertiary, and some of the primary markets in the Prairies was so against the grain,” Jogia recalls. “A lot of my clients at the time gravitated toward trophy assets and big-game hunting, but he wanted to find and add value to assets hidden in plain sight.”
Over the course of their collaboration, Giuffre grew from being a small client on Jogia’s book to a relationship representing north of $100 million in business. As the two men came to understand each other’s thinking and styles, their relationship developed into friendship, which eventually led to a life-changing professional invitation.
News
Your Practice
Investments
Resources
Best in Wealth
Subscribe
Companies
About us
Privacy
Terms of Use
RSS
People
Newsletter
Authors
Contact us
External contributors
Copyright © 1996-2022 Key Media Pty Ltd