National gives its investment chief the corner office

National Real Estate Advisors will hand its top job to the executive who has been running its money, making Kevin Verdi, now chief investment officer, president and CEO in January 2027 and moving Jeffrey Kanne, who retires after more than 25 years, into a special advisor role, IREI reported Sept. 10.

Verdi's tenure predates the firm itself, starting with NEBF Real Estate, and as chief investment officer he shaped the investment strategy and portfolio growth that defined the Kanne era. Kanne, expressing what the announcement calls complete confidence in Verdi's leadership and vision, said Kevin has been instrumental in National's success since day one.

The mandate spans more than offices. National runs infrastructure alongside commercial real estate, the pairing that has moved toward the center of institutional allocations as capital chases power, land, and the permitting calendars that get projects energized county by county rather than national underwriting models.

National's most recent deal on these pages was the 18-story Greenway Plaza tower National bought with Serac, a Houston building whose tenant roster runs to family offices and foundations, the kind of income this publication argued clears before commodity office does. That read still holds: trophy and near-trophy assets trade when a credible sponsor sets the first bid, and the rest wait. A chief executive promoted from the investment committee is positioned to keep buying in that narrow band; one promoted from the allocation conversation would more likely wait for the market to declare itself safe. Verdi is the first kind.

Scale is part of why the handoff looks quiet. PRED's records put National at 48 employees, small enough that the investment chief and the chief executive have effectively been one conversation for years; putting both titles on Verdi in January 2027 reads as a title catching up to a job already being done. Kanne, who speaks of the firm as one "we founded," stays within reach as an advisor.

Verdi inherits a portfolio built over a quarter century and an office market that trades only when someone bids first. The first test of the new title will be the next building National bids on.