Founder & President

Bryan Manning is a financial executive with significant experience in the Banking (20+ years) and Commercial Real Estate (10+ years) industries. Manning earned a strong reputation and is highly regarded for his strong analytical and relationship management skills, sound judgment, ability to devise positive and practical solutions, instill trust, and to build consensus with clients, investors and stakeholders.

Manning’s Banking experience (1985 – 2008) is comprised of many senior roles, including client relationship management, counterparty credit risk, portfolio management, deal structuring and execution, underwriting and credit analysis, and risk management with leading U.S. and international corporate & investment banks.

Manning worked in the First Chicago / Bank One organizations from 1987 through early 2001. He completed his MBA – Finance at Kellstadt Graduate School of Business (DePaul University – Chicago) in December 1991.  He then completed First Chicago’s Corporate Finance Training Program in 1992. Manning progressed through various Capital Markets Credit and Risk Management roles, and advanced to a Director role within Bank One’s asset-backed securitization business.

Manning joined ABNAMRO Bank’s Financial Institutions & Public Sector (FIPS) Group in 2001, as a Vice President and Credit Portfolio Manager. There he was responsible for all credit-related aspects of two large portfolios: Asset Managers and Public Sector. Within a few years, Manning built these portfolios to include 130 client relationships, over 2,000 counterparties, and in excess of $40 billion in credit exposure via a full suite of credit and capital markets’ products.

In 2005, Manning was promoted to Senior Vice President, and transitioned to a Senior Relationship Banker Role. For the next three years, he straddled the ABN AMRO and LaSalle Bank organizations, and built a new client portfolio specializing in alternative asset managers and structured financial investment vehicles. Manning grew this new business segment to over $40 million in revenues within two years of inception.

In the wake of the great recession, Manning turned his attention to commercial real estate (CRE) with a focus on distressed assets and opportunistic acquisitions. Manning’s CRE experience includes creating and running investment and property management companies; responsibility for acquisitions, due diligence, deal structuring, financing, and asset & property management.

Manning co-founded High Rise Investments, LLC in 2009 to acquire and develop large, distressed multi-family complexes. He established HRI Property Management, LLC in 2011 to act as asset and property manager for all acquired properties. 

As the multi-family sector recovered, and distressed opportunities evaporated, Manning established New Normal Investments, LLC in 2012 to pursue opportunistic acquisitions and development opportunities in the single family development sector. He acquired distressed properties (e.g. “failed subdivisions”) over the next several years, and executed various hold / develop / sale strategies.