Blake grew up in the real estate business and has specialized in leasing, purchasing and selling retail property for the past 10 years. He began his career under the mentorship of La Mancha Development, where he did ground-up development, leasing and sales of shopping malls. He then became one of the top producing brokers at Centers Business Management (CBM), where he handled numerous sales and hundreds of lease transactions representing both landlords and tenants all over Southern California. Blake joined Westwood Financial Corp. (WFC) in 2007, where he acquired, repositioned, and sold assets in the $5 to $15 million range. In 2009, he became a member of the executive team and then Vice President. Working with other members of the executive team, he began to oversee the management of the company as well as its acquisitions and dispositions. Blake also worked on the asset-management side, creating a new leasing and marketing department for the company s entire portfolio, which consisted of eight million square feet of retail space spanning 13 states and 25 markets. During Blake s tenure at WFC, the company sold over $200 million in assets and acquired nearly $650 million in new assets.