Leadership

Makan (Mike) Mortazavi

Managing Principal

Mike Mortazavi is a commercial real estate investment executive with over two decades of experience in acquisitions, financing, asset management, and operations. His experience spans multiple asset classes, with a primary focus on multifamily and office investments.

Prior to founding Avia Equities, Mike was a Head of Acquisitions and Capital Markets at Archway Equities, a Los Angeles-based private equity firm. Previously, he was a Partner at Palmer Capital, a California-based boutique capital markets firm. During his six-year tenure at Archway, he executed over $700 million in multifamily and office acquisitions. At Palmer Capital, he focused on investment sales throughout the Western United States, completing more than $1 billion in transactions across office, medical office, and retail properties.

Earlier in his career, Mike spent more than a decade overseas as Managing Partner in the Dubai division of Sunland Group, a publicly traded Australian real estate developer, where he oversaw more than $1 billion in mixed-use real estate development projects. He later worked in Toronto with the office brokerage team at Colliers Canada.

Mike holds an MBA with a concentration in Finance from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University in Canada, a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, and a degree in Systems Engineering.

John Churchward

Managing Director

John is a commercial real estate investment professional with more than 25 years of experience spanning lending, capital markets advisory, and principal investing. Throughout his career, he has completed more than $3 billion in transactions across a broad range of property types and capital structures.

John began his career as a lender with FINOVA Realty Capital, a CMBS originator based in Irvine, California, before joining iStar Financial’s Investments team in Boston and New York. At iStar, he originated and closed single-tenant net lease investments and sale-leaseback transactions, as well as structured bridge and construction financings across senior and subordinate debt positions. These transactions spanned office, industrial, hospitality, residential, and special-purpose properties nationwide.

In 2010, John relocated to Northern California and later joined HFF’s San Francisco office in a capital markets advisory role. He transitioned to principal investing in 2017 and began working with Avia Equities in 2021, focusing on acquisitions and asset management.

John holds a degree in Engineering from Brown University, where he competed in varsity hockey and crew. He was a member of Brown’s 1995 Ivy League championship hockey team and earned a silver medal at the 1997 IRA National Championship as a member of the rowing team.