Speaking with CEO Peter Berczi

In July 2021, MarshallZehr welcomed Peter Berczi as our new Chief Executive Officer. Over his successful 30 year career, Peter has shown a strong ability to help companies refine their strategies, scale operations and attract new investment. Previously Peter led Benecaid, where he served as the Chief Executive Officer of one of Canada’s leading national health insurers.

Peter has joined MarshallZehr at an exciting time of growth for the company. Adding Peter into the CEO role is part of the long-term strategic plan for MarshallZehr: continuing to elevate our capabilities, reinforcing the scalability of our organization, and focusing on driving the growth of our business.

We sat down with Peter to discuss a number of topics, including why he decided to join MZ, his assessment of our company, and what the market should expect from us.
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Why do you want to be CEO of this company?‍

MarshallZehr is already a great company. Since 2008, this company has been bringing innovative real estate capital solutions to the mid-market in Ontario. I am joining a growing company that already has a terrific reputation with developers, lenders and investors. After 300 successful financings, the technology and experience that has been garnered is impressive.

All that said our two founders, David Marshall and Gregory Zehr, also realized that the growth of MarshallZehr brings certain complexities that could use my experience. It is natural for a successful company to evolve from its entrepreneurial roots to a more substantial and scalable enterprise – and that is the most exciting part of my mandate. David will continue as President focusing on working with our many lenders while Gregory becomes Executive Chairman where he will continue his strategic efforts.

I am incredibly impressed with the entire team at MarshallZehr and look forward to continuing to work closely with its founders – and the rest of the team. Successfully serving one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of our economy – with extremely positive long-term prospects – makes this a dream job for any CEO.‍

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What do you hope to bring to MZ in your new role?‍

There is already a tremendous amount of industry experience and knowledge here at MarshallZehr. My focus will be on assisting the team in developing industrial-strength and scalable processes that will allow us to substantially increase our growth. With 70 projects currently in the ground and almost $2 Billion of transactions in the pipeline, we have a great opportunity to expand our reach.

We will also get more deeply involved with select projects by participating alongside our large roster of high quality developers. They turn to MarshallZehr for all their financial needs across the entire capital stack, and I believe we can truly become a one-stop solution for all of our clients.

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‍What do you see as the biggest strengths of our company right now?

‍I have immensely enjoyed my first month at MarshallZehr. The depth and quality of the team has really struck me as being exceptional. We are growing steadily and will surpass 60 employees fairly soon…

I look forward to welcoming more industry leaders to our company. I am also very impressed with the technology platform at the company. We have a substantial IT team and will continue to make a steady and significant investment in our platforms. Our ability to manage large and complex projects with a focus on efficient capital deployment saves our developers money while bringing industry-leading yields to our lenders and investors.

Over the next year, the market will learn a lot more about MarshallZehr as we spread our wings into new geographies and begin working with additional developers and investors. We are currently financing almost 9,000 units and over 12 million square feet so I already get the sense the market didn’t know how substantial we already are… but the best is certainly yet to come.

Thanks for the interview!