CIM Group Adds Co-Founders Avraham Shemesh and Shaul Kuba to Expanded Board
The board also scheduled the company’s 2026 annual meeting for December 9, with October 26 set as the record date.
November 2, 2026
CIM Group, Inc., the company formerly known as CIM Real Estate Finance Trust, has added CIM co-founders Avraham Shemesh and Shaul Kuba to its board, along with returning independent director Alicia K. Harrison. The appointments carry out board changes required under the June agreement that brought CIM Group, LLC's real assets management business into the company.
On October 26, the board expanded from five to seven seats and filled three vacancies the same day. One opening came from Jason Schreiber, a director affiliated with CIM Group Holdings, LLC, who resigned under the agreement's terms. The company said his departure stemmed from that contractual arrangement and not from any disagreement with the company.
What the June Agreement Required
The Contribution and Subscription Agreement, signed June 24 by the company, CIM Group Holdings and CIM Finance Holdings, LP, required every director affiliated with CIM Group Holdings to step down except Richard Ressler, the company's chairman, chief executive and president. It also called for the election of Shemesh, Kuba and a third person designated by CIM Group Holdings who meets the company's independence standards. Harrison fills that third seat.
Under the same agreement, CIM Group Holdings contributed the real assets management business and investment portfolio of CIM Group, LLC to the company's new operating partnership. In exchange, it received operating partnership units and special voting preferred shares representing approximately 67.5% of the combined company's economic and voting ownership, and the company took the CIM Group, Inc. name.
Founders Join as Insiders
Shemesh, 64, and Kuba, 63, co-founded CIM in 1994 and have served as vice presidents of the company since June 2026. Neither will be paid separately for board service. Both are founders of CIM Group, LLC, which owns and controls CIM Group Holdings, and both share in CIM Group, LLC's earnings and profits. They may be deemed to beneficially own the common stock, special voting preferred stock and operating partnership units held by CIM Group Holdings.
Shemesh is president of CIM's Real Asset Management division and sits on its investment, allocation, real assets management and valuation committees. He previously served as a director of the company from March 2019 to February 2024. He was also chief executive, and later chairman, of Cole Credit Property Trust V until that REIT merged into the company in December 2020, and a director of CIM Income NAV, Inc. until its merger with the company in December 2021.
Kuba is president of CIM's Real Asset Services division and heads its Development Group, which handles the development, redevelopment and repositioning of CIM's real estate assets. He has been a director of Creative Media & Community Trust Corporation since March 2014 and its chief investment officer since November 2022. Shemesh has sat on the same board since March 2014. Before CIM, the two co-founded Dekel Development, a Los Angeles developer of commercial and multifamily properties.
Harrison Returns From Lending Affiliate
Harrison, 67, served on the company's board from June 2016 to February 2024, when she moved to the board of trustees of CIM Commercial Lending REIT, an affiliate of the company whose Wells Fargo repurchase facility doubled to $500 million in March. She was an independent trustee there until September 2026. During her earlier tenure on the company's board, she chaired the nominating and corporate governance committee from August 2018 to March 2022 and sat on the audit committee from April 2022 to February 2024.
Harrison has served on the board of Ryan Companies US, Inc., a commercial real estate developer, since May 2012, and was a director of bank holding company Independent Bank Group, Inc. from May 2019 to January 2025. She spent 1986 to 2012 at Wells Fargo and its predecessor banks, retiring as an executive vice president in Commercial Banking.
The company said Harrison meets its independence standards and will be compensated under its standard arrangements for non-employee directors. She signed no agreement with the company beyond its standard director indemnification agreement.
Annual Meeting Set
All three new directors will serve until the company's next annual meeting and until their successors are elected and qualify. The board has scheduled the 2026 annual meeting for Wednesday, December 9, and stockholders of record at the close of business on October 26 are entitled to vote.
