Matthew Webster is Executive Vice President, Chief Credit Officer at Red Oak Capital Holdings, LLC where he leads the firm’s credit culture, lending operations, and risk management initiatives. Based in the firm’s Charlotte, North Carolina headquarters, Matt oversees all loan portfolios and directs the underwriting, loan operations, and asset management teams to ensure disciplined credit decision-making and strategic portfolio management. He plays a key role in structuring and pricing Red Oak’s investments on a risk-adjusted basis while working closely with origination personnel to maintain a strong lending pipeline.
In addition to his responsibilities at Red Oak, Matt leads credit oversight at Oak Real Estate Partners (OREP), where he manages credit policies, risk assessment, and underwriting operations for the firm’s institutional investment strategies. His broad oversight ensures an integrated approach to credit and capital deployment. Matt will also sit on both companies’ Credit and Investment Committees.
With more than 30 years of experience in commercial real estate finance, alternative asset management, and capital markets, Matt has been involved in structuring and executing more than $250 billion in transactions across senior and mezzanine finance, equity investment, non-performing loan management, and property development. Throughout his career, he has worked with sovereign wealth funds, REITs, institutional asset managers, and private capital sources.
Prior to joining Red Oak, Matt served as Global Head of Real Estate Finance for HSBC, where he oversaw more than $100 billion in global commercial real estate exposure. His career also includes leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Hypo Real Estate, and FitchRatings, where he advised governments, central banks, and industry regulators on financial stability and risk management.
Matt holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) certificate and earned dual bachelor’s degrees in Business Management and Economics from North Carolina State University. He has served in various industry and regulatory advisory roles and is a frequent guest lecturer on commercial real estate finance.
Thomas A. McGovern is Chief Financial Officer of Red Oak Capital Holdings, where he applies his strategic and tactical capabilities to help drive the firm’s continued enterprise growth. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, the multifunctional executive leads the national commercial real estate finance company’s financial accounting and reporting, investor communications, and ERP systems requisition efforts.
Thomas’ capital markets track record spans more than two decades of working with companies and sponsors to effect private placements, high yield and investment-grade debt issuance, IPOs, and follow-on equity offerings. He has served as an Investment Banker and Equity Research Analyst for financial services firms including Morgan Stanley, Cypress Associates, RBC Capital Markets and, most recently, Nomura. As Executive Director, he executed $14 billion in high-yield financing and led the firm’s insurance services coverage and private equity sponsor relationship efforts.
Thomas earned a master’s degree in business administration from Charlottesville, VA’s Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia and is a summa cum laude graduate of Hamilton College with a degree in economics. A Certified Public Accountant, he also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and a Series 79 securities license from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
Jeff Pirhalla serves as the Managing Director, Production for Red Oak Capital Holdings. In this position he leads the company’s loan origination strategy and production initiatives for the firm’s lending platform. Bringing more than 25 years of national lending experience across Agency, CMBS, bridge and portfolio executions, Pirhalla will report to Chief Credit Officer Matthew Webster and work closely with Chief Executive Officer Gary Bechtel.
Prior to joining Red Oak, Jeff served as Executive Vice President for BankFinancial, where he led the bank’s national commercial real estate lending platform, overseeing origination, underwriting, and portfolio performance across multifamily and commercial real estate. Previously, he served as a Director at Greystone, originating Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, CMBS, bridge and FHA loans nationwide across institutional-quality multifamily and commercial real estate assets. Earlier in his career, Pirhalla led CBRE’s Bank Correspondent Lending practice, providing off-balance-sheet commercial and multifamily real estate lending solutions for banks, credit unions and mortgage bankers.
Pirhalla is a Certified Commercial Banker & Credit Analyst (CBCA) and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate from Marylhurst University. Pirhalla has also earned certificates related to Artificial Intelligence in Real Estate and Business Strategy from Columbia University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Paul Cleary is President and Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of Red Oak Capital Holdings, where he oversees the firm’s finances, business partnerships and funding opportunities. The Charlotte, North Carolina-based executive is also charged with overseeing and measuring the success of business and employee initiatives for the national commercial real estate finance company.
In addition to his role with Red Oak, Paul serves as Managing Partner and President of Oak Real Estate Partners (OREP), a national fund manager focused on the institutional investment sector.
Paul has over 25 years of national commercial real estate lending experience involving small-balance originations, construction loans and federally chartered credit union portfolios. He has significant expertise in creating and managing lending policies and guidelines, as well as the development of operational tools and information systems to support financing operations. Before Red Oak, Paul was a Senior Loan Originator with Parkview Financial, and served as Chief Operating Officer for Money360, Inc.
Paul is an alumnus of the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. He also holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Irvine, as well as a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law.