Ari Hirt is a managing director of Capital Markets Institutional Advisory at Walker & Dunlop, based in New York City. In this role, he is responsible for the firm’s placement and execution efforts for commercial real estate developers, owners, and investors nationwide. Hirt also oversees business development, including sourcing and evaluating new financing opportunities. Throughout his career, he has completed more than $20 billion in debt and equity transactions for institutional and private commercial real estate owners and developers. He has been quoted as a thought leader in industry publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Commercial Observer, New York Real Estate Journal, and Real Estate Finance and Investment.

Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Hirt was a managing director at AKS Capital Partners, where he helped the firm become one of the nation’s top-producing capital markets advisory firms. He previously held senior lending positions at Nomura Asset Capital Corporation and KeyBank.

Hirt earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from Yeshiva University and a master’s in business and finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Outside the company, he founded the Yeshiva University Real Estate Executive Circle, an industry networking group. Additionally, he serves as an adjunct professor of finance at the university’s Sy Syms School of Business and has previously lectured on real estate topics at Columbia University and the Real Estate Board of New York. Hirt is also an active member of UJA Federation’s Real Estate Council, AIPAC’s real estate networking group, and serves as Vice Chair of AIPAC’s New Leadership Network.