American Healthcare REIT has appointed Aric Chang as chief financial officer, the Irvine, California based real estate investment trust announced on 2 September 2026. The appointment takes effect on 1 October 2026.
The company framed the change as an orderly transition. Brian Peay, who joined in 2016 and has served as chief financial officer for 10 years, is retiring and will continue in the role through 30 September 2026, handing over to Chang the following day.
Chang joins from Public Storage, where he serves as chief financial officer, real estate. In that role he leads real estate and corporate finance, financial planning and analysis, investment underwriting and real estate data analytics. American Healthcare REIT said he has overseen approximately $16 billion of capital deployment during his tenure there, across acquisitions, development, lending and mergers and acquisitions.
His career in public and private real estate markets dates to 2001. Before Public Storage he held senior finance positions at listed real estate investment trusts, including Rexford Industrial, where he was senior vice president, investor relations and capital markets, and Rouse Properties, a mall and retail landlord, where he managed corporate finance and debt restructuring ahead of that company's acquisition by Brookfield. Earlier he held senior real estate investment trust research roles at Green Street Advisors and Oak Hill REIT Management.
From 2015 to 2022 Chang was an executive director at J.P. Morgan Asset Management and a member of its real estate investment committee, on a platform with more than $80 billion of real estate assets under management. He was also the senior strategist for alternative property sectors there, with responsibility for operator selection, joint venture relationships and fundraising. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Chairman and chief executive Jeff Hanson said the company is building a business in which disciplined capital allocation, leading senior housing operating capabilities, strategic asset management and a modern data and technology platform reinforce one another to drive better resident care outcomes. He said Chang's combination of public company finance, investment and operating partner experience made him well suited to advance that strategy.
President and chief operating officer Gabe Willhite said the next phase of value creation requires continued exceptional capital allocation, a rigorous capital markets strategy and a finance organisation poised to support growth across market cycles. Chang said he was joining at a pivotal point in the company's evolution and would work to strengthen its financial and capital allocation capabilities.
The role sits at the centre of a balance sheet driven business. American Healthcare REIT acquires, owns and operates a diversified portfolio of clinical healthcare real estate, focused on senior housing communities, skilled nursing facilities and outpatient medical buildings across the United States, and in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man. Its chief financial officer sets capital markets strategy, funds acquisitions and development, and manages the cost of debt and equity that determines how much growth the portfolio can absorb.
That mix makes the appointment commercially significant. Senior housing is an operating business as much as a property one, and returns depend on operator selection, joint venture structures and underwriting discipline as well as on rent. Chang's experience across storage, industrial and retail property, together with his institutional investment work on operator selection and joint ventures, maps closely onto that requirement. He will lead a finance organisation that includes Kenny Lin, executive vice president, deputy chief financial officer and chief accounting officer, and Alan Peterson, vice president, investor relations and finance.
