The Closing: Robert Merck

From the April issue: Robert Merck is the global head of real estate for MetLife, one of the largest commercial lenders in the U.S., with a $67 billion real estate and commercial mortgage portfolio. The Georgia native joined the company in 1982 as a 24-year-old analyst and, after working his way up, was tapped to run the company’s real estate investment department in 2003. Since then, MetLife’s real estate business has grown exponentially: It originated a record $15 billion in commercial mortgages last year, up from $3 billion in 2002, and it invested $1.5 billion in commercial real estate globally. In 2005, the company sold its trophy headquarters building at 200 Park Avenue to Tishman Speyer for $1.72 billion. The following year, Merck oversaw MetLife’s historic sale of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village to Tishman Speyer for $5.4 billion.