Dan Thomas

A former Bank OZK rainmaker, Thomas is an attorney and CPA who started out as a real estate developer before his prolific career in banking. He oversaw Bank OZK’s rise from a tiny regional outfit to a Wall Street real estate heavy-hitter, a trajectory that has Thomas’ 14-year leadership of the bank’s Real Estate Specialties Group to thank. The group’s early investments were in the Sun Belt, allowing Bank OZK to escape the Great Financial Crisis relatively unscathed. 

Under his leadership, the group originated, closed, and serviced approximately $24.6 billion of senior real‑estate debt across more than 800 transactions, according to the company.

For his second act Thomas, who is based in Dallas, launched Forest Way Capital in 2025 with a $200 million capital raise facilitated by Los Angeles-based George Smith Partners. The raise  included funds from his family office, which sold off all of its assets before 2022 and started with a clean slate. 

Forest Way Capital is aimed at flexible investment, using a mix of equity, mezzanine, preferred equity and debt to acquire or develop real‑estate assets with a long‑term view, holding assets for three to five years. Thomas also founded DT Capital, a commercial real‑estate lending and consulting platform.

His banking background means he’s being patient with deploying capital. He noted that debt funds and banks “didn’t show a lot of discipline” in the last cycle.

— Jess Hardin