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Vice President
Mr. Olafson is a Vice President in Ares Real Estate, where he focuses on U.S. real estate equity. Prior to joining Ares in 2021, Mr. Olafson was an Assistant Vice President at Black Creek Group, where he focused on capital projects and facilities operations for the office and retail properties. Previously, Mr. Olafson was a Branch Manager at Detection Logic Fire Protection, where he headed up the Orange County, California business unit. In addition, he was a Chief Engineer at ABM, overseeing the capital projects and the operations of the Burbank, California office building that provided office space for Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures and Warner Brothers. Mr. Olafson holds a B.S. from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in Mechanical Engineering.