Bridge Taps Hines Vet Dugan Fife for Major Private Wealth Push

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 20, 2026 – Bridge Investment Group, an affiliate of global asset manager Apollo, has appointed industry veteran Dugan Fife as its new Head of Wealth Solutions and Senior Managing Director. The strategic hire signals a major push by the firm to aggressively expand its footprint in the lucrative and competitive private wealth channel.

Fife, who officially started on January 19, is tasked with leading the expansion and enhancement of Bridge's wealth solutions platform. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment for the company, which now oversees approximately $120 billion in real estate assets under management following its acquisition by Apollo last year. The move underscores a clear strategy: leverage its newfound scale to deliver a more sophisticated suite of real estate investment products to high-net-worth individuals and their advisors.

“Dugan’s exceptional track record and experience leading private wealth platform growth will be instrumental as Bridge continues to deliver innovative solutions for our clients,” said Dean Allara, Bridge Vice Chairman, in a statement. “Bridge has long been focused on partnering with distribution platforms to service the Wealth space, and Dugan’s leadership will be a tremendous asset as we continue to scale and diversify our suite of offerings.”

A Strategic Move in a Competitive Arena

Fife joins Bridge from Hines Private Wealth Solutions, where he spent over two decades, most recently as Senior Managing Director of Distribution for the Americas. His move is a significant development in the alternative investment space, where the battle for capital from wealthy individuals is intensifying. Bridge is positioning itself to compete more directly with established players who have a strong foothold in the private wealth real estate market.

The competitive landscape is crowded. Firms like Ares Real Estate Exchange, which led the market with over $900 million in equity raised in 2025, and long-standing sponsors like Inland Private Capital Corporation and ExchangeRight Real Estate, command significant market share. To carve out a larger piece of this pie, firms need not only institutional-quality assets but also sophisticated distribution networks and products tailored to the specific needs of wealthy investors, particularly tax-advantaged structures.

This is precisely where Fife’s expertise becomes critical. His background is steeped in building and scaling distribution for specialized real estate products, a skill set Bridge is betting on to elevate its platform beyond its existing verticals of Residential, Industrial, Real Estate Credit, and Net Lease.

The Apollo Effect: Fueling Expansion

The appointment of a high-caliber executive like Fife is a direct result of the strategic firepower Bridge gained from its acquisition by Apollo Global Management in September 2025. The all-stock transaction, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, created a real estate powerhouse with a combined AUM of around $120 billion, placing it in the top tier of global real estate managers.

While Bridge continues to operate as a standalone platform, retaining its brand and leadership, it now benefits from the immense resources and global reach of its parent company. This synergy was a key part of the acquisition's rationale, allowing Bridge to leverage Apollo's integrated platform while maintaining its specialized, vertically integrated operating model. The move allows Apollo to gain immediate scale in its real estate equity platform and enhances its origination capabilities, creating a powerful feedback loop for product creation.

This backing enables Bridge to make significant investments in talent and technology aimed at capturing new market segments. The hire underscores a broader trend where large alternative asset managers are increasingly focusing on the private wealth channel as a stable and growing source of capital, a departure from a historical focus on institutional investors.

Fife himself acknowledged the power of this combination. “With the scale of Bridge and Apollo’s established strengths across real estate equity and credit, we believe we are well positioned to deliver attractive, solutions-oriented strategies for advisors and their clients,” he stated. "I look forward to joining the team and working closely with our distribution partners to expand access to high-quality investment opportunities across the private wealth ecosystem.”

Fife's Proven Track Record and the DST Boom

Dugan Fife is not just a seasoned distribution leader; he is an expert in one of the hottest products in private wealth real estate: the Delaware Statutory Trust (DST). During his tenure at Hines, he was instrumental in the success of its Hines Real Estate Exchange (HREX) platform, which launched in 2022 and quickly completed over $1 billion in offerings. Fife personally oversaw the successful closure of seven DST offerings in his last three years at the firm.

DSTs have become a go-to solution for high-net-worth investors, particularly those looking to defer capital gains taxes from the sale of other properties through a 1031 exchange. These structures allow investors to acquire fractional ownership in large, institutional-grade properties—such as Class A industrial facilities or multifamily complexes—without the burdens of active management. This "tired landlord" capital has fueled explosive growth in the DST market.

Market data validates this trend. DST equity raises are on a dramatic upswing, growing from $5.66 billion in 2024 with projections to hit $7.5 billion by the end of 2025. In a market with fluctuating interest rates, the passive income and tax deferral benefits of DSTs have made them increasingly indispensable for wealth preservation. By bringing Fife on board, Bridge is signaling a clear intention to become a major player in this specialized and rapidly expanding niche. His proven ability to structure and distribute these complex products is a key asset that competitors will be watching closely.

Enhancing Bridge's Platform for the Ultra-Rich

Bridge is not starting from scratch. The firm already has a private wealth platform catering to a range of clients from working professionals to high-net-worth individuals, offering services that span retirement, estate, and investment planning. In 2024, it launched "BIG Insights," a web-based educational platform designed to demystify alternative assets for a broader audience, demonstrating its commitment to the space.

Fife’s role will be to build on this foundation, using his deep relationships and distribution expertise to significantly scale the firm's reach and product suite. The goal is to transform Bridge into a one-stop shop for advisors seeking high-quality, differentiated real estate solutions for their clients. The combination of Bridge’s on-the-ground operating expertise in key sectors like residential and industrial, now supercharged by Apollo’s capital markets prowess and Fife’s distribution acumen, creates a formidable new force in the private wealth landscape. This strategic alignment of talent, capital, and market opportunity positions Bridge for a significant new phase of growth.