Mark Adams CRG

Mark Adams has guided the California Receivership Group (CRG) for over 25 years. As President, he has championed using health and safety receivership to transform slum properties, abandoned buildings, and other neglected sites throughout California. Renowned as the state's most seasoned health and safety receiver, he has been appointed by 179 judges across state and federal courts to revitalize over 360 properties in 36 counties and 126 cities. His influence expands into additional states, including Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Receivership under the Health and Safety Code is recognized as a potent solution when traditional enforcement fails. It efficiently resolves financial and physical nuisance abatement issues at no expense to taxpayers, facilitated by the property financing its repairs through statutory and equitable powers granted by the courts.

Adams has tackled various health and safety challenges at various distressed properties. His vast expertise covers remediation of unauthorized construction, damage from fire, seismic events, and unstable hillsides, addressing high-crime areas, securing abandoned and unsecured structures, rectifying unsafe conditions in inhabited buildings, clearing excessive junk and debris, resolving hoarding cases, and handling hazardous materials abatements such as pest infestations, asbestos, and mold. He also manages properties suffering from structural failures and lack of essential services like heat, electricity, and running water.

The First Receiver Appointed under the California Health and Safety Code

Mark Adams made history in 1999 as the inaugural receiver under the California Health and Safety Code. His first major appointment involved a 66-unit apartment complex plagued by severe neglect, highlighted by the tragic death of an 11-week-old infant from a respiratory infection caused by unsanitary conditions. This marked the first application of the Health and Safety Code for nuisance abatement, propelling him to establish CRG as a holistic solution to dangerous property conditions.

This incident profoundly influenced Adams, motivating him to find CRG to alleviate the impacts of problem properties on communities and transform daily living conditions.

Adams's leadership and expertise have been recognized widely. In 2022, he received the "Distinguished Entrepreneurial Alumnus Award" from Loyola Marymount University (LMU), and the Los Angeles Business Journal honored CRG as a leading family-owned business.

Co-founding the Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee on Slum Housing

Before CRG, Adams significantly contributed to then-Mayor Riordan's Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee on Slum Housing in Los Angeles. From 1998 to 2000, he co-founded and played a crucial role in the committee, which catalyzed the expansion of the city's inspection program for slum housing. The committee's investigations revealed that many landlords neglected essential repairs, fostering dangerous living conditions. This experience, combined with his deep background in real estate finance, laid the groundwork for his pioneering work in receivership.

Under Adams's stewardship, CRG has refined health and safety receivership, managing over $56 million in funding to rehabilitate properties marked by severe code violations.

A Mentor to Health and Safety Receivers

Through his work at CRG, Mark Adams has mentored numerous health and safety receivers in California. A respected speaker at housing conferences nationwide, he also contributed an amicus curiae brief to the California Supreme Court's landmark decision, which affirmed the validity of health and safety receivership remedies.

Mark Adams's Career Path

Before CRG, Adams was a principal at Civitas Housing Company and Senior Vice President at De Miranda Management, overseeing affordable housing operations for thousands of units in Los Angeles. His early career included managing operations for a nonprofit housing developer and directing public affairs at Fannie Mae, overseeing congressional relations in the Western states. He provided legal consulting on corporate and housing finance for entities like the California Housing Finance Agency and Great Western Bank.

Adams also founded and managed Callie Mae, Inc., a mortgage banking firm that brokered over $500 million in home loans to public pension funds and other investors. Additionally, he contributed to policy development under Governor Jerry Brown, penning a significant law review article that prefigured NAFTA.

A Dedicated Family Man

Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Adams and his wife Janis have three children, celebrating their 35th anniversary next year. His familial legacy includes a son who attended Harvard a century after his grandfather immigrated from Greece. He enjoys major league baseball, particularly the Los Angeles Dodgers, and has been a devoted fan at his daughter's volleyball games.

Paying It Forward

Beyond his professional contributions, Adams is active in community service. From 2016 to 2022, he served on the National Board for the Ignatian Volunteer Corps and has supported St. Monica's Catholic Church and LMU. A founding director of the Chrysalis Center, he has been instrumental in providing homeless services in Los Angeles. His charitable activities include organizing significant fundraising efforts for famine relief and serving on the LMU Alumni Board and University Board of Regents.

Mark Adams remains a dynamic leader, applying his extensive experience to enhance communities in California and increasingly across the nation.

Learn More: Most Influential Family Owned Businesses 2019: CALIFORNIA RECEIVERSHIP GROUP

California Receivership Group

Receiver Mark Adams