Real estate investment executive and community leader Glenn Sonnenberg named to USC Board of Trustees

The USC Board of Trustees has appointed real estate investment executive Glenn Sonnenberg to a second tenure. Sonnenberg, a USC alumnus who first served on the board from 2003 to 2008, brings over 30 years of finance and investment leadership to the role, along with decades of service to the Trojan Family and the greater Los Angeles community.

Sonnenberg is president of Latitude Real Estate Holdings, a real estate investment and finance company based in Beverly Hills, and serves on investment committees for two other real investment companies. A recipient of the USC Alumni Service Award in 2004, Sonnenberg is also a member of the USC Gould Board of Councilors and the USC Libraries Board of Councilors. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences in 1977 and a law degree from the USC Gould School of Law in 1980.

“It is a pleasure to welcome Glenn back to the USC Board of Trustees,” Board of Trustees Chair Suzanne Nora Johnson said. “Glenn is a highly respected real estate lawyer and investor. He has been a commercial and civic leader in a number of important institutions in Los Angeles and has long been actively engaged with the Jewish community and fostering interfaith dialogue throughout his career.”

Sonnenberg says he looks forward to rejoining the board and playing a role in the university’s strategic planning for its near and distant future. “I view this as a time of great opportunity,” he said, noting USC’s strengths in medicine, artificial intelligence and other areas of cutting-edge research. “I love higher education, believe in higher education … and want to give back to the university.”

An expansive career with Trojan ties

Sonnenberg lauds the “great education” he received while earning his USC degrees. “I had great mentors, and I made great friends,” he said.

Sonnenberg says his Trojan relationships helped open doors throughout his career spanning law, real estate finance and real estate equity investment. His first job after USC was at the Los Angeles law firm of Allen, Matkins, Leck, Gamble, and Mallory, where he served as a real estate and finance partner. He then served as CEO of several real estate companies affiliated with Prudential Insurance, Morgan Stanley and ING before founding his own company.

In late 2000, he established what later became known as LaSalle Debt Investors and ran the company until earlier this year. He continues to serve as a consultant while presiding over Latitude Real Estate Holdings, a separate venture formed in 2008.

His USC education played a foundational role in his success, inspiring him to give back through leadership, service and philanthropy. “The university gives you career guidance and a place to learn, grow up and mature,” he said. “And then, little by little, you are no longer the consumer of the guidance and support — you become a provider.”

Dedication to service at USC and beyond

Sonnenberg’s service to USC reaches back nearly four decades. A longtime member of the USC Libraries Board of Councilors, he is a co-founder of the USC Libraries Scripter Award, established in 1988 to annually honor the year’s best adaptation of the printed word into film and, since 2016, into episodic television.

He has also served as founding president of the USC Junior Associates, former president of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors and former president of the board of the Friends of the USC Libraries. For the past 15 years, he has co-chaired USC Gould’s Real Estate Law and Business Forum.

“Contributing to a great institution like USC and, in some small way, making it better is a great feeling,” Sonnenberg said.

He and his wife, 1983 USC graduate Andrea Sonnenberg, reside in Beverly Hills, where they raised three children. They are active philanthropists, focusing on education, teen and young adult mental health, services for underserved communities, and the arts. In 2019, they endowed the Bradley Sonnenberg Wellness Initiative at USC Hillel. The initiative, named for their late son, provides counseling services and wellness resources for all USC students.

Sonnenberg currently serves as chairman of the board of Wayfinder Family Services, which provides support and services to children, youth and adults with vision loss or profound special needs. He also serves on the boards of Bet Tzedek — The House of Justice, the Center Theatre Group, the American Exchange Project, the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Wise Readers to Leaders, the Children’s Institute and de Toledo High School.

Musing on community connections and USC success

Through his Substack blog “Musings Beyond the Bunker” — which he began writing in 2020 during the early days of COVID-19 pandemic isolation — Sonnenberg aims to build community and increase civil discourse. The blog, published three times a week, explores topics ranging from politics and poetry to law and baseball.

“I believe that we lack community in a lot of ways in society today,” Sonnenberg said, citing the USC community as a notable exception. “The university has been good at nurturing the Trojan Family.”

As a member of the USC Board of Trustees, Sonnenberg hopes to leverage his strengths in strategy and planning to help position the university for success over the next few decades. “Being good stewards for the institution is not just important for today but for future generations of Trojans as well,” he said. “I look forward to working with the other trustees and the administration.”