Talent drain continues as Cole Capital CEO departs

The drain of talent at Cole Capital Corp. continues as the firm's president and CEO, Michael Ezzell, resigned on Thursday. He left the company for personal reasons, according to the company. Mr. Ezzell's resignation comes after months of turmoil at Cole Capital, formerly a leading seller of nontraded real estate investment trusts. Sales of Cole branded REITs have plummeted this year in the wake of the revelation last October that Cole's parent company, American Realty Capital Properties Inc., a giant net lease REIT, had intentionally not corrected accounting errors over the first half of 2014. Independent broker-dealers then halted sales of Cole REITs. Over the first four months of this year, Cole Capital reported sales of $48.7 million compared to $876.2 million for the same period a year earlier, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co. Inc., an investment bank. With sales down dramatically, dozens of senior executives and wholesalers at Cole have left this year. (More: Sales woes at Cole Capital lead to further exodus of talent) Mr. Ezzell is being replaced by William Miller, who joined Cole Capital earlier this year as senior vice president and chief sales officer. Previously he was with American Funds. Mr. Miller reports to Glenn Rufrano, who took over as CEO of ARCP on April 1. Mr. Rufrano has said that he is evaluating ARCP's assets and working on a strategic plan.