UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

Form 8-K

Current Report

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): July 30, 2012

Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Commission File Number: 000-54377

2121 Rosecrans Avenue, Suite 3321 El Segundo, CA 90245

(Address of principal executive offices, including zip code)

(310) 606-5900

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

None

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

Item 5.02. Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers; Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers

On July 30, 2012, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Griffin Capital Net Lease REIT, Inc. (the “Registrant”) created a Chief Executive Officer position and appointed Kevin A. Shields, the Registrant’s current President and Chairman of the Registrant’s Board, to the newly-created position of Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Shields will continue to serve as the Registrant’s Chairman of the Board. In connection therewith, on July 30, 2012, the Registrant’s Board appointed David C. Rupert as the Registrant’s President.

Kevin A. Shields, age 54, has been an officer and director of the Registrant since its initial formation. Mr. Shields is also the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Registrant’s sponsor, Griffin Capital Corporation, which he founded in 1995, and has been the President of the Registrant’s advisor since August 2008. Additionally, Mr. Shields is the chief compliance officer and sole stockholder of the Registrant’s dealer manager and controls the Registrant’s advisor through his ownership of the Registrant’s sponsor. Before founding the Registrant’s sponsor, from 1993 to 1994, Mr. Shields was a Senior Vice President and head of the Structured Real Estate Finance Group at Jefferies & Company, Inc., a Los Angeles-based investment bank. During his tenure at Jefferies, Mr. Shields focused on originating structured lease bond product with a particular emphasis on sub-investment grade lessees. While there, he consummated the first securitized forward lease bond financing for a sub-investment grade credit tenant. From 1992 to 1993, Mr. Shields was the President and Principal of Terrarius Incorporated, a firm engaged in the restructuring of real estate debt and equity on behalf of financial institutions, corporations, partnerships and developers. Prior to founding Terrarius, from 1986 to 1992, Mr. Shields served as a Vice President in the Real Estate Finance Department of Salomon Brothers Inc. in both New York and Los Angeles. During his tenure at Salomon, Mr. Shields initiated, negotiated, drafted and closed engagement, purchase and sale and finance agreements. Mr. Shields holds a J.D. degree, an MBA, and a B.S. degree in Finance and Real Estate from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. Shields is a Registered Securities Principal of Griffin Capital Securities, Inc., the Registrant’s dealer manager, and holds Series 7, 63, 24 and 27 licenses, and is also a licensed California Real Estate Broker.

David C. Rupert, age 55, is the President of the Registrant’s sponsor, having re-joined the firm in September 2010. Mr. Rupert’s 30 years of commercial real estate and finance experience includes over $4 billion of transactions executed on four continents: North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. From 2009 to 2010, Mr. Rupert co-headed an opportunistic hotel fund in partnership with The Olympia Companies, a hotel owner-operator with more than 800 employees, headquartered in Portland, Maine. From 2008-2009 Mr. Rupert was a partner in a private equity firm focused on Eastern Europe, in particular extended stay hotel and multifamily residential development, and large scale agribusiness in Ukraine. Mr. Rupert previously served as Chief Operating Officer of the Registrant’s sponsor from 2000-2008. From 1999-2000, Mr. Rupert served as President of CB5, a real estate and restaurant development company that worked closely with the W Hotel division of Starwood Hotels. From 1997-1998 Mr. Rupert provided consulting services in the U.S. and UK to Lowe Enterprises, a Los Angeles-headquartered institutional real estate management firm. From 1986-1996, Mr. Rupert was employed at Salomon Brothers in New York, where he served in various capacities, including the head of REIT underwriting, and provided advice, raised debt and equity capital and provided brokerage and other services for leading public and private real estate institutions and entrepreneurs. Since 1984, Mr. Rupert has served on the Advisory Board to Cornell University’s Endowment for Real Estate Investments, and in August 2010 Mr. Rupert was appointed Co-Chairman of this Board. For more than 15 years, Mr. Rupert has lectured in graduate-level real estate and real estate finance courses in Cornell’s masters-level Program in Real Estate, where he is a founding Board Member. Mr. Rupert received his B.A. degree from Cornell in 1979 and his MBA from Harvard in 1986.

Signature(s)

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.