INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT
CEO
Sonny Kalsi is the CEO of BentallGreenOak (BGO) and is based in New York City. BGO is a global real estate investment and management platform with approximately $50BN under management. BGO has 24 offices worldwide (North America, Europe, and Asia) and over 1,300 employees. The firm manages investment strategies and properties in various asset and risk classes.
Sonny previously was a Founder of GreenOak Real Estate in 2010 and together with the team grew the business organically to $12BN of assets under management in 10 countries with over 100 employees. Before GreenOak, Sonny was Global Co-Head of Morgan Stanley’s Real Estate Investing (MSREI) business and President of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds until 2009.
Chairman & CEO
A graduate of Dartmouth College, he received an A.B., Economics, Ric is also an alumnus of Harvard Business School (PMD). In the US, he was a Partner and Senior Managing Director of AEW Capital Management, an investment management business with 200 staff and $25 billion under management. Moving to Europe, Ric then became Chief Investment Officer and Board Director of AEW Europe, a pan-European real estate investment management business with 11 offices, 270 staff and €18 billion in assets under management.
He then founded and served for several years as Chief Executive for Curzon Global Partners, a London based real estate investment company, owned by AEW Europe. Currently, Mr. Lewis is Tristan's Senior Portfolio Manager, responsible for the Fund's overall strategy and execution.
Chairman & CEO
Mr. Primo oversees the general business activities of Capri Capital Partners and is a partner in the firm. He chairs the Global Management Board and is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Since establishing Capri in 1992, he has overseen the firm’s origination of approximately $10 billion in real estate equity, debt and structured finance transactions. Mr. Primo has more than 30 years of real estate investment experience and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, with honors and high distinction, from Indiana University. Mr. Primo is a past board member of the Real Estate Roundtable and Pension Real Estate Association, a member of the Urban Land Institute, past Chairman and Co-Founder of the Real Estate Executive Council, and a board member of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs. He is active in civic and charitable organizations and, most notably, serves as Chairman of The Primo Center for Women and Children, a transitional shelter serving the homeless.
Chairman and CEO
Mr. MacFarlane has more than 30 years of real estate experience, during which he has worked extensively in property development, acquisitions, asset management and portfolio management on behalf of some of the world’s largest pension plans and institutions.
Under his leadership, MacFarlane Partners pioneered the urban investment concept among institutional real estate managers in the mid-1990s and today has become one of the leading real estate investment management firms in the United States.
Co-Founder & CEO
Ms. Jones has more than 24 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, investing and lending on CRE assets her entire career on behalf of large pension funds and institutional investors She serves as both Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Basis Investment Group (Basis), a multi-strategy commercial real estate investment platform she founded with JEMB Realty Corporation that acquires and originates a variety of senior and subordinated loans, preferred equity and joint venture equity positions on behalf of its investors. Under her leadership, Basis has succeeded in closing nearly $2.7 billion in commercial real estate debt and structured equity related investments across the United States.
Prior to joining Basis, Ms. Jones worked at CWCapital LLC (“CW”) from 2004 to 2009, serving as head of CW’s fixed and floating rate Capital Markets Lending Division and closing approximately $6B in investments. Between 1997 and 2004, Ms. Jones was a Senior Vice President of Commercial Capital Initiatives, Inc., a GMACCM subsidiary (now Berkadia) (“GMAC”) and part of the leadership team responsible for creating GMAC’s Capital Markets lending division.
Prior to her seven years with GMAC, she held various positions on the equity and asset management side of the business at commercial real estate investment companies including Equitable Real Estate and AMRESCO Management, Inc. Ms. Jones holds a BA in Economics from Cornell University and an MBA with a concentration in Real Estate Finance from Georgia State University.
Founder and Managing Partner
Mr. Fearn launched Integrated Capital, a hotel-focused real estate investment firm with deals in excess of $2B in 2004. Before branching out on his own, he worked in private equity real estate acquisition and development, managing $1.5B of acquisitions while securing $2B in debt financing.
Mr. Fearn received a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a MBA from Harvard Business School. He sits on the board of the Challengers Boys and Girls Club in LA, and the Andre Agassi Charitable Foundation for at-risk youth in the Vegas area. He's also the former chairman of the City of Los Angeles' Community Redevelopment Agency as well as former chapter chair of the Young Presidents Organization.
Founder and Chief Investment Officer
Troy Dixon is Founder and Chief Investment Officer of Hollis Park Partners. Troy has over 20 years of trading experience within structured products. Previously, Mr Dixon served as a Managing Director and Head of RMBS Trading Group at Deutsche Bank where he led a top-ranked group of 70 investment professionals. While at Deutsche Bank, he managed a multi-billion dollar balance sheet. His responsibilities included trading and risk management of adjustable rate mortgages, agency collateralized mortgage obligations, derivatives, reverse mortgages, and other mortgage-backed securities.
Black Enterprise Magazine named Troy one of the, “Top 75 Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street” and one of the “Most Powerful Players Under 40.” He was also named one of Investment Dealer’s Digest’s “Top 40 under 40.” Troy sits on the boards of the Apollo Theater and Boys Hope Girls Hope. He earned his B.A. from The College of the Holy Cross where he was a varsity letter winner in football and baseball and currently sits on the President’s
Co-Portfolio Manager for the Real Estate Securities Group
Previously, he was a research associate at UBS Warburg, Thornton Investment Management and The Dreyfus Corporation, where he began his career in 1993. Brian received a BA from Harvard University. He has also been awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Avanath Capital Management
Avanath Capital Management, LLC, is a California-based investment firm that acquires, renovates, and operates apartment properties, with an emphasis on affordable and workforce communities. Mr. Carter directs the overall strategy and operations of the Company. Since its formation in 2008, Avanath has acquired $1.5 billion of properties in 12 states in the U.S., comprising 8,000 apartment units.
Mr. Carter has 37 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Previously, he was an Executive Managing Director of Centerline Capital Group. Mr. Carter became part of the Centerline team when his company, Capri Capital Finance, was acquired by Centerline in 2005.
Mr. Carter holds a Master’s in Architecture and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan.
Managing Director of Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners
Nailah Flake-Brown is a Managing Director of Brookfield Real Estate Financial Partners based in New York, and is responsible for the origination, underwriting and asset management of real estate transactions. Ms. Flake-Brown joined Brookfield in 2017 and has over 17 years of real estate finance and capital markets experience. Prior to Brookfield, she was a Managing Director and Head of Originations for the Commercial Real Estate Lending Group at Morgan Stanley. Ms. Flake-Brown holds a BA degree from Spelman College.
Managing Director Fremont Realty Capital
Keiri Custodio is the managing director at Fremont Realty Capital. He joined Fremont at its founding in 1997 and has been involved with sourcing, structuring, executing and managing private equity investments in real estate operating companies and projects. He is also an active member of the Management Committees and Board of Directors of many of Fremont Realty Capital’s investments.
Previously, he was a senior analyst for Fremont Properties, where he played an integral role in the underwriting and closing of new acquisitions and development opportunities, and assisted in debt refinancing and other asset management activities. Custodio holds a B.S. in real estate and finance from the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.
Managing Director and Co-Head of Debt Platform
Karen Kulvin is the co-portfolio manager for Kayne Anderson Real Estate’s debt platform and is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, acquiring and managing the portfolio of commercial real estate related debt and securities.
Prior to joining Kayne Anderson in 2014, Kulvin was a portfolio manager and founding partner of Aqua Investment Management (subsequently portfolio manager at Exigent Capital Management, which acquired Aqua), where she served as President of two CMBS-related funds. She previously served as Senior Vice President for Dividend Capital Group, where she managed due diligence, acquisitions and asset management processes for Dividend Capital’s loan and commercial mortgage backed securities portfolios. She also served as a member of Dividend’s investment committee. Prior positions Kulvin held include Senior Vice President of Asset Management for Newcastle Investment Corp (NYSE: NCT), Managing Director on the CMBS secondary credit desk at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc and Department Head of Surveillance and Asset Management at LNR Property Corporation. Kulvin earned a B.A. from Tufts University and an M.B.A. in Accounting from Boston University.
Head of Acquisitions & Joint Ventures
Mr. Ashleigh R. Simpson is a Director, and Head of North East Acquisitions at MetLife Real Estate. Ashleigh was instrumental in completing $5 billon of commercial real estate investments nationally including New York, Boston, Washington, D.C and Denver. Ashleigh successfully led teams during significant expansion periods at leading public and private real estate platforms. Ashleigh attended the University of Maryland, majoring in Political Science and Philosophy. He received a Masters in Real Estate Finance from the Georgetown University. Ashleigh is a United States Marine Corps veteran. Ashleigh most recently Chaired MetLife’s Military Veteran Network (MVET), Investments Chapter and a champion for service veterans.
Director of M&A at Round Hill Capital
Brandon brings over nine years of experience in real estate investment banking and investment management. He focuses on sourcing and execution of Residential and Accommodation investments in Europe.
Before joining Round Hill, Brandon was a member of the Cerberus European real estate investment team. Prior to that, he worked at Goldman Sachs as a real estate investment banker in New York and Dubai. He also played football in the NFL for seven years mostly with the New York Giants before working in finance.
Brandon is a current member of the Pennsylvania State University Board of Trustees. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
DEVELOPMENT
Chairman & CEO: Related Group of Florida
Jorge Perez, whose parents fled Cuba, was born in Argentina and grew up there and in Colombia. He came to the U.S. for college and later moved to Miami, where he became an urban planner. A chance meeting with New York developer Stephen Ross led to a partnership. The two cofounded Related Group of Florida, an affiliate of Ross' Related Companies, in 1979. They built affordable housing in the 1980s, then switched to high-end condo construction. A U.S. citizen since 1976, he claims to have developed or managed 90,000 residences in South Florida. The global credit crisis hit Related Group hard, but Perez emerged from the rubble and changed how he did business. Most Related projects are now financed with the help of equity partners and the company takes on far less debt.
Founder & CEO
Mrs. Xin grew up in poverty and at the age of 14 began a laboring job in a factory. It took Zhang five years to save enough for a plane ticket to London and an English language course. She won a scholarship to university, studied for a master's degree in economics at Cambridge University and landed her first job at Goldman Sachs in New York.
Instead of remaining in her comfortable life in Wall Street, Zhang returned to Beijing, where she met her husband, and together they started SOHO China. Today, Zhang is a Chinese real estate developer, who has shaped much of the country's modern urban landscape.
Founder, Chairman & CEO
The Peebles Corporation is the largest African American-owned real estate development and ownership company in the US. His firm is responsible for developing a multi-billion dollar development portfolio of luxury hotels, high-rise residential and other commercial properties.
In 1979, after completing his freshman year as a premed student at Rutgers University —he did not complete his degree instead he became a real estate sales agent and appraiser in Washington, D.C. At the age of 23, he established RDP Corporation, a residential and commercial real estate appraisal firm. In 1986, Peebles acquired the rights for his first real estate development. In 1990, Peebles founded RDP Assessment Appeals Services, and continued to acquire commercial buildings and development sites in Washington, D.C. throughout the 1990s. Today, the Peebles Corporation is known for its transformative residential, commercial and mixed-use developments in major American gateway cities.
Managing Principal
Dawanna Williams has over 20 years of expericence in the real estate industry. Prior to founding Dabar Development Partners in 2003, Ms. Williams worked as a commercial real estate lawyer, spending most of her career at international law firm, Sidley Austin LLP. From 1994 to 2003, Ms. Williams represented major developers, international governing authorities, investment banks, institutional lenders, and private equity investors in connection with a wide range of high-profile real estate transactions. During this period, those projects involved millions of spatial square feet and over $1 billion in transaction value.
Ms. Williams holds an A.B. in Economics/Government from Smith College, an M.P.A. from Harvard University Kennedy School of Government, and a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.
Managing Partner
Leon I. Walker is driven by a mission to develop commercial real estate projects which help to improve and sustain neighborhood life in urban communities. For the past 12 years, he has served as the managing partner of DL3 Realty. At Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) in Los Angeles, he represented Fortune 500 clients in the leasing and development of over one million square feet of office space. Prior to JLL, he worked at Citicorp Securities in the Real Estate Capital Markets Group structuring market debt securities for REITs with market capitalizations in excess of $500 million. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago’s Law School and Booth Graduate School of Business, and he received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan School of Business. He is an avid reader, accomplished bass player, experienced traveler, and serves on numerous community boards. Past and current boards include the Far South CDC, DuSable Museum, Better Boys Foundation, and University of Chicago Court Theatre.
Davis’ leadership combines deep training and experience in finance and economics with a prolific social activism. He began his career as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs and was later a real estate private equity investor with Prudential Financial, leading and managing investments both in Europe and the United States. Davis later served as Vice President and Head of Public-Private Partnerships in the administration of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and as CIO of a $5 billion national real estate development firm.
In addition to leading Steinbridge, Davis is also an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate at New York University (NYU), and serves on the boards of Harlem Hospital, the New York Urban League and the New Horizons Children’s Advocacy Group.
Tawan Davis earned his Bachelors degree with honors from Georgetown University, a Masters of Sciences degree from England’s Oxford University and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Harvard University.
BROKERAGE
Chairman - Capital Markets Group - New York City
In the last four years, Ms. Stacom has twice been the #1 Professional at CBRE globally, and twice the #1 Investment Professional globally. Crowned the “Queen of the Skyscrapers” by the Wall Street Journal she has sold both the largest residential and office transaction in history. Ms. Stacom’s prolific resume is diverse in deal type and size—from $35 million trust and estate dispositions to the $5.4 billion sale of Peter Cooper Stuyvesant Town for Metropolitan Life. She has completed more than $84 billion in sales, financing, joint venture, leasehold and development transactions.
Senior Managing Director - Investment Sales Group - New Jersey
Mr. Cruz is a Senior Managing Director and Co-Office Head in HFF’s New Jersey office and a member of the firm’s leadership committee. He specializes in investment sales throughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and also oversees the day-to-day operations of the firm’s New Jersey office. During the course of his more than 25-year commercial real estate career, Mr. Cruz has been involved in more than $18.4 billion of office, industrial, retail, multi-housing and land sales. Mr. Cruz joined the firm in March 2010. Prior to HFF, he was the Executive Director of Cushman & Wakefield’s New York Area Investment Sales Group where he spent more than 17 years. Cruz began his real estate career as a Real Estate Analyst at PaineWebber, UBS, Inc.
Executive Vice President - Institutional Properties Group - Colliers International
Michael Blunt is a premier commercial real estate professionals who works in Collier’s Washington DC office within in its U.S. Investment Properties Institutional Group. His main role consist of enhancing the delivery of comprehensive capital markets solutions to office and industrial property investors in the Washington, DC area.
Previously, Mr. Blunt was a Senior Vice President on CBRE’s Philadelphia and DC ‘s investment sales team, and currently specializes in institutional investment properties located primarily in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Northern Maryland.
Co-Vice Chair Women, Heads of the National Partners Group - West Coast
After their father, died in 1997, the sisters took his long-standing suggestion to join forces. The sister-brokers like selling industrial warehouses more than luxury condos, and have been professionally inseparable now for 19 years. In 2015, their team sold $2.1 billion of real estate across 59 transactions.
Senior Managing Director - Institutional Sales Group - NYC
Mr. Merchant has more than 20 years of experience in finance, sales and real estate investment banking. His primary concentration is on investment sales and equity placement transactions in the greater New York City area. Throughout his career, he has been involved in more than $20 billion of investment sales, joint venture equity, debt placement and loans sales transactions for major public and private institutional real estate investors throughout the United States.
Mr. Merchant joined the firm in March 2017. He joins HFF from Eastdil Secured LLC. Prior to Eastdil, Mr. Merchant was an investment banking associate in the Capital Markets Group at Cushman and Wakefield and the Leveraged Finance Group at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Merchant holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was awarded the Robert A. Toigo Fellowship and a BA from Dillard University. He is an active member of Urban Land Institute (ULI), the National Multifamily Housing Council, the Real Estate Roundtable (RER) President’s Council and Real Estate Executive Council (REEC). Philanthropically, Mr. Merchant is the Board Chairman for the Robert Toigo Foundation Alumni Endowment Board and Vice-Chairman on the Board of Trustees for the City Parks Foundation of New York.
Senior Executive Managing Director at Meridan Investment Sales
Helen Hwang is head of the Institutional Investment Sales Group. Ms. Hwang has executed over 70 institutional sales and recapitalization transactions exceeding $25 billion in value. Prior to joining Meridian, Ms. Hwang spent 16 years at Cushman & Wakefield as an Executive Vice President, where she worked on several unprecedented complex assignments. Ms. Hwang was honored with the Real Estate Board of New York’s highest achievement, the 2012 Most Ingenious Sales Deal of the Year (Robert T. Lawrence Memorial Award). The Asian American Business Development Center named her one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business in 2011. Ms. Hwang received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration (Real Estate Finance), where she graduated “With Distinction.” She also holds a Master’s degree in Real Estate Investment and Development from New York University. Ms. Hwang is a New York State Certified Real Estate Appraiser and is a New York and New Jersey Licensed Salesperson.
Executive Managing Director - HFF Southeast
Mr. de Zárraga is an Executive Managing Director and member of the firm’s Executive Committee. He also serves as co-head of firm’s National Investment Advisory Group. Mr. de Zárraga has more than 27 years of experience in real estate investment banking and specializes in the execution and expansion of the firm’s capital markets platform through the representation of institutional and major private owners of institutional-grade commercial real estate properties throughout the Southeast. He also oversees the firm’s Special Assets Group and is an active member of the Global Capital Team, with a special focus on the Latin American markets. Since joining HFF, Mr. de Zárraga has been involved in more than $20 billion of capital markets transaction volume. Prior to joining HFF in 2002, Mr. de Zárraga was a Principal and Managing Director at SonnenblickGoldman Company for 14 years and served on the firm’s operating committee. Prior to Sonnenblick-Goldman, Mr. de Zárraga was Vice President of Trade Finance Corporation where he worked in the development of a mortgage-based securitization program in conjunction with Salomon Brothers.
Vice Chairman - Americas
During over 29 years at JLL, Mr. Bulls has worked in the areas of development, investment management, asset management, facilities operations and business development/retention. He has developed relationships with many of the firms leading public and corporate clients. He provides thought leadership and strategic guidance to senior level executives for real estate issues. Mr. Bulls co-founded and served as President and CEO of Bulls Capital Partners, a multi-family financing company. Additionally, he founded Bulls Advisory Group, LCC, a management and real estate advisory firm.
Prior to joining JLL, Mr. Bulls completed almost 12 years of active duty service with the United States Army. His last active duty assignments were working in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Financial Management at the Pentagon and as an Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at West Point. He has completed the Army's Airborne, Ranger and Command and General Staff College courses and served overseas in the Republic of Korea. He retired as a Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves in 2008.
Mr. Bulls received a BS degree in engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point and an MBA in finance from Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Executive Leadership Council. An organization of senior African American business executives from Fortune 500 companies, and former Chairman of the Executive Leadership Foundation, Mr. Bulls is a long-standing member of Leadership Washington and the Real Estate Executive Council (REEC). Mr. Bulls is a founding member and served as the inaugural President of the African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP) of Washington, D.C. and serves on the University Development Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI).
CEO of New York Tri-State
Mary Ann has been CEO of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region since 2002, a region of 2,500 employees. Under her leadership, CBRE has become New York’s preeminent firm, outdistancing all competitors in market share, revenue and margins.
Mary Ann is a nine-time winner of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Deal of the Year Award for ingenious brokerage, a record number of wins since the award was created in 1944. She received the Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award, REBNY’s highest award in brokerage, and REBNY’s Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Achievement Award. Mary Ann was also honored by the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate with its Urban Leadership Award; she was the first woman to receive this award. Most significantly, Mary Ann has enjoyed unbroken, long-term relationships with a number of public and private companies and non-profit organizations, shaping and implementing their real estate strategies for large and small projects. Her ongoing accounts include the Archdiocese of New York, AMC, Crain’s, 21st Century Fox, News Corp and WPP Group.
For a three-year term starting in January 2010, Mary Ann served as Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York, the first woman to hold this position in REBNY’s then 114-year history, and the first broker in 30 years.
Mary Ann began her real estate career as a broker at the Edward S. Gordon Company, ultimately rising to the position of Vice Chairman of Insignia/ESG, where she was regularly recognized among the firm’s top producers. Prior to entering the real estate field, Mary Ann served as a Vice President of the American Broadcasting Companies, where she launched the A&E cable channel. Recognized nationally for her expertise in the arts, Mary Ann was also formerly the Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Advisor to Vice President Walter Mondale, and a staff member of the Smithsonian Institution.
Managing Director of JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality Group
Currently based in New York, Gilda focuses on full-service investment sales throughout the United States. Gilda also serves as Head of JLL’s Global Hotel Desk, where her role is to facilitate high-profile, global transactions by monitoring cross-border capital flows and leveraging JLL’s deep-rooted relationships with key decision makers around the world to access off-shore capital sources.
Prior to re-joining the team in New York (U.S. Headquarters) in 2010, Gilda was based in Madrid as Head of Hotel Debt Advisory Spain and Portugal, where she was responsible for carrying out financing work on behalf of hotel clients and supporting the executive team in Spain and London in international capital markets work. Before joining JLL, Gilda worked for the Hospitality and Leisure advisory practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Miami for more than two years, where her area of expertise was valuations and market and feasibility studies in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Gilda received her Masters in Business Administration degree from Instituto de Empresa (IE Business School) in Madrid, Spain in 2010. In 2002, Gilda received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, New York, where she graduated with Honors and served as Degree Marshall for her graduating class. Her specialization was in hotel real estate finance. In January 2016, she became the recipient of the Jack A. Shaffer Financial Advisor of the year award at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit.
Senior Managing Director Co-Head of Miami Office
Mr. Drew is a Senior Managing Director and co-head of the Miami office of HFF with more than a decade of commercial real estate experience. He is primarily responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Miami office and for arranging joint venture equity, preferred equity, mezzanine financing and senior level financing for real estate assets located throughout the United States. During his career Mr. Drew has completed in excess of $7 billion in real estate transactions. Mr. Drew joined HFF in 2010. Prior to that, he was a Senior Associate in the Capital Markets Group at Cushman and Wakefield for five years. He has also held positions at Pro Access, Inc., a sports marketing firm, and at the New York Mets Baseball Organization.
Vice Chairman, Co-Head of the NY Capital Markets Investment Sales Division
Jean Celestin joined Newmark Knight Frank in 2019 as a vice chairman and co-head of the firm's New York Capital Markets Investment Sales division. He brings to his position more than 35 years of real estate experience, focused primarily on multifamily, office and development transactions throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Mr. Celestin has been involved in more than $20 billion of investment sales, recapitalizations, debt placement and loan sales transactions.
Mr. Celestin has a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Boston University and a diploma in real estate from New York University.
INVESTMENT BANKING
Vice President - Real Estate Investment Banking
Mr. Jackson is responsible for leading the execution of strategic advisory services including mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions including asset and entity level financing for public and private companies.
Prior to Joining Evercore, Mr. Jackson worked in real estate private equity, sourcing and executing investment opportunities for core, core-plus, value-add and opportunistic vehicles. Mr. Jackson began his career as an Analyst within Citi's Real Estate and Lodging Investment Banking practice. Mr. Jackson received a BS in finance from Hampton University where he was a Presidential Scholar, and received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Director - Real Estate Investment Banking
Mr. Hollman is responsible for executing and advising real estate and lodging clients on equity, debt, and strategic transactions. His transactional experience as an investment banker represents over $billion and numerous assignments on mergers & acquisitions, public debt and equity, and CMBS financing. Key execution experience includes transactions for Acadia Realty Trust, Brixmor Property Group, Hersha Hospitality, HCP, Hilton, Kimco Realty Corp, Prologis, Simon Properties Group, TMI Hospitality and Westfield Group.
Mr. Hollman received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his MBA from Columbia Business School.
Executive Director - Real Estate Investment Banking - UBS
Ms. Ropa focuses on strategic advisory and corporate-level debt and equity financing assignments for real estate and lodging companies. During her career at UBS, Ms. Ropa has completed over $50 billion in M&A, equity capital markets, debt capital markets and financing transactions. Ms. Ropa has experience working across multiple sub-sectors in real estate including office, industrial, retail, multi-family, lodging, net lease and healthcare. Notable recent advisory transactions include Select Income REIT’s $3 billion acquisition of Cole Corporate Income Trust and NorthStar Realty Finance’s $4 billion acquisition of Griffin-American Healthcare REIT II. Ms. Ropa received an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, where she concentrated her studies in corporate finance and real estate.
CONSULTING
Managing Director of Real Estate, Engineering, & Construction
Lawrence is a results-oriented senior executive with demonstrated successes in leading multinational companies through difficult strategic and operational transformations, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and restructuring crises. With 25 years of experience in senior corporate management, Lawrence has a track record of improving financial returns by driving costs and refocusing operations while also positively affecting the top line. He has operated globally and been on the ground assisting companies around the world, including in Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Because each of the companies had different challenges, Lawrence has served in a variety of roles to drive success, including as CEO, chief financial officer (CFO), and chief restructuring officer (CRO).
Capital Markets & Finance
Head of Commercial Real Estate Capital Markets and Finance
Kara McShane is a managing director for Wells Fargo Securities and head of Commercial Real Estate Capital Markets & Finance (CRECMF) within the Structured Real Estate (SRE) group.
The CRECMF platform offers securitization and financing solutions to its clients, which include banks, insurance companies, pension funds, mortgage REITs, opportunity funds, and real estate finance companies. Kara is responsible for CRE debt capital markets and structured finance activities including CMBS and CRE CLO securitization, loan pricing, hedging, structuring and distribution of bonds, B-notes, and mezzanine debt. She is also responsible for the commercial mortgage loan repo/warehouse business, as well as our CRE securities and esoteric financing businesses.
Kara has 22 years of commercial real estate and fixed income experience. Before joining Wells Fargo in 2010, Kara held various leadership roles at Morgan Stanley. Most recently, she was a managing director and head of Securitized Products Group Capital Markets. Before that, Kara was co-head of CRE Capital Markets & Trading. She also held positions as a fixed income portfolio manager and trader responsible for the commercial real estate sector at Alliance Capital Management, where she managed CMBS and REIT debt. Kara was previously a partner at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co., where she was a fixed income portfolio manager and trader.
Kara received her B.A. in economics from Duke University and her M.B.A. in finance and management from Columbia (University) Business School.
Mr. Dixon manages CBRE’s Global Loan Services Platform with more than $155bn of commercial real estate debt in the US, Europe and Asia. In addition, Clarence leads CBRE’s Pan European commercial reals estate serves practice which includes primary and special servicing, facility and security agency, loan underwriting and loan sales advisory of more than £21bn of commercial real estate debt.
Clarence has over 22 years of commercial real estate debt experience having managed servicing and debt platforms in the UK, Germany, Spain and the Benelux. He joined CBRE in 2013, after spending five years as CEO at Hatfield Philips International, one of Europe’s largest commercial real estate mortgage servicers. Prior to Hatfield Philips, Clarence was Managing Director of Crown Mortgage Management where his responsibilities included establishing and managing the European operations including both Primary and Special Servicing. In 2001, Clarence was instrumental in establishing Kreditwerk (formerly Aareal) Hypotheken Management, Germany’s first mortgage servicer which grew to manage over €13bn in assets in less than four years.
Managing Director, Head of Global Originations
Marcia Diaz is a Managing Director with PGIM Real Estate Finance, a position she has held since 2010. She leads the originations team and is responsible for overseeing the origination platform of commercial mortgage loans across all major capital sources and property types worldwide. Marcia is located in Los Angeles. Since joining the company in 1990, Marcia has served in various roles. Her experience includes working with Prudential Securities from 1997 to 2001, where she served as vice president in the Real Estate Investment Banking group, and participated in merger and acquisition assignments, private placements of debt and equity and public equity issuances. She was also an asset manager with Prudential Realty Group from 1995 to 1997, where she managed a 7 million square foot mixed-use urban commercial real estate portfolio and implemented strategies for identified assets. Earlier, Marcia worked with the company’s Mortgage Asset Management Group, where she structured and negotiated problem loan workouts, bankruptcy strategy and foreclosures. Marcia began as an investment associate. Marcia received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University, and earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley.
Managing Director and Co-Head of the Real Estate Banking
Chad Tredway is a Managing Director and Co-Head of the Real Estate Banking business within the Commercial Bank at JPMorgan Chase. In this capacity, he manages a team of real estate professionals responsible for delivering products and services, such as debt, treasury and investment banking products to top-tier real estate developers, investors, real estate operating companies, investment funds and real estate investment trusts. Chad also serves on JPMC’s Real Estate Council.Chad was named one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Real Estate” by the Commercial Observer from 2013 through 2016. He also contributes as a columnist for The Observer.
Chad serves as a sponsor for the Chase Fellowship Initiative. He also sits on the board of directors for ArtsConnection, a New York based provider of arts education for at-risk youth.Chad graduated from Loyola University in Chicago and began his career in investment banking as an analyst in the M&A Group of a multinational financial services firm before joining JPMorgan Chase in 2008.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
DEBRA A. CAFARO is the Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Ventas, Inc., an S&P 500 company and real estate investment trust that owns approximately 1,300 healthcare, life science and senior living properties in North America and the United Kingdom and serves as the primary capital provider to leading healthcare companies. A recognized industry leader, Cafaro set and oversaw execution of a long term strategy that has driven Ventas’s market capitalization to $24 billion from $200 million since her leadership began in 1999. The Company’s compound annual total shareholder return (TSR) has exceeded 25 percent since January 1, 2000.
TECHNOLOGY
Mr. Ryan Williams
Founder & CEO
Ryan is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cadre. Prior to founding Cadre in 2014, he worked at The Blackstone Group in its real estate private equity division. At The Blackstone Group, Ryan was involved in over $3 billion in transactions across multiple asset types. Prior to Blackstone, Ryan worked at Goldman Sachs in its technology media group where he worked on transactions totaling more than $5 billion. Ryan founded and launched an institutional real estate single family homes fund in 2009, acquiring, renovating, and selling single family homes throughout the United States while acquiring more than 1,500 multi-family units. Prior to that, he founded a sports technology company. Ryan holds an A.B. from Harvard College.
VALUATION & ADVISORY
Chairman of the Board
Butler Burgher Group (BBG), a nationwide commercial valuation and due diligence services firm. Butler co-founded Butler Burgher Group in 1992, and in January 2007 the firm was acquired by Land America Financial Group. She served as General Manager and Senior Vice President and was responsible for running the National Valuation Platform until reacquiring and reforming BBG in 2009. Under Ms. Butler’s leadership BBG has grown to one of national stature providing valuation and consulting for all property types throughout the U.S. Butler has more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience in valuation, consulting and feasibility studies. Butler is a longtime CREW member, and eventually served as CREW National President.
