Donald Sheets
Terrell Gates
Michael Eglit
Spencer Garfield
Mike Lavipour
Thomas Brown
Nancy Lashine
Fred Cooper
Paul Fiorilla
Evan Linkner
Brian Banaszynski
Ankit Bhatt
Paula Campbell Roberts
Stephen Chase
Peter Ciganik
Lisa Davis
Drew Fung
Jacob Feingold
David Hamm
Andrea Himmel
Lauren Hochfelder
Mary Lang
Peter Plaut
Mark Romanczuk
Bert van Den Hoek
Brian Wallick
Lanhee Yung
Heather N. Wyckoff
Laura Craft
Eric Newman
Julie Whelan
Chester Lee
Jeff Moerdler
Tim Shoultz
Evan Linkner
Augustus Moy
Jennifer Welker
Austin Pena
Danny Fishman
David Amerikaner

Speaker Profiles

Donald Sheets

Managing Director, Broadshore Capital Partners

Managing Director of Broadshore responsible for leading the firm’s loan acquisition platform. Mr. Sheets serves as Portfolio Manager for Broadshore’s Special Situations Debt Group (“SSDG”) and provides strategic oversight of proprietary research, investment sourcing, structuring, and the resolution of non-traditional and high-yield commercial real estate credit investments. Previously, Mr. Sheets was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager at Clarion Partners, Founder of AlumCreek Holdings prior to its acquisition by Clarion Partners, and Senior Principal with Square Mile. Prior to that, Mr. Sheets created a commercial real estate platform with Davidson Kempner and worked in a variety of acquisitions and restructuring roles within The Carlyle Group, EastBanc, and Starwood Urban Investments. Mr. Sheets is appointed on the faculty of both Columbia University and New York University, serves on the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, is a board member and audit committee chair for Educational Housing Services, and is co-chair of the Education Committee and on the editorial board of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council.

Terrell Gates

CEO, Virtus Real Estate Capital

As founder and CEO of Virtus Real Estate Capital, Terrell Gates is ultimately responsible for all strategic decisions. Mr. Gates is a third-generation commercial real estate investor and developer, who began his career in the student housing industry in 1992. Since then, Mr. Gates has held numerous principal level positions in real estate, law, and finance, including private equity, portfolio management, investment banking and lending. Prior to founding Virtus, Mr. Gates was Director of the GGS Private Banking group at Merrill Lynch.

Since establishing Virtus in 2003, Mr. Gates has been ultimately responsible for the execution of the Virtus investment strategy, which has totaled over $5 billion in property acquisitions. An active philanthropist, Mr. Gates invests his time, treasure and talents in organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, Zoe Empowers, Mobile Loaves & Fishes, UMCOR, and Central Texas Food Bank, to name a few. Mr. Gates holds B.A.’s in Economics and Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin, before earning a law degree from Southern Methodist University Law School. He is a licensed attorney.

Michael Eglit

Managing Director, Real Estate Debt Strategies, Blackstone

Michael Eglit is a Managing Director in Blackstone’s Real Estate Debt Strategies (“BREDS”) group. Since joining Blackstone, Mr. Eglit has been involved in sourcing, underwriting, negotiating and structuring debt investments across all asset types and geographies.

Before joining Blackstone in 2010, Mr. Eglit was with Wrightwood Capital where he underwrote and originated first mortgages, mezzanine loans and preferred equity.

Mr. Eglit received a BA from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago.

Spencer Garfield

Managing Director, Credit & Real Estate Department, Fortress Investment Group

Spencer Garfield is a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group LLC in the Credit and Real Estate business. Mr. Garfield is responsible for real estate debt originations and acquisitions, equity investing and forming strategic relationships with real estate related companies.

Prior to joining Fortress, Mr. Garfield spent 12 years with Hudson Realty Capital LLC as a Managing Director responsible for loan originations, equity investments, business development and building and maintaining real estate industry relations.

Mr. Garfield received his B.S. from the University of Colorado, his Masters Degree in Real Estate Finance and Investment from New York University and was an adjunct professor at NYU in the Masters in Real Estate Program for three years. Mr. Garfield has received extensive recognition for his contributions to the commercial real estate and finance community.

Mike Lavipour

Managing Director, Investments, Square Mile Capital

Michael is responsible for overseeing Square Mile’s credit initiatives and capital markets relationships, as well as sourcing, negotiating and structuring loan transactions across the firm’s investment strategies. Prior to joining Square Mile in 2013, Michael served as Vice President at Redwood Trust where he originated whole loan and mezzanine loans in the northeastern U.S. Prior to joining Redwood Trust, Michael was a Vice President in the Real Estate Finance group at Credit Suisse where he worked in loan origination, asset management and capital markets. Michael received his B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Thomas Brown

Partner, LGT Capital Partners

Mr. Brown is a Partner at LGT Capital Partners (USA) Inc. with over 25 years of real estate experience spanning investments, management, advisory and capital raising (both public and private markets). Mr. Brown currently serves on the Real Estate Investment and Real Estate Management Committees at LGT and focuses on setting investment strategy and making investments globally in Underlying Funds, Co-Investments and Secondaries. In 2012, LGT acquired Clerestory Capital Partners, a business that Mr. Brown co-founded in 2007. Prior to forming Clerestory, Mr. Brown was the Global Head of Real Estate for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management and was based in London. For the 12 years prior to that, he was a real estate investment banker with JPMorgan Investment Banking in London, New York and Frankfurt. Mr. Brown holds a B.A. from the University of Mississippi. Mr. Brown currently serves as a Board Member for INREV and is on the AFIRE Editorial Board.

Nancy Lashine

Founder & Managing Partner, Park Madison Partners

Ms. Lashine is the Founder and Managing Partner of Park Madison Partners, a real estate capital markets firm. The firm is a leading advisor to investment management firms and operators and provides capital placement services from institutional investors. The firm has placed over $18 billion of equity from a wide range of global investors for its clients in funds, programmatic investments, portfolio recapitalizations and separate accounts. Park Madison is headquartered in New York City and is a FINRA regulated broker dealer.

Ms. Lashine has over 35 years of real estate and investment marketing experience. Prior to forming Park Madison Partners, Ms. Lashine was a strategic consultant advising leading institutional real estate investment managers on product development and the implementation of institutional marketing initiatives. Ms. Lashine was an early member of The O'Connor Group and began her finance career at LF Rothschild, Unterberg and Towbin.

Ms. Lashine earned her MBA at Columbia University Graduate School of Business, and a BFA, cum laude, from Case Western Reserve in Dance Theatre. She serves on several Boards including the Columbia MBA Real Estate Advisory Board, the Gibney Dance Center Board, and is a past board member of the Pension Real Estate Association. She is a member of ULI and WX (Executive Women in Real Estate).

Fred Cooper

Senior Vice President, Finance, International Development & Investor Relations, Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc. (Tollbrothers.com) (NYSE: TOL) is a Fortune 500 Company, the leading builder of luxury homes in the U.S. and one the nation’s largest land developers. The Company began business in 1967 and went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986. Toll Brothers serves first-time, move-up, empty-nester, active-adult and second-home buyers, as well as renters, in suburban and urban markets in 24 states across the U.S. and in Washington, D.C. In 2020, Fortune magazine named Toll Brothers the World’s Most Admired Home Building Company, the sixth year in a row it has been so honored.

Fred Cooper joined Toll Brothers in 1993 to establish its Finance and Investor Relations Departments. As the firm’s in-house investment bank, the team he leads is responsible for Toll’s capital markets and investor relations activities, its financial planning initiatives, and its partnering relationships with major U.S. and international financial and development institutions. Since formation, the group has raised over $20 billion from U.S., European and Asian banks, the public capital markets and institutional partners. In addition to capital raising, they advise on complex project structuring, joint ventures, corporate mergers and acquisitions and major property acquisitions.

Fred has been financial point for Toll’s expansion into the urban high-rise condo business through Toll Brothers City Living, which has grown into an operation of over 45 buildings and 5,500 units. He also has been financial point for Toll’s expansion into the rental apartment business through Toll Brothers Apartment Living, which now controls $3 billion in assets in a pipeline of completed and in-development projects totaling over 20,000 units. He also has overseen Toll Brothers’ development of international relationships in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

From 1989 to 1993, Fred was Director of Corporate Finance and Planning at DKM Properties Corp., the real estate arm of one of the nation’s largest private companies. From 1984 to 1989, he was Senior Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee of the Financial Services Corporation, New York City’s economic development bank. From 1980 to 1983 he worked in community-based affordable housing and economic development in the South Bronx and Brooklyn, New York.

He holds an A.B. from Brown University and a Master of Public Policy in finance and international development from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Fred has a strong personal interest in economic and real estate development and affordable housing in emerging markets. He co-developed and teaches in Wharton’s “Real Estate Development in Emerging Markets” course and has lectured on real estate finance and development since 2006 in Wharton’s International Housing Finance Program. He is President of U.S. Friends of Kenya Community Development Foundation and an advisor to REALL International, which provides capital and technical assistance to affordable housing developers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He is a volunteer consultant with the Stanford University SEED Program, where he works with African entrepreneurs in the real estate development sector.

Fred is an active mentor and lecturer at a variety of graduate-level real estate programs. He serves on the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, and as an advisor to the Harvard Journal for Real Estate. He also serves on the University of Wisconsin Graaskamp Center Real Estate Advisory Board and is a member of the ULI Global Exchange Council.

Paul Fiorilla

Director of Research, Yardi Matrix

Paul Fiorilla has 25 years’ experience as a researcher and writer in the commercial real estate markets. He previously spent six years as a vice president of research at Prudential Real Estate Investors in Madison, N.J., where he oversaw publishing of outlooks and thought leadership research. Before that, he covered real estate capital markets and CMBS for 12 years at Commercial Mortgage Alert.

Evan Linkner

Principal, Ackman Ziff

Evan Linkner is a Principal at Ackman-Ziff, which he joined in 2011. Founded in 1926, Ackman-Ziff is a global leader in developing creative capital solutions for institutional investors and operating companies. Since 2002, Evan has led over $25 billion of real estate related transactions as either a capital adviser or principal investor. At Ackman-Ziff, Evan leads the structuring and placement of equity, debt and mezzanine capital stacks including the construction of unique and innovative capital products. Evan heads Ackman-Ziff's Single Family Rental practice and also leads Ackman-Ziff’s Special Situations Group, which capitalizes non-traditional real estate related asset bases.

In 2006, Evan founded First Atlantic Capital Management, a contrarian investment fund that successfully forecasted the collapse of the real estate markets and established a platform to profit from the market inefficiency. At First Atlantic, Evan was the chair of the investment committee and responsible for developing the innovative algorithms and paradigms that enabled the firm to predict the Great Financial Crisis. Prior to First Atlantic, Evan led the acquisitions and development team for Midwest investment company.

Evan is the Chair Emeritus and a board member of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board. Evan additionally sits on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization. Evan has additionally served on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Evan holds two Master’s Degrees from Harvard University where he studied finance and real estate. Evan additionally has a BBA. Evan has received numerous awards and honors including the Marshal Award for graduating at the top of his class at Harvard.

Brian Banaszynski

Regional Partner Northeast, Transwestern Development Company Logistics Group

Brian leads the Northeastern US Industrial development business for Transwestern Development. In this role he has senior responsibility over sourcing and executing institutional industrial projects in the Northeast with a primary emphasis on New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York. He identifies target investment opportunities in these critical submarkets on behalf of the firm and forms the development team for each project. He has responsibility for the underwriting, due diligence, entitlements, construction, leasing and disposition for each development. He interacts with the Company’s Houston headquarters to determine
and form the appropriate capital structure as well as secure institutional partners for each project.

Transwestern Development Company develops office, industrial, multifamily, mixed-use, and healthcare projects throughout the United States. The Logistics Group develops both speculative and build-to-suit industrial projects, primarily in major distribution markets. Expertise includes intermodal logistics, e-commerce, port strategy, sustainability, and municipal incentives. The Company has completed more than 25 million square feet of projects throughout the country during the last four years, and currently has over 20 million under development including 10 million square feet in the Northeast. Execution structures include conventional equity joint ventures, forward take-outs and owner- financed fee projects. As part of the Transwestern Enterprise, the Company contains in- house expertise in equity and debt placement, construction, property management, and leasing in both its Houston headquarters and 35 U.S. offices.

Brian’s previous experience includes President and Board Member of Heller Industrial Parks, one of the country’s largest private industrial developers, as well as senior management roles with Advance Realty Group, Alfieri, Mack-Cali and Sanzari Enterprises. He began his commercial real estate career as a broker at Cushman & Wakefield. He has served on multiple industry and charity boards. He is a licensed New Jersey real estate broker. He is a member of NAIOP, IOREBA, and a frequently requested speaker at conferences. He received his BBA and MBA from the University of Wisconsin. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Graaskamp Real Estate Institute at the UWM School of Business.

Ankit Bhatt

Director of Investments, Oxford Properties

Paula Campbell Roberts

Managing Director and Head of Global Consumer & Real Estate Macro & Thematic Investing (CREM), KKR

Paula Campbell Roberts is a US Consumer Economist, Managing Director and Head of Global Consumer & Real Estate Macro & Thematic Investing (CREM) at KKR. The CREM team partners with KKR’s global macro, real estate, consumer private equity and credit teams in driving the firm’s thematic investing efforts. Prior to joining KKR, Ms. Roberts was an executive director at Morgan Stanley, where she managed coverage of the US consumer sector, advised Fortune 500 CEOs on their consumer strategy, and used big data to predict inflections in key sectors of the economy. Before Morgan Stanley, Ms. Roberts was a management consultant leading case teams and advising Fortune 500 companies at Bain & Co. Ms. Roberts earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Yale University. Currently, Ms. Roberts serves on the boards of The Brearley School and the American Friends of Jamaica. Ms. Roberts is also a Lincoln Center Leadership Fellow.

Stephen Chase

Managing Principal, Investor Solutions, Blue Vista

Stephen Chase is a Managing Principal and the head of the firm’s Investor Solutions group at Blue Vista. In this role, he is responsible for leading all fundraising efforts at the firm, as well as assisting in new product development. Stephen is also a member of the firm’s Management Committee.

Prior to joining Blue Vista, Stephen was Managing Director of Investor Relations at AmCap, where he was responsible for leading all business development opportunities and furthering the growth of AmCap’s institutional investment platform. Prior to joining AmCap, Stephen spent five years as a managing director at PCCP, where he was responsible for fundraising. Stephen also previously held senior roles within the private fund advisory group at Lazard Freres & Co.

Stephen earned a BS in history from Yale University. He is a member of PREA, a member of ULI and an active participant in the NY ULI Mentoring Program, and is Treasurer of the Davis Phinney Foundation for Parkinson’s.

Peter Ciganik

Senior Managing Director, GTIS Partners

Senior Managing Director, Strategy, Research and Investor Relations

Peter Ciganik is a Senior Managing Director of Strategy, Research and Investor Relations at GTIS and leads the Investor Relations and Client Services functions across the Firm’s investment vehicles. In addition, Mr. Ciganik is responsible for the Firm’s macro and investment research, global strategy and new business development.

Mr. Ciganik’s experience in the real estate industry began in 2002. Prior to joining GTIS in 2007, Mr. Ciganik worked with Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (MSREF) in London, and with Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners (LBREP) in New York.

In his prior engagements, Mr. Ciganik was responsible for the evaluation, financial modeling and due diligence of equity and mezzanine debt investments, participating in the acquisition of over $800 million of individual and portfolio assets. Before LBREP, Mr. Ciganik worked with Lehman’s Corporate Strategy and Acquisitions group, and as a business analyst with McKinsey & Co. in Frankfurt and New York.

Mr. Ciganik graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College and received an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Mr. Ciganik is a member of Urban Land Institute (ULI) and Pension Real Estate Association (PREA).

Lisa Davis

Executive Director and Portfolio Manager, Impact Investing, PGIM

Lisa Davis is an executive director at PGIM Real Estate and portfolio manager of Impact Investing. Based in New York City, Lisa is responsible for developing and leading PGIM Real Estate’s Impact Investing Strategy, including the creation of a new impact investing fund.

Most recently, Lisa was director of Investor Relations and Specialty Originations at Pembrook Capital Management, where she raised capital from institutional investors for commercial real estate investment, primarily focusing on affordable housing and community development.

Before joining PGIM Real Estate, Lisa spent six years at the Ford Foundation, where she made grant investments in affordable housing and community development, led the foundation’s Detroit program, and helped to start Ford’s impact investing initiative. Prior to the Ford Foundation, Lisa spent 12 years doing commercial real estate development in Boston,

first with non-profit community development corporations such as Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and Asian Community Development Corporation, and then with the private equity firm New Boston Fund. She led the redevelopment of some the most significant publicly-owned sites in the city, including the former Boston State Hospital site and MTA Turnpike parcels that came available as part of the Big Dig. Lisa started her career in Texas and the Bronx as a community organizer and advocate on housing and homelessness issues.

Lisa has a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts from the University of Texas at Austin, a master of science in real estate development, and a master of city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has lived and worked in France, Costa Rica and Japan. Lisa serves on the board of directors of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and IMPACCT Brooklyn.

Drew Fung

Managing Director & Head of Debt Investments, Clarion Partners

Drew D. Fung is an equity owner and Managing Director of Clarion Partners. As a Portfolio Manager within the Debt Investment Group, he oversees the Firm’s subordinate debt investment activities in various types of commercial real estate debt instruments, including mezzanine loans, B-notes and preferred equity interests. Drew is also a member of the Debt Investment Committee, which approves all of the Firm’s financing activities. Drew joined Clarion Partners from RREEF and he has 25 years of real estate experience. This experience includes more than 18 years in the debt sector, with more than $2 billion in debt transactions in all commercial property types. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

Jacob Feingold

Managing Director, Canyon Partners Real Estate

Jacob Feingold is a Managing Director responsible for the firm’s debt and equity real estate investments in the East Coast, as well as securitized investments and secondary opportunities nationally. Prior to joining Canyon in 2014, Mr. Feingold worked at iStar as a member of its investments team where he focused on structured real estate investments, development, and distressed opportunities. Mr. Feingold is a graduate of the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan (B.B.A., Honors) and Columbia Business School (M.B.A., Honors).

David Hamm

Senior Managing Director & Head of Real Estate, Wafra

David W. Hamm is a Senior Managing Director and Head of Real Estate at Wafra. Mr. Hamm chairs the Real Estate Investment Committee and is responsible for overall investment performance and the implementation of investment strategies for traditional real estate. Prior to his current role, Mr. Hamm served as Head of Real Estate Acquisitions at Wafra.

Mr. Hamm was previously a Managing Director at DWS RREEF America LLC, responsible for leading the East Coast transactions team focusing on office, retail, industrial and multifamily products for direct equity and structured debt investments. During his 19 years at DWS he completed more than $7.0 billion in transactions.

Andrea Himmel

Principal & Chief Investment Officer, Himmel + Meringoff Properties

Andrea Himmel serves as Principal and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) at leading Manhattan-based commercial real estate owner/developer Himmel + Meringoff Properties. In this key role, Andrea is working to expand the company’s $2 billion NYC portfolio of Outer Borough industrial warehouses and secondary office buildings in Manhattan. In July 2021, Andrea was chosen to serve as a Board Member of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. In addition, Andrea currently serves on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York’s (REBNY) Diversity Committee.

Prior to joining Himmel + Meringoff in 2018, Andrea held a number of key positions with several well-known commercial real estate firms, including Brookfield Properties.

As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s esteemed Wharton School, Andrea earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Real Estate Finance. During her tenure at Wharton, she was also chosen to be part of the Joseph Wharton Scholar Honors Program.

Himmel + Meringoff Properties is a privately held New York real estate investment company with a commitment to the long-term ownership and hands-on operation and management of one of the largest privately-owned portfolios of secondary office buildings in Manhattan and a growing portfolio of industrial warehouses located in the boroughs of New York City. The company acquires opportunistic commercial real estate properties with significant value-add potential.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-himmel/

Lauren Hochfelder

Managing Director, Deputy CIO MSREI & Head of MSREI Americas, Morgan Stanley

Lauren Hochfelder is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, Deputy Chief Investment Officer of MSREI and Head of MSREI Americas. Lauren joined Morgan Stanley in 2000 and has focused on investing in the Americas since then. She has sourced, structured and executed principal investments across all real estate asset classes, transaction structures and return parameters. Lauren serves as a board member of The 92nd Street Y.

Lauren graduated magna cum laude and with distinction from Yale University with a BA in Ethics, Politics & Economics.

Mary Lang

Head of Americas Direct Logistics Strategies and Portfolio Manager, CBRE Investment Management

Mary Lang is Head of Americas Direct Logistics Strategies and serves as a Portfolio Manager for a fund sponsored by the firm.

Mary, who began her career in the asset management industry in 2000, joined CBRE Investment Management in 2021 from Prologis, Inc. There she most recently served as the Global Head of Data Center Strategy & Solutions, as well as Senior Vice President of Americas Dispositions.

Mary’s accomplishments include the formation of several merchant development joint ventures to facilitate the conversion of logistics assets to powered-shell and turnkey data center solutions; the post-merger integration of AMB Property Corp., KTR Capital Partners, DCT Industrial Trust and Liberty Property Trust; and the disposition of more than $6 billion in industrial, retail, development and land sales from balance sheet and private capital ventures during her 17-year tenure with Prologis.

Mary earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Peter Plaut

Executive Director, Wimmer Family Office

Peter is consistently recognized as a leader in the industry. Among his many achievements and awards, he was ranked as one of the Top 20 Rising Stars of Hedge Funds during the 2008 financial crisis – a recognition of his ability to manage through crisis and create positive investment opportunities in all environments, Peter’s two decades of experience cover the sell-side, buy-side, and family office, as a banker, portfolio manager, salesman and research analyst. He was recently appointed Vice Chairman of the GRIClub Global Committee on Hospitality and the Vice Chairman of the GRIClub on Opportunistic and Distressed Investing.

Mark Romanczuk

Managing Director, Head of Capital Markets & US Commercial Real Estate Balance Sheet Lending, Goldman Sachs

Mark Romanczuk is a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs who serves as Head of Capital Markets and U.S. Commercial Real EstateBalance Sheet Lending within the Real Estate Financing Group, which deploys the firm's balance sheet to originate and structure both mortgage and mezzanine Commercial Real Estate financings. He joined Goldman Sachs in 2009 within the Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities Division. Mark earned a BA in Economics from Stanford University in 2006.

Bert van Den Hoek

Senior Portfolio Manager, North America, Bouwinvest

Bert van den Hoek joined Bouwinvest International in 2020 as Senior Portfolio Manager North America. He is responsible for the portfolio construction and performance of the investments made on behalf of the Bouwinvest North America mandate. In 2020, he opened Bouwinvest’s New York office. Bert’s all-round, international real estate career started in 1993 and includes origination, asset management, developments, fundraising and corporate finance advisory. After working in NL with PGGM (1993-96), he has been based in New York with Westbrook Partners (1996-99) and in London with Morgan Stanley (2000-2003), GIC (2003-04), Deutsche Bank (2004-2011) and Partners Group (2012-19). Bert has a Master degree in Civil Engineering (Delft, NL), Real Estate (Amsterdam, NL) and a MBA (Rotterdam, NL).

Brian Wallick

Director, New York Investments, Office and Life Science, Americas, Nuveen Real Estate

Brian is a Director on the New York Office & Life Science team, and is responsible for both acquisitions and asset management. He has recently overseen two large-scale redevelopments of Class A office assets and is currently working on both office and life science ground-up developments in New York City. Prior to his current role, he worked on the Debt Asset Management team within Nuveen, where he oversaw the TIAA Bank transitional mortgage portfolio. In addition to this responsibility, he managed a fixed and floating rate mortgage portfolio for the TIAA General Account and other third-party separate account and pooled vehicles.

Brian received his BA from Columbia University and an MBA from Baruch College, with a concentration in finance and real estate.

Lanhee Yung

Co-Founder, Sage Hall Partners

Lanhee Yung is a Founding Partner of Sagehall. Established in 2020, Sagehall is a diverse private investment firm focused on strategic real estate opportunities across asset types.

As a Founding Partner, Ms. Yung, co-heads the Investment Committee and oversees operations and investor relations at the Firm.
She was most recently Global Head and Managing Director in Starwood Capital’s Fundraising and Investor Relations Group for 10 years. In this role, she was responsible for raising capital globally on behalf of the Firm’s private investment funds and co-investments in real estate and energy infrastructure. She was a member of the Firm’s Global Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Starwood Capital in 2010, Lanhee was Head of Investor Relations & Fundraising for the CIM Group. She also worked at UBS Investment Bank and GLA Hotels and began her career at Merrill Lynch in the firm’s Investment Bank.
She completed her third term on the Board of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE) and is Founder of Young AFIRE. Lanhee is also the Founder of the Women’s Tea at PREA and on the Board of Women in Real Estate. She was recognized by PERE Magazine as one of the “Thirty Rainmakers in Capital Raising” and most recently acknowledged as a Woman of Influence in Private Markets.
Lanhee received her B.S. from Cornell University, School of Hotel Administration and earned her M.B.A. from ESSEC/Cornell University where she serves on the Hotel Society Board, Advisory Board of Center for Real Estate Finance and co-chair of the Cornell Real Estate Conference. She also serves as a trustee and on the executive committee of the Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences.

Heather N. Wyckoff

Partner - Schulte Roth & Zabel

Heather N. Wyckoff focuses her practice on advising private investment funds and has provided comprehensive legal services to institutional and emerging asset managers, proprietary trading firms, family offices and financial institutions on a wide range of issues. She forms private equity funds (including private credit and real estate funds), hybrid funds, hedge funds and managed account platforms, among others, and provides regulatory advice to investment managers. Heather has extensive experience representing funds and advisers who employ a wide range of investment strategies across all asset classes. She also represents fund managers and institutional investors in connection with the negotiation of seed deals, co-investment vehicles, “funds of one” and other strategic relationships.

Laura Craft

Global Head of ESG Strategy, Heitman

An industry ESG expert and in investment management over 16 years, Laura leads Heitman’s global Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) platform ($46 Billion AUM) and establishes systematic approaches to incorporate ESG into investment decision-making. Embedding ESG provides opportunities to create value, reduce risk and enhance investment returns. Investments are measured on ESG through proprietary private equity and debt acquisition, due diligence, and asset management tools, and through internal listed equity ESG composite scoring system. Laura leads a partnership with Urban Land Institute (ULI) to publish Climate Risk Investment Decision-Making Reports, which explores methods for assessing and mitigating climate risk at the investment- and market-level. Heitman’s approach to climate risk is included in the 2019 and 2020 reports. In 2020, Heitman announced its commitment to reduce its global private equity portfolio’s operational carbon emissions under its control to net zero by the year 2030. Currently, Laura is the co-chair of Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Innovation Affinity Group and is a member of ULI Greenprint’s Performance Committee. She is a graduate of Urban Land Institute’s selective Center for Leadership program. Laura has advised United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB) on their reporting frameworks. She is a LEED Accredited Professional and has overseen over 200 LEED, IREM, WELL Health-Safety Ratings, Energy Star and Green Globes designations. Prior to Heitman, she spent 10 years at LaSalle Investment Management, where she began in LaSalle’s valuation and asset management groups and transitioned to develop the firm’s Global Sustainability Platform. Laura’s early career experience includes market data coverage at real estate brokerage company, Grubb & Ellis | Barkley Fraser, as well as Building Information Modeling (BIM) research and development at SmartBIM. Laura received a double BA in Real Estate and Business Management from University of Georgia, where she was one of 30 UGA students to earn a Leonard Leadership Scholar Certification.

Eric Newman

Treasury Manager with the City of Stamford, Connecticut

Eric is responsible for treasury, investment management, and pension fund accounting. He
serves as a Trustee on the Classified Employees Retirement Fund Board, Other Post-
Employment Benefit (OPEB) Board, Defined Contribution Retirement Plan Board and City’s
Investment Advisory Committee. Eric is a Trustee on the Town of Fairfield Employee
Retirement Board and Joint Retirement Investment Board. Prior to entering government finance, Eric held finance positions at Royal Bank of Scotland, IBM Global Financing, Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, Price Waterhouse and Soros Fund
Management.

Eric received his B.B.A. in Accounting from Adelphi University; Certificate in Investment
Banking from New York University, M.B.A. in Finance from Sacred Heart University and is
pursuing a Corporate Finance Certificate at Harvard University. He is a Certified Public
Accountant (CPA) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).

Julie Whelan

Global Head of Occupier Thought Leadership CBRE

Julie Whelan leads a global team of researchers tasked with identifying major trends impacting commercial real estate occupiers across all industries. Julie also works directly with CBRE professionals across the Advisory & Transaction Services business to advise clients on real estate markets and strategies around the world.

An expert on the future of work, Julie is particularly interested in how the fundamental shifts toward sustainability and flexibility are reshaping the strategy and utilization of space. As a public speaker, she provides critical context for both massive and subtle shifts in the commercial real estate market, and her analysis has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA TODAY, Forbes, Business Insider, Bloomberg, Axios, CNBC and more.

With decades of experience working on both the client and services sides of the industry, Julie built her career creating data-driven insights that influence the C-suite on matters related to real estate in large institutions. Before joining CBRE, she was the Vice President of Global Realty Services for State Street Corporation, where she built a team responsible for analyzing the strategic and financial impacts associated with real estate decisions globally.

Julie earned a Bachelor’s degree from Providence College, a Master’s in Business Administration from Suffolk University and completed the Commercial Real Estate Program at Boston University. She lives in Boston and enjoys traveling the world with her husband and three young children.

Chester Lee

Partner- Duane Morris

Chester P. Lee is co-chair of Duane Morris' Real Estate Practice Group. Mr. Lee practices in the area of real estate law, providing strategic and legal advice for all types of commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Lee has represented both lenders and borrowers in secured financings and loan restructurings, including construction loans, Real-Estate-Owned properties (REOs), leasehold financings, debtor-in-possession loans, exit financings, project financings and mezzanine debt.

Mr. Lee also has counseled clients acquiring, disposing and/or developing real property, including ground-lease and sale-leaseback transactions (including sale-leasebacks involving call centers and medical facilities). Many of these matters involved purchases of multiple sites located in numerous jurisdictions. He has represented many foreign investors (including those from China, Russia and France) in their initial acquisitions and developments of projects in the United States (such as retail and manufacturing sites). He also has worked with landlords, tenants and subtenants in the leasing and subleasing of real estate assets, including built-to-suit facilities, retail locations and warehouse and distribution centers.

Mr. Lee has represented international and domestic investors in natural resource acquisitions, including uranium and coal mining projects. Mr. Lee has counseled clients in the financing of energy assets such as wind farms and propane gas distribution facilities.

Mr. Lee is a 1982 graduate of Harvard Law School and a summa cum laude graduate of Columbia University.

Jeff Moerdler

MINTZ

Jeff heads our Real Estate and Communications practices in New York and has significant experience in general commercial real estate law. Jeff’s general real estate practice includes acquisitions, sales, development, leasing, and borrower’s side financing. He also has a particular focus on real estate challenges facing communications, technology, and energy companies, and represents property owners and telecom companies in telecom real estate matters, such as data center leases. His clients include both large national companies and smaller, local clients. He is frequently invited to speak on real estate, data center, and telecom topics. He also writes for several industry publications, and he is regularly quoted in national media. Jeff was a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and led many of its major real estate and telecom transactions.

Jeff's experience includes over 35 years as a general commercial real estate attorney, he has worked with many large national companies — particularly in the high-tech, telecommunications, financial services, health care, supermarket, and oil and gas sectors — as well as numerous smaller local clients. His real estate practice is both national and local and includes representation of landlords and tenants in all types of leases; counseling owners and developers in the acquisition, sale, joint venture, development, and renovation of property; advising lenders and borrowers in commercial loans; and the representation of all parties in real estate litigation. He is actively involved in settling real estate, partnership and inter-family disputes.

During the past 30 years, he has developed a unique specialty practice in the intersection of real estate with communications, technology and energy issues. He has extensive experience representing landlords, tenants, developers, and communications service providers in the leasing, purchase, sale, and financing of data centers, colocation facilities, radio and television broadcast antennas, distributed and in-building wireless systems, rooftop antennas, and fiber-optic transactions as well as the wiring of buildings for broadband communications access. Jeff has also negotiated thousands of data center leases, master services agreements and colocation agreements, rooftop and cellular antenna leases, inside wiring agreements, and antenna tower leases throughout the country – covering over 500 million square feet.

He has also devoted a considerable portion of his practice to power and energy issues related to real estate and other technology matters, including large solar and wind installations and bulk power purchases. Jeff is also a member of the firm's Not for Profit Practice, Sports & Entertainment Practice and Israel Practice.

Jeff is a frequent speaker on real estate, data center and telecom topics around the country. He is a member of the board of advisors and regular contributor to Commercial Lease Law Insider, Commercial Tenant’s Lease Insider, and Communications Environmental and Land Use Law Report. In addition, he frequently contributes to Mortgage and Real Estate Executives Report and is regularly quoted in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Commercial Property News, Real Estate Weekly, and other publications.

In the past, he has served in numerous governmental positions, including as a Commissioner of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (including serving as the lead board member on many large public private partnerships and real estate transactions), a member of the New York State Banking Board, a member of the New York State Financial Control Board, a member of the Departmental Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division of the First Department of the New York State Supreme Court, Assistant to the First Deputy Mayor of the City of New York and assistant to the Deputy Borough President of the Borough of Manhattan. From 1981 to 1982, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Charles L. Brieant, US District Judge, and later Chief Judge, for the Southern District of New York.

Jeff is also an emergency medical technician on his local volunteer ambulance and President of his local chapter, as well as being on the Board of Trustees of the umbrella organization which is the largest volunteer ambulance service in the United States.

Tim Shoultz

CEO, SMARTCAP

SMARTCAP is a well-established, vertically integrated, commercial real estate acquisitions and development company with a strong reputation in the industry and a diverse portfolio of business operations. SMARTCAP’s primary focus is office and industrial acquisitions, as well as development in the Northwest. SMARTCAP was created to change the narrative in commercial real estate investing. We put our investors first and provide an open, honest, and transparent real estate investment platform. Our mission is to build wealth hand-in-hand with our investors!

Evan Linkner

Principal, Ackman-Ziff

Evan Linkner is a Principal at Ackman-Ziff, which he joined in 2011. Founded in 1926, Ackman-Ziff is a global leader in developing creative capital solutions for institutional investors and operating companies. Since 2002, Evan has led over $25 billion of real estate related transactions as either a capital adviser or principal investor. At Ackman-Ziff, Evan leads the structuring and placement of equity, debt and mezzanine capital stacks including the construction of unique and innovative capital products. Evan heads Ackman-Ziff's Single Family Rental practice and also leads Ackman-Ziff’s Special Situations Group, which capitalizes non-traditional real estate related asset bases.

In 2006, Evan founded First Atlantic Capital Management, a contrarian investment fund that successfully forecasted the collapse of the real estate markets and established a platform to profit from the market inefficiency. At First Atlantic, Evan was the chair of the investment committee and responsible for developing the innovative algorithms and paradigms that enabled the firm to predict the Great Financial Crisis. Prior to First Atlantic, Evan led the acquisitions and development team for Midwest investment company.

Evan is the Chair Emeritus and a board member of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board. Evan additionally sits on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Real Estate Alumni Organization. Evanhas additionally served on the Board of Directors of the Harvard Alumni Association.

Evan holds two Master’s Degrees from Harvard University where he studied finance and real estate. Evan additionally has a BBA. Evan has received numerous awards and honors including the Marshal Award for graduating at the top of his class at Harvard.

Augustus Moy

AM Companies

Augustus Moy heads as the Director of Capital Markets for Atlas Pearl Investments, he is also a managing member of the AM Companies. Augustus is a results driven finance professional with 20 years of direct investment experience. A celebrated graduate of New York University, his investment experience started right away and lead him across the asset classes. Over the past 20 years, Augustus has had experiences in multiple areas of the industry ranging from land acquisition and development to property management and asset management. His project specific experiences range across the asset classes over several investment cycles.

Over the recent years, Augustus has been responsible for managing investments on behalf of several family offices. Augustus and his partners collectively own and manage in excess of $3B of real estate across multiple strategies, which still are largely operated directly by the family businesses.

Currently, his focus lies on creating symbiotic partnerships with best in class operators, financiers, and other family offices. Through these partnerships Augustus ensures prompt and deliberate decision making in order to take advantage of opportunities that arise, and limit risk over the duration of the investment.

Jennifer Welker

CFO, Versity Investments

Jennifer Welker is the Chief Financial Officer of Versity Investments, LLC. She oversees all financial aspects of the company including acquisitions, accounting, financial reporting, cash management, budget/forecasting, and investor financial reporting. Mrs. Welker previously served as Vice President and Corporate Controller of the Picerne Group where she was responsible for finance, accounting and financial reporting for the company’s investment, management, and development activities.

She graduated from San Jose State University in 1996 with a B.S. degree in
Business and an emphasis in accounting. She is a Certified Public Accountant.

Austin Pena

Managing Director - Blackstone

Austin Peña is a Managing Director in the Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies Group. Mr. Peña is involved in sourcing, underwriting and structuring commercial real estate debt investments across all asset types.

Prior to joining Blackstone in 2013, Mr. Peña worked at Barclays in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group, where he was involved in advising REITs and other real estate companies on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and capital markets transactions. Prior to joining Barclays, Mr. Peña worked in a similar capacity at Lehman Brothers.

Mr. Peña graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania

Danny Fishman

CEO & Co-Founder, GAIA Real Estate

Danny has more than 25 years of extensive international experience in real estate investment, private equity and venture capital, investment banking and asset management. Danny co-founded GAIA in 2009. He previously founded and was Co-CEO of Tamir Fishman, an Investment bank and asset management company with billions in assets under management. He has held board positions with numerous government housing, development, and real estate investment companies and is the former co-head of the Israeli government’s privatization unit.

Mr. Fishman earned a B.Sc. in Economics and an M.B.A. in Finance and Accounting from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

David Amerikaner

Special Counsel - Duane Morris LLP

David Amerikaner is a member of Duane Morris’ Real Estate Practice Group and focuses his practice on land use, project development, environmental law, eminent domain, and sustainability.

Mr. Amerikaner advises developers, energy companies, and other large users of land through the process of obtaining permits and approvals to develop their land. This practice includes representation before local and state planning commissions, boards, councils, agencies, and other decisionmakers, as well as outreach to and negotiation with project opponents. Mr. Amerikaner’s experience spans several states and local jurisdictions, particularly the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other environmental and municipal regulations in California. He also handles litigation matters that arise from land development.

Mr. Amerikaner handles eminent domain matters for utilities seeking to condemn private properties for public use, and on behalf of private property owners whose properties have been condemned. He also represents private property owners in tax assessment appeals.

Mr. Amerikaner regularly counsels private equity firms, banks, sovereign wealth funds, and other entities on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions. He is experienced in performing due diligence, negotiating and drafting contractual provisions, and providing strategic advice in the context of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, debt and equity financing, real estate transactions, and project finance.

Mr. Amerikaner has an active practice in the field of environmental commodities, including advising clients on the generation and trading of carbon credits and various types of mitigation credits. He also counsels clients on reducing their carbon footprints and complying with environmental mitigation requirements, on both voluntary and mandatory bases.

In addition, Mr. Amerikaner maintains a robust pro bono practice, including work on behalf of disadvantaged individuals related to land use, government approvals, real estate transactions, immigration, and Holocaust reparations.

Mr. Amerikaner is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, New York and California. He is a member of the California and New York State Bar Associations. He is a former advisory board member of the Trust for Public Land New York State Chapter, and is active in fundraising and team building for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Mr. Amerikaner is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Harvard University, and also received a master’s degree in Education Leadership from Teachers College at Columbia University.