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. Mr. Amerikaner regularly counsels private equity firms, banks, sovereign wealth funds, and other entities on the environmental aspects of corporate transactions. 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.

Kenneth “Ken” Fisher is a business leader and philanthropist with a passion for serving those who have served our country. As co-managing partner of Fisher Brothers, Ken heads the third-generation leadership team of one of the country’s most successful family-owned real estate development and management companies, with a portfolio of more than 9 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space in New York and Washington, D.C. and a market valuation of more than $8.5 billion. 

Ken brings close to 40 years of experience in the real estate industry in his guidance and oversite of the company’s daily operations, management, marketing, portfolio construction and leasing of the company’s portfolio including 299 Park Avenue, 1345 Avenue of the Americas, Park Avenue Plaza and 605 Third Avenue. Under his direction, the company is implementing far-reaching modernizations to its infrastructure and technology. 

Ken has been appointed to the Real Estate Board of New York’s Board of Governors Executive Committee. He has served on the board of directors of two publicly traded companies, the Realogy Corporation, the Real Estate Investment Trust, the Strategic Hotels & Resorts and the Washington, D.C.-based Real Estate Round Table. Ken also served as an executive committee member of the City Investment Fund, a $770 million initiative established in 1996 to stimulate communities throughout New York City’s five boroughs through real estate investment. He also serves as a trustee of The Jackie Robinson.  In addition to these appointments, Ken received the Real Estate Board of New York’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award. 

Ken is a tireless advocate for those who have made tremendous sacrifices to our country including military service members, veterans and their families and is honored to serve as the chairman and CEO of Fisher House Foundation. In this role, he carries on the legacy of his Great Uncle, Zachary Fisher, and oversees a network of 78 Fisher Houses throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. Fisher Houses are a home away from home for the families of service members and veterans who are being treated for an illness or injury far from home. Over the years, the Foundation has provided more than 8 million nights of lodging for military families and on any given night, almost 1,100 families will sleep safely in a Fisher House somewhere around the world.

Fisher House is the pre-eminent public/private partnership serving military families, working with both the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Since its inception, Fisher House Foundation has helped more than 335,000 families, saving them an estimated $407 million in out-of-pocket travel and lodging costs. The nonprofit has also awarded more than $11 million in scholarships. In 2011, the Foundation partnered with the Department of Defense to establish Hero Miles and Hotels for Heroes, which help provide air travel and hotel lodging for families of service members to stay close by when a Fisher House is not available. 

Under Ken’s leadership, the Foundation has consistently been recognized for its success and high standards of accountability. The Foundation is one of few to hold an A+ rating from CharityWatch.org and has received a perfect, 4-star rating from Charity Navigator for 14 consecutive years. The Foundation has also received the Independent Charities Seal of Excellence and is part of the Combined Federal Campaign.

He is also honored to serve as a Co-Chairman of the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum which today welcomes 1 million visitors per year. He continues so supervise the development into a unique nonprofit educational institution which provides award-winning STEM programs to thousands of children in New York City’s public school system. Ken also served as the chairman of the 2016 Invictus Games held Orlando, Florida.  Working alongside Prince Harry, Ken led the efforts to bring the games to the U.S., leveraging the power of sport to inspire recovery, support rehabilitation and generate a wider understanding and respect for wounded, injured and sick service members, especially for those suffering from PTS & TBI.  In all, the games welcomed 500 competitors from 14 nations as well as 1500 family and friends. 

In 2007, Ken was appointed by the Bush Administration to the President’s Commission on Care of America’s Returning Wounded Warriors and has served on several policy boards in support of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter and former U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. He has been a key contributor to several roundtable discussions in support of Secretary of Defense, James Mattis. Ken is a member of the Board of Directors for the United States Army Command and General Staff College and the Board of Directors of the Business Executives for National Security (BENS).

Ken attended Ithaca College and received an honorary Doctor of Commercial Science from the university in May 2016. In addition, Ken has received a series of distinctions, inductions and high civilian honors including being named one of America’s Best Leaders by U.S. News & World Report. Additional honors form a wide-ranging list that includes the Phelps Award from the Friends of the Vietnam Memorial (2017); the HillVets 100 (2018); the Department of Veterans Affairs (The Secretary’s Award, 2004); Department of Defense (Medal for Distinguished Public Service, 2012, 2013); the George C. Marshall Medal (U.S. Army, 2009); the Special Forces Association (Honorary Green Beret, 2007); the United States Marine Corps (Honorary Marine, 2011); the Order of Military Medical Merit (Inducted 2001); the Paralyzed Veterans of America (Public Awareness Award,); A+E Television Networks (Lives That Make A Difference Award,), Ellis Island Medial of Freedom (2001), Heroes of Military Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award (2014).  And most recently, was recognized as one of the most influential Leaders by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.  

Ken lives in New York with his wife, Tammy, and is the proud father of three and two beautiful granddaughters.

 

Rick Kalvoda is the President of Altus Analytics – Americas at Altus Group, which is a leading provider of software and advisory services to the global commercial real estate industry. Prior to his current role, Rick was the Global Head of Advisory, responsible for leading and growing the practice for 7 years. Rick has over 30 years of experience in commercial real estate consulting and has over the years nurtured deep partnerships with key industry stalwarts. Prior to this, Rick was a Partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Real Estate Advisory Practice. He received a Master’s Degree in Real Estate from the University of Wisconsin –Madison, and holds the MAI, CRE, and FRICS designations.

John Adler joined the Office of the Comptroller’s Bureau of Asset Management as the Chief ESG Officer in January 2022. In this role, he is responsible for the Office of ESG that knits together previously separated areas of work as well as engages in new initiatives concerning environmental, social and governance impact on the companies in which the pension funds invest. The areas of work include corporate governance; Economically Targeted Investments; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; climate change; workers’ rights; and integration of ESG throughout the investment process. 

Prior to BAM, Mr. Adler served as the Director of the Mayor’s Office of Pensions and Investments and Chief Pension Investment Advisor under Mayor Bill de Blasio, where he was responsible for advising the Mayor’s trustees on the five New York City retirement system boards and on the New York City Deferred Compensation Plan Board on all relevant investment issues that impacted the portfolios. 

He previously spent 23 years in the labor movement, most recently as the Director of the Retirement Security Campaign at SEIU, where he managed all aspects of SEIU’s retirement security program, including public pension funds, Taft-Hartley pensions, Social Security, and private sector plans. He ran state campaigns to create state-sponsored retirement plans for workers without access to plans, and co-founded the Georgetown Center for Retirement Initiatives.

Mr. Adler received his B.A. from Yale University.

Andrei is an investment professional with over 15 years of industry experience. He most recently served as a Senior Associate at CPP Investments, where he led a number of total fund management initiatives and performed strategic allocation across factors and investment programs.

Prior to joining CPP Investments, Andrei provided risk model validation consulting services to the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and was a part of a risk management group at Bank of Nova Scotia where he supported the prime brokerage business.

Andrei holds a PhD in Mathematics from Queen’s University and a Masters' in Applied Mathematics from Moscow State University.

Mayor Eric Adams appointed Anthony “Tony” Giordano to the New York City Public School Board in January 2023. The School Board appointment includes board membership on the $8 Billion NYC Board of Education Retirement System (BERS). Leveraging his professional experience, Giordano’s colleagues elected him to the BERS Executive Committee & the School Board Chair designated Giordano her proxy to the NYC Teachers Retirement System ($95 Billion).

Professionally, Giordano founded Legacy Partners USA, LLC, a full-service business development consultancy in 2014. Prior to launching Legacy Partners, Mr. Giordano had a distinguished twenty-year career on Wall Street, serving as Director of Sales and Marketing at hedge fund of funds, Larch Lane Advisors; Director of Pension Strategies at Credit Suisse USA; and was a senior vice president at Bank of New York affiliate, Converg Ex. Prior to Wall Street, Giordano was a City Hall lobbyist with Montalbano Initiatives, representing the interests of several labor unions and quasi-governmental agencies.

Brooklyn College (CUNY) prepared Giordano well for his current role as an education policy maker and fiduciary, as he was elected to 2 consecutive terms as chairperson of the University Student Senate (USS) and student member of the City University of New York Board of Trustees, while earning a BA in Political Science.

Giordano currently serves on the board of Bertha Lewis’ action tank, The Black Institute and on the Advisory Board of the New American Alliance. Giordano also directed the mentor program while serving the board of tenant advocacy group, Palante Harlem, and is a supporter of Kentucky-based Sparrow Missions, leading missionary teams of Wall Street professionals to Honduras in 2013 and 2014.

Tony Giordano is most importantly a proud father and husband. His two undergrad daughters, Kira (22) and Devin (20), are respectively preparing for Law and Med school. Mr. Giordano is married to New York City immigration attorney, Aizhan “Aya Baltabek” Yerezhepova.

Eric is responsible for treasury, investment management, and pension fund accounting. He is a Trustee on the Classified Employees Retirement Fund Board, Other Post-Employment Benefit (OPEB) Board, Defined Contribution Plan Board and City’s Investment Advisory Committee.

 

Eric serves as a Trustee on the Town of Fairfield Employee Retirement Board and Joint Retirement Investment Board; AIF Global Trustee Advisory Board; Hashmi Ventures Advisory Board; NASP-MiDA Africa Institutional Investor Advisory Council and served on the USAID MiDA Institutional Investor Delegations to Senegal, Kenya and South Africa.

 

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 currently pursuing graduate studies in International Portfolio Management and Global Development at Harvard University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Chartered Global Management Accountant (CGMA).

David S. Rose is an Inc. 500 CEO, serial entrepreneur, real estate developer and early stage investor who has founded or funded over 100 pioneering companies. He has been described by Forbes as "New York's Archangel", by BusinessWeek as a "world conquering entrepreneur", and by Crain's New York Business as "the father of angel investing in New York". Red Herring magazine called him "patriarch of Silicon Alley" and InfoWorld described him as “a self-taught programmer from a family of innovative real estate magnates”.

He is the New York Times best-selling author of both Angel Investing: The Gust Guide to Making Money & Having Fun Investing in Startups, and The Startup Checklist: 25 Steps to a Scalable, High-Growth Business. His third book, The Real Estate Investing Bible: 25 Actionable Strategies from the Industry's Legends, will be published by Wiley in 2024.

David is a recipient of the Outstanding Builder/Developer Award from the Associated Builders and Owners of New York and chairs the Venture Capital Committee of the Real Estate Board of NY. He is the Founder and CEO of the US Real Estate Market, a capital markets platform for institutional real estate investment and the Founder and Executive Chairman of Gust, which operates the world's largest online platform for entrepreneurs and early-stage investors.

Prior to founding AirMedia Corporation in 1988, for which he served as CEO for over ten years, his career included over fifteen years in real estate development, government, teaching, and urban planning. He served as Vice President for Development of Rose Associates, Inc., the national developer known for Pentagon City in Alexandria, VA; One Financial Center in Boston, MA; and One Battery Park Plaza in New York, NY, and was co-founder and Chairman of The Computer Classroom. Earlier, he served as Deputy Director of the New York office of, and Special Assistant for Urban Affairs to, US Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

David is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of New York Angels; Managing Partner of Rose Tech Ventures; Co-Founder and Managing Director of the AREA PropTech venture accelerator; and a Founding General Partner of True Global Ventures, an international blockchain venture capital fund. He is Associate Founder and Founding Track Chair for Finance and Entrepreneurship of Singularity University, the Google/NASA-sponsored post-graduate program in exponential technologies.

David was the initial investor in, and Chairman of the Board of, JUMP Bikes, acquired by Uber; Comixology, acquired by Amazon; Pond5, acquired by Accel; and Panjiva, acquired by S&P Global. He is an active early-stage investor in dozens of companies including Realty Mogul, Tobly and NextGen HQ.

A native New Yorker, David has a BA in Urban Affairs from Yale University, an MBA in Real Estate Finance from Columbia Business School and a D. Eng. (hc) from Stevens Institute of Technology. He is a graduate of the New York City public school system and Horace Mann High School. David can be found online at davidsrose.com and followed @davidsrose.

Kim Hourihan is Chief Investment Officer for CBRE Investment Management. In this role, Kim is responsible for investment strategy, performance and risk. She chairs the Global Investment Committee and has oversight of all the regional and strategy-specific investment committees.

Kim previously served as CIO for CBRE Real Estate Investments, responsible for the overall investment strategy for REI, including investing CBRE capital into CBRE Investment Management investment programs and Trammell Crow Company development deals. She also previously served as CIO – Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies for CBRE Investment Management and Portfolio Manager for one of the firm’s comingled funds. She also served as a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager for two international sovereign wealth fund clients, with total assets under management of more than $4 billion representing 11.7 million square feet. In this position, Kim was responsible for client relations, portfolio management, asset management, acquisitions and dispositions.

Kim is passionate about strategic thinking, continuous learning and creative problem-solving for her clients. She enjoys the tangibility of real estate, the challenge of launching new entities and the opportunity to support and coach senior talent.

Prior to joining CBRE Investment Management in 2007, Kim had roles as Senior Vice President at Starwood Capital Group, Partner and Regional Director at TA Associates Realty, and Senior Vice President at Georgetown Holding in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, directing multiple acquisitions ranging from a bank in Geneva to a magazine in Hong Kong. Kim began her career in 1990 at U.S. Trust Company where she was responsible for real estate construction lending.

Kim earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College and Master’s degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.

Dean J. Shapiro is Global Head of Development for Oxford Properties. In this capacity, Dean is responsible for leading Oxford’s development business (including Oxford’s investment in Hudson Yards), which spans 3 continents and represents approximately 15% of Oxford’s global portfolio.
Formerly, Dean served in numerous capacities at Oxford including Head of Strategic Partnerships, member of the North American Executive Leadership Team, and as the Head of US Development for Oxford - where he was responsible for over 30 development projects around the US in the office, residential, and life sciences asset classes. Notable projects included Hudson Yards and St. John’s Terminal, the latter of which was Oxford-led and sold to Google for over $2 Billion.
Dean has over 34 years’ experience in the real estate industry including as COO and Partner in Building and Land Technology in Stamford, CT where he was involved in the
re-development of South Stamford, CT into a vibrant mixed-use destination, and at CBRE
where he held various positions, ultimately as leader of its NYC business.

Michael Eglit is a Senior Managing Director and Head of U.S. Originations 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.

Mr. Roth is a Partner and Co-Head of U.S. Real Estate in the Ares Real Estate Group. He is also the President of Ares Commercial Real Estate Corporation. Additionally, Mr. Roth serves on the Ares Real Estate Group's Global, Debt and Combined Industrial Advisors Committee (CIAC) Investment Committees. Prior to joining Ares in 2019, Mr. Roth was a Senior Managing Director of the Real Estate Group at Blackstone. Previously, he was a Principal in the Acquisitions Group at Walton Street Capital, where he was involved in numerous real estate transactions. In addition, he worked at Security Capital Group as Senior V.P. and CIO Europe and at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz as an Associate. He serves as head of the Executive Committee for the Board of Directors of Project Lyme and as a Board Member of Jas Aspen. He is also on the national council of the Aspen Art Museum. He has served on the Boards of Directors of numerous real estate entities including Invitation Homes Inc. Mr. Roth holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from Dartmouth College, a J.D. from New York University School of Law and an M.P.H from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Mr. Roth is a CFA® charterholder.

Anar Chudgar is the Co-President at Artemis Real Estate Partners, where she is responsible for developing, implementing, and overseeing both equity and credit investing platforms. Ms. Chudgar has more than 20 years of experience in real estate principal investing and investment banking. She sits on the Firm’s Investment Committee and serves as Portfolio Manager for the Income and Growth Fund. 

Prior to joining Artemis in 2019, Ms. Chudgar spent nine years as a Partner at GCM Grosvenor, where she co-led the creation and growth of the $5.0 billion real estate platform. She has closed on $1.7 billion in joint venture real estate transactions in North America and Europe spanning both equity and debt, leading all aspects of investment management, including transaction sourcing and execution, asset management, portfolio management, and capital raising. Prior to that, Ms. Chudgar was a Principal in Alternative Investments at Credit Suisse Group AG, held positions at Onex Real Estate Partners, iStar Financial, Inc., and began her career at JP Morgan Chase in real estate investment banking. 

Ms. Chudgar graduated magna cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and continues to be involved with the school.  She is on the Board of Advisors of Penn Live Arts, a resource for the performing arts at the university. 

Ms. Chudgar serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the Pension Real Estate Association, Committee Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee at Spark Youth, and as a Global Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) for the Americas. She is also an Executive Council Member at the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center at the University of Texas at Austin and for New York Women Executives in Real Estate (WX).