• Shaunak Tanna
  • Jae Yoon
  • Steve LeBlanc
  • Marc deBree
  • Donald Hall
  • Francis Greenburger
  • Kent Swig
  • David Gilbert
  • Terrell Gates
  • Michael Eglit
  • Leslie Wohlman Himmel
  • Eric Birnbaum
  • Spencer Garfield
  • Frederick Cooper
  • Joyce Frost
  • Jay Neveloff
  • TJ Parker
  • Chester Lee
  • Kyle Wissel
  • Jeff Adler
  • John Confrey
  • Paul Fiorilla

Speaker Profiles

Shaunak Tanna

Head of Structured Investments

BASIS INVESTMENT GROUP, LLC

Mr. Tanna is head of Basis’ structured investment team.  Prior to joining Basis Investment Group, Mr. Tanna was Vice President at Terra Capital Partners responsible for deal originations, underwriting, closing and also asset management. Mr. Tanna has been involved in over $250 million of mezzanine and preferred equity financings across over 50 transactions and over 6 million square feet in acquisitions valued at over $1.3 billion.  Mr. Tanna also worked on debt and equity placements for The Greenwich Group International, an affiliate of Terra Capital. Mr. Tanna received an MBA from CUNY’s Baruch College and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Mr. Tanna is a member of the Urban Land Institute and was an Adjunct Professor in the real estate department of Baruch College’s Zicklin School of Business.

Jae Yoon

CIO, New York Life Investors

Jae is the Chief Investment Officer of New York Life Investment Management, LLC (NYLIM). He serves as the Chairman of the Investment Governance Committee, responsible for the oversight of the investment performance of the strategies managed by NYLIM’s boutiques and affiliate portfolio teams. He also leads the Multi-Asset Solutions (MAS) team, which manages third-party multi asset strategies and economic analysis for New York Life. 

Jae joined the firm in 2005, managing the investment risk and strategy efforts at NYLIM’s investment affiliate MacKay Shields. Previously, he was Head of Quantitative Research, Analytics and Risk Management at Western Asset Management and Head of Risk and Performance for the Pacific and European Regions at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers in Tokyo and London, respectively. He also worked at JP Morgan Securities in Asia as regional head of Risk Management Control for Fixed Income and Equity Derivative Trading. He has worked in the financial services industry since 1991. 

He earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.S. in Operations Research at Cornell University.

Steve LeBlanc

Partner, Capridge Partners

Steve LeBlanc is the former senior managing director of private markets, overseeing the real assets, private equity and principal investments portfolios at the $110 billion Teacher Retirement System of Texas (“TRS”), the top performing pension plan in 2010. Mr. LeBlanc’s team was responsible for managing the more than $45 billion real estate and private equity portfolio exposure for the fund. His team made 116 investment commitments around the globe of nearly $30 billion in equity from 2008 to 2012. Mr. LeBlanc led the creation of the $6 billion private markets’ strategic partnership network at TRS.

An experienced leader of investment professionals and assets in the real estate industry, Mr. LeBlanc was president and chief executive officer of NYSE-listed REIT Summit Properties in Charlotte, North Carolina. Summit had 500 employees, 18,000 apartment homes and $150-300 million of annual development and acquisitions. From 1998 to 2004, Summit increased its equity market cap from $0.5 billion to $1.1 billion (225 percent) and the total market cap from $1.26 billion to more than $2 billion (176 percent). The total rate of return for shareholders was 144 percent and averaged nearly 20 percent a year. Summit Properties merged with Camden Property Trust on Feb. 28, 2005.

Mr. LeBlanc also served as president and Chief Executive Officer of Urban Growth Property Trust in Chicago, Illinois, where he developed the company’s strategic business plan, orchestrated the transition to REIT status and recruited, hired and trained the team, which initiated more than $250 million in acquisitions and developments.

Prior to that, Mr. LeBlanc served as the executive vice president for Archstone Communities Trust in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Initially, he was head of acquisitions of existing communities, then promoted to head of land acquisitions, then promoted to head of development, then promoted to head of development for Security Capital Atlantic and helped take it public and subsequently merged into Archstone. He was responsible for the development, acquisition and management of 11,000 apartment homes and the purchase of land for an additional 10,000 apartment homes.

Prior to that, Mr. LeBlanc was a senior partner at Lincoln Property Company where he was initially the partner for Austin/San Antonio (1984-1987). He was then promoted to senior partner for all of Texas (1987-1989). He was then promoted to open the office in the northeast (1989-1992). He was responsible for the management of 17,000 apartments, as well as the firm’s acquisition and development activities.

Mr. LeBlanc is a former member of the Private Capital Research Institute, and the SEC Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies. Mr. LeBlanc is also a former member of the RREEF America III Board of Directors. He is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA).

In 2011, Mr. LeBlanc testified in front of the Congressional Subcommittee on Capital Markets and Government Sponsored Enterprises on the “Reopening American Capital Markets to Emerging Growth Companies Act of 2011.” He has been on Bloomberg Television’s “Street Smarts” and “Money Moves,” as well as a guest host on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”

Steve LeBlanc, and his partner Tom Stacy, are Co-Founders of CapRidge Partners, LLC. CapRidge Partners is a fully integrated operating company that is based on customer service and combines the operating platform and history of T. Stacy & Associates with the institutional investor expertise and relationships of Mr. LeBlanc.

Mr. LeBlanc is a trustee and governor of the Urban Land Institute and formerly served as chairman of the District Council in Austin. He has served on the Board of Trustees of the Real Estate Roundtable, the Investment Advisory Board of the Employee Retirement System of Texas and the Penland School of Crafts and the Rio Grande School at Charlotte Latin School.

Mr. LeBlanc is on the Board of the Austin Presbyterian Seminary and a member of University Presbyterian Church in Austin where he is on the Finance Committee and a former Elder.

Mr. LeBlanc has a Bachelor of Business Administration in real estate/finance from The University of Texas at Austin where he is the Associate Director of the Real Estate and Finance Council and a professor at the McCombs School of Business where he led the creation of the Real Estate Certificate Program for Undergraduate Students at The University of Texas at Austin.

Marc deBree

Managing Director, Real Estate and Alternatives Asset Class Head, TIAA

Donald Hall

Head of Research at Nuveen Real Estate

Donald is the Head of Research for the Americas at Nuveen Real Estate. Using a mix of nontraditional data and traditional data sources, internal data, and the expertise of the professionals within the organization, Donald strives to uncover insights that help shape market-beating property portfolios from the bottom-up and top-down.

Prior to joining Nuveen Real Estate in 2021, Donald led abrdn’s (formerly Aberdeen Standard Investments) Real Estate Multi-Manager program in the Americas. His role involved sourcing, underwriting, and investing in commingled private equity real estate funds, clubs deals, co-investments, and joint ventures on behalf of abrdn’s fund-of-fund products and separately managed accounts. Prior to his role in investments, Donald was abrdn’s Head of Americas Real Estate Investment Research. Donald began his career in real estate research and strategy at CoStar Advisory Services, where he ascended to Managing Consultant, Senior Real Estate Economist. As a consultant, Donald would harness CoStar’s big-data capabilities to uncover winning strategies, identify undervalued submarkets and subsectors, optimize portfolios, and advise on individual transactions.

Donald graduated with a B.S. from Penn State University’s Schreyer Honors College and an M.B.A. from the Boston College Carroll Graduate School of Management.

Francis Greenburger

CEO, Time Equities Inc

Francis Greenburger is the founder, chairman, chief executive officer and guiding force behind Time Equities, Inc. Founded in 1966, Time Equities, Inc. (TEI) has been in the real estate investment, development and asset & property management business for more than 50 years. TEI currently holds in its own portfolio approximately 32.4 million square feet of residential, industrial, office and retail property – including more than 4,000 multi-family apartment units. In addition, TEI is in various stages of development and pre-development of constructing approximately 1.4 million square feet of various property types which includes at least 1,447 residential units. With properties in 30 states, five Canadian provinces, Germany, the Netherlands, and Anguilla, the TEI portfolio benefits from a diversity of property types, sizes and markets. There are concentrations in the Northeast, Southwest, Midwest and West Coast, and new markets are always being evaluated.
 
Mr. Greenburger is well known throughout the real estate industry for his ability to anticipate real estate trends and changing market conditions. TEI was a market leader in the cooperative conversion business in New York City, having converted over 100 buildings including over 10,000 units.  More recently, TEI took the lead in the conversion of obsolete office buildings into residential apartments in New York’s Wall Street area.  Building on our expertise in new residential construction and re-positioning,   TEI is currently working on or has recently completed several development projects in Downtown Brooklyn, Manhattan, Long Island, Jersey City, NJ, Seattle, Washington, Chicago, Illinois and Toronto, Canada.   Taking advantage of under-recognized opportunities has been the hallmark of the TEI strategy and a major component of its success.
 
Mr. Greenburger also has a passion for the arts. He is the founder and principal benefactor of Omi International Arts Center, a 27 year-old not-for-profit arts colony and educational center which hosts residency programs for visual artists, writers, dancers, musicians, and architects from all over the world;   as well as a renowned sculpture park which is open to the public on a 300-acre property in Ghent, New York just south of Albany. Mr. Greenburger himself is an art collector (his office is a virtual gallery) and he owns over 500 contemporary paintings and sculptures. He was awarded the insignia of chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government because of his commitment to the arts and his founding of the Omi International Arts Center.
 
In addition, Mr. Greenburger is the Chairman of S.J. Greenburger Associates, Inc., a literary agency founded by his father 86 years ago, representing many world renowned and best selling authors including Dan Brown, Brad Thor, Daniel Amen, Patrick Rothfuss, Robin Preiss Glasser, and Rosemary Wells.
 
Most recently, Mr. Greenburger founded the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice, which advocates for reforms to the criminal justice system, in 2014. In the capacity of the Founder and President of the organization, Mr. Greenburger serves as President of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Executive Committee and is an Ex. Officio member of all other board committees. Mr. Greenburger guides the Center’s policy and advocacy efforts to ensure that the agency’s actions are in line with its mission, through weekly meetings with the Center’s Executive Director. He also reviews annual budgets, audits and financial statements and approves all expenditures over $1000. 
 
Mr. Greenburger is also a very active board member of several not-for-profit organizations: Alliance for Downtown New York, Baruch Real Estate Advisory Board for the Department of Real Estate, Lavigny Writer’s Residency, Lincoln Center – Real Estate and Construction Council, Little Red Schoolhouse/Elizabeth Irwin High School Board of Trustees, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, MASS MoCA (contemporary art museum), Michael Wolk Heart Foundation, NYU Real Estate Institute Advisory Board, Omi International Arts Center, Inc., Sports and Arts In Schools Foundation, and the Zicklin School of Business Dean’s Council at Baruch College.  
 
Mr. Greenburger graduated from Baruch College in 1974 with a degree in Public Administration. In addition to real estate and the arts, Mr. Greenburger is an avid tennis player. He resides in Manhattan with his wife Isabelle Autones and children Morgan, Noah, Julia and Claire.

Kent Swig

President, Swig Equities

Kent M. Swig is an owner of several real estate operating companies as well as commercial and residential real estate properties throughout the United States. His holdings and titles include the following:

Swig Equities, LLC

Mr. Swig is President of Swig Equities, LLC, an investment and development firm focusing on the acquisition and development of real estate in New York City and California. Since 2001, Swig Equities has purchased and developed in excess of $3 billion of properties including holdings in Downtown Manhattan’s FiDi (Financial District) neighborhood comprising of 110 William Street, a 910,000 square foot office building; 80 Broad Street, a 440,000 square foot office building; 90 Broad Street, a 400,000 square foot office building; 44 Wall Street, a 350,000 square foot office building; 48 Wall Street, a 324,000 square foot office building; 5 Hanover Square, a 335,000 square foot office building; 770 Lexington Avenue, a 175,000 square foot commercial office building located in Midtown Manhattan, among others. Swig Equities residential investments include The Sheffield, 322 West 57th Street, a 58-story mixed-use building comprising 582 residential units, 109,000 square feet of commercial office, 8,840 square feet of retail, and a 372-car parking garage; 58 apartments within the 198 unit residential building located at 401 East 89th Street; among others.

David Gilbert

Chief Executive Officer, & Chief Investment Officer, Clarion Partners

David Gilbert is the Chief Executive and Investment Officer of Clarion Partners. He is a member of the Firm’s Executive Board as well as the Chairman of the Investment Committee. David is a member of the Board of Directors for Clarion Partners Holdings, LLC as well as a member of the Executive Board for Clarion Partners Management. He joined Clarion in 2007 and began working in the real estate industry in 1983. ​David is on the Board of Directors of the Pension Real Estate Association Foundation, and on the Board of Trustees for the Urban Land Institute.

 

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 $4.3 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, 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.

Leslie Wohlman Himmel

Principal - Transactional Advisory Service

Leslie Wohlman Himmel is founder and co-managing partner of Himmel + Meringoff Properties, a leading owner/operator of New York-based commercial real estate and one of the only privately owned, first generation portfolios of Manhattan office buildings. Founded in 1985 with partner Stephen Meringoff, Himmel + Meringoff currently manages two million square feet of commercial real estate valued in excess of $2 billion.

Eric Birnbaum

Founder, Imperial Cos

Eric Birnbaum is a New York City-based real estate developer who began his career with Vornado Realty Trust in 2003, where he worked in both Acquisitions and Capital Markets, and Development. While at Vornado, Birnbaum participated in over $1 billion of transactions. Between 2008 and 2014, Birnbaum led his own development firm, ELB Holdings, which deployed approximately $750 million in capital over more than a dozen projects, primarily in the hospitality and residential sectors.  

Birnbaum is the Founder, and currently serves as the CEO, of Dreamscape Companies, a real estate platform which seeks to (re)develop residential, retail, hospitality, entertainment and gaming properties into uniquely vibrant spaces that promote contemporary and progressive cultural utility, and maximize value.

Spencer Garfield

Managing Director, Fortress

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.

Frederick Cooper

Senior Vice President - Finance, International Development and Investor Relations,Toll Brothers

Toll Brothers, Inc. (NYSE: TOL) is the leading builder of luxury homes in the U.S. and one the nation’s largest land developers, serving home buyers and renters in suburban and urban markets across the U.S.

Fred Cooper joined Toll Brothers in 1993 to establish its Finance and Investor Relations Departments. Since formation, his team has raised over $15 billion from banks, the public markets, institutional lenders and partners.  In addition, the group advises on complex project structuring, joint ventures, corporate mergers and acquisitions and major property acquisitions.

Fred has overseen Toll Brothers’ exploration of international development opportunities in Asian, Latin American, and Middle Eastern markets. He has been financial point for Toll’s expansion into the urban high-rise condo business, which has grown into an operation of over 45 buildings and 5,600 units, and into the rental apartment business, which now involves $3 billion in assets and a pipeline of completed and in-development projects totaling over 14,000 units. 

From 1989-1993, Fred was Director of Finance and Planning at DKM Properties. From 1984-1989, he was Senior Vice President of New York City’s economic development bank.  From 1980-1983 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 focused on finance/international development from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

Fred has a personal interest in emerging market real estate, especially affordable housing.  He is a founding board member of the Friends of Kenya Community Development Foundation and an advisor to REALL, which provides capital and technical assistance to affordable housing developers in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. He co-developed and co-teaches 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.

Joyce Frost

Co-Founder & Partner - Riverside Risk Advisors

Joyce is an industry leader in the LIBOR Transition and is an active member of the ARRC's Business Loan, Non-Financial Corporate, Accounting and Tax Working Groups, and Tax and Term SOFR Sub-committees. She has lead dozens of webcasts on the transition since 2019 and has advised clients on some of the market's first SOFR-based loans and hedges. 

Prior to founding Riverside, Joyce was a Senior Vice President of Cournot Capital Inc, a highly successful seller of credit protection sponsored by Morgan Stanley. In her capacity, Joyce assisted in ramping up a portfolio of over $25 billion in swap notional, securing triple AAA credit ratings from three agencies, issuing $250 million of Senior Debt, and facilitating the successful sale of Cournot to an affiliate of Magnetar Capital in 2008.

Prior to Morgan Stanley and before a six year retirement, Joyce was Head of Marketing for Chase's newly-formed Credit Derivatives Group. Between 1995 and 2001, Joyce contributed to the development and execution of the bank's first credit derivatives transactions, including total return swaps, credit default swaps, off balance sheet financing vehicles and the market's first synthetic CLO. Her clients ranged from banks, insurance companies, hedge funds and corporations. During her tenure, Chase's Credit Derivatives group was rated "Best in Credit Derivatives" by Global Finance Magazine and "Best in Credit Derivatives" by Derivatives Strategies Magazine, in addition to other premier industry recognitions.

Between 1985 and 1995, Joyce was responsible for marketing fixed income derivatives to corporate, project finance, real estate and other end users. Joyce successfully concluded hundreds of transactions ranging from plain vanilla swaps to the most complex cross-border project finance transactions in Latin America. She started her fixed income career at The Northern Trust Company, continued at Chase and spent five years at Sumitomo Bank Capital Markets.

Joyce is Co-Editor of the Handbook of Credit Derivatives (McGraw Hill, 1999) and author of many articles published on the use of derivatives by corporations and other end-users. She has spoken at dozens of industry conferences throughout North and South America and Europe.

Joyce earned a B.S. in Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and completed MIT Sloan School of Management's Executive Program: Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy.

Joyce was honored to receive the Legacy Award for the 2019 Market Choice Award: Women in Finance in New York City.

She currently is Board Chair of Excellence Community Schools, a network of charter schools in New York City and Stamford CT, Founding Chair and current VP, Board of Trustees of the Bronx Charter School for Excellence, one of the top rated charter schools in New York State, and Secretary of the Board of Directors of New York Cares, New York City’s premier volunteer organization.

 

 

Jay Neveloff

Partner - Kramer Levin

Jay A. Neveloff advises a broad range of clients involved with the development, ownership and financing of real estate projects, including high-profile mixed-use, commercial, retail, and residential projects in New York City and throughout the country. A nationally recognized transactional lawyer, Jay represents institutional and private equity funds, as well as other investors, in joint ventures, in the acquisition and sale of property, including portfolios of properties, and in connection with a broad variety of developments. He also represents major international funds and financial institutions in commercial lending transactions, loan restructurings and workouts.

Jay’s most notable transactions include high-profile projects in New York City, such as the Waldorf Astoria, representing the owner in several aspects; Disney-ABC, representing the company in the sale of its primary New York City campus and in the relocation of its New York headquarters to a 1.2-million-square-foot complex with office and studio space being developed in Tribeca; CIM in the development of 432 Park Avenue, multiple parties involved in the development and financing of Central Park Tower; and Time Warner Center, representing Related-Apollo in the $1.7 billion development of the premier mixed-use complex in Columbus Circle. Jay represented Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center in the sale of the main hospital campus; New York Life Insurance Co. in the sale of Manhattan House, a residential complex comprising an entire block on the Upper East Side of Manhattan; and the Ponte family in numerous Lower Manhattan transactions. He also led the sale of Stribling & Associates to Compass and the sale of The Sunshine Group to NRT Corcoran.

In another notable and unique project, Jay represents an owner of Broadway theaters in the sale involving a mixed-use building in Times Square, in which the seller retained ownership of the landmarked theater currently at street level. As part of the purchaser’s redevelopment of the property, the purchaser intends to lift the theater by up to 30 feet above its current location to allow for retail space at street level, and will renovate the theater for the seller. 

Jay has played an integral role in advancing state and local legislative and policy changes on behalf of clients, including representing the owner of multiple large residential complexes and the owner and developer of major sports entertainment venues. He has had significant involvement in the adoption of federal and state legislation, including the adoption of amended Section 365(h) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (preserving the integrity of leasehold financings), the limitations enacted in 2016 regarding the Interstate Land Full Disclosure Act and other property-specific legislation, as well as New York State executive orders relating to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on real estate.

Jay regularly advises clients in the hotel and hospitality industry on the acquisition and development of properties, as well as on loan restructurings. He has been involved in several unique hospitality-related products for several clients, including the iconic Plaza Hotel and the St. Regis Hotel. He represented Starwood Hotels in the sale of several hotels including the Sheraton Manhattan and the retail portion of the St. Regis, and advised Korman Communities in the acquisition of the Smyth Hotel.

Jay also has deep experience in workouts and restructuring of properties in every asset class, including condominiums, hotels, commercial properties, hospitals and senior care facilities, in New York and other cities. Recently, he led a team of Litigation, Bankruptcy, Land Use and Real Estate lawyers in a financing, mezzanine foreclosure and bankruptcy involving a large development site near Sutton Place in Manhattan, and successfully defended the client against attempts to stop construction by rezoning the site. He has also advised both NYU-Langone Medical Center and Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as other not-for-profits and owners, in several leasehold condominium transactions.

On a national scale, Jay has facilitated the development of numerous regional and local shopping centers and other commercial projects throughout the country. He represented the owners of Starrett City, the largest federally subsidized housing complex in the United States, in a major capital transaction; represented the previous operator of Stuyvesant Town in a variety of matters; and guided the sale of a major casino hotel in Las Vegas on behalf of the owners. Recently, Jay led a multidisciplinary team representing Del Monte Foods in a $1.3 billion refinancing as well as in the $1.68 billion acquisition of that company.

Jay is described by market sources as “one of the best real estate lawyers in New York” and “a phenomenal and very, very creative attorney” (Chambers USA 2020). He’s been lauded by clients as “very well connected, really practical and incredibly responsive” (Chambers USA 2019), “one of our most trusted advisers” (Chambers USA 2018), and a “well respected” lawyer who “understands the scale” of the New York real estate landscape and “can eliminate problems” (Chambers USA 2014). He has been described as “a consummate real estate attorney” and “the dean of high-end, mixed-use condominium developments” (Chambers USA 2015). Clients appreciate that “he looks after his clients, is always available and responsive, and is very knowledgeable in the business” (Chambers USA 2017). He has been ranked in Tier 1 for Real Estate by Chambers every year for more than 15 years. Other observers say Jay is “a fantastic attorney” who is “very focused and detailed” (Legal 500 US 2015).

 

TJ Parker

Managing Director

Barings

TJ Parker is a member of the Barings’ Real Estate Team, a global real estate platform with extensive capabilities across both debt and equity strategies. TJ is primarily responsible for the U.S. industrial, senior housing and self-storage property types. She utilizes top-down macro perspective as well as market-level real estate fundamentals in support of equity and debt investment strategies. TJ is also a frequent contributor to various internal and external research publications and represents Barings’ research to its investors in external conferences and trade groups. Prior to joining the firm in 2013, she spent three years with the Hartford Investment Management Company, working on various aspects of their investment risk analytics program. TJ holds a B.E. in Engineering in Instrumentation Technology, from VTU, India; has an M.B.A. from Ohio State University, with a concentration in Investment Management; and is a member of the CFA Institute and the CAIA Association.

 

 

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.

Kyle Wissel

Principal - Mazars

Kyle has more than 20 years of experience delivering advisory, tax planning, and consulting services to real estate companies, closely held businesses, and high-net-worth individuals.

He assists real estate owners, operators, and developers in structuring acquisitions, advising them on existing business operations, and creating solutions to minimize tax liabilities. He also has an extensive background in individuals’ income, partnership, corporation, estate, gift, and fiduciary tax returns, including guidance on domestic and international income and transfer tax planning, and investment and financial planning strategies.

Kyle graduated from the College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Administration in Finance, and received a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Jeff Adler

Yardi Matrix

Jeffrey Adler serves as Vice President, Yardi® Matrix (the data division of Yardi Systems), which is a US multifamily (market rate and affordable), student housing, office, medical office, industrial, retail, and self-storage asset information toolset for originating, underwriting, and asset managing commercial real estate investments, used by many of the largest lenders, equity investors, brokers, owners, and management companies.

From 2002-2009, Mr. Adler was Chief Property Operations Officer at AIMCO (NYSE: AIV, S&P 500), leading the revitalization of the operating platform of more than 160,000 multifamily units ($10B Enterprise Market value), where he also co-founded AIMCO’s portfolio investment, asset management and capital markets strategies.

From 2009-2014, Mr. Adler acted as CEO/COO for several sponsor and investor platforms in the US value-add, student, military, senior, single-family, and Canadian rental housing industries.

From 1990 to 2000 Mr. Adler was a Vice President at Progressive Insurance, developing the Progressive consumer brand, establishing the corporate marketing department, and then running the Colorado business unit, growing it profitably from $10MM to $100MM in revenues.

Mr. Adler holds a B.A. in Economics from Yale (Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude), and a M.B.A. in Strategic Planning & Marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (Beta Gamma Sigma, Dean’s List).

Mr. Adler is a Board Member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), Chairman of the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Multifamily Silver Council, and lecturer at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Real Estate Executive Education program.

John Confrey

Partner

Mazars

John has more than seven years of public accounting experience, providing attest and advisory services primarily in the real estate and financial services industries for both public and private companies. Prior to Mazars, John served as an assistant controller for one year at a regional ethanol company. 

At Mazars, John’s clients include SEC Registered Investment Advisors, real estate private equity funds, debt funds, separate accounts for institutional investors, Real Estate Investment Trusts, and residential building owners and managers. In addition, he has extensive experience with review and analysis of operating agreements and internal rate of return investment waterfalls. He also has a strong technical background in US GAAP, real estate investment companies, and fair value measurements of real estate investments.



Paul Fiorilla

Director of Research, Yardi Matrix

Paul Fiorilla is Director of Research at Yardi Matrix, where he oversees research publications that include national and metro outlooks and white papers about industry trends. Paul recently passed his 25th anniversary as a writer and researcher in the industry. Before joining Yardi in January 2015, he worked for six years as an investment vice president in the research group of Prudential Real Estate Investors (now PGIM). Prior to joining PREI, he covered CMBS and CRE capital markets for Commercial Mortgage Alert for 12 years.

 

Additionally, he serves as volunteer Editor in Chief of the magazine published by the CRE Finance Council, and is a member of the publications committee of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA). He regularly produces articles for industry trade magazines published by trade groups including AFIRE, NAREIM, Institutional Investor, CREFC and PREA.