Agenda

Danny Malkin is a Managing Director in Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies ("BREDS") on the Private Investments team, based in New York. Mr. Malkin is responsible for overseeing the U.S. Private Investments team in the sourcing, underwriting, and structuring of debt investments across all asset types and geographies.  Mr. Malkin previously worked for Blackstone in both London and Sydney.

Mr. Malkin received a BBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Alan Todd is head of U.S. Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities (CMBS) Research and a member of the CREFC Board of Governors. In this role he is responsible for providing in-depth analysis and macro-level overviews of the CMBS, CMBX and commercial real estate markets. 

Alan brings over 20 years of CMBS experience to this role and is highly regarded for his recommendations and timely market calls. Alan correctly called the recovery of the CMBS market since the 2009 bottom and the decline of the CMBS market in 2008. Alan has been ranked in the top 3 for CMBS strategy in the Institutional Investor All-America Fixed Income Research team survey in each of the last fourteen years. 

Alan joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in August of 2011 from J.P. Morgan, where he was head of CMBS research since 2005. Previously he spent five years at Bear Stearns, also in CMBS Research. Alan received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Syracuse University, his Master’s degree in Finance from Vanderbilt University and is a CFA Charter holder.

Leo Jacobs is a commercial litigation and bankruptcy attorney and the founder of Jacobs, P.C., a boutique law firm known for finding creative, direct, and expedient solutions to complex and high-profile issues.

Cary Carpenter is a Managing Director of commercial real estate, capital markets, trading and syndication at Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Carpenter is responsible for pricing, structuring and capital commitments for the acquisition and sale of CRE debt for Starwood Property Trust. He also manages the financing and sale of whole loans, as well as warehouse lines for the company.

Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2010, Mr. Carpenter was a Partner at Coastal Capital Partners, where he managed the acquisition of performing, sub-performing and non-performing CRE debt. As an Executive Vice President with Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance, Cary was responsible for the pricing, structuring and sale of all fixed and floating rate high-yield commercial real estate debt. Before that, Mr. Carpenter served his initial stint at Coastal Capital Partners, where his responsibilities included client development and capital raising for third parties. Before that, he was a Managing Director for Precept Corp., an online marketplace for CRE financing, with responsibilities including business and product development, and capital raising. Prior to that, he was a Vice President of Structured Finance at Nomura Asset Capital, a Senior Consultant in Deloitte and Touche’s real estate capital markets group, an Assistant Treasurer in Toyo Trust and Bank’s real estate finance group, and a Project Designer for both The SWA Group and Sasaki Associates.

Cary received an M.S. in real estate development and finance from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Kansas State University.

Known for his passion and tenacity, David R. Weinreb is an entrepreneur and respected leader who since 2020 has been the Chairman of Weinreb Ventures, a multi-faceted investment and advisory firm with a focus on creating and enhancing real estate that will stand the test of time. Mr. Weinreb previously
served as co-founder, CEO and a member of the Board of Directors of The Howard Hughes Corporation from 2010 to 2019. Mr. Weinreb directed the company’s efforts since its inception, building a portfolio of some of the most sought-after real estate in the country and growing the company’s share price
over 300% during his tenure.

While at Howard Hughes, his vision, leadership, and acumen led him to be honored with the 2013 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year® Award in Real
Estate for the region. Additionally, he was named as one of the Top 200 CEOs in the U.S. by ExecRank and listed multiple times in the Commercial Observer Power 100 as one of the most powerful people in New York City real estate. His accomplishments at HHC include the successful transformation of the Seaport District in Lower Manhattan into one of the city’s leading destinations for unique
hospitality and entertainment experiences, such as the Rooftop at Pier 17, which was named the country’s “Best New Concert Venue” in 2019 by Pollstar. Prior to leading the emergence of The Howard Hughes Corporation as a publicly traded company, Mr. Weinreb spent 17 years creating and running his own investment firm, TPMC Realty.

Sean Bannon, Managing Director, Head of US Real Estate, Zurich Alternative Asset Management, has approximately 30 years of experience founding, building, and leading commercial real estate investment businesses in the United States. Based in New York, he is currently responsible for Zurich’s US Real Estate investment businesses with roughly $3 billion in AUM across Zurich balance sheet and third-party investor fund portfolios. Mr. Bannon is a voting member of the Global Real Estate Investment Committee at Zurich, with over $15 billion of AUM, and is also a voting member of the Investment Committee of ZAAM, LLC, the firm’s global alternative investment unit dedicated to Hedge Fund, Private Equity and US Real Estate investment with aggregate alternative investment AUM exceeding $20 billion. Mr. Bannon joined Zurich in 1997 to help found the firm’s US direct real estate acquisition platform, focusing on high grade credit tenants, and acquired approximately $2.5 billion of assets through structured finance transactions. Mr. Bannon authored the current USRE investment strategy, and hired a team of professionals to execute a core, direct acquisition program across four product types and 20 US markets, which has now invested over $2.5 billion across select Zurich balance sheets. Most recently, he launched the firm’s first dedicated third-party core real estate investment fund for foreign investors, and is currently investing roughly $500 million of initial equity in core, direct opportunities throughout the US. Prior to joining Zurich, Mr. Bannon held various real estate positions with Lehman Brothers and Arthur Andersen. Mr. Bannon holds a BS in Accounting and Computer Information Systems from Fairfield University, and a Masters of Business Administration degree from Columbia Business School.

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.

Mr. Hertz is responsible for Corebridge's Global Real Estate's U.S. equity investment activities, overseeing various real estate teams that source, underwrite and close new acquisition and development opportunities for all product types, including multi-family, retail, office, industrial, hotel, and senior/student housing. Prior to joining Corebridge Global Real Estate in 2009, Mr. Hertz was a Managing Director at Amstar Global Advisors, a private equity fund, where he was responsible for all real estate investments and dispositions, with assets in Russia, Turkey and India. Prior to Amstar, Mr. Hertz was a Managing Director at Corebridge Global Real Estate where he was responsible for U.S. retail property investments. Prior to Corebridge, Mr. Hertz was a Senior Vice President at Prime Retail, a Baltimore based REIT, where he was mainly involved in acquisitions and development, property dispositions, asset management and structuring lender and equity partner work-out strategies. Mr. Hertz received a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate from The Pennsylvania State University and a master's degree in real estate investment from Johns Hopkins University.

Nitin has been at Goldman Sachs for 13 years and is currently a Managing Director in the Capital Markets group in the Commercial Real Estate Financing Group. His primary responsibilities include pricing new issue CMBS, risk management of the CRE book and distribution of CRE debt, in securities and sub-debt (b-note / mezz / pref etc) form. 

Yorick Starr is Senior Director of Structured Investments with Invesco Real Estate ("IRE"). Based in New York, Yorick is primarily responsible for loan originations covering the East Coast region, with an emphasis on the primary and gateway markets. Loan products are focused on non-recourse, floating-rate, transitional senior and subordinate loans (including mezzanine loans and B-notes) secured by institutional quality real estate. Prior to Invesco, Yorick worked at Wells Fargo for 15 years in Real Estate Merchant Banking division, with experience ranging from opportunistically acquiring commercial real estate loans (single notes & pools) in the secondary market and providing leverage on commercial real estate loans acquisitions (performing loans through NPL pools) as well as leveraging direct originations by debt funds (A/B, senior/sub, note-on-note, & repo structures).

Yorick is a graduate of the University of San Diego (BBA, Finance, Accounting, IT, Computer Science).

James has over 17 years of real estate investment and asset management experience in various property sectors, across the entire capital stack in the US, Europe, and Asia.  He recently joined Macquarie and focuses on the sourcing, execution, and management of MAM Real Estate’s investments in the Americas.  Prior to joining Macquarie, James worked for 11 years (2011-2022) at Starwood Capital Group where he led investments in the Tri-State area after successfully starting Starwood’s investments in Australia and helping to grow their European business.    

His experience includes over US$7 billion of acquisitions of residential, industrial, office, student housing, and retail.  Additionally, he has significant experience in buying performing/nonperforming debt and originating debt / preferred equity.  James started his career in the large loan originations team at Lehman Brothers. 

Mr. Fogarty graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a Bachelor of Arts (Cum Laude B.A.), History and a Minor in Urban Real Estate from the Wharton School. 

Paul M. Fried, Executive Managing Director and Head of Equity Capital Markets, is responsible for leading Greystone’s equity capital placement services. Paul’s team advises on structuring creative equity solutions and capital strategies and sources institutional equity on behalf of real estate owners and developers nationwide across all commercial asset classes.

Paul joined GBG from L&L Holding, where he was a Managing Director and head of Equity and Debt Capital Markets. Paul’s experience spans over two decades and numerous economic cycles, providing clients with a unique perspective on successfully managing the equity capital markets. Projects at L&L, alone, encompassed over $4 billion in strategic acquisitions, equity recapitalizations and development projects, such as 425 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Prior to L&L, Paul oversaw the Real Estate Banking and Restructuring Group at Traxi LLC.

Paul was a Director at Deutsche Banc Mortgage Capital and a member of the Investment Committee, and co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of mezzanine lender Allegiance Capital. He was an attorney with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy.

Paul has a JD from Rutgers (Newark), where he was an Editor of the Law Review, and a BA from Rutgers College (New Brunswick; History) where he was a Henry Rutgers Scholar. He is a Council Member of the Urban Land Institute.

Mr. Negari is the Co-Founder and EVP of Sovereign Capital NYC. Michael’s duties include joint venture relationship-management, sourcing, due-diligence, underwriting, financing, capital markets and asset management. Prior to Sovereign, Michael spent 11 years in the mergers and acquisitions sector. While at Oberon Securities, he assisted corporate client acquisitions, divestiture and capital raising efforts as a generalist leading deal teams. Prior to this, Michael was a Senior Associate at Duff & Phelps’ Valuation Advisory Services group focused in M&A – clients served include D.E. Shaw & Co., Fortress Investment Group LLC, Apollo Management L.P., Conversus Capital L.P., Newcastle Investment Corp., The Carlyle Group, among others. While pursuing his MBA in Corporate Finance at Fordham University, Mr. Negari spent two years as an M&A Associate at David N. Deutsch & Co. (boutique investment bank). Prior to obtaining his MBA, Michael was a Financial Analyst within AIG’s Global Investment Group managing $11.9Bn (AUM).

Philip J. McAndrews serves as Chief Strategy Officer of RXR Realty, LLC. Mr. McAndrews is recognized as a transformational C-suite leader with extensive managerial and investment experience refining enterprise-level global investment strategies and pivoting large organizations poised for growth and commercialization. With experience as both a Chief Investment Officer and a Chief Strategy officer, he offers a unique contextual perspective on the nuances of international capital deployment, investor relations, and growth-oriented enterprise management across private markets.

At RXR Mr. McAndrews works closely with the firm’s partners developing and executing corporate strategic initiatives and expanding the investment management offerings for both our stakeholders and clients. He is charged with evolving and curating an expansive, dynamic platform of investment products including Prop Tech, infrastructure, and real estate. These products are tailored to a diverse array of international and domestic investor/client needs in both the institutional and retail channels. He is the only non-partner member of the RXR Investment Committee.

Over the course of a 26-year career at TIAA (Nuveen) a $1.3 trillion financial service company headquartered in N.Y, Mr. McAndrews served in multiple leadership positions and guided the Global Real Estate platform through several meaningful pivot points and real estate cycles.  As Global Real Estate Chief Investment Officer, he charted a new course in the pursuit of AUM growth through both organic and inorganic means. During his tenure as CIO, the global real estate portfolio grew from $40 Billion to $90 billion. In 2013, this transformation was fully realized when TIAA’s Global Real Estate team acquired Henderson Global Investors’ $24 billion real estate business. All TIAA real estate functions reported to Mr. McAndrews as CIO-Global Real Estate. He was a member of TIAA’s Investment Committee with approval over real estate, alternatives, fixed income and private placement debt and equity.

Following TIAA/ Nuveen, Mr. McAndrews was responsible for the build out of Aegon Asset Management USA’s real estate equity team. Aegon N.V. is a $380 billion Dutch life insurer and pension fund headquartered in the Netherlands. He built new funds, brought on new clients, and positioned the legendary Transamerica Pyramid block for sale, its first change in ownership since 1969. He was a member of the Aegon Real Assets Investment Committee. He has a B.S. in Finance from the State University of New York and a J.D. from the University of Toledo, College of Law.

Alex Schaefer is Vice President, Transactions for AXA Investment Managers. AXA-IM is part of AXA Group, the Paris-based multinational insurance firm.  AXA-IM is the largest real estate asset manager in Europe and one of the largest worldwide.  At AXA-IM, Alex focuses on investments across the risk spectrum and across property types in institutional markets throughout the country where AXA typically invests alongside proven, vertically-integrated sponsors.

Before AXA, Alex worked for TKF Real Estate Investment where he focused on value creating investments in office and mixed-use assets located in urban centers throughout the east coast.  Previously, he was Head of Acquisitions for ALTO Real Estate Funds, a NY based private equity fund that invested in value-add assets across the country alongside veteran local operating partners. Before ALTO, Alex was a Director of Acquisitions for VEREIT, a publicly-traded REIT that owned over 4,000 properties in 49 states. He found himself at VEREIT after working for American Realty Capital in various capacities before eventually transitioning over to a publicly-traded investment vehicle that was merged in to VEREIT. Alex graduated from the University of Connecticut with a B.S. in Accounting before working for Cushman & Wakefield.