Real Estate Institute Faculty

Shawn Amsler is the founding principal of Amsler Advisors, a real estate development advisory firm in New York.  He has consulted on real estate finance and development for projects in the United States, Latin America and Europe, and has raised equity capital from institutional investors for real estate funds in the United States and Canada.  He has over 20 years experience in real estate development and construction management with such firms as Kor Realty Group and Turner Construction Company.  Amsler has taught at Columbia University GSAPP, NYU, and the NYC Architecture Program of Syracuse University.  He holds an M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, as well as a Bachelor of Architectural Engineering Degree from the Pennsylvania State University.

Eric Anderson is a real estate development professional with 30 years of experience directing the design and construction of real estate projects nationally through his company, ARED/Anderson Real Estate Development (andersondevelop.com). Current projects include lead responsibility for a 40-unit condominium project in Brooklyn and for renovations and new construction of over 500,000 square feet of office buildings in the Chicago metro area.  Past work includes overseeing the design and construction of scores of buildings including high-profile projects such as the Jenga Building (56 Leonard) in New York City and the Philadelphia Eagles football stadium (Lincoln Financial Field). He is a licensed architect and an American Association of Arbitrators arbitrator. He teaches the Planning and Design for Development course at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute.  Mr. Anderson has an MBA from the Wharton School, a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and a BA from the University of California / Berkeley.

Randy Apfelbaum is chief facilities and administrative officer for Yeshiva University. Prior to Yeshiva University he was a senior vice president at the New York office of Jones Lang LaSalle. He has more than 25 years of experience in the construction industry, providing construction project management services to nonprofits, schools, cultural facilities, and performing arts centers. Apfelbaum teaches Construction Project Planning and Scheduling and Real Estate Development Project Delivery at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. Randy has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.

George S. Asimenios is the Director of Capital Construction at Amtrak overseeing the Northeast and Empire Divisions territory. He is responsible for Capital Construction in the territory and provides support and protection for outside contractors performing work on or near Amtrak's right of way. While at Amtrak, and his previous employer, MTA Long Island Rail Road, George has worked on some of the largest over railraod infrastructure developments in New York City including Hudson Yards, Manhattan West Developments and the Moynihan Project. George currently teaches Construction Project Management at the Fordham Univeristy Real Estate Institute. He has also taught at other prominent NYC schools. George earned a master’s degree in Civil Engineering from The city College of New York,

Alan Aydin is the founder of the Altin Group, a real estate investment and property management company based in New York City. The Altin Group manages a diverse portfolio of residential and commercial real estate spanning hundreds of units. Alan successfully acquired, rehabbed, and sold over one hundred properties in New Jersey, gaining an invaluable expertise in the residential sector. His experience also extends to the hospitality industry where he was instrumental in the ground up development of the MADE Hotel, a new 18-story boutique hotel in New York City. Aydin teaches the Principles of Residential Property Management at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. Alan holds an M.B.A and a B.S. in finance and economics from Fordham University.

Ravi Bhatia, PE, DBIA, PMP, has 30 years of proven construction, operations and project leadership experience spanning complex commercial construction, core and shell, high-technology, critical systems and design-build infrastructure projects (including P3) for real estate developers, multinational corporations, technology providers, private investors, contractors and large public institutions. Bhatia has substantial expertise in construction finance, estimating, scheduling, supply chain, contracts management, procurement, operations, program management and business unit leadership. He is a cost control expert, contracts negotiator, risk manager and project delivery leader. Bhatia teaches pre-construction project planning for the Fordham University Real Estate Institute and has taught at NYU and Georgetown. Ravi is a registered Professional Engineer (PE), a certified Design-Build (DBIA) and a Project Management Professional (PMP).  Ravi holds a Master of Science in Telecommunications and Information Management from New York University and a Master of Business Administration from Hofstra University. Ravi earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Polytechnic University and completed Stanford University's, Graduate School of Business, Professional Certificate program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Cornell University's Certificate in Project Leadership and Harvard University's Advanced Real Estate Finance program.

Jeffrey Beal is the owner and founder of Real Estate Solutions, a valuation and consulting firm specializing in valuations for litigation matters where real property is concerned. The firm also consults on a wide variety of real estate issues including zoning and land use, and federal, state and local tax issues. Difficult and unique assignments are the firm’s specialty. Jeffrey also has 20 years of experience in multiple areas of the industry including site location, acquisitions, dispositions, management and mortgage finance. He is an expert on appraisal ethics. Beal teaches Real Estate Financial Analysis for the Fordham Real Estate Institute and has taught a wide variety of real estate courses for NYU, Baruch, the New York Real Estate institute, The Dares Institute and the Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers. Jeffrey holds a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and B.P.S. from New York Institute of Technology. He is a designated member of the Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers, a practicing affiliate of the Real Estate Institute and a member of the Real Estate Board of NY. He is a past president of the NY Condemnation Conference, The Columbia Society of Real Estate Appraisers and is the current president of the NY chapter of the Lambda Alpha International. He is a certified federal “Yellow Book” appraiser and a NYS approved instructor for Real Estate and Real Estate Appraisal, an approved NYS Department of Transportation Appraiser, a NYS Part 36 court appraiser and has been appointed to multiple public agency appraisal panels such as the MTA, the Port Authority of NY and NJ and the Empire State Development Corporation.

Stephen W. Bialkowski is the founding partner at the Law Offices of Stephen Bialkowski, LLC and has been practicing law since 1986.  He is a graduate of Seton Hall University School of Law where he was a member of the Law Review.  Recently, Mr. Bialkowski was selected as a Super lawyer (an honor reserved for less than 5% of the bar) and became a Fellow with the Construction Law Society of American (an honor limited to 1,200 practicing Fellows from the United States and internationally). His law firm is a boutique practice concentrating on all matters involving real estate.  The firm has extensive experience with purchasing and selling real property; financing real property transactions; leasing; development; construction contract drafting and negotiation; and the litigation, arbitration and mediation of disputes.  In addition to his active legal practice, Mr. Bialkowski serves as the General Counsel for the Construction Roundtable of New Jersey; is a regular speaker at Bar Association events and has been teaching at colleges and universities since 1993.  Mr. Bialkowski’s clients include large corporate owners for which he drafts and negotiates multi-million-dollar construction contracts; developers building sustainable high-end units and commercial spaces in New York and New Jersey; commercial multi-state landlords with hundreds of rental units; and large Contractors and Subcontractors.

Brian W. Blaesser, Esq., CRE, LEED AP, is a partner with the law firm of Robinson & Cole LLP. He is a nationally recognized land use and real estate development practitioner whose practice includes commercial real estate development and redevelopment, leasing, multifamily residential development, environmental and renewable energy law and condemnation law. He is co-author of the books, Reinventing Development Regulations (Lincoln Institute of Land Policy: 2017), Federal Land Use Law & Litigation (Thomson-Reuters: 2017), and Condemnation of Property: Practice and Strategies for Winning Just Compensation (Wiley Law Publications: 1994). He is also the author of the book, Discretionary Land Use Controls: Avoiding Invitations to Abuse of Discretion (Thomson-Reuters: 20th ed. 2017), and co-editor and an author of the book, Redevelopment: Planning, Law and Project Implementation (ABA Publishing: 2008). Mr. Blaesser has served as a Lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, with an appointment at the Kennedy School of Government, where he has taught courses on planning and environmental law, and public/private partnerships. He has been listed in The Best Lawyers in America in the area of Real Estate Law since 2010 (Copyright by Woodward/White, Inc., Aiken, SC) and is ranked in the 2017 Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the area of Real Estate: Zoning/Land Use. Mr. Blaesser is a graduate of Brown University, received his law degree from Boston College Law School, holds a masters in city planning from M.I.T., and was a Fulbright Scholar.

Peter Buckey is a real estate transaction specialist for Yale New Haven Health System (“YNHHS”) in southwestern CT where he leases and manages 2 million square feet of healthcare properties. He has more than 25 years of commercial real estate transaction and portfolio management experience having served as a portfolio manager, tenant rep broker, listing agent and financial analyst for several prominent New York City owners, occupiers and service providers. Prior to YNHH, he worked for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, Colliers ABR (later Cassidy Turley and now Cushman & Wakefield) and Morgan Stanley managing large, complex portfolios requiring a wide range of acquisition and disposition skills in the areas of leasing and investment sales.  He teaches Real Estate Asset Management for the graduate program at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He received his M.P.A in Finance from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and his B.A in Government from Hamilton College.  

Chris Caltabiano is senior vice president of asset management at Shorenstein where he is responsible for overseeing asset management activities and developing and executing investment strategies for a portfolio of assets in Atlanta and Pittsburgh. Prior to joining Shorenstein, Caltabiano was a vice president at AIG Global Real Estate, where he was responsible for sourcing new equity investments and managing the East Coast asset management team. Caltabiano teaches Real Estate Development Principles and Process at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has taught at NYU, the New York Institute of Finance, the Technical University of Berlin and the University of Amsterdam. A graduate of NYU with an M.S. in real estate, Caltabiano also earned a B.S. from St. Johns University and has published research in the Real Estate Review.

John Cantirino has been involved with structural engineering, project management, construction management, facilities management, and real estate procurement for over 30 years. John has worked on projects of all types including core and shell construction, interiors fit out, critical infrastructure, and historic restorations. His depth of experience and knowledge is local, national and international. In his career John has worked for a major structural engineering firm and several major financial services firms, including JPMorgan, AIG, and MetLife. His positions have included Americas Head of Project and Facilities Management, Senior Vice President of Project Management, Head of Design and Construction and Global Head of Real Estate Procurement. John teaches Construction Methods and Materials for the graduate program at Fordham REI. John holds a Bachelor of Engineering from CCNY and a Master of Science from Columbia University. Additionally, he has been published in the Journal of Corporate Real Estate and brings 20 years of teaching experience to Fordham.

Richard Carr is a senior director at Silverthread Capital, a commercial real estate finance company specializing in complex and structured commercial real estate capital solutions for their clients. With more than 20 years of experience in commercial real estate finance as a consultant, lender and banker, Richard has originated, structured and closed over $25 billion in transactions. Prior to joining Silverthread Capital, Richard was president of Petrich International, an advisory firm providing capital market services to an international client base of institutional and mid-market commercial real estate investors and financial institutions. During his career, Richard has worked with and consulted for financial institutions and private real estate lenders, including A10 Capital, HSH Nordbank, Münchener Hypothekenbank and Credit Lyonnais. Richard teaches Real Estate Capital Markets at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He received a B.S. in business administration from Villanova University and completed numerous graduate courses in real estate at NYU. He serves as a board member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of New York and is chair of their Mentor 360 Program.

Jeffrey A. Chester is a partner at Schoeman, Updike, Kaufman and Gerber LLP and has more than 30 years of experience counseling and assisting real estate and business clients. His clientele includes state agencies and authorities, Fortune 500 Companies, locally prominent real estate development companies, as well as smaller closely held businesses. Chester has also served as counsel to several not-for-profits. Chester handles transactional work (real estate sales, purchases, leases, business organization agreements, and asset purchases and sales); zoning, land use, real property tax abatements, environmental law issues related to real estate development, as well as general business advice. Recent projects include the sale of two parcels of state land in Brooklyn to be developed with 1200 units of affordable housing; negotiating the restricted sale of 69 acre former state correctional facility to be developed as a film and television production studio; received multiple zoning variances for a client to build a 200,00 sq. ft. mixed-use real estate project (affordable housing/community facility); the redevelopment of landmark vaudeville theater on Manhattan’s west side; the sale and redevelopment of a former public facility for an 800,000 sq. ft. affordable housing project in Brooklyn; the rezoning of a six acre industrial site for a mixed-use development (including a 1,650 student high school facility and two residential apartment buildings); and the sale of two industrial buildings on Long Island. Chester is a founding and current member of the City Bar Association’s Zoning and Land Use Committee and acts as General Counsel for the New York State Restaurant Services. Chester teaches Land Use for the graduate programs at Fordham Real Estate Institute. Bar Admissions New York, 1986 and U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, 1986. He earned his J.D. at Yeshiva University Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, New York, New York and a B.A. at Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts. Chester is a contribution writer for the Real Estate Weekly and New York Construction News. Honors and Awards include New York Super Lawyers List, 2014 – 2017.

David Cohen is a real estate development and construction executive with over a 10+ years of project management experience executing $500M worth of contracts successfully in eight states by leading up to 100 people. Over his tenure at Thor Equities, he rose to become the youngest executive vice president in company history, rising from an assistant project manager position during 2009 financial crisis. In his last role, he oversaw eleven direct reports nationwide with individual projects ranging in $20M-$100M of value and transformed business by creating repeat relationships with complex stakeholders and innovated previously manual processes to slash time inefficiencies.  Cohen teaches various graduate construction, development, and management courses for the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He has completed Stanford University’s Graduate Certificate in Advanced Project Management and Harvard University’s Graduate Certificate in Real Estate Finance, and he earned a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Construction Management from Drexel University.  Cohen is an active member of the Community Impact Committee at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA).

Elyssa Cohen serves as Senior Associate General Counsel for SOM, a leading architecture and engineering firm responsible for some of the world's most technically and environmentally advanced buildings and significant public spaces. She serves as an advisor to all domestic and international offices and senior leadership on legal, business and project risk. She has over fifteen years of experience in the construction and A/E industry, negotiating agreements for large, public and private projects and representing design professionals, contractors and owners as both a litigator and as in-house counsel.  She has extensive experience in Design-Build and P3 delivery and has been involved in the negotiation of some of the region's most transformative projects of the last decade. Elyssa teaches Construction Contracts, Claims and Dispute Resolution for the Fordham Master of Science in Construction Management. She has also taught at NYU. Bar Admissions include New York and Florida. She earned her J.D. at Hofstra University and an Honors B.A at the University of Delaware. 

John Confrey is currently a manager with Mazars USA - a top global audit, tax, and advisory firm, where he specializes in both audit and advisory. His areas of expertise include SEC Registered Investment Advisors, real estate private equity funds, separate accounts for institutional investors, Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and residential building owners and managers. Confrey teaches real estate financial modeling at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He holds a B.S. from SUNY Oneonta and is a certified public accountant (CPA).

Andrew Dansker is the founder and CEO of Dansker Capital Group, a commercial mortgage brokerage company based in New York City.  His expertise is in the middle market debt space, particularly in New York City. Dansker has worked with hundreds of developers, owners, and syndicators of New York properties to help them obtain the appropriate debt solutions for their projects. He has personally overseen the placement of approximately $1.5 billion in middle market loans.  Articles on the subject of the New York City real estate market written by Dansker have appeared in numerous industry publications including The Commercial Observer, The New York Real Estate Journal, and Real Estate Weekly.  Mr. Dansker serves as a board member at the Hebrew Free Loan Society, as well as a Real Estate and Allied Trades Steering Committee member at UJA.  Andrew holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a JD from New York University. 

Garland deGraffenried is a senior development officer at Continuum Company, a boutique real estate development firm headquartered in NYC that focuses on ground-up developments that create value for both the consumer and investor. Prior to joining Continuum Company, deGraffenried was principal at JMH Development and managing director of development at SHVO. deGraffenried teaches real estate development at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture degree from Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. As a recipient of an inaugural SU Engagement Fellowship, deGraffenried worked post-graduation in his first architectural role as a designer at King + King Architects studying architecture’s impact on real estate value and success. In 2010, deGraffenried began his development career with Alloy Development, where he led the design, planning, and project management of several luxury residential buildings in Brooklyn, New York. Between 2013–19, he worked at Toll Brothers as director of development and at DDG leading design-driven residential developments in New York City and Miami. deGraffenried is the founder and board president of The deGraffenried Foundation (The dF), a nonprofit organization that supports students in need within the design industry. Focused on creating award and scholarship programs for aspiring designers facing financial barriers, The dF connects talented students with industry leaders.

Jerrod Delaine is chief executive officer at Legacy Real Estate Development. As a seasoned real estate developer, Jerrod has amassed a uniquely diverse skill set that includes design, construction, finance, and asset management. Jerrod spent the first five years of his career at Forum Architecture and Interior Design where he focused on managing affordable housing projects in the Southeast region of the United States. He then parlayed that experience into the role of director of development at Carthage Advisors, a black-owned, Harlem-based development firm. The Carthage business model concentrated on preserving and developing affordable housing in the Metro New York Area through low-income housing tax credits and tax-exempt bonds. After eight years as development director at Carthage, Jerrod joined Donahue Peebles III to build Legacy, a value-based company committed to utilizing access to capital markets and improving communities through real estate finance and development, where he is now the CEO. Delaine teaches planning and design for development at the Fordham Real Estate Institute.  He also teaches at NYU and Pratt Institute. Delaine holds a B.A. in Architecture from Florida A & M University School of Architecture and Environmental Technology as well as a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University.

Christopher Deutsch is a vice president and relationship manager at Popular Community Bank. Christopher has 25 years of CRE valuation and banking experience having worked as a general real estate appraiser, senior real estate appraiser, underwriting and loan originator at several banks including Independence Community bank, Doral Bank and Metropolitan National Bank. His valuation background includes the appraisal of real estate for lending, tax certiorari, and estate planning and condemnation purposes. His lending background includes origination and underwriting of real estate loans for property types such as multifamily, retail, office and industrial uses. Deutsch teaches various commercial real estate finance courses at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He received his B.S. in business management from St John’s University and a M.S. with a concentration in Real Estate Finance and Investment at NYU. He is a past president of the Community Bankers Mortgage Forum and the Columbia Society or Real Estate Appraisers on Long Island.

Johnny Din is chief executive officer at Cycamore, a Live-Work-Play-Create platform with a mission to curate spaces for artists, entrepreneurs, millennials, and global citizens. Prior to Cycamore, he was a principal at Clarett International, a division of The Clarett Group focusing on cross-border real estate transactions. Mr. Din has also spent time at Lippo Realty and Silverpeak in New York, and Deloitte and The Walt Disney Company in Los Angeles. He began his career in the investment banking division of Lehman Brothers where he advised fortune 500 companies and private equity clients on M&A and financing efforts. Din teaches real estate financial modeling at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He graduated honors with a B.A. in Business Economics from University of California Los Angeles, and a Riordan MBA Fellow from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He holds a Certificate in Hotel Operations from NYU and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, where he was the President of the MSRED Student Council, a Pension Real Estate Association Scholar, a Wells Fargo GDS Scholar, a William Kinne Fellow, and a recipient of the Scholastic Performance Award for the top three graduates.

Lauren Din Ward is a principal at Coller Capital, a global private equity firm with over $20 billion of assets under management. She is responsible for originating, evaluating and executing investment opportunities across a diverse range of sectors including real estate, industrials, healthcare and technology. Prior to Coller Capital, she was an investment banking professional at Macquarie Capital, where she advised corporate and private equity clients on debt financing transactions. She teaches Real Estate Financial Modeling for the graduate program at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. She holds an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Communication Studies from Northwestern University.

Troy Doll is a counsel in Alston & Bird’s Real Estate Finance & Investment Group. He represents lenders in structuring, negotiating, and documenting first mortgage loans, mezzanine loans, and subordinate debt. He also represents lenders, rating agencies and servicers with securitization and structured finance, primarily commercial mortgage-backed and CLO securitization transactions, and the workout and restructuring of securitized and other financial assets. Previously, Troy was Of Counsel with Carlton Fields. Doll has been involved in the real estate markets since 1997. Troy founded Ravens Wood Capital Corp., a commercial real estate advisory firm, advising clients on real estate valuations and capital markets. He was a managing director and head of CMBS surveillance at Kroll Bond Rating Agency and developed the underwriting criteria for Realpoint LLC (a new rating agency, now DBRS Morningstar). Troy led the CRE CDO group at Lehman Brothers where he was charged with building a CDO business as well as running large loan and other CMBS securitizations. Prior to that, he was a director in the CMBS group at Standard & Poor’s, focusing largely on CRE CDO’s. Troy began his career as a commercial real estate lawyer at firms such as Tenzer Greenblatt LLP (now Blank Rome) and Dechert LLP, as well as in-house counsel for Marriott International. Doll teaches legal contracts and real estate finance courses at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He holds a B.S. in economics from NYU Stern School of Business and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law.

George Donohue has over 30 years of professional experience in commercial real estate and currently serves as president of International Properties Group (IPG) in New York, a full service commercial real estate company specializing in investment sales, office and retail leasing, asset management and sourcing financing. Prior to joining IPG Donohue managed one of the world’s largest real estate portfolios, which included the World Trade Center in New York and many other office buildings, shopping centers, office parks and industrial parks. He is a renowned negotiation expert having negotiated with executives from major global companies and countries. He is the author of a critically acclaimed book Real Estate Dealmaking: A Property Investors’ Guide to Negotiating. George has been on various boards of directors such as the National Kidney Foundation. He has been a member in several professional organizations and chambers of commerce, including CoreNet Global, formerly the National Association of Corporate Real Estate Executives (NACORE); The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY); the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR); the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC); and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. Donohue earned a B.S. in Architectural Technology from the New York Institute of Technology  and  an M.S. in Real Estate Development and Finance from New York University. 

Richard P. Dyer is a retired partner at the law firm Duane Morris LLP. Prior firms include Thelen LLP, HRH Construction Corporation and the George A. Fuller Company. Dyer has extensive experience in a broad range of construction, transactional and dispute resolution matters, including preparation and negotiation of construction contracts, turnkey/design-build contracts, EPC contracts, construction management contracts, architect and engineer agreements, consultant agreements and trade contracts/subcontracts; contract administration; EEO and OSHA matters; surety bonding, mechanic's lien and insurance matters. He advises on the resolution of construction, engineering, and other commercial disputes through litigation, arbitration, including AAA and ICC administered proceedings, and mediation. Representative projects include stadiums, aquariums, waste-to-energy facilities, power projects, LNG/LPG facilities, paper mills, casino resorts, infrastructure/transportation facilities, telecom loops, hospitals, institutional buildings, research facilities, schools, manufacturing facilities, assisted living facilities, museums, hotels and high-rise commercial and residential buildings. Dyer has advised and represented owner/developers, contractors, and subcontractors on matters involving the total construction process from the pre-construction phase through the construction phase and beyond involving matters such as contract formulation, claims, dispute avoidance and resolution, suretyship, liens, insolvency, default, and termination. He has been directly involved in some of the most visible construction projects in the New York metropolitan area including Rockefeller University; Lincoln Center; World Trade Center Memorial and Museum; Four Seasons Hotel; Baruch College; United Nations; Foxwoods Resort; Guggenheim Museum Expansion; Trump Tower; Jacob Javits Convention Center; Trump International Hotel and Tower; Metropolitan Tower; World Wide Plaza; The Grand Hyatt Hotel; Roosevelt Island; Battery Park City; Broad Financial Center; Financial Square; and a host of other prominent projects. Richard teaches Construction Contracts at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. Mr. Dyer has been recognized as a leading New York construction lawyer in the Best Lawyers in America, New York Super Lawyers, and Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. A member of the American Bar Association, Mr. Dyer is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law and a graduate of Villanova University School of Engineering (B.S.C.E., with honors).

Kevin Foley, Jr. is responsible for managing Center Court Partners’ current portfolio and oversees underwriting and due diligence on new investment opportunities. Foley has more than a decade of real estate experience, including strategic consulting, investment advisory, acquisitions, development, and asset management. Prior to joining CCP, Foley held positions at JLL and iStar Financial where he underwrote and closed more than $3 billion of transactions. Foley teaches Real Estate Valuation and Investment at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of Providence College and NYU’s Wagner School of Public Policy. Mr. Foley currently serves as a commissioned officer in the US Navy Reserve.

Bharat Gami is an architect and code/zoning consultant. As Stamford’s Chief Building Official, Bharat Gami, RA oversaw a talented team of code officials and administrators.  Prior to assuming this role in 2018, Bharat worked with the New York City Department of Buildings in various roles for ten years.  He is licensed as an architect in CT, NY, and NJ.  Many of his built projects have garnered awards for design excellence, smart growth and innovations in construction.  They have also been published in professional magazines such as Environmental Design and Construction, Design Cost Data, and Remodeling News.  Bharat teaches Land Use and Planning and Design for Development for the Fordham REI Master of Science in Real Estate Development degree. Bharat’s scholarly articles have been published in Architecture + Design, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research and Journal of Architectural Education.  Bharat holds master’s degrees in architecture from MIT, Cambridge MA and Business Management from CUNY, New York NY.

Jon Giman is currently a compliance manager at MetLife. Prior to his compliance role, he was on the management team at Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village. Giman teaches Real Estate Financial Analysis I at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has taught real estate finance courses at NYU. An MBA graduate from Columbia Business School, Giman graduated with a Bachelor of Architecture from Illinois Institute of Technology and has over 20 years in real estate management and commercial development experience.

Tom L. Grassi, FAIA, NCARB, is an associate vice president at HNTB, an infrastructure and transportation design firm. Tom has worked as an architect and project manager for over thirty-five years in both the public and private sectors in NYC. For thirty years and prior to HNTB, Tom served as planner, designer, and project manager at the Port Authority of NY & NJ for some of the region's most significant transportation-related construction projects. From the earliest days of planning through construction, Tom worked on both the Newark and JFK Airport AirTrain systems. Since the days immediately following 9/11, and for the following fifteen years, he served as project manager for the WTC's Temporary PATH Station and the Transportation Hub. Tom teaches principles of construction project management for the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. He also teaches at NYU. Grassi is a licensed architect in the states of New York, New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut, and a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), as recognized by the Project Management Institute. In recognition of his unique contributions to the profession and to society, Tom was elected to the American Institute’s College of Fellows in 2017. 

Melissa E. Green is a real estate professional with an extensive background in all types of real estate finance, including construction lending, mixed use, multifamily, industrial, and retail project finance. She has significant experience in real estate troubled debt restructuring and has covered markets nationwide. Her 25-plus-year career includes positions as a lender, portfolio manager, credit officer, and real estate broker with a range of companies, including commercial and savings banks, finance companies, and private real estate development firms. Green teaches Real Estate Development Finance at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. She has taught real estate finance at NYU. Green holds a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.A. from NYU.

Christopher J. Gulotta is the founder of both the Gulotta Grabiner Law Group, PLLC (“GGLG”) and Real Estate Data Shield, Inc. (“REDS”).  The GGLG is a NY real estate and mortgage finance-based law firm representing individuals and companies in both residential and commercial real estate transactions. The GGLG also represents lenders in mortgage finance transactions. REDS is an information security compliance company focusing on the real estate sector and helping clients to comply with the applicable privacy and data security laws, regulations and ethical requirements.  Chris started his career at large NY law firms, focusing on CRE financing for lender clients and commercial leasing.  He has represented large retail chains such as CVS in their commercial leasing endeavors and institutional CRE lenders, such as WAMU and others.  Chris holds a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) designation and speaks nationally to lenders, title underwriters and agents and real estate attorneys on Privacy and Cyber Security as it relates to real estate. Chris holds a B.A. from Fordham University and a J.D from Fordham Law School.

Paul Hanau has been practicing law in New York City for more than 35 years, both at law firms and as an in-house attorney. Throughout his career, Hanau has been involved in a wide-range of real estate matters including transactions, facilities management, litigation and operational issues. For a large part of his career (nearly 20 years), he was responsible for legal issues associated with company-occupied real estate on a global basis for a Fortune 100 Corporation. That experience allowed him to become most familiar with large real estate transactions in New York City, throughout the United States and internationally. These transactions included purchases, sales, commercial leases and subleases, net leases, “build to suit” arrangements, space-sharing arrangements, and tax incentives. During that time, his responsibilities increased to include legal issues related to the operation and management of a large (100 + buildings) company-owned residential facility and for legal issues associated with the company’s Procurement, Travel, Sports Marketing, Corporate Security and Aviation departments. That experience included contract development, negotiation, and management, outsourcing and procurement. Hanau teaches Real Estate Legal Concepts and Contracts for the Master of Science in Real Estate and Master of Science in Real Estate Development programs at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. Hanau has also taught at NYU. Hanau earned a Bachelor of Science in Accounting at NYU and a JD at NYU. 

Mary Ann Hallenborg, Esq. is admitted to practice before the New York, New Jersey and US Federal Courts, and is an experienced court-appointed civil litigation mediator. For more than 20 years, Mary Ann has represented real estate developers, owners, landlords, and tenants before a variety of legal tribunals and in commercial real estate transactions. She has also authored three books:  Real Estate Due Diligence: A Legal Perspective (Routledge 2016), New York Tenants’ Rights (Nolo 2003) and the New York Landlord’s Law Book (Nolo 2001); and is a co-author of the legal treatise Landlord and Tenant Practice in New York (West Group). She has served as a media source on real estate articles for the New York Times, Real Estate Weekly, The Real Deal, and the New York Daily News. Mary Ann teaches Negotiation in Real Estate and Fundamentals of Real Estate Law at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. She also teaches at NYU. Mary Ann received her Juris Doctor from St. John’s University School of Law, and her B.A. from Rutgers University. 

Dr. Joshua Harris serves as the Vice President of Strategy for Skanska USA Commercial Development, a leading developer of high-rise office, multifamily, and mixed-used projects in urban cores nationwide. Dr. Harris serves as an advisor to the Senior Leadership Team and acts as the head of strategy and research coordinating all business planning, market analysis, and research initiatives. Prior to joining Skanska, Dr. Harris served as a Managing Partner with the Lakemont Group, a boutique real estate and economic consultancy with offices in Orlando and New York. Dr. Harris primary areas of expertise include economic development, market research, expert testimony, and financial/project consulting. His prior clients included national real estate developers, real estate investment trusts, private equity firms, law firms, and hospitality institutions as well as local governments and real estate companies. Dr. Harris is a member of the Fordham Real Estate Institute Real Estate Development Curriculum Committee and teaches Real Estate Development Feasibility for the graduate program. He has taught at St. John’s University, NYU and University of Central Florida. Harris also served as the Academic Director for both NYU and the University of Central Florida. Dr. Harris holds a Ph. D. in Finance from the University of Central Florida with a research emphasis in institutional real estate and capital markets. Dr. Harris holds the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst designation, has been named an Honorary Kentucky Colonel, a NAIOP Research Foundation Distinguished Fellow, a Counselor of Real Estate (CRE), a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), awarded the 2020 Practitioner-Scholar Award from the American Real Estate Society (ARES), and served by gubernatorial appointment to the Florida Real Estate Appraisal Board. Dr. Harris has been routinely called on as an expert witness and for media interviews in the field of real estate, finance, and economics and serves as an associate editor for two peer reviewed journals, Real Estate Issues and the Journal of Real Estate Literature.

Rafi Hovsepian is director of asset management with Starrett Companies, focusing on portfolio oversight for market and affordable residential properties in New York City. Previously, he worked at Sentinel Real Estate Corporation, where he managed New York-based rental buildings and national garden-style residential communities owned in conjunction with global institutional investors and corporations. Prior to Sentinel, he was a member of ING Clarion’s portfolio management team, where he was responsible for commercial real estate held on behalf of New York state’s employee pension funds. Hovsepian teaches Real Estate Finance: Private Equity, Real Estate Financial Modeling, and Real Estate Financial Analysis for the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He teaches real estate finance and investment at NYU. An MBA graduate of the Yale School of Management, he holds a B.S. in finance and marketing from the NYU Stern School of Business.

Veli Ivanic is a project/risk management expert at Leidos Innovations Corporation. He is an accomplished professional with more than 25 years of engineering and management experience. During his career, he has held key positions involving domestic and international project/risk management, construction engineering and management, and quality assurance. Ivanic teaches Pre-Construction Project Planning and Development for the Master of Science in Construction Management degree at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. Ivanic also teaches construction management at NYU. He holds an M.S. in civil engineering/construction management from NYU-Poly, and a B.S. in civil engineering from University of Zagreb, Croatia. As a published researcher, Veli has co-authored three papers for internationally recognized conferences focusing on composite materials and risk assessment in construction and infrastructure management. He also researched political risk and opportunity in managing new projects, as well as the critical decision-making process during project planning, executing, controlling, monitoring, and closing.

Marion Jones is a managing director in the investment sales and advisory practice at Ackman-Ziff. An investment sales executive, Ms. Jones has over 15 years of experience advising clients on some of the most complex New York City transactions. She possesses underwriting and transactional experience across all property types and is best recognized for her expertise in large-scale multi-family and affordable housing transactions, and the sale of development/re-development opportunities. Prior to joining Ackman-Ziff, Ms. Jones played integral roles in the investment sales teams at both Eastern Consolidated and CBRE. She graduated with honors from Tulane University and received a Master’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Jones is a member of WX (New York Women Executives in Real Estate) and the Urban Land Institute where she is Vice-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI). She has twice been named a Power Woman in NYC Real Estate by Bisnow as well as a Woman of Influence by GlobeSt. 

Hugh F. Kelly, PhD, CRE is a leading real estate economist, consultant, teacher, and public speaker. Hugh heads his own consulting practice, Hugh F. Kelly Real Estate Economics. He was the chief economist for Landauer Associates, where he authored the annual Real Estate Market Forecast and developed its statistical tools for projecting cycles and quality ratings for commercial property markets. He was also the principal author for SIOR's annual "Comparative Statistics of Industrial and Office Markets", and developed its Commercial Property Index (now published by NAR). He was the founding author and project manager for the CCIM "Investment Trends Quarterly." A member of the Counselors of Real Estate since 1989, Hugh has served in numerous capacities, including a year as its Chair (2014). He teaches Urban Economics, Market Analysis, and Risk and Portfolio Management at the Fordham Real Estate Institute and was a clinical professor for 32 years at NYU's Schack Institute of Real Estate's Masters degree program. He has twice won its award for teaching excellence. Consulting clients have included large corporations such as General Motors and Lend Lease, public agencies including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, private developers such as Silverstein World Trade Center Properties, investors such as Murray Hill Properties and Real Estate Capital Partners, and analytical firms including NPV Advisors and Real Capital Analytics. Hugh has authored more than 300 articles for industry professional and academic publications. He writes a quarterly column for Commercial Property Executive and a bi-monthly column for Real Assets Advisor magazine. He has been the principal writer of the ULI/PwC publication, Emerging Trends in Real Estate for the past four years (annual editions for 2015 - 2018). He has spoken to virtually every major US real estate industry group, and has addressed international audiences at the United Nations, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin, Cannes, Istanbul, and Athens.

Robert Kilman is senior vice president at RFR Realty LLC, a New York based real estate investment, development, and management firm. RFR’s holdings include such prominent properties as the Seagram’s Building, Lever House, The Gramercy Park Hotel, the W Hotel South Beach, and the iconic Chrysler Building. Mr. Kilman oversees a staff of accounting and finance professionals who manage the firm’s commercial, residential, and hospitality properties. Prior to joining RFR, Kilman was a director at CB Richard Ellis where he was responsible for all financial operations of their New York Tri-State portfolio. At CBRE, he was instrumental in achieving the firm’s first unqualified SAS 70 compliance status, as well as established policy and procedures required for this publically traded company. Prior to CBRE, Kilman was a senior financial manager at Cushman & Wakefield, overseeing that firm’s New York commercial office portfolio. Robert teaches Property Budgets and Financial Management for the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He has also taught and guest lectured at NYU, Columbia University and the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University. Kilman holds an MBA from George Washington University and a BS degree from Syracuse University, as well as being a licensed real estate salesperson. 

Douglas Kohn has nearly 10 years of commercial real estate management and investment experience. Douglas has personally invested in real estate projects and is currently the director of asset management for Exor Asset Management in New York, NY. He is also an adjunct instructor at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. Previously, Douglas was in the Financial Services Department at Newmark Knight Frank. He also ran the Financial Services Department at Lee & Associates and spent time in Proptech as a Director of Product Development at Rockport VAL, a software company competing with Argus. Some of Douglas' published work has been featured on Adventuresincre.com. Douglas is a CPA, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from Fordham University and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Brian Kraut is first vice president at Sentinel Real Estate Corp, responsible for Sentinel’s financing activities, as well as for certain residential acquisitions and dispositions. Prior to joining Sentinel, Kraut worked at the Ackman-Ziff Real Estate Group where he arranged debt, mezzanine, and equity financing. Prior to that, he was a finance manager at Cendant Corporation and a manager at Arthur Andersen. Kraut teaches Real Estate Finance: Mortgage Debt at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He holds an M.B.A from Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business and a B.S. from Binghamton University. He is a certified public accountant.

Michael H. Krupa serves as senior advisor to Crow Holdings.  He also serves as senior advisor to Gemdale USA Corporation, a unit of Gemdale Corporation, one of Asia's largest and leading real estate companies where he brought a wealth of real estate investment, business development and operations experience to the company as president for eight years. Prior to joining Gemdale, Krupa served as managing director at The Milestone Group where he also served on Milestone's Investment Committee. Prior to Milestone, he was an executive director in two divisions within UBS, including the UBS Investment Bank Real Estate, Lodging & Leisure Group, as part of the group’s Real Estate Private Equity Fundraising team, and at UBS Global Asset Management Real Estate, one of the largest global real estate fund managers. Krupa was instrumental in the creation and growth and later served on the Board of Directors of Mitsubishi Corp.-UBS Realty Inc. (‘MCUBSR’), the externally advised asset manager to two Tokyo Stock Exchange listed J-REITs, Japan Retail Fund as well as Industrial and Infrastructure Fund. Prior to UBS, Krupa served in various real estate investment banking capacities at Salomon Smith Barney and one of its predecessors, Salomon Brothers, Inc., as well as at Kidder, Peabody and Company. Krupa teaches global real estate investment at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has taught at other universities including NYU and CUNY. He received his B.S. from Northeastern University and his M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He is a CPA. He is the author of numerous articles for leading real estate trade publications including, "Wall Street's Perspectives on the Self-Storage Industry", "Wall Street's Infatuation with the Assisted Living Industry", "Multifamily REIT M&A: When Will the Wave Begin" and "Marina Industry Consolidation: When Will the Wave Begin" and has spoken at numerous leading real estate industry conferences on such topics as global real estate capital flows, REITs around the world, the Self-Storage Industry and the Senior Housing Industry. He serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of China Institute, the Board of Directors of Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, the Board of Directors of First Workings and is a past member of the Board of Directors of the National Multi-Housing Council as well as AFIRE.

Susan LoGiudice is a leasing manager for Brown Harris Stevens Development Marketing, a professional firm of real estate experts offering services such as sales and rentals, retail and commercial, relocation, new development marketing, and property management services. LoGiudice teaches Residential Leasing, Marketing, and Property Management online and in person at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. LoGiudice has more than 20 years of experience in the residential leasing industry, having worked as a leasing director, manager, on-site agent, property manager, NYC coop board president, real estate agent and broker, and university adjunct instructor for Fordham and NYU. She obtained an M.A. in strategic real estate management from NYU and a B.A. in marketing and international language/business from the University of Scranton. She is a New York licensed real estate broker.

Neil Madsen is the founding principal of Madsen Advisors, LLC, a New York-based real estate consulting and asset management firm. Prior to forming Madsen Advisors in 2013, Madsen was Executive VP and Head of Private Equity at AEGON USA Realty Advisors.  He also serves as a board director for Fife Capital, an Australian real estate investment management firm, and as an Executive Advisory Council member at Fordham Real Estate Institute. Madsen teaches Real Estate Finance: Private Equity at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has taught at NYU and the Graduate REALTOR Institute. He holds a master’s degree from NYU and a postgraduate certificate in applied finance from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. He holds the MAI and CRE designations, is a certified general appraiser in New Jersey and a registered valuer in Queensland, Australia. Madsen has more than 30 years of commercial real estate experience on five continents, in areas such as valuation, consulting and advisory work, institutional investment, asset management, and fund management.

David Martinson is the Global Head of Workplace Experience, Design and Construction Management for Corporate Properties Group (CPG) at Wells Fargo, responsible for the oversight and delivery of more than $4B in capital projects across the firm's occupied portfolio, consisting of more than 5,600 locations and 70 million square feet of managed space worldwide. Martinson has more than 20 years of experience in the construction and real estate industry, managing projects for contractors and advising companies that engage them. A native of Massachusetts, he earned a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from Boston College. He also studied civil engineering at Queen Mary University of London and has real estate brokerage licenses in both New York and Massachusetts. Based in New York City, he's taught graduate level courses in construction management as an adjunct professor at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute and New York University for more than a decade. Before joining Wells Fargo, Martinson held similar executive-level positions in New York and London at other real estate service providers and occupiers including CBRE, JP Morgan Chase, EY and PwC.

Desmond F. McGowan is a partner and chief financial officer at Alpine Grove Partners, a private equity firm specializing in real estate operating company investments in Europe and Japan. He has over three decades of experience as a senior executive in the real estate, investment banking, and investment management industries. McGowan teaches Real Estate Finance and Real Estate Portfolio Management
at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He received his B.A. from Yale University and has an M.A. in theology. McGowan is a chartered financial analyst (CFA), a CIPM certificant and a licensed real estate broker in New York State.

Richard McMillan is an architect with MTA New York City Transit. He has over 20 years of experience in all project phases with an emphasis on sustainable design and the transportation and education sectors. McMillan teaches Reading Construction Documents and Sustainability at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He also teaches at NYU. McMillan is a member of the Construction Specifications Institute and the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. He is the author of two books; 101 Cool Buildings and 101 More Cool Buildings. 

Anthony Meo is a specialist in commercial real estate finance, project finance, construction lending, and distressed asset workouts. He has expertise across international, commercial, and community banks, as well as private equity firms, and has provided a range of creative financing at various points along the capital stack. In addition, he has expertise launching de novo banks and repositioning failing banks, and he has been actively involved within the FinTech sector of merchant payments and services. Meo teaches several real estate finance and investment courses at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He holds an M.S. in real estate finance from NYU and an M.B.A. in financial management from City University of Seattle. He performs a wide range of consulting for a broad base of domestic and international clientele and has mentored many successful professionals.

Robert J. Meulmeester is a real estate consultant/entrepreneur for real estate investments, partnership structuring, equity and debt capital raises, developments and construction, and property management. He has over 18 years of experience advising third parties on real estate securitization, financial due diligence, valuation, site selection, and capital raises. He has also worked as a consultant for Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen in Amsterdam; Brussels; Hyderabad, India; and New York, from where he advised various Fortune 1,000 companies about real estate finance and global corporate real estate strategies. Meulmeester teaches Real Estate Financial Analysis at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He also teaches at NYU. He earned a master’s degree in economics at the University of Amsterdam and is an active member at the Urban Land Institute.

Naomi Mirsky is principal and cofounder of Willow Street Capital (WSC), a hotel real estate investment and development company, and Willow Street Capital Advisors (WSCA), a consulting and advisory company. Prior to founding WSC/WSCA, Naomi held senior management positions with Denihan Hospitality Group, DLJ/Credit Suisse & Morgan’s Hotel Group, and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Mirsky teaches Real Estate Development Project Delivery at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. She teaches hotel real estate development and investment courses at NYU. In her various roles, she focused on hotel development, design/construction project and cost management, and sustainable business practices. Mirsky holds an M.B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A. from the University of London, and a B.A. from Boston University.

Trevor Munson is a project executive at the NYC office of Shawmut Design and Construction, a national construcrtion management firm with a reputation for completing extremely complex and logistically challenging projects for the most high-profile clients in the industry. Trevor has over a decade of experience in the construction industry managing complex commercial lobby renovations, tenant fit-outs, façade re-claddings, and many other construction projects in NYC. Trevor has held both project and operational roles at Plaza Construction and WeWork where he has developed and lead teams to execute high profile projects, designed infrasructure and processes to scale business lines, and utilized technology for growth and efficiency. Munson teaches Construction Budget and Cost Management at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. He obtained his B.S. in Architecture from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Construction Management from New York University.  

Amy Neu has been an active participant in real estate for 20 years, chiefly as an asset manager and real estate developer. She has managed over 4 million SF of industrial and Class-A office space, as well as ten land development sites in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and California. Amy’s professional real estate development experience includes ground-up development of commercial and residential properties, acquisitions, dispositions, entitlements, design, and construction. She has obtained entitlements for 2 million SF of commercial projects and developed plans for thousands of new market rate housing units in Hudson, Morris, and Somerset Counties of New Jersey. She has gained particular acclaim for redeveloping and revitalizing buildings in areas that are in transition into higher and better uses. Projects completed under Amy’s leadership include a 283,000 SF built-to-suit automated customer fulfillment center for Tiffany & Co. in Hanover, N.J. and mission critical warehouses for companies such as Home Depot, Iron Mountain, Nestle, Staples, Weyerhaeuser, and Brinks. Amy has been recognized by Business News New Jersey as being one of the ‘Top 40 under 40’. Neu teaches Ethical Issues in Real Estate for the Fordham Real Estate Institute Master of Science in Real Estate program. She attended The London School of Economics and graduated cum laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Boston University.

Ryan O’Connor serves as the President and CEO of Clinton Management, the management arm of The Douglaston Companies. In his role at Clinton Management, O’Connor oversees the entirety of operations of nearly 6,000 residential units, both market and affordable. Prior to joining Clinton Management, O’Connor served as a Senior Vice President at Douglas Elliman where he
oversaw the growth of a rental property management division. Over the course of his career, O’Connor has held various functions in Property Management, first working in the industry at the age of 16.  O'Connor teaches property management courses for the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Fordham University’s
Gabelli School of Business.

John Olert is a current board member, senior advisor, and C-Suite executive with 30 years of industry experience in capital markets and information services. He is known as a leader, mentor, and problem solver with a deep understanding of crisis management, capital markets, global risk, risk management, credit research, compliance, cyber security and corporate governance. John qualifies as an audit committee financial expert. Olert serves on the advisory board of TREX, the investment committee of Yard Ventures, is a director and chair of the governance committee for Miracle League of Westchester, a director and finance committee member of the Jack DeVito Foundation, and chairs the curriculum committee for Geneseo’s Business Advisory Council. Olert currently teaches Real Estate Capital Markets for Fordham University’s Master of Science in Real Estate program. John retired from Fitch in 2017 as Group Chief Risk Officer and Executive Vice President reporting directly to the CEO and managing a team of 100+ personnel.  He was tapped for this newly created role in 2015 in response to increasing threats of a diversifying company with over 3,000 employees, 150 offices, operating in 34 countries. While at Fitch Group, Inc., John advanced rapidly, and in 2008, was named Global Head of Structured Credit and charged with delivering critical restructuring in the early stages of the financial crisis.  Following this success and those in his earlier analytical and managerial roles, he was appointed Chief Credit Officer in 2010, and later Executive Committee Member in 2012.  Earlier roles held at Fitch Ratings include Co-Head North American Corporate Finance (New York), Co-Head North American Financial Institutions, Head of REITs, and Director U.S. Banks.Prior to joining Fitch Group Inc., John held progressive credit administration, sales, and operation analyst roles at Chase Securities Inc., Metropolitan Life, and Chase Manhattan Bank. John completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, obtained his Master of Business Administration at Fordham University, and his Bachelor of Science in Management Science and Finance at the State of University of New York at Geneseo.

Luis D. Pagán is a project management expert, business executive, and university adjunct instructor. Currently, he is a senior project manager at the CNY Group (CNY). In his role at CNY, Pagán leads project teams as they plan, organize and control the life cycle of building projects from start to finish. He also manages departmental staff throughout the organization. Known throughout the industry for managing projects with positive results, Pagán is a modern day master builder working with clients to help them realize their business objectives by successfully managing their construction projects and by providing needed leadership for troubled projects. Pagán’s professional experience is with all types of project delivery methods. He currently teaches construction methods, materials and technology at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute and has taught at NYU and CUNY Baruch College. Pagan earned a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering at Inter-American University and a Master of Science in Construction Management at NYU. 

Anthony Pastore is a first vice president with Tishman AECOM, a world-leading builder of high-profile projects including the 1,776-foot-high One World Trade Center, Hudson Yards and One Bryant Park. Known for successfully managing complex projects, Tishman is responsible for the construction of more than 500 million square feet of space, incorporating facilities of every size and type, including arts and culture, commercial, convention centers, education, gaming, government, health care, hospitality, residential, retail, sports and leisure, technology and transportation. Since joining Tishman in 1999 Anthony’s responsibilities include project executive oversite, construction project management, procurement, cost management, and budget and cost control for multiple programs. Anthony, has served on major projects across the east coast, including the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, designed by world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava. He possesses extensive experience in projects requiring advance planning, coordination, logistics and scheduling. His project experience encompasses new construction and mixed-use facilities including hotel, casino, high-rise residential and retail with particular emphasis on transportation including an historic ferry terminal, airport terminal and train station. Pastore teaches a number of construction project management courses at the Fordham Real Estate Institute. Anthony holds an M.B.A and B.S. in Business Administration and a PMI certificate from Villanova University. He also serves as a New Jersey Planning official and town of Oradell planning board member with affiliations that include the Municipal Society of NY and Carpenters Union Local.

Stephen P. Peca is a senior real estate professional who has invested and guided global investment decisions and transactions well in excess of $100 billion. During his career at firms like Moody’s Analytics, Fleet Securities/Bank of America, Fuji Bank, and notable real estate firms, he has undertaken many senior staff management and client-facing roles. Peca is currently managing director and senior partner of Concourse Realty Group and Windy Acres Capital & Advisory where he provides transaction, asset, and portfolio strategy and business solutions to clients globally. Peca also teaches and has taught at Fordham University, Baruch College (CUNY), New York Law School, and NYU, while also teaching in various other venues around the world. In addition to Peca’s academic credentials, he is a chartered management consultancy surveyor (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK) and a certified public accountant (Illinois). Peca speaks often at conferences and is frequently quoted in publications. His book, Real Estate Development and Investment: A Comprehensive Approach, has been adopted by numerous universities and industry professionals globally.

Michael Petryczenko is a Managing Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, LLP and has over 25 years of professional experience focusing on accounting and tax issues related to private equity. Previously, Michael was a senior vice president and chief financial officer for Strategic Partners, Blackstone's secondaries investing business, where he oversaw the financial reporting, accounting and tax structuring for the secondary private equity fund of funds that invests in LBO, real estate and infrastructure asset classes. Prior to joining Strategic Partners, he was a tax manager at the Peabody Fund, an opportunistic real estate fund jointly managed by J.P. Morgan and The O' Connor Group. Earlier in his career, Michael was a tax manager at Ernst & Young, LLP in the real estate group. Michael teaches Real Estate Accounting and Taxation for the master of science in real estate at Fordham Real Estate Institute. He also teaches undergraduate taxation and accounting classes at Brooklyn College. Michael received a B.S. degree in Accounting from St. Francis College, New York and a M.S. degree in Taxation from Pace University, New York. He also earned the C.P.A. designation.

Kristina Raevska is Senior Counsel of STV Incorporated, an award-winning professional firm offering engineering, architectural and construction management services. Raevska teaches Understanding Construction Contracts online and in-person at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. Raevska has over a decade of experience in the construction industry, representing design professionals, construction managers and owners, both as a litigator and as in-house counsel. She obtained her Juris Doctorate from Suffolk University Law School in Boston, MA and is admitted to practice both in New York and Massachusetts.

Raquel Ramati, architect and urban designer, is president of Raquel Ramati Associates Inc. She has earned an international reputation as an urban designer and planner, first as the head of the Urban Design Group at the NYC Department of City Planning, and as an art commissioner, and later as a private consultant working with developers, government agencies, not-for-profit organizations and community groups. Ramati designs master plans and acts as a development consultant for site selection, zoning analysis, design guidelines, processing, architectural and open space planning. As the head of urban design, she initiated and led the implementation of six new ordinances which are now part of the zoning regulations. She developed feasibility studies for more than 200 of New York's major sites. The studies include architectural zoning bulk diagrams, analysis of maximum floor area, air rights usage, Landmark buildings, and all other regulations. Internationally, Raquel Ramati has worked in Poland, India, Italy, Japan, and Israel. Raquel Ramati has extensive experience in designing master plans. Among her master plans include a waterfront and master plan for South Town on Roosevelt Island, New York, a development of a new town in Pomezia, Italy, the Hadera Center and the Ramat Gan Center; mixed-use developments in Israel. Raquel Ramati is the author of a signature planning book, “How to Save Your Own Street”, published by Doubleday. In addition to being the president of her firm Ramati teaches Planning and Design for Development for the Fordham University Real Estate Institute. She also teaches for Columbia University and NYU. Ramati earned a BA in Architecture from Pratt Institute of Architecture and a post-graduate Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University.

Serge Reda is a highly experienced real estate executive and real estate technologist. Previously, he worked in the development and construction division of Cedar Realty Trust, a publicly traded REIT, and prior to that led the joint venture investment programs for Wellsford Real Properties, a real estate merchant bank, where he created, managed, and ultimately wound down (post-recession), numerous real estate investment programs. He has broad and deep experience in the real estate industry ranging from development and construction to finance and investment, and technology. Reda is the chair of the real estate development curriculum committee and teaches Real Estate Development Process, Real Estate Development Feasibility Study, CRE Technology, and Real Estate Structures and Capital Markets for the Fordham Real Estate Institute. He has also taught Real Estate Capital Markets in the Fordham Graduate School of Business. He holds an M.B.A. in Finance from Fordham University as well as a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Colorado.

Justin Redmond, P.E., is the Director of Mechanical Engineering and partner at a design, commissioning, and engineering management firm headquartered in New York City. He has extensive experience in scope and budget development, design/construction document preparation, bidding, and the construction process, as well as in building operations and program management from his time in the commercial real estate division of a large investment bank. Outside of work, Redmond previously served on the board of trustees as the vice president of facilities for his condominium association, where he was responsible for the programming and execution of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar capital renovation project. Redmond teaches Fundamentals of Building Systems and Adaptive Reuse & Sustainability at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He also teaches at NYU. Redmond holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Rutgers University and an M.S. in construction management from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Michael Ross has 45 years of experience in the construction industry, where he began as a draftsman with trade contractors and became project manager with a New York architectural firm. He then worked for 37 years as a senior project manager and vice president for Tishman Realty & Construction and Bovis Lend Lease, two of the largest New York construction management firms. He managed several big projects, including the alteration of Carnegie Hall and the construction of courthouses, apartment buildings, hotels, and schools. While focusing on the New York market, Ross has also managed construction in London, San Francisco, and Miami. Ross teaches Construction Field Operations and Management for the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has taught construction management courses at NYU for over 25 years.

Jerome Sanzo has over three decades of experience in managing, originating, investing in, and financing over $50 Billion in commercial real estate properties. During his career in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, he worked for major U.S. and international banks such as JPM Chase, Commerzbank, Indosuez, and ICBC.  He has also worked in the fund industry, investing in securities throughout the capital structure for public and private commercial real estate entities. He was the Managing Board Director for two closed end real estate investment funds based in the Netherlands. Additionally, he served as President of Conference Center Interests, Inc, a company organized on behalf of several foreign institutional equity partners. Jerome brings over 16 years of teaching experience to the Fordham Real Estate Institute and has guest lectured at several universities throughout the U.S. about Real Estate Finance. He holds a B.A. from Colgate University and an M.B.A. from the Thunderbird School Division of Arizona State University. He was a former Board Director of the Association of Foreign Investors in U.S. Real Estate, and he is a member of ARES. He has also authored several published articles about Commercial Real Estate Investments and Finance and appears regularly on many real estate industry conference panels. Jerome was named one of the Top 50 Most Important Figures in Commercial Real Estate Finance by the publication Commercial Observer in 2016, 2017, 2018 and again in 2019. Jerome is also currently serving on the Board of Directors of Hampton Hall Club, Inc.

Joan Sapinsley has 35 years of commercial real estate, primarily debt, experience. Notably, she spent 15 years at TIAA, purchasing and structuring commercial mortgage backed securities.  She recently retired after 11 years at a mortgage REIT, Resource Capital Corp., where she was responsible for not only CMBS but also led its capital markets efforts, structuring, documenting and marketing CLOs comprised of floating rate transitional commercial mortgage loans.  Sapinsley currently teaches real estate capital markets at the Fordham Real Estate Institute.  She was a governor of CREFC for many years, including not only governance, and many speaking engagements, but its DC lobbying efforts, and she was a founding member of its Women’s Initiative.  She currently serves as a mentor/job coach to women who are in the First Step Program, through which the Coalition for the Homeless provides job training to women seeking to re-enter the workforce.  She has an MBA in Real Estate and Finance from Columbia University and a BA from Oberlin College.

Mike Schneider is director and transaction counsel at Hunt Real Estate Capital. He provides legal advice in connection with loan origination, capital market execution and asset management for the Debt Strategies Group, a multifamily and commercial platform that provides bridge loans for transitional properties, fixed rate loans for stabilized assets, and mezzanine loans for multifamily properties. He brings 17 years of industry experience, having worked with and represented an array of bridge, construction, CMBS, agency, balance sheet and subordinate debt commercial real estate lenders as well as investors and developers. His previous positions include several years as a partner at law firm Cassin & Cassin LLP, COO of a CRE fintech lender and general counsel to a New York based real estate developer. Mike currently serves on the Board of Directors of the MBAofNY Scholarship Foundation. He earned his Bachelor degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD cum laude from New York Law School.

Zack Secilmis is a project executive at Reis Contracting. Secilmis teaches Construction Cost Estimating and Construction Planning and Scheduling at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He also teaches at NYU. During his career he has built many high-end commercial properties and luxury homes, restored numerous landmark properties and renovated large hotels. His areas of expertise include project coordination, schematic budgeting, scheduling, site logistics, permitting, value engineering, material sourcing and constructability. He regularly acts as a consultant and expert witness in construction claims that require his level of expertise.

Efrat Sharon is the owner and founder of 48 Capital LLC, a commercial real estate debt and equity advisory firm, providing clients with capital solutions for their development, acquisition, and refinance transactions. Sharon has been involved in the debt markets since 2000, nationally and locally, with a special focus on New York. Previously, Efrat established and headed the debt department at TerraCRG, a commercial brokerage firm based in Brooklyn. Prior to that, she served as a loan originator at CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), where she was involved in the placement of over $1 billion in debt and equity nationwide. Sharon teaches Real Estate Finance: Mortgage Debt for the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. She has taught real estate finance at NYU. Efrat served in the Israeli Defense Forces and holds an Executive M.B.A. from Columbia Business School and a B.A. in Philosophy and Film-Making from Tel Aviv University.

Eric Stern is a managing director and cofounder of Stern Properties and specializes in the multifamily and mixed-use sectors of real estate. With a recent emphasis on affordable housing, Stern has overseen the acquisition and stabilization of well over a thousand units. Stern has redeveloped blighted neighborhoods with purchases of entire city blocks and is a pioneer of gentrification in different cities along the East Coast. Within the high-end market, Stern has built ground-up condominium projects as well as many various rental loft conversions. Stern’s experience in property management spans from managing New York City-owned properties for the EDC to luxury rentals and affordable housing. Stern teaches Developing Multifamily Properties and Real Estate Market and Feasibility Analysis at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He teaches real estate development at NYU. Stern has an M.S. in real estate from the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Jonathan Stern is a vice president in the Business Banking Group at Flushing Bank. He has more than 25 years of CRE lending and banking experience having served as a senior lender and portfolio manager for several banks including TD Bank, owned and operated a commercial and residential real estate mortgage brokerage/bank, and managed a non-for-profit SBA consulting firm. His background includes commercial real estate and business lending, credit, underwriting and portfolio management. He has originated, placed and closed over $1 billion of commercial mortgages including CMBS, conventional, bridge-mezzanine and SBA transactions. He teaches Real Estate Financial Analysis and Real Estate Development Finance at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He received his M.B.A. in Strategic Management from the Lubin School of Business at Pace University and his B.B.A. in Finance and Economics from the Zicklin School of Business at Baruch College.

Nicholas E. Stolatis is a principal of EPN Real Estate Services, Inc., a property management, leasing and development firm located in Westchester, NY.  He leads the asset management and sustainability practice for the firm.  He previously served as Senior Director-Global Sustainability and Enterprise Initiatives at TIAA, where he created the award winning Global Real Estate Sustainability Initiative, and supported the firm’s Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact Investing platforms on a domestic and international level.  Prior to that role, Nicholas was a Regional Director, in charge of asset and portfolio management for a diverse national portfolio of investments.  Nicholas is active in numerous industry education and advocacy groups, currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of BOMI International, a global provider of education and certification to the real estate management industry.  He is also a member of BOMA, as well as the current Treasurer, and Past President, of the Greater NY Chapter of IREM.    He is one of 19 subject matter experts from around the world selected by the World Bank’s International Property Measurement Standards Coalition to serve on its Standards Setting Committee.  Nicholas currently teaches Real Estate Asset Management for the Fordham Real Estate Institute MSRE program and has taught real estate courses for BOMI, BOMA NY, and BOMA China, has lectured, moderated and presented on numerous panels for a variety of industry groups, and authored several articles and a white paper on industry related matters.  Nicholas has earned a BBA, Magna Cum Laude, from Baruch College, and an MBA, Cum Laude, from New York University.  He holds a New York State Brokers License.  He has also earned the Certified Property Manager (CPM), Real Property Administrator (RPA), and LEED-Accredited Professional BD&C designations.  On a personal level, Nicholas serves as the Treasurer on the Parish Council of the Greek Orthodox Church of Our Saviour in Rye, NY, and is the Scoutmaster Emeritus of Troop 12, Pleasantville.  

Michael Sullivan has been in the commercial real estate industry for over 30 years involved in asset management, property management, facilities management, and project management.  Michael has worked on acquisitions, due diligence, dispositions and managing portfolios that included Office, Residential, Retail and Industrial assets. In his career, he has managed over 57 million square feet of space with major firms including Avison Young, Edward J. Minskoff Equities, Inc., Rockefeller Group, Cushman & Wakefield, Reckson Associates and Jones Lang LaSalle. Sullivan teaches real estate asset management for the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has been a member of BOMA’s Board of Directors as well as a member of the Management Board of Directors for the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY). Michael received his Master of Science in Real Estate Finance from New York University and his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Pace University.

George Tockstein recently retired from the Sapir Organization, where he was the portfolio manager. Prior to Sapir, Tockstein held senior asset management positions with the Olnick Organization and Wien and Malkin LLP, and was director of aational administration at Coopers & Lybrand. Tockstein teaches Commercial Property Budgets and Financial Management and Commercial Property Management Plans at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He also teaches commercial real estate lease analysis and property management courses at NYU. Tockstein received his B.A. in economics from Fordham University.

Deborah Tomasi is a senior manager at Boston Properties currently overseeing the GM Building, a two-million square foot world-renowned NYC commercial property. Deborah’s 30-year commercial and residential property management career includes working with Class A real estate developers Hines Interests and Shorenstein Company and serving as a managing director for Cushman & Wakefield 5-million square foot portfolio of properties. Her clients have included Metlife, Teachers, Sony, NYU, Malkin, NYPH, The Ford Foundation and Morgan Stanley. Tomasi teaches the Principles of Commercial Property Management for the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. Deborah has received numerous industry awards including the BOMA NY Pinnacle Award for Renovated Building during her tenure at 200 Park Ave, BOMA Outstanding Local Member and REBNY John M. Griffin Community Service Award. She is an active member of the greater New York commercial real estate industry. She sits on the BOMA/NY Board of Directors and chairs the newly formed BOMA Technology Committee. She is also an active member of IREM and Women Executives in Real Estate. In 2016, Deborah founded Defeat the Streets, a charitable fundraising organization.

Ciro Trotta is a consultant on commercial finance-investment business areas providing educational seminars, as well as acquisition-investment and credit-finance analysis to industry clients, partnerships, law firms, government agencies, and financial services companies (both domestic and foreign). Trotta teaches Real Estate Financial Analysis I and II at the Fordham Real Estate Institute at Lincoln Center. He has also taught noncredit and graduate real estate finance and investment courses at NYU and has received awards for teaching excellence for his years of outstanding instruction.

Paul Walsh is a director of real estate finance at Trinity Wall Street which is a not-for-profit with a substantial commercial real estate portfolio.  In his role at Trinity, Walsh is responsible for the accounting and financial reporting for a 12-building office portfolio of approximately 6 million rentable square feet as well as 4 development sites and 2 ground leases. Walsh previously held the role of chief accounting officer at the 11,252-unit multifamily property Peter Cooper Village Stuyvesant Town where he oversaw the $5.3 billion property sale and transition to Blackstone and Ivan Cambridge.  In addition, Walsh has held roles at Clarion, Black Rock and RREEF. Paul teaches Real Estate Accounting and Taxation for the Fordham Real Estate Institute graduate progam. He earned a master’s degree in Real Estate Finance from New York University, a bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Ramapo College of New Jersey and is a CPA in New Jersey.

Lev Yagudayev has over 20 years of experience in different facets of commercial real estate and is a specialist in the area of valuation for financial reporting purposes. He has valued real estate and instruments secured by real estate in nearly every major market in the U.S. and comprising most property types. Prior to joining Level Valuation, Yagudayev worked for approximately two years in the appraisal practice at Situs RERC, where he served as a director and Northeast practice leader. While at Situs RERC, he was responsible for managing Situs RERC’s Northeast practice and delivering the following services: portfolio valuation services, purchase price allocation studies, International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) valuation services, investor reporting, and due diligence services. Prior to Situs RERC, he worked for nine years in the real estate consulting practice at Deloitte. In his latest role, he served as senior manager and portfolio valuation services leader for the East region. While at Deloitte, Yagudayev provided valuation and due diligence services to alternative investment managers; advised and consulted clients on a variety of issues relating to commercial real estate and real estate instruments; worked with clients to improve their processes relating to valuation, financial reporting, and investor reporting; and interacted daily with senior executives and decision makers at many real estate firms. Prior to Deloitte, he worked at Emigrant Bank, where he focused on commercial real estate valuation, REO management/disposition, mortgage underwriting, loan origination, and foreclosures. Lev teaches real estate finance at the Fordham Graduate School of Business and real estate financial modeling at the Fordham University Real Estate Institute.  He also is a faculty advisor for the Gabelli real estate club. Lev holds an M.B.A. in finance and professional accounting from Fordham University and a B.S. in biochemistry from Hofstra University.