Speaker Biographies for She Builds
MaryAnne Gilmartin
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
MAG Partners
Today, the company has a $1B development pipeline in New York, including 281 West 28th Street, a mixed-income residential building designed by COOKFOX that will begin leasing in early 2023. In addition, the company is developing two other residential buildings and a boutique office building in Hudson Square. In partnership with Sagamore Ventures, Goldman Sachs Asset Management and MacFarlane Partners, the MAG Partners is leading the development of a 235-acre masterplan in Baltimore, MD. In 2023, 1.1M SF of office, retail and residential development will open on a prime waterfront location.
MaryAnne previously served as President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, where she oversaw a period of game-changing ground-up development and managed its multimillion square foot residential, commercial and retail portfolio. MaryAnne also served as Chair of the Board of Directors and interim Chief Executive Officer of Mack-Cali Realty Corporation.
In her tenure at Forest City Ratner Companies, MaryAnne spearheaded the development of some of the most high-profile real estate projects in New York City. She led the efforts to build Barclays Center, the state-of-the-art sports and entertainment venue and the centerpiece of the $4.9 billion, 22-acre mixed-use Pacific Park Brooklyn development. She also oversaw the development of The New York Times Building, designed by world-renowned architect Renzo Piano; New York by Gehry, designed by award-winning architect Frank Gehry; and the Tata Innovation Center at Cornell Tech, a new office building that is a first-of-its-kind space for tech innovation, designed by Weiss/Manfredi on Roosevelt Island.
MaryAnne is a civic leader in the New York metropolitan area, serving as Chair Emeritus of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, member of the Board of Trustees of The Brooklyn Academy of Music, member of the New York Public Radio Board of Trustees, member of the Executive Committee and Board of Governors of The Real Estate Board of New York, and part of the Industry Advisory Board of the MS Real Estate Development Program at Columbia University. In addition to her civic and industry board service, MaryAnne was appointed a member of the board of directors of the global investment banking firm Jefferies Group LLC in 2014.
Michael Patrick Davidson
Global Workplace, Transformation & People Strategy
Michael Davidson led the global workplace, transformation and people strategy for JPMorgan Chase as a Managing Director from 2010 to 2022, encompassing a ~200k Workforce, 500 Locations, 45 Million square feet and $2.7 Billion Annual Operating Plan.
Davidson’s career spans thirty years with prior leadership roles at Morgan Stanley and Bank of America, all of which were global and include expatriate assignments in London and Tokyo.Delivering on the vision for established and emerging businesses, the focus of Davidson’s work involves understanding the core values and emerging requirements of the enterprise, aligning the people, technology and workplace strategy and developing a seamless operations plan to support the evolution from conception, launch to long-term fruition of commercial goals.
Strategic and financial planning, scaling organizations, developing high-performance processes, overall execution and establishing a strong diverse working culture are the domain of Davidson’s experience to drive revenue, attract and retain talent and lead the efficient integration between HR, Technology, Real Estate, Compliance and Communications.
In 2012, Davidson completed The TRIUM Global Executive MBA Program and earned a degree conferred by the NYU Stern School of Business, London School of Economics & Political Science and École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris (HEC School of Management, Paris).
In 1994, Davidson graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Fordham University with a Dual Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics and Philosophy, Cumulative GPA of 3.78
Davidson has completed thirty-four marathons across the seven continents, fundraised for a range of charitable causes and lives in New York City.
Former Panelists
Sonia Kaur Bain
Partner, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
Sonia is a transactional commercial real estate lawyer who represents developers, retail companies, hotel groups, landlords and tenants, and family offices with acquisitions, dispositions, development, ground and space leases, financing and leasing of numerous types of commercial real estate assets including mixed-use, residential, retail, hotel and industrial properties in New York City and also across the country.
Sonia also serves as a mentor to other women in the real estate industry. As co-chair of the WX Mentoring Committee which promotes and supports women in commercial real estate, Sonia is a passionate supporter of fostering the success of talented women entering careers in real estate.
Ofer Cohen
Founder and CEO TerraCRG
Ofer Cohen is the Founder & CEO of TerraCRG, the ‘Only Brooklyn.®’ commercial real estate firm. The firm, now 30 people strong and growing, has handled over two billion dollars’ worth of transactions in Brooklyn.
Ofer’s focus on Brooklyn extends beyond business and into philanthropy and civic service. He is the Board Chair of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and The Brooklyn Hospital Foundation. He is also the Co-Chair of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate Committee. Additionally, TerraCRG actively supports many other local and national causes and Brooklyn-based non-profit organizations.
Sadie McKeown
EVP and COO Community Preservation Corp.
Sadie McKeown is CPC’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer where she oversees CPC's lending activities, business operations, and investor relations, as well the operation of its regional field offices located throughout New York.
McKeown is also responsible for spearheading the company’s innovative “underwriting efficiency” practice that incorporates energy and water efficiency features into the financing of first mortgages for multifamily building owners. CPC has used this new underwriting method to leverage nearly $6.4 million in additional mortgage financing to fund more than 3,600 units of energy-efficient multifamily housing across New York State.
Toby Moskovits
President and Founder, Heritage Equity Partners
Toby is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Heritage Equity Partners, a woman-owned real estate and development firm specializing in mixed-use development in the New York metro region.
Her portfolio is focused in New York’s outer borough neighborhoods. With close to two-million square feet of properties completed or in pipeline projects include: 25 Kent Avenue, a light industrial and office development in Williamsburg; a 190-unit rental development at 564 St. John’s Place in Prospect Heights, a 100,000-square-foot office at 215 Moore Street in East Williamsburg and a 150 unit residential rental at 875 4th Avenue in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the first such building to be built near the transformed Industry City development with its over 6 million square feet of converted warehouses.
Colleen Wenke
Senior VP, Taconic Investment Partners