Learn about who is speaking at the Crittenden Real Estate Finance & Investment Conference this September in Clearwater, Florida.
Chris Albano is a Managing Director in Citi’s Institutional Clients Group leading Citi’s syndication and distribution efforts with the firm’s commercial real estate finance group. Mr. Albano spends his time working with the firm’s Institutional clients (REITs, Sponsor Funds, large CRE Developers), Senior Loan investors as well as other industry participants from around the world connecting capital needs with capital providers. Mr. Albano has placed well over $100 billion in CRE loan products to investors from around the globe. Since joining Citi in 2000, Mr. Albano has held several positions ranging from the origination of new debt and equity investments, advisory work on M&A and other strategic opportunities, working out real estate owned, executing investment strategies for real estate investment vehicles as well as the sale of investments at the end of their hold period. Working across a wide range of financing alternatives including corporate credit facilities, bridge financing, M&A, LBO and IPO related financing, CMBS financing and property-level fixed and floating rate financing, Mr. Albano is well versed in nearly all capital alternatives. Mr. Albano covers all commercial real estate subsectors including the office, industrial/logistics, lodging, retail, healthcare, life science, datacenter, self-storage, manufactured housing, multifamily and single-family rental sectors.
Tom is an accomplished professional and entrepreneur with more than 35 years of delivering his sound, successful advice and counsel. From matters affecting real estate development, corporate finance, retail, manufacturing, investment banking, and hospitality industries, his counsel has been a valuable asset to companies in various stages of growth. Tom’s broad areas of expertise include strategic decision making, financial and treasury management, operating management, growth, restructuring and fundraising.
For the last 30 years Tom has led his private placement firm, Ablum Brown & Company, specializing in equity raises for corporate and real estate operating companies, JV equity, preferred stock, mezzanine debt and construction debt (mostly non-recourse) for real estate development projects. In 1997, Tom co-founded Franklin Street Equity Partners Inc. (“FSEP”), the operational private equity arm of Ablum Brown & Company. From 1989 through 2008, he specialized in leveraged buyouts (LBO), acquisitions, and managed buyouts (MBO). Following its successful Fund 1, FSEP, Tom established FSEP II, however, currently there are no investments under FSEP II as Tom has focused his time and energies in growing the commercial real estate business under Ablum Brown and Company. Presently commercial real estate represents approximately 80 percent of its revenues. Prior to Ablum Brown & Company, Tom was Co-Head of Corporate Finance at Rodman & Renshaw, a New York-based securities and broker/dealer firm, and prior to that Tom was with Prudential Bache Securities investment banking group in Chicago. During his career Tom has closed more than three hundred transactions as lead or as principal.
Tom received his MBA from DePaul University and earned his BS in Finance at the University of Illinois.
David G. Bradley is the Regional Manager of Marcus & Millichap’s Tampa office. He joined the firm in 2004 as an agent specializing in multifamily property investments. David joined the management team in 2007 working in several offices across the Southeast before becoming Regional Manager of the Downtown Chicago office.
David is a graduate of Penn State University with a degree in industrial and organizational psychology with minors in business, labor relations, and dispute management/negotiations.
Tyler brings his skills from four years as a real estate accountant, two years of real estate project planning, and five plus years of marketing experience to Worldwide Commercial. Tyler’s primary focus will be sourcing investment sale listings using his diverse background to help with underwriting and marketing of the properties.
Prior to joining Worldwide Commercial, Tyler worked at Stream, Lincoln, and CBRE as a real estate accountant. He has also helped Quiktrip, PrimeLending, Hilltop Securities, and Plains Capital Bank find the best locations for their branches. Alongside the above real estate experience, he has owned and operated his own drone videography business highlighting property sales and development around the DFW area.
Tyler is a graduate from University of Arkansas with a degree in accounting and marketing. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma with the focus of his playing competitive hockey at the junior and collegiate level. Once hockey ended, he got into commercial real estate utilizing his diverse accounting and branding skillset and hasn’t looked back.
Vic Clark is a senior managing director and head of conventional multifamily production at Lument. As national head of conventional agency production for Lument’s predecessor Hunt Real Estate Capital, Vic originated more than 700 transactions totaling $9 billion and led the production team to national recognition.
Prior to joining Hunt, Vic was senior vice president and southwest regional manager at Walker & Dunlop. Before that, he was a managing director/co-head of national production at Credit Suisse/Column Financial, Inc.
As a leading authority in multifamily finance, Vic is frequently interviewed by the media and regularly speaks at industry conferences. He is a certified public accountant and a member of the Appraisal Institute. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of Southern California.
Alison started her real estate career at AMLI, an apartment REIT in Chicago where she spent 10 years in accounting, property management and asset management functions. She started working in the CMBS industry at Fitch Ratings, where she rated CMBS transactions. That led her to New York where she worked at Citigroup in their CMBS group from 2006 – 2012. After a stint in their large loan securitization team, she began working as a loan originator, when the CMBS market restarted in 2010. She then spent almost 2 years working as an originator at Natixis before she joined Barclays in April of 2014. She closed over $2.6 billion of conduit loans during her time at Barclays. Alison joined Greystone last summer (2021) as a Senior Managing Director, where she focuses on various loan products including CMBS, Agency and Bridge lending.
David A. Cohen is a Managing Director at Ready Capital Corporation, and serves in such capacity as the Chief Production Officer and Co-Head of the Ready Capital Bridge Lending Division. Prior to joining Ready Capital, David held positions as a Managing Director and National Production Manager (Head of Originations) at Doral Property Finance, a Regional Director at GE Real Estate, a Managing Director at CIBC World Markets Commercial Real Estate Finance Group, a First Vice President at Paine Webber Real Estate Securities, and as a Managing Director at Furman Selz LLC. David began his career as an attorney at the national law firm of Kelley Drye & Warren. David earned a B.A. from SUNY-Albany, and his graduate degrees with a M.B.A. from Syracuse University School of Management and a J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law. He had also attended New York University’s Masters of Laws (L.L.M.) program.
The Ready Capital real estate debt platform is a senior bridge and subordinate debt lending platform, headquartered in NYC with offices in California, Miami and Chicago, which offers non-recourse floating rate, fixed rate and hybrid rate (floating/fixed rate combined structure) financing on transitional, value-add and event-driven commercial and multifamily real estate properties throughout the US.
Most transactions involve properties that require a structured finance loan with a path to stabilization through renovation and future funded proceeds, and/or may have minimal or no occupancy (non-cash flowing), may be an adaptive re-use or involve large tenant roll-over, as well as providing note-on-note financing (one-off or small pools for non-performing and performing) financing opportunities. We also provide long-term financing with either a fixed rate structured loan or with an Agency execution as a correspondent to Agency lenders either as a new origination or under our bridge program (including a bridge-to-Agency loan) once the property is stabilized.
The Ready Capital Bridge Lending Division is part of a multi-faceted lending platform of Ready Capital Corporation (NYSE “RC,” www.readycapital.com), a full-service real estate finance company externally managed by Waterfall Asset Management, LLC (http://www.waterfallam.com). Ready Capital Corporation, a commercial mortgage REIT, is a real estate finance company that acquires, originates, manages and finances commercial real estate loans and real estate-related securities.
PJ graduated Johns Hopkins University with honors and served as the men’s lacrosse team captain. He began his professional career as a real estate attorney with Sidley and Skadden, focused on CMBS lending and restructuring. Eventually transitioning to the business side, PJ worked in the real estate groups at Citigroup, Natixis and now runs an origination team at Deutsche Bank focused on CMBS, SASB and balance sheet lending across all asset types and geographical regions within the U.S.
David Eyzenberg is president of Eyzenberg & Company, the industry’s leading ground lease & capital advisory firm delivering full capital stack solutions for existing, transitional, and to-be-built commercial real estate projects.
Affiliated entities Eyzenberg GroundCap (an institutionally backed private equity vehicle specializing in the creation and acquisition of leased fee positions) and Eyzenberg GreenCap (a joint venture with Nuveen) provide innovative proprietary capital solutions for CRE transactions.
Complementing his professional endeavors, he teaches graduate real estate finance studies in the New York University Schack Institute’s Master of Science in Real Estate program as well as University of Miami’s MBA programs.
Previously, Mr. Eyzenberg was a principal and U.S. lead for the real estate capital raising practice of Avison Young, where he co-founded and oversaw a group that during his tenure expanded throughout multiple offices and consummated well over $1 billion of financing transactions. Prior to Avison Young, Mr. Eyzenberg was a managing director and head of commercial real estate for NewOak Capital. His tenure at NewOak began in 2011 after its acquisition of the investment banking practice of Eyzenberg’s Prodigious Capital Group, where he served as president since 2005. Prior to running Prodigious Capital Group, Mr. Eyzenberg was associated with several boutique real estate investment banks. He began his real estate career on the buy side working for Merrill Lynch, Ramius Capital Group and Greenstreet Partners.
Mr. Eyzenberg graduated from New York University with a Bachelor’s degree in communications and a Master’s degree in real estate finance and investment. Mr. Eyzenberg is an active member of multiple industry associations and a frequent speaker at real estate events. He also sits on multiple advisory and corporate boards including those of REZI, VR WorldNYC and Reeds-Bay Investment Group.
Charles Foschini is a senior managing director of Berkadia, its highest production title, providing complex capital solutions to a focused clientele of major property owners throughout the United States. Unique among his peers, Charles’ team of six engages in a borrower-focused practice balanced between commercial and multifamily executions, bringing creative solutions to every engagement. A repeat member of the firm’s elite “CEO Circle,” consisting of the Top Ten Producers nationwide, Charles is widely recognized as one of the most dynamic and prolific dealmakers in the industry.
With over two decades of experience structuring complex transactions, Charles and his team have been involved in the sale and financing of commercial and multifamily properties exceeding $23 billion. These transactions encompass all asset classes, construction, bridge and permanent transactions, including several portfolio and landmark single-asset transactions in excess of $200 million.
Prior to joining Berkadia, Charles served as Vice Chairman for CBRE and member of its elite institutional group, where he started his career and was a perennial top producer at the national level across all product lines. He was a multiple recipient of the firm’s prestigious Coldwell Colbert Circle, recognizing the top 3% of the company. A sought-after expert in his discipline, he is a frequently requested speaker at conferences by Crittenden, ULI, ICSC, MBA, NAIOP, IMN, and RealShare, among others.
Charles is a three-time alumnus of the University of Miami, where he earned an undergraduate degree, a Juris Doctor degree from the School of Law and a Master of Business Administration degree from the School of Business, each with honors of distinction. He is active in his community and with the University of Miami, where he is involved in several board and membership positions, including having served as an adjunct professor in the School of Law in its prestigious LLM program for real property.
I developed a proprietary off market multifamily real estate investment platform that provides apartment owners the opportunity to sell their assets directly to accredited investors without signing an exclusive listing agreement.
Licensed in 1993, I have brokered over 600 real estate transactions.
Jon is a Partner at BridgeInvest, responsible for deal origination, underwriting and expanding the company’s presence in new markets. Under Jon’s leadership, the company has increased annual origination to $250 million annually and completed over $1 billion of transactions. Prior to BridgeInvest, Jon was an Acquisitions Associate with Resource Real Estate where he was charged with the deployment of a $750 million private REIT focused on the acquisition and work-out of non-performing commercial real estate and real estate related debt throughout the United States. In this capacity, Jon was directly responsible for the acquisition of over 20 investments totaling approximately $500 million in value. Jon is a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with concentrations in both finance and real estate.
Bob focuses on addressing the needs of clients and/or partners across all sectors – capital solutions, development, and advisory and brokerage services.
Led by a strong background in site selection, land procurement, entitlement process, and development, Bob delivers comprehensive services for those seeking market experience and strong industry relationships.
Bob began his career in 1982 with CBRE/ Senior Vice President/Retail Properties (82-92), and then Cushman & Wakefield/Senior Director/Retail Properties(92-95)
From 1996 – 2009 Site to Key Services developed a variety project including retail and office projects.
In 2010, he started STK Capital, representing a private source of capital financing Bridge loans and Acquisition/Development loans for commercial and residential real estate projects.
STK Capital has become a core business for STK in the last ten years completing $350,000,000 in senior debt loans.
Bob attended the University of South Florida and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Marketing ’78.
He is also a graduate of the Master’s Level Program in Non-Profit Management at the University of Tampa, 2012.
Bob is a native of Tampa. Bob served eight years of military service with the US Air Force Reserve as a medical corpsman onboard a C-130 assigned to the 37th Aero-Evacuation Group,
MacDill AFB and then attended Officer Candidate School while assigned to the 53rd Battalion National Guard Reserve Unit.
Bob’s interests are fishing, world travel, philosophy, and western civilization history.
Dan Gorczycki is the Managing Director of TrueRate Services oversees the implementation of TrueRate’s growth strategy. TrueRate is a full-service commercial real estate advisory firm anchored by its capital markets and investment sales brokerage. Built by active owner-operators with a portfolio over $1B across different asset types, TrueRate puts real estate owners first – utilizing their team of data-driven brokers, underwriters, marketers, and technologists to provide clients a menu of financing options to achieve optimal terms. Founded in 2020, TrueRate is backed by Olive Tree Ventures, an affiliate of national multifamily property owner Olive Tree Holdings. For more information, visit: www.truerateservices.com/
An industry veteran and a former senior member of Avison Young’s debt and equity team, Gorczycki has brokered over $7 billion in transactions alone over his two decades in commercial real estate finance.
Prior to joining Avison Young, Gorczycki worked at Savills Studley, and Granite Partners LLC, predecessor to Savills US, for 15 years. Gorczycki received his MBA from New York University and is also a Certified Public Accountant.
Natalie Grainger acts as Chief Credit Officer for Greystone’s proprietary conduit execution strategy. Prior to Greystone she spent over 11 years at Deutsche Bank where her focus was managing CMBS executions. She also served in roles at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, and Deloitte. Natalie is an active member of the CREFC Women’s Advisory Board and a past Chair of the group.
Felix Gutnikov is a Principal of Thorofare Capital and serves as the Head of Originations. Thorofare is majority owned by Callodine Group, an asset management platform specializing in yield-oriented investment strategies. Thorofare is a national, vertically integrated commercial real estate investment manager. Headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in New York City, Miami, Boston, and Dallas, Thorofare manages over $1.25 billion in AUM. He joined the firm in January 2012, sits as a voting member on the Investment Committee for the firm’s discretionary fund series as well as its institutional joint ventures and separate accounts. Felix has 14 years of industry experience and over $3 billion of financing transactions closed across eight investment vehicles. Felix plays a primary role in the sourcing, structuring, and pricing of new loan originations from the firm’s Los Angeles office, and directs capital markets syndications through co-lending, participations, and senior/subordinate arrangements. Felix is a graduate of the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Colleen Heydon is Senior Vice President Marketing for Centennial, a real estate investment firm with a national portfolio of shopping, dining, entertainment and mixed-use destinations. Based out of MainPlace Mall in Orange County, California, Colleen leads the company’s national marketing organization including corporate and property marketing.
Colleen has been with Centennial since December of 2015 after holding various positions in shopping center management with Westfield since 2010. In her current role, Colleen defines the marketing strategy and execution for Centennial Collection properties, oversees corporate marketing for Leasing and Development, and leads innovated solutions through digital and experiential marketing. All efforts are tailored marketing platforms that successfully drive sales, traffic and NOI to create enhanced asset value for stakeholders.
Prior to joining the retail real estate industry, Colleen is credited with extensive marketing management experience within advertising, financial services, and over 10 years in the entertainment industry promoting some of the strongest brands in television including ABC, Paramount, PAX TV and The Family Channel.
Colleen graduated from the University of Madison, Wisconsin with a bachelor of arts degree in communications. She serves as an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and has had recent recognition as Top CRE Marketing and Communications Influencer award by GlobeSt. Real Estate Forum in 2019.
Ben joined Trez Capital in 2016 and is responsible for the origination, underwriting and closing real estate debt and equity investments.
Prior to joining the company, he was an Associate at Cohen Financial (A Guggenheim Partners Affiliate) where he was responsible for the underwriting, financial analysis, credit analysis, and due diligence on debt and equity transactions. During his time with the company, Ben worked on over $2.3 billion worth of real estate transactions across all asset classes with specialization in multifamily, condominiums and mixed-use projects. Previously, Ben was an associate at Pebb Finance, involved in the underwriting, sourcing and closing of over $700 million of commercial real estate transactions in various phases.
Adam Lipkin is with Greystone and is known as “The C-PACE Guy™”.
Greystone is a leading national finance company, originating over $19 billion last year, annually a top 10 agency lender by volume, and the country’s top FHA-HUD lender. Adam is part of the Greystone Capital Advisors (GCA) team which structures equity and debt and originates construction, bridge and permanent loans. In 2021, the GCA team originated senior debt of $900 million, advised on equity placements of $300 million and arranged $700 million of debt, primarily on construction and development projects around the country. GCA also focuses on large loan mortgage origination across Greystone’s Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, Bridge, balance-sheet and special situation lending platforms. Within Greystone, Adam is the go-to guy for C-PACE + Senior debt financing nationwide.
Adam has two decades of commercial real estate experience, having been involved in more than $3 billion of financing transactions. Before Greystone, Adam was a top originator for nearly four years with a Commercial PACE Lender where he closed hundreds of millions of C-PACE plus senior debt financing.
Adam graduated from the University of Florida with a combined Bachelor and Master’s degree in Accounting. He is a former Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Dave Loomis is Director of Commercial Real Estate and Finance for Primary Real Estate Services in California. Dave’s career after Cal Berkeley, started in commercial real estate leasing and sales in Northern California. He then moved into finance and helped build and lead real estate finance divisions at Citibank, CIT Group and as a broker while also managing his family’s commercial real estate holdings. In 2008, Dave got bitten by the solar bug and went to work in the PV solar business for companies like Sungevity and SunPower. Given his background in management and finance, it wasn’t long until Dave became a key player in the development of CPACE with Ygrene and most recently Poppy Bank, where he was VP of Finance. Dave lives in Napa with his wife Susan and enjoys bike riding, golfing, and coaching youth rugby.
Mary Stewart Malone is a Principal and co-founder of Addison Partners and co-heads the firm’s acquisitions and capital-raising activities.
Prior to working with Addison Partners, Mary Stewart worked in business development and process improvement roles for Allianz Global Investors, Bank of Montreal, and Hearst Publishing. Mary Stewart also founded ChalkTalks, an internet-software-based transcription and closed-captioning company that she sold in 2019.
She received a Bachelor of Arts in History from Roanoke College. Mary Stewart is active in the Central Park Conservancy, Ellevate Women’s Network, and The Fresh Air Fund. Originally from the Washington D.C. area, Mary Stewart resides in New York City with her husband and four children.
Greg is a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate Finance for Voya Investment Management with 30 years of investment experience. He is responsible for the oversight and management of sourcing, underwriting and management of all commercial real estate loans on behalf of its clients. The platform manages $14 billion of assets. In addition to overseeing Voya’s general account the team manages assets for 21 domestic and international life companies and banks as separate managed accounts along with an open-ended debt fund with $1.0 billion of equity. Greg has worked in various functions in the real estate department for Voya Investment Management for over 25 years. Prior to joining ING Group, Voya Investment Management predecessor in 1995, he was a real estate appraiser focused on commercial properties and eminent domain cases in the Southeastern United States. Greg serves on the Executive Leadership Team for proprietary assets, is a member of the U.S. Credit Committee and Chairmen of the CMBS Steering Committee.
He received his BS in Real Estate from the Florida State University, MBA in Finance from Kennesaw State University, an Executive MBA from University of Georgia, and Masters in World War II Studies from Arizona State University.
He is also heavily involved in several real estate industry groups including Urban Land Institute (Mixed Use – Blue Flight), Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (Board of Directors and former Chairmen), Mortgage Bankers Association (Member of Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors) and National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers.
Feras is an entrepreneur at heart with a tech background. Feras graduated from the University of Texas with a Computer Science degree, and worked at Microsoft straight from college. Feras later resigned from Microsoft to ‘bring tech to industries that lack it’, where he later found his passion for real estate. Feras quickly built a portfolio of rentals, completing 9 closings in his first 12 months. After having seen the results of rentals, Feras later decided to scale up into apartment complexes, where he met Ben and started Disrupt Equity, a company focused on multi-family acquisition and investments for investors, and in doing so, help leverage his strengths in tech to better identify quality investments for investors. Feras has helped raise millions of dollars for multifamily syndication.
Tom Noble is responsible for managing cross departmental operations and portfolio management across the firm’s investment strategies. In this role, he oversees investment sourcing, underwriting, marketing, and finance as well as portfolio implementation and monitoring.
Tom joined Archway Capital from Morton Capital Management where he specialized in investment analysis and due diligence across a wide spectrum of investable assets including private and public real estate investments throughout the capital stack.
Tom holds an MBA in Real Estate Finance from the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business and a BS in Finance from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business.
Mr. Pemmerl, Chief Credit Officer, has nearly 15 years of commercial real estate finance experience. Over the past decade with UC Funds, he has underwritten, structured and closed over $2 billion in transaction volume. As UC Funds’ CCO, Mr. Pemmerl oversees all underwriting, structuring and closings while ensuring the company’s risk profile remains balanced across industries, markets and locations. Prior to joining UC Funds, Mr. Pemmerl worked as a Special Assets Workout Officer in RBS Citizens’ Global Restructuring Group where he was responsible for the management and disposition of RBS Citizens’ OREO portfolio throughout the Midwest and Northeast. Mr. Pemmerl was named one of Commercial Observer’s Top 25 Under 35 Debt and Equity Professionals in 2019 and Globe St. Real Estate Forum’s 50 Under 40 in 2020. Mr. Pemmerl earned a BA in Economics with a secondary concentration in Mathematics from Wesleyan University.
Mr. Pirhalla is EVP of BankFinancial’s Multifamily Lending. Prior to BankFinancial, he originated Agency loans nationwide with Greystone following five years at CBRE, where he founded the Wholesale and Bank Correspondent Lending divisions. His previous roles included National Accounts Manager for Sabal Financial; portfolio surveillance and risk analysis for Wells Fargo’s $600 billion CMBS and Agency loan portfolios; and was instrumental in the expansion of several commercial real estate lending platforms for Impac Commercial Capital Corp, SunTrust Banks, and JPMorgan’s CMBS division.
Grady Pridgen of Pridgen Development, LLC, has a 37‐year track record of delivering class A developments on time and within budget. To date, 100% of all ground up developments have been completed within budget and on time due to hands on, detailed review and implementation of every phase of development and operations.
Grady Pridgen has been involved in the construction and development of approximately 4,000,000 SF of office, commercial, industrial and multi‐family facilities. Pridgen is skilled in construction loan administration with over $500,000,000 in construction and permanent loan administration and compliance experience. Grady has honed his skills working with some of the industry’s leading architects, construction companies, operators and managers. His expertise includes owner’s representation, site selection, development visioning, land acquisition, assemblage, entitlements, rezoning, negotiations, supervision, financial analysis and modeling, feasibility analysis, problem solving, site efficiency maximization analysis, cash flow and sensitivity analysis and construction financing placement.
Pridgen Development, LLC, is a fully integrated real estate development company engaged in the acquisition, development, redevelopment and operation of office, mixed‐use, industrial, retail, multi‐family, educational and senior housing developments. Pridgen has tremendous experience in creating strategies to maximize the value of clients’ assets.
Grady has won several awards for his projects including Tampa Bay’s Business Executive of the Year, Developer of the Year, Tampa Region (NAIOP), Tampa Bay Area’s Top Industrial Broker, Tampa Bay Business Journal Best New Development, Top 5 Tampa Bay Area Land Broker and Top 10 Tampa Bay Area Property Management Company. Tampa Bay Magazine also named him Man of the Year in 2000.
Pridgen Development is a Florida limited liability company currently operating in good standing.
David Repka began his journey as a real estate entrepreneur in his Sophomore year in college when he bought and renovated a boarded up 18-unit apartment building in Buffalo, NY that was slated for demolition. Larger and more complicated projects would follow.
David co-founded Bison Financial Group with his brother, Jared, as a commercial real estate advisory firm in 1994. He has been involved in over two billion dollars of commercial real estate transactions as a principal, investor, real estate broker, mortgage broker, and private lender. Since the heart of the Global Pandemic in June 2020 David has closed $190 million in transactions while many sources of capital pressed the pause button or simply vanished.
David nurtures long-term relationships that result in repeat transactions. One of his proudest career accomplishments is closing 35 transactions with one lender and 36 transactions with one principal. In December 2021 he closed his 28th transaction with his most active current client that will undoubtedly smash all previous closing records. Known for passion, intensity and a sense of urgency, David has closed multi-million dollar commercial real estate transactions in as little as 8 & 11 days. His skill set includes: creating and implementing acquisition, financing, repositioning & harvest strategies to maximize returns in commercial real estate. David’s clients are prolific real estate investors and developers that need constant access to capital. Current assignments include:
David is one of the co-founders of two networks of independent mortgage brokerage / mortgage banking companies with 76 members coast-to-coast generating billions of dollars in annual transaction volume. He has moderated or participated in panels at eight commercial real estate conferences.
David is a 1988 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Canisius College in Buffalo, NY. He has lived in the Tampa Bay, Florida area since 1991 and resides in a sleepy beach community along the Gulf of Mexico with his wife, Tanya. They are proud parents of three daughters.
Sean Robertson is Vice President of Originations at Churchill Real Estate. Prior to Churchill, he was Senior Vice President at Genesis Capital, a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, where he was tasked with leading debt origination efforts on the east coast for the company. Before Genesis, Sean was a Vice President in the institutional structured finance group at Meridian Capital Group. At Meridian, Sean was involved in over $1B of debt placement and JV equity transactions. Sean began his career at Citibank. He holds a B.S. in Finance from the University of Arizona.
As VP of Debt and Equity Capital Markets at Meridian Capital Group, Miss Russo structures complex debt and equity transactions on all major asset classes for construction, acquisition, permanent financing and portfolio recapitalizations. Her clientele benefit from Meridian’s long-standing capital relationships with more than 250 traditional and non-traditional lenders, including local, regional, and national banks; debt funds; CMBS lenders; agency lenders; mortgage REITs; life insurance companies; credit unions; private equity funds; and other specialty finance firms.
Miss Russo has a pulse on the availability and pricing of capital in the market which enables her to provide best-in class solutions and quickly close transactions regardless of size, location, or complexity. In 2021, her team of six out of the Beachwood, Ohio office closed $1.7 billion of financing across 90+ deals, 68 of which were high-leverage loans for complex acquisitions. In the first half of 2022, despite historic inflation and a soaring interest rate environment, her and her team have continued to execute aggressive financing solutions for clients based on their individual needs.
Miss Russo began her finance career at KeyBank where she served in various roles responsible for driving the financial performance of Key Real Estate Capital Group and KeyBank Capital Markets. She worked closely with Key’s executive leadership team on several strategic efforts including M&A transactions. Miss Russo then went on to help manage Key’s $8B derivatives portfolio where she was responsible for the banks cash flow hedge and fair value hedge positions, entering into new or terminating outstanding interest rate swap agreements. She then went on to assist corporate treasury in managing the short-term money market funding portfolio comprised of FedFunds, Eurodollars, Brokered CD’s, FHLB Advances and REPOS Traded up to $1.5 billion in overnight money markets.
Miss Russo is a graduate from Baldwin Wallace University with a degree in finance and marketing and she is actively working toward her CFA charter designation, having successfully passed exams for CFA level I & II.
Greg E Schecher, Director – Southeast Originations at Archway Capital, where he is responsible for the East Coast region with a specific focus on Florida and the Southeast states. Greg is an industry leader with more than 35 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. He began his career in NYC in 1979 as a mortgage banker built expert skills and extensive contacts as he closed over 100 CMBS loans, so far, during his career. As a former senior member of the origination team for such companies as Money360, NAI Global, and Keystone Bridge Capital he was responsible for originating over $200M in bridge financing. Over the years, Mr. Schecher also managed numerous units at Cushman and Wakefield and as a North East Regional Bank Manager, oversaw a $200M portfolio. Greg was also founder and CEO of both Westminster Capital and Lexington Capital. A CMBS expert and recovering banker, Greg is an acclaimed speaker at industry conferences and a mentor to less experienced people in the industry.
Casey Siggins specializes in the origination and placement of debt and equity products for all types of income-producing real estate investments. With his diverse knowledge of financial models and technology, as well as tactical approaches to creating complex funding solutions, Mr. Siggins is able to deliver targeted solutions to real estate investors and developers across the product type spectrum.
In addition to his origination & placement duties, Mr. Siggins is a member of Senior Leadership at Franklin Street where he is charged with the growth, maintenance, and strategic vision of the Capital Advisory business for the company. In the last 5 years, Mr. Siggins has overseen the expansion of Franklin Street Capital Advisory from two production agents to nearly 20 production agents & sales support team members.
Mr. Siggins graduated from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance.
Michael Sommers has been with Grand Peaks since 2016 and currently serves as Senior Vice President for the Southeast. Mr Sommers focuses on multifamily acquisitions, renovation management, and asset management for the entire state of Florida. Prior to joining Grand Peaks, he was the Senior Vice President at Fifteen Group where he was responsible for a 3,000-unit multifamily portfolio across four states. During his time there he helped with the disposition of four apartment communities and a shovel-ready development site in Miami. Prior to that, Mr. Sommers was an Investment Associate for Equity Residential (EQR), where he worked from 2009 to 2014 acquiring multifamily properties and development sites. Additionally, he participated in overseeing the asset management of more than 20,000 apartments in EQR’s Southeastern United States portfolio. During his time with EQR, he was part of the deal team that underwrote and acquired the majority of the Archstone apartment portfolio from Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy estate for $9.5 billion dollars. Most recently, Mr. Sommers spearheaded the effort into North Carolina, a new market for Grand Peaks.
Since 2009, Mr. Sommers has taught undergraduate and MBA-level courses in real estate investment and appraisal at the University of Miami as a part-time lecturer. He earned his Bachelor’s degree with honors from the Finance Department at the University of Miami and has an MBA from the University of Florida. Mr. Sommers currently resides in Boca Raton, FL and operates out of the Florida regional office.
Mr. Robert Sonnenblick, Principal of Sonnenblick Development, LLC, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania with more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of real estate development and real estate finance. From 1981 to 1991, Mr. Sonnenblick was the driving force and power behind Sonnenblick-Goldman Corporation of California. Mr. Sonnenblick completed over $1.5 Billion of commercial real estate transactions on the West Coast, and as a result is regarded as one of the West Coast’s leaders in the field of commercial real estate finance. Among the more notable projects for which Mr. Sonnenblick personally structured the financing for are The Beaudry Center, Los Angeles, California ($197 million), the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Pasadena, California ($97 million), One Waterfront Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii ($100 million), and the Los Angeles World Trade Center, Los Angeles, California ($55 million).
Mr. Sonnenblick is a frequent speaker and panelist at various real estate-related functions, such as those hosted by Deloitte Touche, ICSC, Value Retail News, Bloomberg News, Crittenden Conference Inc., USC Real Estate, UCLA Real Estate, IMN Real Estate Conferences, Bisnow Media, Opal Conference Group, iGlobal Forum, Nathic, RealShare, Thinc, The Lodging Conference Co, The Boutique Lodging Assn., Hunter Hotel Conferences, The SoCal Development Forum, and the Institute for International Research. Mr. Sonnenblick is a published author on subjects ranging from commercial architecture to general real estate market conditions. In addition to Mr. Sonnenblick’s expertise in real estate development, finance, and joint ventures, Mr. Sonnenblick has also been certified as an “expert witness” in the areas of real estate bankruptcy/foreclosure and finance. Mr. Sonnenblick is a qualified expert witness on the topic of Commercial Real Estate Interest Rates and Finance for the United States Federal Court System in numerous different jurisdictions across the States of California, Nevada, and Arizona.
In 2012, Mr Sonnenblick founded Sonnenblick Hospitality LLC, a nationwide hotel development company specializing in both 4-star full service resort hotel developments, and 3-star limited service hotel developments, which is based in Los Angeles, California. This hospitality company is currently developing six major hotel projects across the United States, with an aggregate cost of approximately $575 Million.
Tim Stoner is the Managing Director of Capital Markets for USAA Real Estate and is responsible for all of USAA’s commercial real estate finance activities for the investment portfolio, and he is a member of the firm’s Commercial Mortgage Investment Committee. His primary areas of focus include management of the commercial real estate senior lending platform for USAA Life Insurance Company and sourcing third party debt for the company’s acquisition and development transactions. He also works closely with affiliate Square Mile Capital to coordinate financing activities across the lending platforms. Since joining USAA more than 21 years ago, Tim has completed over $39 billion of investment and finance transactions.
Tim received his Bachelor of Business Administration in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship from Baylor University and his Master of Land Economics and Real Estate from Texas A&M University. He has been a featured panelist at numerous real estate capital markets events and has lectured graduate level students at various universities regarding commercial real estate investments and finance.
Tim was the past Chair of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council’s Life Company Lender Sub-Forum, serves on the Board of Directors of the Life Mortgage and Real Estate Officers Council and is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association. He also currently serves as a member of the San Antonio Greater Chamber of Commerce Economic Development Council.
Richard “Rick” Swarts is President and CEO of Paragon Valuation Group, a division of Paragon International, Inc., a worldwide consulting firm headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois (suburban Chicago). Utilizing his extensive engineering and valuation expertise from over 45 years in this profession, he has pioneered many of the innovative Cash Flow Forensics investigative procedures, and Tax Engineering™ and Cost Segregation practices employed by the firm in analyzing over $300 Billion of capital projects and finding billions of dollars in cash flow for clients around the globe.
Brian Sykes is a managing director and head of Lument’s new Boston office. He is responsible for originating multifamily loans and providing capital solutions for institutional and private multifamily owners.
Prior to joining Lument in 2020, Brian established a Boston office for Capital One Multifamily Finance. Before joining Capital One, he worked for Deutsche Bank Berkshire Mortgage and was assistant vice president of lending at Cambridge Savings Bank. Over the past 20 years, he has originated more than $5.5 billion in Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CMBS, and balance sheet loans throughout the United States.
Brian is a member of the Apartment Association of Greater Philadelphia, the Massachusetts Rental Housing Association, and previously served on the Massachusetts Housing Shelter Alliance board of directors. He holds an associate in accountancy, a bachelor’s in finance, and an MBA from Bentley University.
Dan currently serves his clients through Onyx Funding’s platform of brokering debt and equity across residential and commercial investment loans nationwide. As Director of Originations, Dan leads the Onyx Origination Team, negotiates terms on behalf of his clients, and navigates the complexities of lender guidelines across all lending programs.
Prior to Onyx, Dan served as an Associate at Rialto Capital where he Underwrote $2B+ in CMBS loans across multiple asset types and markets, coordinated with leadership on potential CMBS portfolio risks and credit concerns, and managed a book of 100+ Non-Performing Loans requiring civil procedure to collect from borrowers. Following Rialto, Dan served as the Marketing Director with a boutique agency assisting in structuring equity positions with local start-up companies, developing client and partnership relationships, and optimizing innovative marketing campaigns to maximize client returns. These experiences across both “science” and “art” have given Dan a unique approach to creatively structuring loans with lenders in order to meet his client’s goals.
Graduating from the University of Florida in Business Admin, he went directly into his NBA at the Warrington College of Business receiving a Master’s in International Business.
Thompson is Chief Executive Officer of Blake Investment Partners. He founded the firm in 2003. The BLAKE team actively operates a real estate portfolio, deploys capital into a private equity thesis centered around home services – and makes strategic investments into PropTech through Thompson’s family office. He currently oversees BLAKE’s investment strategy and management, and serves as the Chairman of its Investment Committee. As the founder, Thompson was an original architect of the firm’s investment thesis and philosophy and has presided over the growth of the firm, overseeing its transition from a start-up to a regional enterprise with the infrastructure required to support various businesses and a diverse investor base. Thompson plays a central role in creating new investment opportunities and focusing on a proper marriage between capital and new projects. A lawyer by training, Thompson also oversees teams that manage legal, human resources, asset management, investor relations and business development.
Brent Truscott is a Partner of Bloomfield Capital and a member of the investment committee. Since 2010, he has led the originations effort for the firm. Brent is also responsible for structuring and closing debt and equity transactions.
Bloomfield Capital is a direct lender and equity investor in commercial real estate assets nationwide. With offices in Detroit, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Portland, ME, Bloomfield Capital’s team draws from a broad base of commercial real estate and finance experience, with over $1 billion of closed transactions since Bloomfield Capital’s inception. The firm provides debt and equity solutions to meet the demands of time sensitive and complex transactions. Bloomfield Capital specializes in small to medium sized financings from $3-30 million in the form of bridge loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity participations.
Prior to joining Bloomfield Capital in 2010, Brent was an Associate of ValStone Partners, a $600 million private equity firm focused on opportunistic and distressed investments. Prior to joining ValStone Partners, Brent spent two years as an Associate at DTE Energy Services, where he focused on project development and M&A transactions. Earlier in his career, he was an Associate in the business valuation group of Standard & Poor’s and an investment-banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets in Boston. Brent received his M.S. from Columbia University in Real Estate Development and a B.S. in management with a concentration in finance from Boston College.
Joseph J. Vassallo – Joseph is a Managing Director and Senior Originator in the CMBS program at BMO Capital Markets. He has close to 30 years of commercial real estate and hospitality lending, capital markets and structured products experience. In his position at BMO, Mr. Vassallo focuses on originating CMBS financing opportunities in the U.S. for fixed rate Conduit and fixed and floating rate SASB execution. Mr. Vassallo financing activities for commercial real estate and hospitality assets brings together operators, investors, mezzanine providers and senior mortgage debt participants.
Prior to joining BMO, Joseph was a Managing Director in the Global Commercial Real Estate Group at Deutsche Bank via Hanover Street Capital. He and his team focused on origination, underwriting, structuring and executing loans across the breadth of DB’s lending platform, including fixed rate and floating rate securitization, syndication and transitional balance sheet products.
Prior to Deutsche Bank, Mr. Vassallo was a Managing Director with Natixis North America where he was charged with relaunching Natixis’ CMBS program after the Great Financial Crisis. The majority of his career was spent at the Real Estate Finance and Securitization Group of Credit Suisse and its predecessor group at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette with a primary focus on loan origination.
In the later part of his tenure at Credit Suisse, Mr. Vassallo was a senior member of the team charged with working out and winding down the bank’s book of legacy assets including restructurings, negotiating deeds-in-lieu, pursuing contested and uncontested foreclosures and distributing or de-risking single asset or portfolios of whole loan, sub-debt note and equity positions.
Prior to his financing positions, Joseph was a Senior Consultant in the Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group. Mr. Vassallo has a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from New York University and a M.B.A. in Finance and International Business from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Mr. Vassallo is a native New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, NY.
As a Vice President of Business Development, Andy originates and structures Twain’s investment products, including Ground Lease Capital, Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE) financing, and Historic Tax Credit (HTC) Equity.
Prior to joining Twain, Andy spent seven years at Cushman and Wakefield, where he held a number of roles relating to corporate real estate management, including transaction management, financial analytics, and ground-up development. Andy joined Cushman and Wakefield after cutting his teeth in the commercial property tax consulting industry.
Michael Zysman is Founder and Managing Principal of City Bay Capital LLC. He founded the company over 6 years ago and has been in the commercial real estate finance industry for over 21 years. Mr. Zysman is regarded as one of the top commercial mortgage brokers in the United States and his clients include a long list of many of the top real estate developers and owners in the country. He has built his reputation on getting complex development deals financed efficiently with below market terms.
Prior to forming City Bay Capital, Mr. Zysman was a Director at Arbor Realty Trust where he held both origination and underwriting roles. He began his career at Reckson Strategic Venture Partners, LLC, a $300 million private equity fund sponsored by Reckson Associates that invested in multiple asset classes across the US. Mr. Zysman then went on to become an Associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP in their real estate private equity tax group. He also worked at Time Equities, Inc. where he assisted in the acquisition and development of multiple projects both in NYC and across the country.
Mr. Zysman also held a position at the Bainbridge Companies where he worked on the acquisition, financing, and development of numerous multifamily development projects throughout the state of Florida. He then went on to run acquisitions and capital markets for The New Dawn Companies, an owner/operator of multifamily apartments started by a co-founder of the Bainbridge Companies, where he helped the firm acquire and finance over 4,500 units throughout the Southeastern United States. Mr. Zysman also held an asset management role at LNR Partners where he worked-out defaulted commercial real estate loans during the global financial crisis.
Mr. Zysman holds a BBA in Accounting from Hofstra University and a MS in Real Estate Development from Columbia University. He is on the Infrastructure Council for the NY chapter of the Urban Land Institute and is active in many charitable organizations. In addition, he writes a highly regarded quarterly column for the New York Real Estate Journal where he discusses current trends in the commercial real estate structured finance industry.
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