Anthony Orso is Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of CCRE, a fully integrated commercial real estate finance company providing loan originations and securitization, loan sales and acquisition services. Since 2010, CCRE has closed over $24 billion worth of loan and become a leading issuer of mortgage-backed securities. CCRE, which was ranked No. 1 Fastest Growing Company by Crain's New York Business in 2014, operates in over 15 locations nationwide with more than 300 employees. Previously, Mr. Orso was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse and Co-Head of the Credit Suisse Real Estate Direct Group where he was responsible for over $100 billion in North American real estate loan origination and over $30 billion of high yield real estate debt and equity distribution. Mr. Orso oversaw the expansion of the business in the US, Mexico, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East, with offices in Dubai and Mexico City. Mr. Orso has also held senior-level real estate positions at APC Realty Advisors, Chemical Bank, Boston Properties, and Merrill Lynch. Mr. Orso also serves on the Board of Directors for Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York and also the in the executive board of director of STARS Club, non-profit organization aiming to assist underprivileged students in their academic pursuits. Mr. Orso is a graduate of Columbia Business School where he received an MBA in Finance, and St. John's University where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Warren de Haan is a founder and one of the four Managing Partners of ACORE, with

$11+ billion in assets under management in commercial real estate debt strategies. He

is the Head of Asset Originations and is a member of ACORE’s investment committee.

Mr. de Haan has 21 years of experience in the commercial real estate finance industry

and capital markets. Prior to ACORE, he was the Chief Originations Officer of Starwood

Property Trust, Inc. (NYSE: STWD), a public mortgage REIT, from October 2010 to

September 2014.

Prior to Starwood he, along with Mr. Fellows, Mr. Tokarski and Mr. Ward, founded

Countrywide Financial Corporation’s commercial real estate finance business that was

launched in 2004 and grew into one of the largest lending platforms in the United States

focused on middle markets, closing over 1250 commercial real estate loans totaling

over $11.5 billion. He was co-head of loan originations, overseeing the expansion of the

division’s footprint to 15 offices across the United States. In 2001 Mr. de Haan was a

founding partner of Coastal Capital Partners, LLC, a firm focused on acquiring

distressed debt and advising clients on restructurings. Prior to Coastal Capital, he was a

member of a large loan group in Nomura’s commercial real estate finance division in

NYC.

Mr. de Haan received a B.S. degree from the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. He

also graduated from Hotel Institute Montreux, Switzerland, where he obtained his Swiss

Hotel Diploma and American Hotel and Motel Association Diplomas.

David Schonbraun is Co-Chief Investment Officer of the company with a primary focus on structured finance, residential, and alternative investments, and has been with SL Green since 2002. He is also directly responsible for Green Loan Services, the company’s special servicing arm that serves both SL Green and third-party lenders. Mr. Schonbraun has either led or has been a senior team member in the execution of over $25 billion in equity and debt investments. Prior to joining SL Green in 2002, Mr. Schonbraun was a real estate investment banker at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he worked on a variety of mergers and acquisitions transactions, as well as debt and equity financings. Mr. Schonbraun received a Bachelor of the Arts degree in Economics and Politics from Princeton University. He is also an active member of the UJA Real Estate Executives (REX) Steering Committee and the Urban Development Mixed Use Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), as well as serving on the Finance and Grantmaking Committees of the Kessler Foundation.

Paul McCormick is the Senior Vice President of Investment Sales and Capital Services at Ariel Property Advisors. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the Investment Sales and Capital Services Division’s day-to-day operations and for leading various expansion and recruitment initiatives on its behalf.

Prior to joining Ariel Property Advisors, Mr. McCormick was the Assistant Vice President of Sales at Arbor Commercial Mortgage. While there, he supported a 25 person sales division that originated over $5 billion in loans across the company's multifamily and commercial product lines, including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, Bridge, Mezzanine and Preferred Equity. He also led the development of the Arbor Select Program, which was a fast-track originators program for new hires.

Earlier, Mr. McCormick served as a Sales Manager at Sterling National Mortgage and was a Vice President of Sales at Homebridge Mortgage Bankers. In these roles, he led sales teams to successfully originate, underwrite and place both commercial and residential mortgages nationwide.

Mr. McCormick holds an MBA in finance from Long Island University, where he was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma after graduating at the top of his class. He currently resides in Rockville Centre and can be reached at 212.544.9500 ext. 45 or via email at pmccormick@arielpa.com.

Bruce leads a variety of growth initiatives for Cortland, from capital under management to both geographic and product expansion. He brings 30 years of experience in real estate investment to Cortland, with a proven expertise in how real estate operating companies differentiate themselves and create value.

Jeffrey F. DiModica, CFA, has been the Company’s President since September 2014. He has also served as a Managing Director of an affiliate of the Manager since July 2014. Mr. DiModica served as a director of the Company from its inception in 2009 to July 2014.

From 2007 to 2014, Mr. DiModica was a Managing Director and the Head of MBS/ABS/CMBS Sales and Strategy for the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). In that role, he was responsible for the distribution of mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), asset- backed securities (“ABS”) and commercial mortgage-backed securities (“CMBS”) to institutional clients, including banks, hedge funds, insurance companies and money managers. Previously, from 2001 to 2007, Mr. DiModica headed the Boston sales office for RBS. Prior to joining RBS, from 1993 to 2001, Mr. DiModica sold derivative and MBS products to institutional clients for Merrill Lynch in Boston. Mr. DiModica began his career in the Merchant and Investment Banking Group of the Commercial Real Estate Department at Chemical Bank from 1989 to 1991.

Mr. DiModica received a B.S./B.A. degree with a concentration in Finance from Boston University, an M.B.A. degree from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995. Mr. DiModica is an active member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization), and serves on the board of Virtual Enterprises International (VEI), a non-profit focused on teaching career and entrepreneurial skills to inner city high school students.

Mr. Friedman is a co-founder of Mesa West Capital. Prior to co-founding Mesa West in 2004, Mr. Friedman spent three years at Maguire Partners as a principal and was in charge of capital market activities which included the restructuring of the firm’s debt, the buy-out of partners and the firm’s eventual $800 million initial public offering. Mr. Friedman transitioned into real estate finance in 1994 initially as a Vice-President originating large loans at Nomura Asset Capital Corporation and later as a Director at Credit Suisse First Boston in New York. Mr. Friedman began his career as a corporate lawyer, working initially in Tokyo, Japan for an affiliate of Sidley & Austin and then in New York for Simpson Thacher & Bartlett. Mr. Friedman graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a master’s degree in Applied Economics and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Fishbach is a Principal of the originations team at Mesa West and heads the East Coast origination platform. Prior to joining Mesa West in 2010, Mr. Fishbach spent three years at Ramius LLC, an $8 billion asset management firm based in New York City with a specialty investment platform in real estate. As Director of Ramius’ Real Estate Group, Mr. Fishbach’s responsibilities included deal sourcing, origination and underwriting, negotiation of acquisitions, joint ventures and financings, as well as asset management. Mr. Fishbach was responsible for over $500 million of transactions. Previous to Ramius, Mr. Fishbach was at Wells Fargo Bank in the Real Estate Merchant Banking Group from 2000 to 2006, both in Los Angeles and New York. As a Vice President, Mr. Fishbach’s primary responsibilities included sourcing, structuring, negotiating, closing and managing senior loans, mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments on various types of commercial real estate assets. While at Wells Fargo, Mr. Fishbach was directly responsible for over $1 billion of debt originations. Mr. Fishbach graduated from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration with a bachelor’s degree.

Ralph Herzka is the chairman and CEO of Meridian Capital Group. Since co-founding the commercial real estate advisory firm in 1991, Mr. Herzka has remained the guiding force behind the company’s evolution from a small Brooklyn-based commercial mortgage brokerage to a national leader in real estate capital markets, having personally arranged over $100 billion in financing. Additionally, Mr. Herzka has led Meridian’s recent expansion into New York City investment sales and retail leasing in 2015 and 2018, respectively.

Mr. Herzka demonstrates an exceptional ability to foster multi-generational relationships with real estate owners and investors and forms critical alliances with lenders to achieve success across the asset spectrum. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council, and the International Council of Shopping Centers.

In addition to his professional leadership, Mr. Herzka is a dedicated philanthropist, raising millions of dollars for various organizations over his career. Most notably, he is a passionate participant of Bike4Chai, an annual 180-mile cycling fundraiser for children fighting pediatric illnesses and disabilities.

Mr. Herzka is a lifelong resident of Brooklyn, NY. He and his wife are proud parents and grandparents.

Mr. Sotoloff co-founded MRECS in 2014 and serves as a Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer. Prior to joining MRECS, he was a Managing Director and Head of U.S. Originations of Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies (BREDS), was a founding member of the Blackstone affiliate that advises such funds, and contributed to the launch of Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT). Over 7 years, Mr. Sotoloff helped BREDS become a well-respected platform with $10 billion of equity capital and was closely involved in more than 90 discrete investment transactions representing more than $30 billion in total transaction value. Mr. Sotoloff oversaw structured finance transactions including both loan originations and investments in legacy loan portfolios and CMBS. He also sourced several transactions for the Blackstone Real Estate Partners equity investment program. Mr. Sotoloff served on the Investment Committee for Blackstone Mortgage Trust, the Review Committee for the Blackstone Tactical Opportunities Fund, and the Board of Directors of Landmark Apartment Trust. Prior to joining Blackstone, Mr. Sotoloff was a principal at Tribeca Associates, overseeing the acquisition, financing and development of office, lodging, for-sale residential and mixed-use assets and portfolios, and before that worked for Morgan Stanley, focused on the real estate and special situation funds, and Goldman Sachs, focused on the Whitehall global real estate opportunity funds. Mr. Sotoloff is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Urban Land Institute, the CRE Finance Council and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He graduated with highest honors from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and completed the International Business Strategies Program at the London School of Economics.

Mr. Patel is based in New York and is responsible for overseeing the sourcing, structuring and execution of NorthStar’s equity, debt and strategic investments across all asset types and geographies. At NorthStar, he has been directly involved in or overseen $9Bn+ of closed investments. Prior to joining NorthStar in 2007, Mr. Patel was with Thayer Lodging Group, a lodging dedicated private equity firm, focusing on all aspects of sourcing, acquiring, financing and disposing of over $2Bn of hotel investments. Mr. Patel began his career at Morgan Stanley in their investment banking division based in New York. Mr. Patel received a BA in Engineering Sciences modified with Economics from Dartmouth College. Mr. Patel is involved in several real estate industry organizations including ULI, CREFC, MBA, RELA and NYPEN and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and seminars. Mr. Patel was named by the Commercial Observer in March 2014 as a member of its “Power 100” list honoring top commercial real estate professionals.

James Flynn is President and Chief Investment Officer of Hunt Mortgage Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hunt Companies. Mr. Flynn is responsible for the management of all the businesses and strategic direction of Hunt Mortgage Group. He joined Hunt Mortgage Group (formerly Centerline Capital Group) in 2007. He is a member of executive management and the investment and credit committees. Mr. Flynn’s prior direct responsibilities at Hunt Mortgage Group include identifying, structuring and pricing new proprietary real estate investments including: bridge and mezzanine debt, preferred equity and JV equity partnership interests. Mr. Flynn’s prior positions at the firm also included: capital raising, business development, and asset management. Mr. Flynn served as portfolio manager for the firm’s commercial mortgage REIT, which included management of CRE CDOs, raised public equity capital for the REIT, and served in various advisory capacities for the firm’s CMBS and high-yield debt funds. Mr. Flynn also led the special servicing, REO and asset disposition units, which comprised 20+ real estate professionals, and an equity portfolio consisting of 1,100 multifamily housing properties with more than 120,000 units. In addition, he directed the special servicing of a $2.5 billion multifamily bond portfolio.

Prior to joining Hunt Mortgage Group, Mr. Flynn practiced law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GDC) in its real estate practice group, where he represented lenders, real estate funds, developers, and institutional and non-institutional investors in structuring acquisitions and financings for all commercial real estate classes, and advising in the formation of fund partnerships and joint ventures. Before joining GDC, Mr. Flynn was an investment banker at Lehman Brothers.

In 2013, Mr. Flynn was named as one of Commercial Property Executive’s “Stars to Watch” and, in 2014, he was named one of Real Estate Forum’s “Forty under Forty” to watch.

Mr. Flynn earned a Juris Doctorate from Columbia University Law School, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and a Bachelor of Science (finance and accounting) from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University, magna cum laude. Mr. Flynn is a member of the California State Bar, ULI, CREFC, MBA, and NAREIM.

Mr. Hertz is responsible for AIG Global Real Estate’s equity investment activities in the U.S. He oversees the acquisition or development of all product types, including multi-family, retail, office, industrial, hotel, and senior/student housing, and the oversight of various real estate teams that source, underwrite and close new investment opportunities.

Prior to joining AIG Global Real Estate in 2009, Mr. Hertz was a Managing Director at Amstar Global Advisors, a private equity fund, where he was responsible for real estate investments and dispositions, with assets in Russia, Turkey and India. Prior to Amstar, Mr. Hertz was a Managing Director at AIG Global Real Estate where he was responsible for U.S. retail property investments, managing a portfolio of approximately 7 million square feet of stabilized and under-development properties. Prior to AIG, Mr. Hertz was a Senior Vice President at Prime Retail, a Baltimore based REIT, where he was mainly involved in acquisitions and development, property dispositions, asset management and structuring lender and equity partner work-out strategies.

Mr. Hertz received a Bachelor of Science degree in Real Estate from The Pennsylvania State University and a master’s degree in real estate investment from Johns Hopkins University.

David M. Brickman is the Chief Executive Officer of NewPoint Real Estate Capital and

Executive Chairman of Meridian Capital Group, a leading commercial real estate

services firm. He also serves as a Senior Advisor to Stone Point Capital, a leading

private equity firm in the real estate and financial services arenas.

At the end of January 2021 David stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of Freddie

Mac, one of the largest providers of mortgage financing in the U.S. Prior to that, he

served as President and as a member of the Board of Directors. During his tenure he led

the $2 trillion company through a period of significant growth, change, and disruption as

the firm successfully navigated the challenges of the COVID crisis.

Brickman spent most of his career at Freddie Mac leading and transforming the

multifamily business, presiding over a remarkable period of growth. Production rose

from $16 billion in 2010 to almost $80 billion in 2018. He also established the

company’s flagship K-Deal securitization program as one of the leading securitized

products in the structured finance market. He drove significant innovation by expanding

Freddie Mac’s products and offerings – particularly those serving the growing need for

affordable and workforce housing.

Brickman’s educational accomplishments include doctoral coursework for a Ph.D. in

economics and real estate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s

degree in public policy from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from the

University of Pennsylvania. He’s been a professorial lecturer at George Washington

University, an adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins University and is a non-resident

Fellow at the Urban Institute. He also holds a US patent for a unique mortgage-backed

security structure.

Ethan is the Founder and Managing Partner, CIO of MREC Management, LLC. He is a recognized pioneer in the fields of real estate and finance with a 35-year career marked by filling voids and responding to unseen or poorly understood opportunities. Most consequently, he is credited with being the primary driver in the creation of the Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities market while at Nomura Securities, for which he received broad recognition including being named one of the U.S. Real Estate Industry’s 100 icons of the 20th century. In 2011, Real Estate Forum voted him one of the Real Estate Industry’s 65 living legends in their 65th anniversary issue. In 2008, Penner founded and served as President of CBRE Capital Partners, a real estate debt investment platform that successfully raised and managed over $600 million from institutional and high net worth investors. CBRE Capital Partners substantially exited all investments in 2014.

Ethan is also committed to improving the lives of others and enhancing awareness and does so in a number of ways including; Teaching – he currently serves as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, and previously held the same capacity at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business; Writing – he maintains a blog and has had many articles published in a variety of publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Wharton Real Estate Review and the Institutional Real Estate Investor; Public speaking – he is a frequent featured speaker at industry conferences and universities; Philanthropy & Civic involvement – He is a member of the Advisory Board of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, in 1996 he founded the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation which provided internships to teenagers at major U.S. corporations in New York City, and has been on numerous boards including that of The League, which had a competition-based, in-school community service model, KIND, which is dedicated to bringing education and opportunity to woman, and The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is dedicated to enhancing awareness to combat hate; and Fitness – he is the founder of Fitwall, LLC, a company aimed at revolutionizing the exercise industry through its patented Fitwall product.

Ethan is married to Marisol Penner, a former professional athlete and native of Venezuela, and they have five children and reside in Los Angeles.

Tom Shapiro is the President and Founder of GTIS. In addition, Tom is the Chief Investment Officer responsible for overseeing all investment activity and strategy of the firm. GTIS Partners is a global real estate investment firm headquartered in New York with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, São Paulo, Brazil, Paris, France and Munich, Germany. The firm has 86 employees and approximately $4.5 billion of assets under management.

Tom is also Chairman of the General Partner’s Investment Committee and is a member of the Board of Directors of Brazil Hospitality Group, one of the largest owners of hotels in Brazil.

Tom serves on the Board of Trustees of Horace Mann School. He also serves on the Undergraduate Executive Board for The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania from which he received a B.S. and graduated magna cum laude.

Seth Pinsky serves as Executive Vice President and Investment Manager of the RXR Metropolitan Emerging Market Strategy . In this role, Pinsky is leading RXR’s efforts to invest in “emerging opportunities” in New York City and the surrounding Tri-State region, focusing on asset classes and geographic regions that have historically been characterized by underinvestment, but that have significant growth potential due to planned or in-place infrastructure and other relevant characteristics.

Prior to joining RXR, Pinsky served as Director of Mayor Bloomberg’s Special Initiative for Rebuilding and Resiliency, which developed a $20 billion plan to help neighborhoods stricken by Hurricane Sandy to rebuild smarter and stronger and to protect critical citywide systems and infrastructure from the likely impacts of climate change in coming decades.

Pinsky also served as President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), a position to which he was appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg in 2008, after joining the agency in 2003 as a vice president. During his tenure, NYCEDC became an international leader in the field of economic development, focusing both on transforming the city’s underlying economy and investing in its critical infrastructure.

While at NYCEDC, Pinsky served as a lead negotiator on behalf of New York City for projects ranging from Yankee Stadium and Citifield, to the World Trade Center, to the acquisition of Hunters Point South in Queens, the largest middle-income housing development in the City since Starrett City.

Among the initiatives advanced by NYCEDC under Pinsky’s leadership were the redevelopment of Willets Point in Queens, Coney Island in Brooklyn, the Homeport in Staten Island, and the Kingsbridge Armory in the Bronx, as well as the creation of a major new bioscience research park on City-owned land, north of Bellevue Hospital. Under Pinsky, NYCEDC also managed the construction of the first two phases of the High Line in Manhattan, launched a new East River Ferry service connecting Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan and announced and advanced plans for the world’s largest observation wheel in St. George in Staten Island.

In the area of economic modernization, under Pinsky, NYCEDC created the Center for Economic Transformation (CET), which, in addition to launching a network of business incubators across the City that, at the time of Pinsky’s departure, housed more than 600 companies, developed and oversaw the Bloomberg Administration’s international Applied Sciences NYC competition. The Applied Sciences competition will result in a significant expansion of Columbia University’s engineering school, as well as the creation of a new engineering institute in Downtown Brooklyn led by NYU that will include CUNY, Carnegie Mellon University and others. It will also result in the creation of a $2 billion engineering campus on Roosevelt Island, being developed by Cornell University and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Prior to joining the NYCEDC, Pinsky was an associate at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton in the Real Estate practice and a financial analyst at James D. Wolfensohn Inc. He is a graduate of Columbia College, where he majored in Ancient History, and of Harvard Law School, and is an Adjunct Senior Research Scholar at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Pinsky lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Angela and their children, Theo and Amelia.

Aaron Appel is a Vice Chairman and Heads the JLL Capital Markets Debt & Equity team in New York, where he oversees a team of 40 professionals responsible for arranging debt and equity for institutional and private commercial property owners, sells loans on behalf of financial institutions and special servicers, and provides strategic advisory services for lending institutions and borrowers.

Aaron has 11 years of commercial real estate experience, having directly originated and executed on more than $18 Billion of debt and equity transactions.

Prior to joining JLL in 2014, Aaron was a Managing Director with Meridian Capital where he played a key role structuring debt and equity transactions for clients nationwide.

In 2015 & 2017 Aaron was named JLL MVP. He has been named to the Commercial Observer’s 50 Most Powerful People in Commercial Real Estate Finance each year from 2015 to 2019.

Drew Fletcher is President of Greystone Capital Advisors where he oversees a team of professionals responsible for arranging creative debt and equity solutions for institutional and private commercial property owners and developers, and provides strategic advisory services for institutions, investors and borrowers. GCA also focuses on large loan mortgage origination across Greystone’s best-in-class Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, Bridge, balance-sheet and special situation lending platforms.

Drew has over 24 years of commercial real estate experience. Prior to joining Greystone, Drew served as Chief Financial Officer of Edison Properties LLC, one of the largest private real estate owners in New York City, with a portfolio of urban self-storage, office, mixed-use, and multifamily assets, as well as substantial land holdings throughout the NY Metro Region.

Drew received a B.A. in Economics and Communications from Wake Forest University; an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University; and a Masters of Accountancy in Taxation from Rutgers University. He volunteers his time as a guest lecturer at the NYU Real Estate Institute and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York and the Urban Land Institute. Drew also serves as a Member of the Board of Directors of Greystone Housing Impact Investors L.P. (NYSE: GHI), a publicly traded limited partnership that provides debt and equity financing to affordable and market-rate multifamily housing. Drew was named to the Commercial Observer’s 50 Most Powerful People in Commercial Real Estate Finance.

Doug Mazer is a managing director and group head of Wells Fargo’s Real Estate Capital

Markets (RECM) group. Based in New York City, he leads a group that includes 140 team

members in the U.S. and 28 team members in India.

RECM provides a range of real estate fi nancial products to commercial real estate (CRE)

operators and investors, such as privately held companies, real estate funds, and public

and private REITS. These products include nonrecourse fi xed- and fl oating-rate senior

secured debt (CMBS and balance sheet), subordinate debt, and structured debt products.

In addition, the group acquires CRE whole loans.

Doug has more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience. He started with

Wells Fargo in 2002 as an originator in the conduit group in New York covering the

Northeast region of the country. He moved to the position of head of originations for the

group in 2008. He has been in his current position since August 2011.

Before joining Wells Fargo, Doug held capital markets lending positions in the conduit

groups at J.P. Morgan, CDC North America (Natixis), and Nomura Securities, all in

New York. He started his commercial real estate career as a real estate fi nance attorney in

New York, representing lenders at Windels Marx, and then at Thacher Pro tt & Wood.

Doug received a B.S. in economics at Northwestern University and a J.D. at Syracuse

University College of Law. He is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association, ICSC,

and CREFC.

Riggs co-founded Honest Buildings in 2012 after ten years in the commercial real estate industry, including more than five years working at Tishman Speyer in acquisition, asset management and global sustainability. He learned first-hand the frustration and inefficiency that results from real estate being one of the last industries relying on out-dated, paper-based processes and he believed strongly that enterprise-grade technology could solve these problems in the same way it has in almost every other sector.

Riggs is relentlessly focused on building the best team and the best technology to move the real estate industry forward. He is widely recognized as a thought leader in real estate technology, speaking everywhere from the White House to our own annual Honest Buildings Real Estate Innovations Summit, and contributing regularly to leading publications, including Entrepreneur and The Commercial Observer.

Doug Curry has served as the CEO of Xceligent, Inc. since its inception in 1999. Mr. Curry leads the executive staff and strategic direction of the company. His experience in real estate dates back to 1983 with hands-on experience of developing commercial and residential properties alongside his father. In 1996, Curry founded Pinnacle Appraisal Group, LLC. By focusing on customer service, standardized processes, training, and utilization of technology, Curry grew the company into one of the top appraisal firms in the country and his business model became the standard for many national banks. Curry then founded Pinnacle Commercial and experienced first-hand the difficulty in obtaining quality commercial real estate information. He founded Xceligent as an answer to that industry need in Kansas City. Over the last nearly 20 years, he has directed Xceligent’s growth into a proactively researched commercial real estate information provider covering more than 50 US markets.

Michael May is a Senior Managing Director and co-founder of Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE), a fully integrated finance company that originates and distributes high quality commercial real estate loans. Created in 2010, CCRE is the first new platform in over a decade to originate, securitize, and lead manage CMBS transactions.

Mr. May is Co-Head of CCRE’s Origination and Distribution. He oversees a platform with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Dallas, Atlanta, and Chicago (with correspondent offices in Seattle, Dallas, and Miami). CCRE has closed over 100 financings totaling more than $1.5 billion.

Previously, Mr. May was a Managing Director at Credit Suisse in the Real Estate Finance Group. In this capacity, he oversaw West Coast and Latin American operations including the origination and distribution of CMBS and other real estate related products.

In his 12 years at Credit Suisse, Mr. May led the origination of more than $20 billion in financings. He innovated numerous CMBS products including the securitization structures for condominiums, construction projects, ski mountains and casinos.

Mr. May joined Credit Suisse First Boston in 1997. Prior to this, he focused on the acquisition of subordinated CMBS and the structured distribution of whole loans, real estate, structured products, and equity at General Electric Capital Corporation.

Mr. May previously spent seven years at Arthur Andersen LLP in the Real Estate Consulting Practice. His work in the US, Europe, and Latin America included appraisal, feasibility analysis, loan valuation, securitization, and workouts.

Mr. May holds a BA in Psychology and a BS in Finance from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Wayne S. Cook, Jr. represents various institutional lenders in real estate financing transactions, including mortgage loans and mezzanine loans. He also represents clients in connection with construction loans, real estate acquisitions, dispositions, workouts, and restructuring of distressed loans on behalf of borrowers and lenders, and the purchase and sale of various loans. Recently, Mr. Cook's work has included large foreclosure actions and deed in-lieu resolutions in numerous states.

Prior to joining Windels Marx, Mr. Cook worked at a boutique general practice firm as an associate where he focused on representing private lenders and developers in real estate matters. He gained valuable finance and capital markets experience at Prudential Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston before attending law school.

Kenneth Weissenberg is a Tax Partner and Co-Partner-in-Charge of the Real Estate Services Group. His extensive experience encompasses all aspects of the real estate industry, ranging from developing tax saving strategies for owning and operating property to structuring and negotiating complex sales, acquisitions, and financing transactions. Ken has been involved in over $50 billion of real estate transactions over the last 30 years. Providing expert insight from both the legal and business perspectives, Ken consults with a variety of public and private REITs on tax planning and compliance issues ,including REIT formations, property contributions, and mergers and acquisitions. He serves a diverse client base that includes privately held and publicly traded real estate companies as well as prominent hotel and hospitality entities and world-renowned restaurants. Ken has also served as an expert witness and arbitrator in a number of complex litigations involving real estate issues. He represents the owners of some of the most well-known properties in New York City. For more than 20 years, Ken has also been a leader in developing tax and advisory services for same-sex couples and families. He serves as the National Leader of the LGBT and Alternative Family Services Group. He assists with tax issues facing high net worth individuals, trust and estate planning and the impact of tax laws effecting both LGBT couples and the businesses where they work. Additionally, Ken is a frequent writer and speaker on topics for various professional groups and news organizations.

Peter focuses his practice in the area of commercial real estate finance. He advises lenders and investors in all aspects of secured financings, with an emphasis on representing institutional lenders in the origination of commercial mortgage and mezzanine loans. Peter’s experience includes mortgage lending, mezzanine lending, construction lending, hospitality lending, credit facilities and co-lending and participation arrangements.

He also represents secondary market participants in the purchase and sale of real estate debt instruments, including the financing of such transactions.

Peter often counsels clients in loan workouts and the restructuring of distressed loans.

Jonathan Aghravi is a Managing Director in the Capital Advisory Division of Eastern Consolidated, a

New York City based real estate services firm.

Mr. Aghravi launched Eastern Consolidated’s Capital Advisory Division in early 2014 to complement

the firm’s thriving investment sales operation. Since its inception, the Capital Advisory group has

successfully marketed premium financing solutions to new and recurring clients, expanding Eastern

Consolidated’s services nationwide. Mr. Aghravi utilizes his deep capital markets expertise and

extensive relationships while working with a diverse range of lending institutions, commercial banks,

private investors, and alternative capital sources to develop and deliver optimal financing solutions for

his top-tier clients and partners.

During his career, Mr. Aghravi has arranged nearly $1 billion of debt and equity facilities for commercial

properties nationwide, including an $85 million loan to refinance a prime, 12-story, ±140,000-squarefoot

luxury building with 133 residential and eight commercial units at 2030 Broadway in Manhattan;

a $57.5 million securitized acquisition loan for a Class A Los Angeles office tower; a $53.8 million

stretch-senior construction loan for a market leading mixed-use development in Ann Arbor, Michigan;

a $42 million bridge loan for a Flushing, Queens development site with over 500,000 buildable square

feet; a $30 million acquisition loan for a 61,000-square-foot commercial property in Beverly Hills, CA;

and a $26.38 million bridge loan to fund the recapitalization of a ground lease at 285 Schermerhorn

Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

Prior to joining Eastern Consolidated, Mr. Aghravi was a Managing Director at Hybrid Capital, which

he helped establish as one of the leading boutique commercial mortgage firms in New York. He began

his career on Freddie Mac’s Northeast underwriting team.

In 2015, Mr. Aghravi was named Eastern Consolidated’s Capital Advisory Broker of the Year, and the

Young Jewish Professionals recognized his accomplishments at its Deal Makers Summit. In 2014, the

Commercial Observer named him one of the top 25 under 35 Commercial Mortgage Brokers and

Lenders on the Rise.

Mr. Aghravi received his Bachelor’s Degree in International Relations from Colgate University in

Hamilton, NY. He is a member of multiple organizations including the Real Estate Board of New York

and Young Mortgage Bankers Association, and he donates his time to charitable causes such as FIDF

and American Friends of Rabin Medical Center.

Stephen Schweiger is a Director in law firm Goulston & Storrs’ Real Estate Group based in New York. He represents financial institutions in connection with construction, mezzanine and permanent financing projects and credit enhancement for the issuance of taxable and tax exempt bonds. Much of his work involves the representation of the agent in projects with multiple lenders and multiple tiers of financing. Steve's expertise in the complexities of the New York lien law has been invaluable in helping clients structure and restructure New York construction loans. Steve is also experienced in the workout and resolution of problem loans on a national, local, and regional level, as well as commercial real estate conveyancing and leasing transactions. Steve also serves as co-chair of the firm’s Real Estate Capital Markets/Debt group. For the benefit of firm clients based in New Jersey, Steve spends time in offices in that state as well to best meet their local needs.

Ronald A. Kaplan, CPA, is a partner with CohnReznick and is the Firm’s Commercial Real Estate Industry

Leader. Ron has more than 20 years of experience providing assurance, due diligence, business advisory, and

tax services to clients in the commercial, residential, retail, and hospitality sectors throughout the United States

and internationally. Ron regularly provides assistance and advisory services to clients as they negotiate

agreements with lenders, equity partners, and fund managers. In addition, he advises clients on accounting

and tax matters throughout the agreement process, from initial drafting through completion.

Ron’s clients are generally private companies with multi-state operations and include real estate opportunity

funds, property management firms, partnerships, contractors, institutional lenders, REITs and joint ventures, as

well as other corporate and family owners and investors. Ron has a particular focus on real estate opportunity

funds, with clients ranging from start-ups to established funds. His clients benefit from his experience in critical

areas, such as fair value reporting, compliance monitoring, investor relations, and fund performance.

Prior to joining CohnReznick, Ron was in charge of the real estate practice for the New York office of a large

national public accounting firm. In this role, he oversaw the practice’s client services, account management,

and team development functions. He was also active in the firm’s training activities, leading presentations on

the real estate business for professionals both within the firm and at national industry conferences.

Rab N. Nalavala is a member of the firm’s Real Estate, Real Estate Special Opportunities, and Construction Services Departments. Rab’s practice is national in scope and encompasses all aspects of general commercial real estate, with a particular emphasis on development and finance matters. He represents major investment banks, private equity companies, opportunity funds, sovereign wealth funds, REITs, family-owned businesses and various joint venture entities in the acquisition, disposition, development, financing, management and leasing of commercial, retail, industrial and residential properties. Rab also has significant experience representing both lenders and borrowers in connection with real estate finance transactions, including construction lending, bond financing, mezzanine lending, loan workouts, restructures and deed-in-lieu transactions. He specializes in the acquisition, construction and development of domestic and international projects in the hospitality, leisure and gaming industries, including resorts, casinos, sports complexes and golf courses.

Dan Spinogatti, Senior Vice President of National Sales and Marketing for Real Estate, began his career at EBI Consulting in 1999 and has over 25 years of experience in the due diligence industry.

Working out of Phoenix, Arizona, Dan is responsible for managing, coaching, and mentoring EBI’s National Real Estate Team of Account Executives; selling Traditional and Equity Due Diligence Services to the Commercial Real Estate Industry.

He received his Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey, and later pursued his Master’s degree in Hydrology/Hydrogeology from the University of Nevada.

Sanjay Mody's is Special Counsel with the law firm of Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf, LLP. His practice spans the areas of infrastructure, real estate, government and finance. He advises public and private sector clients on a range of matters, focusing on complex transactions with a governmental dimension. Before joining Windels Marx, Mr. Mody was counsel in the Regulatory and Government Affairs practice group at a global law firm. He also served in a prior role as Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, where he advised the Chairman on policy, legal, and financial issues relating to the agency's infrastructure and economic development projects, including the rebuilding of the World Trade Center site, airport terminal redevelopment, and a new cross-Hudson rail tunnel, among other significant real estate transactions. Sanjay is a Board Member of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, a member of the New York Committee of the Regional Plan Association, and a David S. Rockefeller Fellow of The Partnership for New York City.