NYC Workplace of the Future

Steven M. Durels serves as an Executive Vice President and Director of Leasing and Real Property of SL Green Realty Corp. Mr. Durels is responsible for marketing, structuring, and negotiating all lease transactions of SL Green Realty Corp. and has completed many of the largest and most complex leases in SL Green Realty's history. He manages a leasing and marketing team of 25 professionals and routinely completes nearly 300 leasing transactions per year. Prior to joining SL Green, Mr. Durels served as Vice President and Director of Leasing and Management of Helmsley-Spear Inc. for 16 years. While there, he was responsible for all leasing, management, and operations of a 2.5-million-square-foot Manhattan office portfolio. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York. Mr. Durels received a degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Iowa.

Gabrielle is the founding CEO of Equiem, leading the business from its 2011 inception to become the world’s leading tenant experience platform, used by 165,000+ people across 60 million sq ft of prime commercial real estate worldwide. Named in Business Insider’s Coolest People in Australian Tech (2016) and honoured in Bisnow’s 2019 NYC Power Women list, Gabrielle is an exceptional leader, with a commercial acumen honed across 15+ years of leading and growing organisations. In the space of just 8 years, she has developed the Equiem team from just two to over 230 employees. Today, Gabrielle's Equiem manages a client portfolio of 145+ buildings across Australia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the USA, leading the firm to be named in Deloitte's Tech Fast 500 (APAC 2016). In 2017, she moved to New York with her family to spearhead the company’s expansion in the USA. Gabrielle was previously Director of Sales & Marketing and Group General Manager of Advance Marketing, a leading marketing organisation operating in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. She is also a published writer and an accomplished global presenter having studied Business and Communications at Monash University in Melbourne. https://twitter.com/gabmcmillan https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriellemcmillan gabrielle.mcmillan@getequiem.com +61 412 105 541

Bill Edwards is Executive Vice President, Core Holdings, for the Rockefeller Group. In this role he is responsible for leading all aspects of the strategy, leasing, capital improvements and market positioning for the company’s Rockefeller Center portfolio, which consists of an ownership interest in approximately six million square feet of Class A office space. Mr. Edwards joined the Rockefeller Group in 2016 after nearly two decades with several of the leading real estate private equity and construction companies, where he served in various leadership capacities at both the portfolio and asset level across virtually all property types. In his most recent position, he was Vice President of Asset Management for Blackstone’s Equity Office division, overseeing a nine-building Midtown Class-A portfolio valued at $5.7 billion. At Equity Office, he was involved in the acquisition, repositioning or disposition of several premier properties, including Park Avenue Tower, 1095 Sixth Avenue and 229 West 43rd Street, among others. Prior to his position with Equity Office, Mr. Edwards was a Vice President of The Carlyle Group, one of the world’s largest alternative asset management firms. There, Mr. Edwards served as the asset manager for 650 Madison Avenue, a $1.3 billion Plaza District property that was one of the largest investments of Carlyle’s U.S. Real Estate Fund V. Prior to Carlyle, he oversaw a $200 million national portfolio for Greenstreet Real Estate Partners. He started his career as a Project Manager for Tishman Construction Corporation, and was later a Director of Tishman Realty & Construction, where he was focused on corporate performance, risk analysis, M&A and development opportunities. Mr. Edwards is a graduate of Kansas State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in Architectural Engineering, and Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management, where he received his MBA with a concentration in Finance and Real Estate. Additionally, Mr. Edwards is a licensed professional engineer.

Bukky brings her expertise in research design and human behavior to product development and branding. As a founding member at Better Spaces, she developed the basis for ongoing operations, and currently oversees brand consistency. Prior to her work in commercial real estate, Bukky conducted research in public health and developed clinical products for quality improvement at Harvard Medical School. Bukky received a BA in Philosophy and Bioethics from the University of Virginia, and a Masters in Bioethics from New York University.

Razia Ferdousi-Meyer is the Head of Global Facilities & Operations in charge of all of Shutterstock’s global locations. In this role, she oversees daily operations as well as long-term investments into new office spaces, from the ground up. She coordinates buildouts start to finish, selecting and working with all members of the team, including realtors, architects, project managers, construction firms, and IT. In recent years, that included adding the 36th floor within the company’s Empire State Building headquarters, a project of roughly 25,000 square feet. Razia focuses on employee engagement, making sure that Shutterstock offers competitive amenities, maintains high retention, and fosters a positive work environment. She joined Shutterstock in 2014, bringing a background in luxury hospitality and office management. Razia trained at the Ritz-Carlton in multiple departments such as front of house, back of house, and served as part of a team that spearheaded the redevelopment and rebranding of Taj Boston. Razia spent her early years in graphic design and art and uses her creative eye to re-imagine what office spaces in the technology industry can be.

Megan Leet is the Head of Office Experience and Events at Tumblr, where she manages office design and operations. Over the past seven years, Megan has played a pivotal role in developing Tumblr’s company culture and interior design from concept to completion, creating a truly unique, welcoming and productive working environment for hundreds of Tumblr employees. Megan studied interior design at Parsons, lives in the Bronx and enjoys working on her cabin in the Catskills.

Christina joined Jet in 2014 as employee #11. As VP, Creative Director, she developed Jet’s unique identity & visual system, and led all facets of creative for the company, from its consumer-facing marketing efforts & advertising, to UI, private label, and talent brand, including the design & build-out of its Hoboken headquarters. Prior to that, she directed at Siegel+Gale, AdamsMorioka, and Addison, where her love of ink on paper transformed into a pesky form of design OCD. Originally from Chicago and of Greek descent, Christina draws from her unique, multicultural sensibility and diverse experience in the financial, entertainment, real estate, hotel, retail, and non-profit sectors. She has created and executed fully integrated, strategic solutions for the likes of HP, Amex, Nike, and Uniqlo, among others. Her work has been featured in numerous publications, is in the permanent archive of the Smithsonian, and has been exhibited at the Frankfurt Museum of Graphic Design and the National Maritime Museum in London.

Gethin has been with The Instant Group for over six years and has been an integral part of the company’s growth since 2010 He is based at their New York City office using his experience within the industry to build global relationships and capitalise on a growing market share in flexible working.

In his role as Vice President of Sales for SOLiD Americas, Dennis Rigney leads partner channel business development activities for The Americas. He possesses more than 16 years of experience in the wireless industry, with eight years focused in the Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) market. Prior to joining SOLiD, Dennis held various sales management roles at Sprint/NEXTEL.

Mr. Lessard is a Managing Director in Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Business Consulting group, and leads the team’s Office Platform Solutions practice. Mr. Lessard has more than 14 years experience helping Fortune Global 500 companies improve their operations. His project work at Cushman & Wakefield Business Consulting is national in scope and has spanned across multiple industries – financial services, telecommunications, media, energy, and consumer goods. He specializes in leading the creation of location and occupancy strategies that optimize operating and financial returns.

Dan is an internationally-recognized leader in commercial design for new and redeveloped buildings and partner at MdeAS. With nearly four decades of experience, he provides creative, innovative architectural solutions; making him instrumental in the firm’s overall approach to design. His clear commitment to the philosophy of modernism and urbanism enlivens a building’s presence with integrity. Dan’s effective leadership and design transcends the firm with a reputation for meeting the client’s goals by working closely with them through the design process. Setting a high-standard for craft within architecture, Dan’s eye for detail is reflected in every project he manages. He has worked alongside international developers to oversee the construction of more than 50 million square feet, including large-scale innovative projects such as the renovation of the GM Building, the ground up construction of 510 Madison Avenue and “The Cubes” at 120 West 42nd Street, recognized by the AIA’s Award of Excellence of Commercial Large Projects. Dan is currently working on the major repositioning of New York’s Two Penn Plaza, 1100 Avenue of the Americas, and 460 West 34th Street.

Andrew Natale joined SJP Properties in 2014 and has over fourteen (14) years of construction experience across a variety of project disciplines. Andrew is a graduate of Villanova University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering. Prior to joining SJP Properties, Andrew worked for a large commercial nationwide general contractor and completed a variety of interior fit-out, occupied renovation, expansion/remodel, ground-up construction and site development projects. Throughout his career Andrew has completed projects in multiple market sectors including office & headquarters, retail, government, industrial, hospitality, mixed-use, gaming and food service. His role included regional project management for a national construction account with various renovation, ground-up and expansion/re-model projects throughout the Northeast. Since joining SJP Properties, Andrew has completed over 750,000 SF of tenant interior fit-out including 310,000SF for Valeant Pharmaceuticals. Following completion of Valeant’s construction, he began consulting services as Valeant’s construction manager for construction and development projects nationwide. His work has also included Newell Brands, Nice Systems, Linde North America, Marsh & McLennan Companies, Mazda, Qualcomm, Impax Laboratories, Kering Eyewear, iGate, ExecuSearch, Asurion and various building amenity upgrades throughout SJP’s building portfolio. Andrew’s responsibilities cover the entire project life cycle including conceptual estimating, budgeting, design review, pre-construction, scheduling, permitting, procurement, bidding, contracting, construction management, project controls, quality control, project close-out and turnover.

As a Business Unit Director at Talisen, Jerry brings over 15 years of construction experience. Having grown up the son of a mason, and spending much of his childhood years on construction sites, Jerry decided to pursue a career in Architecture due to his love of design and building. Graduating from New York Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s in architecture, Jerry spent eight years in design-build and development scenarios before making the switch to the constructor side of the business. His key responsibilities at Talisen include managing project and client relations for accounts such as a leading technology firm, Taconic Management, A&E Networks, and KAO Brands. Jerry plays an important role in mentoring and growing teams at Talisen, while teaching Talisen’s process and philosophy along the way.

As a senior designer in Workplace, Clayton researches trends in the design world and beyond, then partners with his teams to translate them into effective designs. Clayton is a source for both ideas and technical expertise, spanning FF&E, materials to LEED specifications. Bringing new approaches to programing and visioning, Clayton creates innovative workplaces embracing the clients brand and expectations.