The Future of Real Estate

Young Woo is the Founder and Principal of Youngwoo & Associates, a leading real estate development firm based in New York City. Mr. Woo is a thought leader in the area of creative real estate development. He has been recognized for his contribution and innovative thinking in the real estate industry by major publications such as Forbes Magazine, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Mr. Woo is a graduate of Pratt School of Architecture, and is a member of NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate advisory board and the Real Estate Board of New York. In addition, Mr. Woo is a philanthropist toward organizations that support cultural initiatives in Latin America.

Leads climate, energy and sustainability policy and strategy for NYC's Mayor's Office. Appointed by Mayor De Blasio. Works with City Council on energy and environmental legislation, federal and state energy and environmental agencies. Led OneNYC, the long-term sustainability plan for NYC, published 2015. (www.nyc.gov/onenyc) Produced plan in 3 1/2 months leading development with over 70 agencies and 200 staff. Launched a series of pathbreaking initiatives to cut carbon emissions in NYC. Key initiative received international award from C40 for best urban building efficiency initiative worldwide. Areas of responsibility include energy, developing the plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2050, renewables, waste, electric grid and power supply, transportation, buildings, green construction and design, financing energy retrofits and energy efficient design for new construction, energy efficiency, air quality, environmental justice, environmental reviews and planning, parks, environmental technology, natural resources, marine resources, watershed and water quality. For more information, see www.nyc.gov/sustainability.

ARIANNA SACKS ROSENBERG, is a Senior Project Manager at The Hudson Companies, Inc. (www.hudsoninc.com) a privately held real estate development firm located in New York City focused on residential development in the five boroughs. Hudson has developed 5,600 residential apartments since 1986. Hudson’s projects range from market rate condominiums, to institutional housing, to rehabilitations and renovations, to market rate rentals, to affordable housing. In 2013, Hudson was selected by the New York City Pension Funds to manage an investment fund to rebuild areas affected by Superstorm Sandy. Arianna has over 9 years of experience in real estate development and design. At Hudson, Arianna oversees a broad range of residential and commercial development projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including the development of the Cornell Tech Residential building located on Roosevelt Island, as part of the phase I campus development. Arianna is excited about building a greener, more sustainable city. Prior to joining Hudson in 2011, Arianna completed her Master’s Degree at the Harvard, where she studied Real Estate Development. Preceding Harvard, she practiced architecture in New York City, working for Rafael Viñoly Architects. Arianna received a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Arianna currently sits on the Board of Women in Housing and Finance (Treasurer) and is a member of the 26th cohort of Coro Leadership New York.

David is a sales and marketing professional in the field of critical energy infrastructure and energy efficiency. In his current position with Con Edison, as Business Development Manager of Commercial and Industrial Energy Efficiency Programs, he is responsible for helping customers meet energy efficiency improvements within the commercial portfolio which is supported by a network of over 700 market partners. David, who has been with Con Edison since 2008, worked in a variety of business development, sales management, marketing and external affairs positions for Johnson Controls, Public Service Enterprise Group, Pennsylvania Power & Light and the Trane Company. His major focus has been on clients with critical energy needs in the fields of commercial real estate, healthcare and data center operations. David has a BS in Marketing and an MBA in Finance, both from Montclair State University. He is a Certified Energy Manager, and an active member of the Association of Energy Engineers, the New York Building Congress, the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce Green Business committee, American Institute of Architects (AIANY) and Urban Green Council. David is an officer of the New York City chapter of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating & Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE).

Mr. Cayten is a Principal at CodeGreen Solutions, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City. CodeGreen is currently helping over 250 million square feet of commercial property nationwide to reduce energy use, lower operating expenses and improve environmental performance. CodeGreen has helped over 45 million square feet of property achieve LEED certification and over 130 million square feet of property comply with New York City’s Greener Greater Buildings laws. CodeGreen is working on some of the most exciting green building projects in New York City, including 425 Park Avenue, and is working with the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability to create a roadmap to reducing the city’s carbon footprint by 80% by 2050 - shaping the future of buildings across the city. Mr. Cayten holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture and is a frequent speaker on sustainability and energy efficiency, addressing events hosted by BOMA, NYC DOB, NAIOP, Urban Green Council, GRI and BuildingsNY. He is an active member of Urban Green, and serves on the sustainability committees of BOMA-NY and REBNY as well as the boards of the Urban Air Foundation and ScaleAfrica.

Gregg brings to EMS over 30 years experience as he has been integral in the development of the company since 1980. Over the years he has served in many roles including; meter reader, service technician, salesman, operations manager, and software architect. It is the breadth of his duties that makes him uniquely qualified to fill his current position, Chief Executive Officer. It is also this variety of experience that compels him to position EMS to be a comprehensive energy solutions provider. Not satisfied with being just another submetering company Gregg insists that EMS develop a complementary suite of products to serve the property management community. Gregg started his college education at William and Mary and completed his degree at The Wharton School of Business in 1989. He credits his father Philip Voltz, though, as having the greatest influence on his business approach. Philip Voltz operated William H. Scott Engineering, a regional electrical contracting firm, located in Philadelphia for more than 30 years before he and his wife, Adelaide Voltz, formed Energy Management Systems in 1980. Gregg continues his business education through the various associations to which EMS is a member as well as being a member of Vistage, an international business advisory group.

Mr. Graceffa has over 12 years of professional experience. As an architect, he specializes in environmentally conscious design approaches and the evaluation of “green” materials and systems. He is currently Associate on numerous green building consulting projects. Mr. Graceffa has experience working on numerous large-scale homes and commercial properties in Connecticut and South Carolina. Through Mr. Graceffa’s experience in delivering well designed and detailed projects, he is able to bring a collaborative approach to the sustainable design and building process.

James Ramsey is a designer, architect, and inventor. As principal of RAAD and creator of the Lowline, James has founded a firm that holds true to the traditional idea that design should remain informed by the craft of building and shaping materials. James’ intellectual energy and creative drive emanate through his life and his work. James studied architecture at Yale University where he won a Bates Fellowship to study cathedral design in Europe. He then went to work as a satellite engineer for NASA, an integral part of the team that created the Pluto Fast Flyby and the Cassini satellites. James founded RAAD in 2004. RAAD now consists of three divisions—products, architecture and urban design. James closely oversees each of these aspects and personally holds several patents for inventions. His products range from mobius-loop furniture to modernist chicken coops, to even a line of shoes named after him for Hermes, while his architectural work runs the gamut from luxury residential work to institutional scale commercial projects across the world. RAAD’s recently launched urban design division focuses on creating community-driven green spaces in some of New York’s most congested neighborhoods. The Lowline is a plan to use innovative solar technology to convert an historic trolley terminal on the Lower East Side of New York City into the world’s first underground park. Specifically for the project, Ramsey created a “remote skylight” a solar technology whereby sunlight passes through a parabolic collector and is directed underground. The technology transmits the necessary wavelengths of light to support photosynthesis, enabling plants and trees to grow. In October 2015, Ramsey and his team opened The Lowline Lab in an abandoned warehouse on Essex Street, which has seen more than 50,000 visitors to date. James is an expert at North-Mississippi-style guitar. An avid and accomplished chef, he has been featured in Bon Appétit and selected for the NYC Burger Championship. Besides being a card-carrying member of the New York Mycological Society, the Origami USA organization, as well as several Paleontology societies, James is a guest lecturer in architecture at Yale, the Chicago Ideas Conference, Columbia, Bloomberg Design Awards, The Genius Gala, New York’s Tenement Museum, and Google.

As Co-Founder, Managing Principal, and Investment Committee officer of Onyx Equities, LLC, Jonathan Schultz oversees the organization’s investor capital raising initiatives, strategic planning, portfolio management, and business development, as well as formulating overall investment strategy. In addition, Jonathan has shepherded the Receivership Services platform of Onyx Equities which, since its commencement, has fast become the largest of its kind in the tri-state area. Jonathan has been responsible for initiating and closing billions of dollars in leasing and commercial real estate sales and acquisitions during his career to date. Prior to forming Onyx Equities, Jonathan was Founder and President of The Schultz Organization. The Schultz Organization and its affiliates provided commercial real estate brokerage and advisory services to institutions, lenders, private owners, and tenants. The Schultz Organization provided third party clients with leasing and/or management services for over 200 commercial properties totaling over 15 million square feet in the tri-state area. Jonathan is a member of the Metro NY chapter of YPO. He is a Founding Board Member of the “Award Of Courage” Foundation, raising significant funds for Memorial Sloane-Kettering Cancer Center, and is a past recipient of their Humanitarian Award. Jonathan has been recognized as one of the “Commercial Brokerage All-Stars,” by Real Estate New York, he was twice named one of “New Jersey’s Most Successful Business Executives under 40” by Business News New Jersey, one of the country’s “Hottest Real Estate Brokers” by Commercial Property News, and one of the “Power Players of the Next Generation” by Real Estate NJ

An avid entrepreneur, Rich has launched and run numerous businesses including an international arbitrage textbook company, a college marketing network, and an offshore technology outfit. Most recently, Rich was an Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company specializing in Financial Services.

Phil Dumas is the president and founder of UniKey Technologies Inc. Mr. Dumas first started developing phone-controlled locks while working on his senior design project in college, which involved an access system for a car door. Fresh out of college, Dumas worked for biometric access control company Sequiam Corp. After working his way up to vice president of product development, Dumas left the company and spent a few years in the private equity field before founding UniKey Technologies Inc. Mr. Dumas took his idea on ABC’s ‘Shark Tank’ in 2011 before the smart lock category existed. He was the first entrepreneur ever to get offers from all five sharks, including Mark Cuban and Kevin O’Leary. Mr. Dumas is a graduate from the University of Central Florida with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering.

Peter Boritz is the CEO of RDM, an online CRE leasing and building analytics platform. Peter is the visionary behind RDM’s product and platform strategy. With extensive real estate and entrepreneurial experience, he leads the company in its mission to transform the way people manage real estate using technology. He is currently focused on expanding the RDM platform globally.

Professor Constantine E. Kontokosta, PhD, PE, is the Deputy Director for Academics at the NYU Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP) and is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Urban Informatics at NYU CUSP and the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Department of Civil and Urban Engineering. He is also the Principal Investigator and Head of the CUSP Quantified Community research facility, a groundbreaking project underway at Hudson Yards and in Lower Manhattan, which will create data- and sensor-enabled urban neighborhoods in New York City to catalyze the use of data to support urban planning and design. As a founding member of the CUSP leadership team, Dr. Kontokosta plays a major role in the definition and implementation of CUSP’s strategic priorities and impact-driven research with New York City and cities globally. In this capacity, he serves as the academic director for CUSP’s graduate programs, which currently comprise the M.S. in Applied Urban Science and Informatics, an Advanced Certificate program, executive education, and a Ph.D. program under development. Prof. Kontokosta also serves as a Faculty Engineer-in-Residence at the NYU Incubators, mentoring cleantech and smart city start-up companies from early stage idea refinement to technology demonstration and deployment. Dr. Kontokosta‘s research lies at the intersection or urban planning, data science, and systems engineering, and he has worked with numerous city agencies on issues of urban sustainability and resilience, most recently leading the data analysis in support of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability building energy efficiency goals. He leads the CUSP Building Informatics and Computational Urban Policy research area, focusing on urban energetics and data-driven climate change mitigation strategies for cities. His research has been published in leading academic journals in fields including science, economics, urban policy and planning, and engineering, and has two forthcoming books, one on civic analytics and the other on the subject of big data and urban sustainability. Dr. Kontokosta’s work has been featured in CNN, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Fast Company, Bloomberg News, Financial Times, and ASCE’s Civil Engineering Magazine, among other national and international media outlets. Dr. Kontokosta holds a Ph.D., M.Phil, and M.S. in Urban Planning, specializing in urban economics and econometrics, from Columbia University, a M.S. in Real Estate Finance from New York University, and a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering Systems from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, a USGBC LEED Accredited Professional, and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). He is a recipient of the IBM Faculty Award, the C. Lowell Harriss Fellowship, the HUD Doctoral Dissertation Award, the Charles Abrams Award, and Teaching Excellence and Outstanding Service Awards at NYU, and has been named a Fulbright Senior Specialist. In addition, he is an accomplished real estate entrepreneur, and has served as Vice Chair of the Suffolk County Planning Commission and on the boards of the UNEP SBCI and RICS.