New York Economic Forecast

Larry A. Silverstein is the Chairman of Silverstein Properties, a Manhattan-based real estate development and investment firm that has developed, owned and managed 40 million square feet of office, residential, hotel and retail space. The firm currently has $10 billion worth of development activity underway, and has been recognized as one of the “Best Places to Work in New York City” by Crain’s New York Business for eight years in a row. In July 2001, Mr. Silverstein completed the largest real estate transaction in New York history when he signed a 99-year lease on the 10.6 million square feet World Trade Center for $3.25 billion, only to see it destroyed in terrorist attacks six weeks later on September 11, 2001. He has spent the last 20 years rebuilding the office component of the World Trade Center site, a $30 billion project that will consume the balance of his working life. In May 2006, Silverstein Properties opened 7 World Trade Center, the first office tower to be rebuilt at the site, and the first LEED-certified office building in New York City. The 52-story, 1.7 million square foot office tower is fully leased to an eclectic group of tenants. In November 2013, the company opened 4 World Trade Center, a 72-story 2.3 million square foot building designed by Fumihiko Maki. In June 2018, the company opened 3 World Trade Center, an 80-story, 2.5 million square foot building designed by Richard Rogers. The company is developing one other office tower on the WTC site – 2 World Trade Center, and a residential tower – 5 World Trade Center. Silverstein Properties recently completed and opened a Four Seasons hotel and private residences designed by Robert A. M. Stern in Lower Manhattan which, at 82-stories, is one of the tallest residential towers in New York. The company also completed and opened the largest Four Seasons resort in the world at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Silverstein owns and manages many successful and high-profile commercial and residential properties in New York City, including 120 Broadway, 120 Wall Street, 529 Fifth Avenue and 1177 Avenue of the Americas. Mr. Silverstein completed and opened Silver Towers, two 60-story residential towers at 600 West 42nd Street, the companion to 1River Place, a 40-story, 921-unit tower which opened in 2000. The square block development houses over 2,200 families. Mr. Silverstein is a member of the New York Bar and a Governor of the Real Estate Board of New York, having served as its Chairman. He has served as Chairman of the Realty Foundation of New York. A 1952 graduate of New York University, Mr. Silverstein served as Vice Chairman of the NYU Board of Trustees, where he continues to serve as member of the Board of Trustees of the New York University Langone Medical Center. He is the Founder and Chairman emeritus of the advisory board of the NYU Real Estate Institute. As a Professor of Real Estate, his “Silverstein Workshop” became one of the most attended and informative educational sources for learning real estate development and investment analysis. Mr. Silverstein donates his time and resources to support many philanthropic endeavors. He has served as Chairman of the Board of UJA-Federation. He is a founding trustee of the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York and has served as treasurer of National Jewish Health in Denver. Mr. Silverstein contributes his time and resources to organizations that are dedicated to higher education and medical research, meeting humanitarian needs and supporting the arts. Mr. Silverstein currently serves as a board member of the New York Philharmonic. He is a classical music enthusiast, a passionate yachtsman and a dedicated New Yorker. Larry and Klara Silverstein have been married for 65 years and have three children and one son-in-law, three of whom are executives at Silverstein Properties, and they also have eight grandchildren.

The Wall Street Journal has written, “(There is) an exceedingly small club of women who have managed to move to the top of the brokerage business. That club’s most prominent member is Mary Ann Tighe.” Crain’s New York Business has named Mary Ann the most powerful woman—across both the public and private sectors—in New York. Placing her at the top of its ranking of the City’s most powerful women, Crain’s observed, “Ms. Tighe has a history of…transforming the face of Manhattan.” Indeed she does. From the revitalization of Times Square and the rebirth of Downtown to the westward expansion of Midtown’s central business district, Mary Ann Tighe has been at the forefront of the transformation of New York’s skyline during her 31 years in the real estate industry. Mary Ann has conceived, structured and negotiated virtually every form of deal including ground leases, air rights acquisitions and dispositions, net and gross leases, government incentive packages, and a range of equity transfers from partnership and condominium interests through fee simple sales. She has been responsible for more than 101.6 million square feet of commercial transactions, and her deals have anchored more than 14.4 million square feet of new construction in the New York region—believed to be a record in commercial brokerage. Mary Ann has been CEO of CBRE’s New York Tri-State Region since 2002, a region of 2,500 employees. Under her leadership, CBRE has become New York’s preeminent firm, outdistancing all competitors in market share, revenue and margins. Mary Ann is an nine-time winner of the Real Estate Board of New York’s Deal of the Year Award for ingenious brokerage, a record number of wins since the award was created in 1944. She received the Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award, REBNY’s highest award in brokerage, and REBNY’s Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Achievement Award. Mary Ann was also honored by the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate with its Urban Leadership Award; she was the first woman to receive this award. Most significantly, Mary Ann has enjoyed unbroken, long-term relationships with a number of public and private companies and non-profit organizations, shaping and implementing their real estate strategies for large and small projects. Her ongoing accounts include the Archdiocese of New York, AMC, Crain’s, 21st Century Fox, News Corp and WPP Group. For a three-year term starting in January 2010, Mary Ann served as Chairman of the Real Estate Board of New York, the first woman to hold this position in REBNY’s then 114-year history, and the first broker in 30 years. Mary Ann began her real estate career as a broker at the Edward S. Gordon Company, ultimately rising to the position of Vice Chairman of Insignia/ESG, where she was regularly recognized among the firm’s top producers. Prior to entering the real estate field, Mary Ann served as a Vice President of the American Broadcasting Companies, where she launched the A&E cable channel. Recognized nationally for her expertise in the arts, Mary Ann was also formerly the Deputy Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Advisor to Vice President Walter Mondale, and a staff member of the Smithsonian Institution.

Mr. Schlank is a Founder and Managing Partner of Savanna. At Savanna, Mr. Schlank sits on the investment committee and is in charge of construction and redevelopment and shares responsibilities for asset management, sales and marketing and acquisitions. Mr. Schlank has overseen the acquisition and redevelopment of more than 70 real estate assets, comprising over 20 million square feet of space and nearly $3.8 billion of total capitalization, including raw land development sites, apartments, office buildings, industrial to residential conversions, retail and warehouse/distribution properties. Prior to founding Savanna, Mr. Schlank was a project manager for the Westside Federation for Senior Housing, a New York-based developer of low-income housing. Mr. Schlank received an MS in Real Estate Development from the Columbia School of Architecture and a BA in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Schlank is an Assistant Adjunct Professor at Columbia University where he teaches a seminar in Real Estate Finance to graduate students in the Columbia Architecture School’s Real Estate Master’s Degree Program.

Over the course of her career, Ms. Wenger has sourced, negotiated and closed more than $10 billion of transactions in more than 35 cities. She has been involved in numerous transactions. These include equity and debt positions in stabilized, value-add, opportunistic, infrastructure and opportunity zone investments in office buildings, retail, apartments, condominiums, industrial, data centers, cold storage, hotels and mixed-use assets through direct and joint venture investments. Prior to joining CBRE Global Investors, Ms. Wenger served as a senior executive for institutions including CIM Group, General Electric and Equity Office Properties. In these roles, she was responsible for strategizing, developing and executing the real estate investment strategy. Ms. Wenger currently serves as a Board Member for CA South, a women-owned development and investment management firm based in Nashville, Tenn., and American Ventures, a value-add workforce housing investment firm based in Austin, Texas. She is a graduate of the University of California, Riverside and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting.

Helen Hwang is Senior Executive Managing Director at Meridian Investment Sales, LLC and is head of the Institutional Investment Sales Group. Ms. Hwang has executed over 85 institutional sales and recapitalization transactions exceeding $26 billion in value. Prior to joining Meridian, Ms. Hwang spent 16 years at Cushman & Wakefield as an Executive Vice President, as the head of NYC Investment Sales. Ms. Hwang has worked on numerous prestigious sales assignments throughout her career, including 1865 Broadway, 220 East 72nd Street, 22 River Terrace, 101 Murray Street, 400 Madison Avenue, One Court Square, 60 East 12th Street, 510 Madison Avenue, 511 Fifth Avenue, Glenn Gardens, the MetLife Building at 200 Park Avenue, 666 Fifth Avenue, the portfolio sale of Park Avenue and 850 Third Avenue, and the ground leases under 625 Madison Avenue, 2 Herald Square and 75 Rockefeller Center. For the sale of 88 Leonard Street, Ms. Hwang was honored with the Real Estate Board of New York’s highest achievement, the 2012 Most Ingenious Sales Deal of the Year (Robert T. Lawrence Memorial Award). Ms. Hwang has marketed significant New York assets for clients such as Africa Israel Investments, Ashkenazy Acquisitions, Capmark Financial, Daishin Securities, Dermot Company, Epic UK, Five Mile Capital, Istithmar, J.E. Robert Companies, Paramount Group, Park Tower Group, Rockrose Development Corp, SL Green, Spitzer Enterprises, Vornado Realty Trust, and Macklowe Properties. She has been a trusted strategic advisor to numerous domestic and international family offices, institutions and not-for-profits, including American Bible Society, Archdiocese of New York, Children’s Aid Society, MTA, New York University, St. John’s University, and Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, and Fortune 50 Corporations such as Bank of America and Verizon. Ms. Hwang has been presented with numerous awards over her career for both her professional achievements and charitable contributions, including the Top Broker of the Year by Real Estate Forum Magazine, a leading trade publication, CoStar’s prestigious Power Broker of the Year award, Bisnow’s New York Power Women award, Rebuilding Together NYC ‘s Patty Johnson Outstanding Leadership Award, and Friendship Circle’s Humanitarian Award. She was also named one of the 50 Outstanding Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center. Ms. Hwang serves as Chair of the Membership Committee and member of the Executive and Advisory Committees for the Urban Land Institute’s New York City Chapter and as an industry expert guest speaker for numerous conferences and some of the top REIT equity research teams in the nation, including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, ISI Group, FBR Capital Markets & Co, JMP Securities, and UBS. Ms. Hwang received her Bachelor of Science degree from the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration (Real Estate Finance), where she graduated “With Distinction.” She also holds a Master’s degree in Real Estate Investment and Development from New York University. Ms. Hwang is a New York State Certified Real Estate Appraiser and is a New York and New Jersey Licensed Salesperson.

Marion is a Managing Director in the Stamford, CT office of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. As a senior member of the Suburban Tri-State investment advisory team, she leads JLL’s capital markets activity across Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. She the Stamford office with 20 years of experience conducting capital markets transactions in the greater NYC area. Marion is known for her deal-making, underwriting, presentation, and communication skills, as well as for her abilities to develop and execute real estate strategies for clients. Having extraordinary experience across a broad range of capital markets services, she provides insight and guidance to JLL clients negotiating a shifting market. Prior to joining JLL, Marion was with several top commercial real estate firms, where she co-led teams of professionals providing investment sales and advisory services. During her career, she has closed over $9 billion in investment sales and capital market transactions in both institutional and middle-market arenas. Marion is frequent speaker and was named a New York City Power Woman by Bisnow and Woman of Influence by GlobeSt. She is active in the Urban Land Institute, where she currently serves as Chair of Membership for the Westchester/Fairfield District Council and previously served as Chair of Mission Advancement for ULI New York. She is a Board Member of Phipps Neighborhoods and a member of REFA (Real Estate Finance Association, Connecticut) as well as WX (Women Executives in New York Real Estate).

Cedric Bobo is the CEO and Co-founder of Project Destined, a social impact vehicle that trains urban youth and military veterans to be owners and stakeholders in the communities in which they live, work and play. Prior to founding Project Destined, Cedric spent over 20 years as an investor and investment banker including over 10 years at The Carlyle Group where he committed over $2 Billion of equity capital. In 2015, Cedric was named to the “10 Top Powerful Black People on Wall Street You Should Know.” Prior to Carlyle, he worked at D.L.J. Merchant Banking (London) and McCown De Leeuw. He is the co-founder of Charter Board Partners, a non-profit focused on governance in the charter school sector. He also serves on the District of Columbia’s Office of Public Charter School Financing and Support Credit Committee and Beauvoir, The National Cathedral Elementary School. Cedric received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BSME, summa cum laude from the University of Tennessee.

Monique Jefferson is the Senior Vice President, Chief People Officer (CPO) at the Community Preservation Corporation. Jefferson serves as a key member of the company’s leadership team and is responsible for crafting and executing CPC’s long-term strategic vision for its greatest resource: its people. As CPO, Jefferson holds a critical dual-role as both a leader of human resources and as a senior business advisor contributing to the company's strategy, priorities, and growth plans through the people function. Specifically, she is responsible for implementing programs, policies and initiatives that advance CPCs’ people, passion, and growth-centric culture. This includes an intentional focus on building a talent pool that reflects the diversity of the communities CPC serves through employee enrichment programs, a comprehensive approach to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I), career development, and mentorship programs. Before joining CPC, Jefferson was the Chief Human Resources Officer at New York Public Radio (NYPR) where she developed and led a strategic overhaul and talent strategy, significantly strengthening NYPR’s human resources operations and staff support capabilities. This included implementing the organization’s annual Race Equity Action Plan focused on organizational culture, building diverse audiences, and ensuring transparency and accountability, and conducting a compensation benchmarking and pay equity study which led to a career leveling framework and the introduction of a new salary and job structure. From 2016 to 2021, Jefferson served as Head of Americas HR Business Services and Global Head of HR Business Partner Function at the international law firm Hogan Lovells. She has also held leadership roles in Human Resources at companies such as New York Life Insurance Company, Bank of America / Merrill Lynch, Bristol-Myers Squibb and PricewaterhouseCoopers. She started her career as an auditor for Ernst & Young LLP in the New York office. Jefferson serves on several boards, including the New School Alumni Advisory Council, and as Board Director of CALIBR Global Leadership Network. Jefferson received her Master’s degree in Human Resource Management from the New School University, and her Bachelor’s degree in Accounting from Bentley University.

Lisa Flicker has spent 25 plus years in the executive search and organizational consulting field, focused exclusively on the Real Estate industry. Providing organizational consulting, compensation consulting and executive search services to large and small firms in the public and private sectors, her focus has been on owner/developers, private equity, hospitality, banking and investment firms. Lisa prides herself on partnering with her clients and relentlessly working to achieve superior results. Earlier in her career, Lisa was a CPA with KPMG where she received a Masters in Taxation. Lisa currently sits on the Advisory Board of Columbia Hospital’s Naomi Berrie Center. With an authentic passion for diversity and inclusion, Lisa also sits on Project Destined’s Career Advisory Board.

Tal Kerret has served as President of Silverstein Properties since January 2015. Mr. Kerret joined Silverstein Properties in 2011 and previously served as Executive Vice President as well as Chief Investment Officer. In 2015, Mr. Kerret co-founded Silvertech Ventures, a venture fund and accelerator affiliated with the Silverstein family in New York City, and currently serves as a Managing Member of Silvertech Ventures. Previously, Mr. Kerret was Chairman and Co-Founder of Oberon Media, Inc., established in 2003. Prior to co-founding Oberon Media, Mr. Kerret was the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of RichFX. Before RichFX, Mr. Kerret served as a lieutenant in the Israeli Defense Forces. Mr. Kerret is a board member of New York University Tandon School of Engineering. He holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from the Tel Aviv University.

Nicholas Kamillatos joined Rosenberg & Estis in 1982, and became a member in June, 1989. For three decades, he has represented property owners and lenders in numerous litigations and development projects involving virtually every administrative and regulatory agency that has jurisdiction over real estate in New York City. Those agencies include the New York State DHCR and Office of Attorney General, the New York City HPD, ECB, and HDC, and federal matters at HUD. As a member of the firm's Administrative Group, Nick Kamillatos has advised property owners on how to best deal with overlapping regulations relating to the ownership, financing and redevelopment of residential properties. He developed a due diligence system which allows buyers and lending institutions to confirm the validity and enforceability of apartment building rent rolls using the State's rent registration database. Mr. Kamillatos also assists Mitchell‑Lama property owners to establish the highest possible rent levels after the properties leave the Mitchell-Lama system. He won a groundbreaking appeal to the State's highest court establishing property owners' right to apply for substantial rent increases after Mitchell-Lama regulation ends, KSLM-Columbus Apartment, Inc. v. DHCR, 2005. Additionally, Mr. Kamillatos has represented high profile not-for-profit institutions in redeveloping their institutional real estate for non-profit purposes, including the world renowned Carnegie Hall Corp. Mr. Kamillatos has lectured as a recognized administrative law expert at the Real Estate Board of New York, the Community Housing Improvement Program, Inc., and at bar association seminars convened by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York and the New York County Lawyers' Association.