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.

Mr. Evans is a Partner of Normandy and is responsible for co-directing the firm’s real estate investment activities. Prior to Normandy, Mr. Evans served as a Director for Westbrook Partners in New York City, where he was an integral member of the acquisitions team that completed numerous transactions in the United States and Europe. Prior to joining Westbrook, Mr. Evans worked for two years as a Financial Analyst at First Union, where he worked in the corporate banking and capital markets groups. At First Union, he was involved in a variety of debt financings, distressed credit workouts, mergers, acquisitions, and private placements. Mr. Evans received a Bachelor of Science degree from Pennsylvania State University.

Fred Leffel is President of Kaufman New Ventures, the division of the Kaufman Organization that focuses on acquiring value-add commercial properties in New York City. One of the oldest real estate companies in New York, Kaufman Organization owns and operates over 7 Million square feet of office buildings in Manhattan as well as Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.

Since its founding in 2009, Kaufman New Ventures has acquired approximately 1.9 MM square feet of value-add office properties in Manhattan and Queens. It particular, it has been one of the most active firms in acquiring and repositioning office buildings in Manhattan’s Flatiron/Madison Square/”Silicon Alley” submarkets.

Immediately prior to joining the Kaufman Organization, Mr. Leffel he was a Senior Vice President at Savills LLC where he represented clients in sales of investment properties and portfolios, and sales of public and private real estate companies. Before joining Savills, he spent more than a dozen years in real estate investment banking, first at Drexel Burnham Lambert and later at CIBC World Markets. Earlier in his career, Mr. Leffel practiced law at Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. Mr. Leffel is an alumnus of the University of Virginia and the Cornell Law School.

Hope Knight was appointed to the New York City Planning Commission in 2015 by Mayor Bill de Blasio. She is President & CEO of Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC). GJDC is a community-building organization that plans, promotes, coordinates and advances responsible real estate development to revitalize Jamaica, Queens and strengthen the region.

Hope has over two decades experience in the private, public, and non-for-profit sectors. Prior to GJDC, Hope was Chief Operating Officer of the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, responsible for the management of day-to-day operations of the organization. She was also a Vice President at Morgan Stanley in the Institutional Equities Division and also served as a Vice President of Strategic Planning and E-Commerce at Morgan Stanley, Japan. Earlier in her career, Ms. Knight was Director of Management, Planning and Analysis in the Commissioner’s office of the Department of General Services, now known as the Department of Citywide Administrative Services.

Ms. Knight is a member of a number of boards including Grameen America, Morgan Stanley New Markets Corporation, and the Regional Plan Association. Hope is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Marymount Manhattan College and is Treasurer of the North Country School in Lake Placid, NY

Ms. Knight holds a Bachelor of Arts from Marymount Manhattan College and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business of the University of Chicago.

Helena Rose Durst is a Principal at The Durst Organization, overseeing all aspects of the company's residential portfolio, including leasing, management, operations and marketing. Currently, she is spearheading the lease up and pipeline of more than 2,000 market rate and affordable units in Queens at Halletts Point and Queens Plaza Park. Helena has helped lead the ground-up management of nearly 2,000 units of rental housing at several projects, including EŌS, The Helena, FRANK 57 WEST, Historic Front Street and One Bryant Park.

Active in the NYC real estate and environmental community, Helena serves as a board member of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, Board of Governors on the Real Estate Board of New York, Chair of Lower East Side Ecology Center and member of the New York Restoration Project and Lincoln Center Real Estate Advisory Board.

As the former President of New York Water Taxi/Circle Line Downtown for seven years, Helena transformed the organization into profitable mass transit, tour and travel operation serving more than 1.5 million passengers annually. During her tenure, NYWT became the first maritime company in the harbor to implement a minimum wage of $15 per hour for its 200 employees.

When Helena's not in the City, she can be found with her two children at her family's McEnroe Organic Farm, one of the largest family-owned-and-operated organic farms in New York State. Helena started an education program at McEnroe Organic Farm, reconnecting neighbors and youths with agriculture to educate future generations.

Mr. Betesh joined Meridian Capital Group in May 2017, where he leads an eight-member team. Prior to joining Meridian, he served as a Director at Cushman & Wakefield Capital Markets and a Director of Capital Services at Massey Knakal Realty Services. To date, Mr. Betesh has financed over 500 buildings across the United States and has closed well in excess of over $5 billion in transactions throughout his career. Previously, Mr. Betesh was a Portfolio Manager at a private family office, where he managed a portfolio of properties in Midtown Manhattan and was principally responsible for restructuring and developing the portfolio, in addition to directly leasing the properties and managing the finances at a corporate level. Mr. Betesh attended Brooklyn College, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Management and Finance and was honored with the Brooklyn College Presidential Scholarship.

A sought after voice in Queens real estate, Eric Benaim’s entry into real estate began in 2001, after a successful career as owner of a live event production and marketing firm. Initially concentrating on Manhattan luxury sales, Eric later recognized the untapped opportunity in his own beloved borough, and turned his focus exclusively to Long Island City. The result was the sale of 50 residences in 2006 alone.

In the midst of 2008’s severe economic crisis, Eric instinctively decided the time was right to launch Modern Spaces, permanently changing the perception and value of real estate in LIC. In just 10 years, Eric’s insightful and personal approach resulted in the swift expansion of Modern Spaces, including opening additional offices in Astoria where 100 agents work, capturing a 70% market share in Long Island City. In 2019, Modern Spaces crossed the river to capture 10% of the burgeoning market share over the next three years, in Jersey City.

He is responsible for successfully completing over $7B in sales and is currently responsible for overseeing over $4B in real estate, which translates to over 8000 units. Eric was the first person to be recognized as a 40 Under 40 Rising Star in both Queens and Brooklyn by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, respectively.

Eric has been the recipient of the 2018 Community Impact Award by the LIC Partnership, as well as the Community Hero award by the Long Island City YMCA. Eric is a member of REBNY, and serves on the Advisory Board of Mount Sinai Hospital, as well as the Board of Directors for the Long Island City Partnership. In 2016 the City and State Award honored him for Corporate Social Responsibility.

Eric is consistently called upon to speak at a diverse array of events and is frequently featured, quoted, interviewed and profiled in prominent outlets including CNN, Fox Business, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CRAIN’S, The Real Deal, CNBC, and NY1.

Eric is an art collector and avid supporter of the arts. As the informal ‘Mayor of LIC,’ it is his passion for building a prosperous community that informs Modern Spaces ‘unparalleled perspective. He currently resides in Long Island City with his wife Stephanie and son Greyson.

In 2010 Michael Feldman & Benjamin Bottner founded Choice New York with a simple premise: to create a third party Property & Asset Management Company that provides a superior level of service, expertise and financial performance to Property Owners. At inception, the company had zero clients. Today, Choice New York Management and affiliated companies claim hundreds of Property Owners as clients and have just under 2 Billion Dollars of Assets under active Management.

Mr. Feldman’s role has continued to evolve with the companies continued growth. In true start up form, Mr. Feldman has performed virtually every single function at the company in the past. Today, Mr. Feldman focuses his day to day activities on business development, brand awareness strategy, staff recruitment, talent retention, and select client advisory engagements.

Prior to co-founding Choice New York Management, Mr. Feldman was a Managing Director at AFC Realty Capital, a boutique commercial real estate investment bank. There, he focused on the securing of debt and equity on multi-family, retail and office transactions throughout the United States. Prior to AFC, he was a Senior Private Banker with Indymac Bank.

Mr. Feldman is regularly asked to speak on an array of real estate topics. He periodically teaches a continuing education class for attorneys called, “Receiverships and Bankruptcies” for the National Law Institute. He also teaches a continuing education course for Real Estate Brokers titled, “Commercial Property Management,” as an adjunct instructor for the Real Estate Board of New York. Additionally, he has served as a private consultant for the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office as well as a counselor to individual members in the United States Congress House of Representatives Financial Committee, whereupon he provides practical evaluations of various mechanisms by which Federal policy can impact local real estate.

Mr. Feldman has served as a hired consultant for the prominent Venture Capital Company called Pre-Hype, where he counsels the technology based software company on the operational efficiencies within the property management industry. Mr. Feldman’s memberships and professional affiliations include being Director of the Board of Managers of the Cast Iron Corporation, Treasurer of the Real Estate Services Alliance (RESA), and he is a licensed New York State Real Estate Broker. Mr. Feldman takes special pride in his ongoing role on the Board of Rising Realty Stars, a non-profit aimed at placing the best and brightest young professionals from urban, impoverished backgrounds into internships and entry level positions within the Commercial Real Estate industry.

Mr. Feldman’s formal education was at the University of Rochester where he earned a BA in Political Science. He was a 1997 recipient of the University’s prestigious Rush Rhees Scholarship, awarded for outstanding scholastic achievement.

John specializes in serving clients in the real estate and construction industries. As a Partner with over twenty years of experience, John provides audit, tax, cost segregation services and management advisory services to owners, operators, developers, home builders and contractors. John’s work includes the planning and supervision of various audit engagements, as well as the review of various partnership, corporate and individual tax returns and the analysis of the purchase, sale and financing of real estate transactions. In addition to the above, John has developed a good understanding of International Financing Reporting Standards (IFRS) and their effect on the financial statements of real estate owners and developers.

John also participates in several of the firm’s committees, including the Real Estate and Construction Practice Group, the Best Practice Group and the Cost Segregation Group.

In addition to John’s CPA license, John is one of less than 100 professionals in the Tri-State area to hold the Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional (CCIFP) designation, attesting to his extensive experience and expertise in the construction industry.

John is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the New York State Society of CPAs, the Construction Financial Management Association and formerly served on the board of the Greater New York Construction User’s Council.