Chris is President and Chief Investment of Officer at Taconic. He also leads Taconic’s Acquisitions team. As President, Chris oversees corporate matters across the firm. As Chief Investment Officer, he is responsible for all aspects of Taconic’s acquisition businesses and investments. With 18 years of real estate investment experience, Chris has led or been directly involved in the acquisition of over $5 billion of real estate while at Taconic, all in New York City. He is also responsible for deal sourcing and structuring, and oversees all of Taconic’s debt and equity financings, as well as fundraising and rezoning initiatives.

Prior to joining Taconic in 2005, Chris was a Bank Officer at M&T Bank where he was responsible for underwriting and sourcing commercial real estate loan opportunities in the New York City metropolitan area. Chris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Colgate University and until recently served on the Board of Directors of Vibrant Emotional Health, a non-profit mental health advocacy and educational organization.

Mr. Levine joined Meridian in 2004 and currently serves as a Senior Managing Director, overseeing a staff of originators and underwriters in the negotiation and placement of financing for construction, repositioning and transitional asset transactions.

Prior to joining Meridian, Mr. Levine was a Senior Vice President at Westminster Capital, a division of Kushner Companies. His job responsibilities at Westminster included coordinating all aspects of financing for Kushner Companies, including debt and equity financing. Mr. Levine also previously worked as a financial analyst in the real estate investment banking group of CIBC World Markets.

Mr. Levine holds an M.S. in Real Estate Finance from New York University and a B.A. in Finance from Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business.

Matt Weilgus is Senior Vice President of Originations and General Counsel at Mag Mile Capital. Matt leverages his extensive network of owner/developers together with background as a commercial real estate attorney to provide value to Mag Mile Capital's clients.

Prior to joining Mag Mile Capital, Matt served as General Counsel for Sanders Equities, a management company responsible for a privately-held portfolio of commercial real estate in the New York metropolitan area. In addition, Matt's background spans approximately 13 years of in-house counsel and law firm roles where he counseled a wide variety of clients - owners, lenders and tenants while executing financings, acquisitions, dispositions and leases across all asset classes. Matt obtained a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from New York Law School. The depth and breadth of Matt's experience and his network of industry contacts are a valued addition to the Mag Mile Capital team out of the New York office. Matt resides with his family in Westport, Connecticut.

Andrea Himmel serves as Principal and Chief Investment Officer at leading Manhattan-based commercial real estate owner/developer Himmel + Meringoff Properties. In this key role, Andrea is working to expand the company’s $2 billion NYC portfolio of Outer Borough industrial warehouses and secondary office buildings in Manhattan. Prior to joining Himmel + Meringoff in 2018, Andrea held a number of key positions with several well-known commercial real estate firms, including Brookfield Properties.

As a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania’s esteemed Wharton School, Andrea earned her Bachelor of Science (BS) in Real Estate Finance. During her tenure at Wharton, she was also chosen to be part of the Joseph Wharton Scholar Honors Program.

Himmel + Meringoff Properties is a privately held New York real estate investment company with a commitment to the long-term ownership and hands-on operation and management of one of the largest privately-owned portfolios of secondary office buildings in Manhattan and a growing portfolio of industrial warehouses located in the boroughs of New York City. The company acquires opportunistic commercial real estate properties with significant value-add potential.

Marty Burger is Chief Executive Officer of Silverstein Properties. He leads the company’s day to

day activities, and focuses on its acquisition, development, financing and fund management efforts

in the United States and abroad.

Prior to joining Silverstein, Mr. Burger was President and Chief Executive Officer of Artisan Real

Estate Ventures, a company he founded in 2006.

Prior to Artisan, Mr. Burger spent 15 years at Related, including serving as President of Related

Las Vegas and Executive Vice President of The Related Companies, L.P.

From 1994 to 1997, Mr. Burger was a Vice President at The Blackstone Group working on

acquisitions for its first three real estate opportunity funds. From 1993 to 1994, he worked for

Goldman Sachs’ Whitehall Real Estate funds, also on the acquisition side. Prior to that, Mr. Burger

spent five years at The Related Companies where he was a Vice President of Development and

Acquisitions.

Mr. Burger received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the

University of Pennsylvania. He is a Trustee and a Governor of the Urban Land Institute, and

formerly a member of the Global Board, the America’s Executive Committee, Chairman of the

New York District Council, and Chairman of his Urban Development Mixed-Use Council. Mr.

Burger is on the Executive Committee of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School

of the University of Pennsylvania, an Advisory Board Member of the Center for Real Estate and

Finance at Cornell University, the Advisory Board of the New York University Schack Institute

of Real Estate, and the Policy Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the Haas

School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is an active member of the Real Estate Roundtable in

Washington, DC, and is on the Directors’ Advisory Council and the New York City Mortgage

Committee of M&T Bank.

Mr. Burger was a member of NYC Mayor Eric Adams’ Transition Team, is a Trustee of the

Citizens Budget Commission, a Board Member of the Partnership for New York City, and is on

the Real Estate Life Science Advisory Board for New York.

Mr. Burger is a Board Member of SparkYouth, a charitable organization providing funds to

multiple programs benefitting underprivileged inner-city children in the New York City metro

area. He is a Trustee of National Jewish Health, is on the Lincoln Center Real Estate and

Construction Council, and is Co-Chair of the Real Estate Division of the Friends of the Israeli

Defense Forces where he has chaired multiple missions to Israel. He is a former member of the

Board of Trustees of the Battery Conservancy, and a former board member of the Lincoln Square

Business Improvement District. In addition, Mr. Burger has been active in different divisions of

the UJA Federation.

Ben Brown is a Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Real Estate Group. He joined Brookfield in 2010 and has held various roles including leading acquisitions and dispositions for the office property business in New York and in London. He is currently responsible for the commercial operations, including acquisition and disposition activities, for the office business in New York and Boston.

Prior to joining Brookfield, Mr. Brown spent time in Boston, Florida and New York with the New Boston Fund, Sovereign Bank and Thor Equities. Ben holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in Finance from Northeastern University.

Michael Shvo is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of SHVO.

Headquartered in New York City with offices in Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Chicago, SHVO owns and operates a national portfolio with more than $8 billion in assets under management and over 4.5 million square feet across industry sectors, including commercial office and retail, hospitality, and luxury residential assets.

The firm’s selective portfolio of architecturally significant properties, from innovative ground up new developments to revitalized landmarks that define skylines in the world’s leading cities, includes the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco, The Raleigh Hotel in Miami Beach, 333 South Wabash Avenue also known as, “The Big Red,” in Chicago, Mandarin Oriental Residences at 9200 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, Mandarin Oriental Residences Fifth Avenue in New York City, and the AMAN New York Hotel and Residences at the Crown building.

Michael J. Werner is a partner in the Real Estate Department, resident in Fried Frank's New York office. He joined the firm in 2005 and became partner in 2015.

Mr. Werner represents clients in the acquisition, disposition and development of office, retail, residential, hotel and mixed-use properties; high-profile commercial leasing; structured and construction financing; ground leases; joint ventures; and debt restructurings. He routinely counsels prominent owners, developers, financial institutions, institutional investors, REITs, and corporations in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, and has worked on many of the industry's highest profile transactions.

A well-known figure in New York City's affordable housing community, Louise Carroll has the depth of experience to steer clients through the financial and legal complexities of affordable housing and mixed-income housing projects. With a distinguished career in public service that spanned over 20 years, including a tenure as commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and chair of the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), the city's bond issuer, Louise has a keen understanding of the policies and processes that developers and project owners must navigate.

Clients benefit from the knowledge and tools that Louise acquired throughout her years in public service, during which she earned a reputation as a highly effective agent of change. She served for nearly 15 years in HPD, working to produce and preserve affordable housing across New York City. Appointed as HPD commissioner and chair of HDC by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in May 2019, Louise managed over 1 billion dollars in city and federal funds to finance one of the most significant and complex affordable housing plans in the country. During her tenure, she pushed the plan's goal of 300,000 units ahead of schedule by two years.

Prior to leading HPD, Louise developed a deep understanding of the affordable housing framework while holding several leadership positions there, including assistant commissioner for inclusionary housing and associate commissioner for housing incentives. In these positions, she worked to craft changes to New York City's tax programs to achieve greater affordability. Additionally, she led the team as one of the chief architects in designing and implementing the city's Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Program to require the creation of permanently affordable housing in conjunction with residential rezonings and streamlined the Voluntary Inclusionary Housing Program to increase production.

Under Karim’s stewardship, Genesis has fostered community advancement through high-quality multifamily development in urban centers. Prior to founding Genesis, Karim was an investment banker with Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs and an investor with General Atlantic, a private equity firm in Greenwich, Connecticut. Karim earned a BA in Economics and Philosophy from Amherst College. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. A resident of Harlem, Karim serves as Treasurer of the Trustee Board of the First Corinthian Baptist Church, Trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, Trustee of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance Board, Board Member of the Citizens Housing Planning Council, the New York State Association for Affordable Housing and a Member of the Leadership Council for Habitat for Humanity NYC. He is married to Luz Elena and has two daughters.

Eleonora Bershadskaya is a Senior Associate of Acquisitions and Development at TF Cornerstone, where she focuses on public-private real estate development projects and initiatives. Eleanora can speak to TFC’s recently completed mixed-income twin buildings at Hunter’s Point South (Parcel C), the need for market rate as well as affordable housing units throughout the city, and how to navigate the housing crisis NYC faces in the post-pandemic market.

Prior to joining TFC, Eleonora was a Policy Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff for the Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development, where she led various land use projects. Before working for the City, Eleonora was an Associate in the Urban Investment Group at Goldman Sachs, where she helped to invest over $300 million in urban real estate projects that generate financial returns and positive social outcomes.

Michelle Kleger is a Senior Vice President of Business Development at Kensington Vanguard (owned by Truist Insurance Holdings).

KV is one of the largest title insurance agencies in the country, servicing transactions in all 50 states. Michelle has developed strong relationships with hundreds of clients and closed over 1,500 deals in the past few years, providing title insurance for several billion dollars of transactions. Michelle’s clients range from some of the largest institutional owners/operators and lenders in the space to local and regional sponsors and developers.

Michelle is a co-founder of Girl Gang CRE, is on the Founders Council of Cradles to Crayons New York, and is a member of She Builds, WLI, JNF and a REX member of UJA.

Michelle was born and raised in Andover, Massachusetts. She graduated in 2013 from the University of Delaware Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics. Michelle currently lives in Manhattan.

Lisa Gomez oversees the day-to-day operations of L+M Development Partners and its affiliated companies. Lisa has more than 25 years of experience in real estate finance and development. Prior to joining L+M, she was in senior management at the New York City Housing Development Corporation (HDC), overseeing $1 billion annually in bond financing and mortgage insurance. At HDC, she was also responsible for developing and executing policy and financing programs to stimulate the creation of affordable housing for Mayor Bloomberg’s successful New Housing Marketplace Plan. Lisa also held various positions at JP Morgan Chase Bank, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and Silverstein Properties, among others. Lisa is a Board member of the Center for the Urban Future and is a past Chair of the New York State Association of Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH), as well as the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center. Lisa was also a Commissioner of the New York City Planning Commission from 2004 to 2007. She is a graduate of Louisiana State University and has completed coursework through the New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Zach Steinberg is Senior Vice President of Policy at the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), the City’s leading real estate trade association. Prior to joining REBNY, Zach served as Deputy Policy Director in the Office of the New York City Comptroller and worked in the United States Senate for former U.S. Senator Tom Harkin for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. He is a graduate of Wesleyan University.

Sadie McKeown is the President of The Community Preservation Corporation. In this capacity she leads the development and implementation of CPC’s growth strategy and oversees all of the company’s field offices, initiatives, and its equity and impact investing platforms. Sadie also works closely with the president of CPC Mortgage Company, CPC’s Agency mortgage lending subsidiary, to align all of the company’s products and tools under the overall CPC brand.

Prior to her taking on the role of President in January 2022, she served as Executive Vice President and Head of Construction Lending and Initiatives where she led the company’s construction lending activities including the operation of its six New York field offices and its numerous initiatives. Sadie started her career at CPC as a Mortgage Originator in 1992, and has served as SVP, Director of Lending in CPC’s Hudson Valley Office; SVP, Director of Originations; and EVP, Chief Operating Officer.

Throughout her career, Sadie has been a fierce advocate for moving the real estate industry and built environment towards carbon neutrality. Under her guidance, CPC created its innovative “underwriting efficiency” financing method that incorporates the potential savings from energy and water efficiency measures into the financing of first mortgages for multifamily buildings.

She has overseen the development of numerous guides, tools, and case studies to help lenders, owners, and developers understand the benefits of energy efficient construction and retrofits; including CPC’s “Underwriting Efficiency Handbook” and its companion guide titled “Financing High-Performance” which focus on guiding lenders and developers through the underwriting efficiency methodology for both retrofit and new construction projects.

Sadie also led CPC’s partnership with New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and private partners on a Passive House study that aimed to demystify the economics and environmental benefits of Passive House.

Sadie currently sits on the boards of the New York State Housing Finance Agency, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA), and New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC), as well as on the New York State Climate Action Council’s Energy Efficiency and Housing Advisory Panel and the NYSERDA Technical Advisory Group for the Electrification Roadmap.

Sadie earned her Master’s Degree in Human Services Administration with a concentration in Housing from Cornell University. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications from Fordham University.

Mr. Cayten is a Partner and Senior Director of Strategic Growth at CodeGreen Solutions, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City supporting over 150 million square feet of property in NYC and 150M across the country. Mr. Cayten has more than 20 years of experience in sustainability consulting, architecture and development in commercial real estate. Mr. Cayten works with private and public sector leaders to improve the sustainability of the built environment while delivering positive value to building owners, occupiers and investors. Mr. Cayten has worked closely with policymakers and the real estate community since 2009 developing and navigating the City’s energy and carbon efficiency programs for existing buildings. In 2018 and 2019 Mr Cayten was deeply involved in the technical discussions leading up to the passing of LL97. Mr. Cayten holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture and has spoken domestically and internationally about sustainable real estate and energy efficiency policy. He serves on the sustainability committees of BOMA-NY and REBNY, is an active member of USGBC, Urban Green Council, a member of the Building Energy Exchange Industry Leadership Council and sits on the Advisory Council to the New York City Climate Museum.

Prior to co-founding Greenworks Lending in 2015, Jessica led the design, management, and implementation of the nation’s first successful C-PACE program at the CT Green Bank. In its first two years, the program financed $75 million in clean energy projects and executed the first securitization of commercial efficiency assets – more than doubling the volume of C-PACE transactions between 2013 and 2014. From 2004-2012, Bailey worked at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), an $800 million foundation based in New York. As the Fund’s program officer for sustainable development, she co-managed a $7 million portfolio of grants focused on mitigating climate change and promoting clean energy.

Jessica has received numerous awards and positive recognition for her work. Most recently, she was selected for Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneurial Winning Women of 2019 program. In 2014, Bailey was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House for solar deployment. For her work designing the successful Connecticut C-PACE program, The Hartford Business Journal dubbed her a “Green Warrior;” and after co-founding Greenworks Lending and scaling C-PACE nationally, Jessica was named to Connecticut Magazine’s 2018 list of “40 under 40.”

Jessica received her graduate degree from Yale University and undergraduate from the University of Notre Dame. She is a member of YPO and sits on the board of PACENation, the League of Conservation Voters, CT and CTNext.

Pillsbury Real Estate Andrew Weiner’s practice is global in scope, with a significant and sustained concentration on transactions in the New York metropolitan area.

Since 1976, Andrew has represented domestic and foreign clients in equity and debt transactions, the creation of real estate funds and joint ventures, and transactions involving distressed real estate.

Andrew’s practice has had a significant concentration in the hospitality and real estate investment trust (REIT) sectors, and in leasing. His clients have included funds, family offices, institutional lenders, universities, non-U.S. investors and New York City developers.