Philadelphia Construction and Development Summit

While completing his Masters Degree from The American University in Cairo, Egypt, Rushdy began his construction engineering career with a position as a Planning Engineer on the construction of the first-ever cement plant in Sinai, Egypt. He then moved to Kuwait for two years, where he served as the planning and project controls Engineer for the construction of Kuwait’s first Olympic stadium. Rushdy moved to the United States in 2004. He took a position with Toll Brothers and enrolled in the company’s one-year Assistant Project Manager-in-Training program, which typically is followed by a three-year assignment as an Assistant Project Manager. Within just three months of starting the training program, though, Rushdy’s skill set in analyzing and leading teams was recognized. He was pulled out of the training program and given his first assignment: a 128-unit single family development in East Bay, San Francisco. That project was one of 10 jobs in a Master Plan community, and Rushdy used his experience to develop systems and methods to get the development contracted in record time and within budget -- a rarity for a development of that size. Within months of getting his Assistant Project Manager assignment, Rushdy was promoted to Project Manager. In that new role, he was asked to work with Toll Brothers’ Philadelphia Division to lead an effort to build, sell and deliver phase 1 of Naval Square -- one of Toll Brothers’ highest profile new developments in the city at the time. Within less than a year in Philadelphia, Rushdy exceeded closings projections by over 30% and was promoted again to Naval Square’s Senior Project Manager. By age 27, Rushdy was leading a team of 25 people and responsible for a budget of more than $100 million. In early 2007, Rushdy was recruited by a regional developer, Westrum Development Company, as General Manager to launch, contract and hire a team for Philadelphia’s largest active adult community: The Arbors at Eagle Pointe, consisting of approximately 400 homes. Following the financial crash in late 2008, Rushdy also was assigned all of Westrum’s Philadelphia developments and took over the acquisition role for Westrum in 2011. Once the financial crash hit, Rushdy teamed up with Larry McKnight, a colleague from Westrum, to start developing single lot infills in Philadelphia’s Fishtown neighborhood. Their investments in the area have contributed to the revival that the city’s river wards neighborhoods -- Fishtown, Northern Liberties, Kensington, Port Richmond, etc. -- are experiencing. Now nearly 10 years later, Rushdy and McKnight are business partners at The Riverwards Group, which employs 12 staffers and 30 contractors. What started as five homes per year in 2012 has grown to 110 homes completed in 2019, and plans to deliver 400 homes over the next three years. In 2018, The Riverwards Group brought in revenues close to $35 million. The Riverwards Group, where Rushdy serves as Managing Partner, has completed more than 60 projects in Philadelphia’s booming riverwards neighborhoods, totaling close to 500 mainly single-family homes delivered over the last eight years. Under Rushdy’s leadership, the company currently is working on the following projects:

Seth Mackler is the Managing Director and Executive Vice President of Real Estate Finance at Firstrust Bank. Firstrust is a $5 billion in assets, family-owned community bank headquartered in Conshohocken that specializes in building relationships with small businesses. At Firstrust, he has lead the expansion of Firstrust in the Maryland & DC markets and spearheaded a national platform to finance the construction of Net Leased properties. Seth has been a banker for over 30 years. He started his career as a banking examiner with the Department of the Treasury and subsequently was an executive at Prime Bank, Summit Bank, and Commerce Bank in a variety of roles. Seth has served on a number of boards and was formerly president of the Risk Management Association of Philadelphia. He is also a former director of the National Kidney Foundation of the Delaware Valley and the Penn SE Mezzanine Fund. He has two children and resides in Conshohocken, Pa.

Shelah has over fifteen years of experience in commercial real estate. Prior to joining Nuveen Green Capital, Shelah had various lending roles including Commercial Real Estate Lending Specialist for Capitol Bank, VP Commercial Real Estate Loan Officer for Bancorp Bank, and Senior Investment Analyst for PGIM Real Estate Finance. Additionally, Shelah spent many years working as an advisor to commercial real estate developers, aiding in structuring their JV partnerships, and helping raise debt and equity. Shelah received a BS in Economics from the Wharton Undergraduate program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jack Cortese leads D2 Capital Advisors, an affiliate of the D2 Organization that arranges and structures real estate debt and equity financing for developers and investors throughout the U.S. Since joining the firm that launched in 2017, he has arranged over $650 million in debt and equity financings. Philadelphia-area deals include: a $130 million life-sciences construction loan for 2300 Market, a $62 million office construction loan in Allentown, a $56 million redevelopment loan for the Philly Met, and a $16 million land loan for a warehouse development in Salem County, NJ. Jack also works on internal financing needs for D2 Organization’s commercial development platform, which includes over 6 million square feet of industrial and residential projects. Jack is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and a recipient of the Philadelphia Business Journals' Rising Star 2023 award.

As Senior Vice President of Development, Sarina spearheads all of Post Brothers’ development projects and brings a wealth of experience in complex project planning, contractor negotiations, and every facet of project management. Sarina’s work on Post Brothers’ best-in-class residential portfolio includes the $250 million renovation of historic Presidential City, which was the largest redevelopment project in Philadelphia. Under Sarina’s leadership, Presidential City was transformed from an under-utilized, semi-suburban complex into the city’s largest luxury residential community, complete with a brand new, resort-style amenity center - Sora Pool Club. Other projects worth noting include The Atlantic at the Avenue of the Arts, Rittenhouse Hill and The Piazza in Northern Liberties. Prior to joining Post Brothers, Sarina received her Bachelor’s of Architecture degree from Drexel University. She managed over $400 million in projects for SgRA Architecture, including the Le Meridien Hotel and the Parc Rittenhouse, and before that spent 12 years as with KMA Architects and PZS Architects. Sarina was recognized nationally as one of Connect Media’s Most Influential Women in Real Estate 2018, and has received the State Policy Network Helen S. Krieble Unsung Hero for Freedom Award. Several of the Post Brothers projects she played key roles on have gained both regional and national industry recognition for their quality and economic development value. Sarina is a Founding member of the ABC Philadelphia Regional Council, board member of the Association of Builders and Contractors of Eastern PA, serves on the Board of Directors of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia and is also currently the Vice Chair of the Government Affairs Committee at the BIA. These are just some of the positions Sarina holds across multiple industry organizations.

Ernie is a licensed / registered professional engineer in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan and Wisconsin. He was born in Rochester, NY; happily married to his wife, Peggy, the father of Martha and Roy, and grandfather of Luke. Ernie received his B.S. degree in Biology/Geology from the University of Rochester and his M.S. degree in Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Ernie lives in Center City, Philadelphia overlooking the City’s Art Museum. His professional contributions have covered a range of environmental and geotechnical projects from multi-site due diligence to remedial action, and building foundations, to bridges, dams, and tunnels. Ernie is a Senior Principal with GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. (GZA) and is President of its New York State Affiliate. Ernie started his career with GZA in its Buffalo, New York office in 1986, starting as a Project Engineer, then eventually named the Office Manager in 1995. He relocated to GZA’s Metro Philadelphia Office in 2009 after managing the Buffalo Office for over 10-years. He initially manage GZA’s Metro Philadelphia operations (offices in Fort Washington, PA and Hammonton, NJ) and worked to expand its geotechnical practice in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Ernie sat on GZA’s Board of Directors from 2013 – 2016 and served as the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Operational Officer from 2012 through 2016. In February 2016, he relocated the GZA Fort Washington, PA office to its current location in Center City Philadelphia (1515 Market Street, Suite 945) and transitioned the office management. GZA is a Massachusetts based corporation with over 700 staff in 31 offices within the Northeast quadrant of the United States. GZA’s holding company is GZA GeoEnvironmental Technologies, a Delaware Corporation. The Company focuses on five core service areas – geotechnical, environmental, water, ecology, and construction support.

Abe is an experienced Commercial Banking Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the banking & financial service industry in all its segments; Small business, middle market, corporate banking and commercial real estate lending. Abe acts as a primary banking advisor, lender, and trusted financial partner to successful companies, real estate developers and asset managers in the Greater Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey region. Abe holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance from Temple University's Fox School of Business with a focus in Management of Financial institutions Abe is currently a Northwest Bank Executive & Lender for the Delaware Valley region. In his current role as regional vice president of commercial banking, he leads all aspects of Northwest Bank’s expansion in the Delaware Valley region; This includes loan production, origination and execution, portfolio management, compliance, marketing and communication, and diversity and inclusion efforts. Abe was one of 20 individuals throughout the Greater Philadelphia region to be honored for their impact on the region and its business community through their leadership. The Philadelphia Business Journal named Abe, regional vice president of commercial banking, Northwest Bank, as a 2022 Diversity in Business Award honoree. In addition, he was recently named a 2022 class recipient of AL DÍA’s 40 Under Forty awards. Abe serves as a board member of 2 great non-profit organizations: Justice For Our Neighbors: A Philadelphia non-profit offering legal services to low income immigrants and refugees. (http://www.jfondv.org/) Live Work Philadelphia: A resident growth strategy that benefits all Philadelphian (https://www.liveworkphilly.com/). Abe also actively mentors graduating seniors from his alma mater Temple University Fox School of Business. Interesting facts about Abe: Abe lived overseas for 10 years, speaks 3 languages fluently, enjoys traveling, working out, and well-crafted whiskey cocktails.