DMV Capital Markets & CRE Finance Summit

Brian Whitener joined EastBanc in 2012. He oversees all new acquisitions, due diligence and deal structuring. Additionally, he is responsible for debt and equity financing with EastBanc’s financial partners.  Brian previously worked in management consulting at Pace Harmon. Brian grew up and currently lives in Washington, DC and has B.S. from the University of Virginia in Commerce.

Elizabeth Cotter joined FCP in September 2022 as Senior Vice President, Capital Markets. Prior to joining FCP, Elizabeth was Senior Vice President and Head of Debt Capital Markets at JBG SMITH, a REIT that owns, operates, and develops mixed-use properties in the Washington, DC market. At JBG SMITH, Elizabeth was responsible for sourcing and managing all aspects of the Company’s debt portfolio and capital planning. Prior to joining JBG SMITH in 2014, she spent 8 years at Bank of America where she underwrote and structured commercial real estate transactions for clients in the Mid-Atlantic region. Elizabeth began her career in the CRE Group at LaSalle Bank in Chicago. She holds a Masters in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University and a B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University.

Christopher Fong joined Hoffman & Associates in 2022, and as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, leads acquisition and pre-development efforts for Hoffman & Associates across the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast, focusing on new pursuits, project conceptualization, entitlements, joint-venture structuring and capitalization. Christopher’s past project experience at Hoffman & Associates includes the acquisition and capitalization for The Bower, a mixed-use condominium project at The Yards in DC. Prior to joining the company, Christopher served as Vice President of Development for Penzance, where he oversaw all multifamily acquisitions as well as positions in financial analysis at Vornado Realty Trust and Avalon Bay Communities, Inc. Christopher graduated from The College of William and Mary with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration.

Andrew Dansker is the CEO and founder of Dansker Capital Group, a national mortgage brokerage firm with six U.S. offices and one international office. He oversees a team of 30 professionals originating commercial mortgage debt across all major asset types, with a particular focus on retail and multifamily properties. The firm primarily arranges bank and credit union financing while also executing agency, CMBS, life company, and bridge loan transactions as appropriate. Since its establishment as an independent company in 2020, Dansker Capital Group has placed well over $3 billion in commercial real estate loans nationwide. Andrew believes the middle-market debt marketplace is under-served by professional, high-quality national firms and sees a significant opportunity for an enterprising company to fill that gap. His leadership vision is to build an organization that delivers institutional-quality service, execution, and results to the national middle-market debt space. Andrew is a published industry commentator whose writing on the real estate lending market has appeared in The Commercial Observer, Real Estate Weekly, and New York Real Estate Journal. He is also a frequent industry speaker and contributor at conferences and events organized by Bisnow, GlobeSt, Interface, Commercial Observer, ConnectCRE, and other leading commercial real estate platforms. He has more than 15 years of experience in the real estate industry. Andrew earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law.

Ryan Riel has worked in Commercial Real Estate with EagleBank for more than 20 years and currently oversees the Bank’s $5 billion CRE lending portfolio. Throughout his tenure, he has worn multiple hats and participated in originating more than $6 billion in real estate transactions of various types across the DC region. Since February 2025, in addition to CRE Lending, Mr. Riel oversees more than 200 employees across retail banking, small business lending, loan and deposit operations, and information technology. Mr. Riel sits on the Board of Directors of the EagleBank Foundation, and on the Board for George Mason University’s Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship. He is a current Trustee for The Children’s Inn at NIH and previously served on the Board of Directors at the Inn for ten years. He earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from West Virginia University.