Since Jerry Speyer co-founded Tishman Speyer in 1978, the firm’s commercial real estate empire has swelled to include Rockefeller Center, the Chrysler Building and the MetLife Building. The firm is also building a Bjarke Ingels-designed skyscraper near Hudson Yards in Manhattan and is one of Washington, D.C.’s most active developers and landowners.
Katherine Farley was hired at Tishman Speyer in 1984 by Jerry Speyer, whom she later married. Her most recent role at the firm involved overseeing its interests in Brazil and China, where it owns more than 17M SF. She also oversaw the firm’s global corporate marketing operation.
Speyer’s son, Rob, now runs the company after a seven-year stint with the title of co-CEO alongside his father. Since handing over the reins of the company, Speyer devotes much of his time to volunteer work and holds high-level titles at the Museum of Modern Art and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Farley has served as chair of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts since 2011. She was named co-chair of the International Rescue Committee in 2016; shortly after accepting that position, Farley left her post at Tishman Speyer to devote more time to her work with nonprofits. — Scott Klocksin
