Ever wonder who all those real estate private equity folks turn to for key technical work-- including tax and accounting advice on structuring funds, carried interest, and management fees, or data for PPMs and formation docs? Fortunately, Ron Kaplan, who heads CohnReznick's noted real estate accounting practice in the Northeast, was always good at math. Born in the Bronx, he grew up in Northern NJ, and after college in Virginia started doing audit and tax for prominent real estate families. Through a series of mergers, from GGK to American Express, he ended up running the McGladrey real estate practice in NY and was recruited by J.H. Cohn in '09 to run theirs, which last year merged with Reznick. It does PE advisory at both the fund and property level. Of course, Ron's greatest real estate skill is that he golfs, and he builds his stamina for tax season by running NYC marathons.