Hub & Spoke: How Will The Office and Our Communities Evolve?

Ralph Zucker is President of Somerset Development, one of the New York Metropolitan region’s foremost pioneers of New Urbanism and Traditional Neighborhood Design development. Throughout his career, Zucker has worked hands-on in every facet of the building and development process, and has demonstrated a commitment to working with municipalities to create innovative communities based on the principles of New Urbanism. Zucker is perhaps best known for Bell Works, the two-million-square-foot redevelopment of the former Bell Labs property in Holmdel, N.J., where he and the Somerset Development team successfully transformed the iconic Saarinen-designed research facility into a “metroburb,” a term that Somerset coined to describe the suburban building’s revival into a blossoming, downtown-style ecosystem of technology, traditional office, retail, dining and hospitality. Today, Zucker and his team are in the midst of redeveloping The Ameritech Center in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, originally built as the former AT&T research facility, into Bell Works Chicagoland. The 1.65-million square foot building, which has already welcomed retail and office tenants, is quickly transforming into another successful metroburb. Under Zucker’s leadership, Somerset and its projects have earned numerous industry awards and recognition for their contributions to furthering responsible development practices, including the New Jersey Future Smart Growth Award for Wesmont Station, Somerset's 70-acre transit-oriented mixed-use redevelopment located in Wood-Ridge, N.J., where Somerset partnered with NJ TRANSIT to build a brand new train station that provides access to Manhattan.

Ginger is a seasoned entrepreneur with 15+ years of successfully working with startups in Asia and North America. She has led the product development from ideation to launch for several disruptive patented technologies in the healthcare, e-commerce, and fashion industries. In addition, Ginger was the founding member of Embedded Wireless, an R & D facility, and was instrumental in growing the company from 1 to 100 engineers with international offices in Malaysia, India, and the US. Currently, Ginger is the Co-Founder and CPO of Upflex, a B2B solution for on-demand workspace. Upflex strives to help businesses become more efficient, agile, and sustainable while giving employees access to a global network of workspaces.

Aisha serves as the President & CEO of Newark Alliance, which plays a key role in leveraging the city's corporate and anchor communities' collective impact and helps carry out Mayor Ras J. Baraka's vision for inclusive economic growth. Ms. Glover has over 15 years of experience as a convener, champion and agent for economic empowerment and social justice. She most recently served as the President & CEO of the Newark Community Economic Development Corporation, where she led the city's bid to attract Amazon's second headquarters, strengthened the small business ecosystem, introduced innovative programs that provided resources to women and minority entrepreneurs, supported over $4B in real estate development and led the attraction of corporations and businesses to the city. Prior to joining the Newark team, Aisha served as the VP of External Affairs at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, the nonprofit organization that manages the city-owned Brooklyn Navy Yard, a national model for urban industrial development and job creation. There, she helped establish an exhibition and visitors center, oversaw strategic partnership development, community engagement, public affairs and fundraising and played a key role in supporting the Yard's growing economic development initiatives. Ms. Glover's impact there was informed by her tenure at the Center for the Urban Environment, New York City's largest provider of environmental education programs. There, she led a team that furthered the Center's environmental justice and education initiatives, helped create a local chapter of the nationally-recognized Small Business Alliance, and was instrumental in launching Green Brooklyn, the borough's first and largest sustainability event. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, a Masters of Public Administration from Baruch College of the City University of New York and an executive leadership certificate from the Columbia Business School, School of Social Enterprise.

As Senior Vice President of Leasing and Asset Management for Columbia Property Trust, Paul Teti is responsible for directing the financial performance of the Company’s portfolio of investments in the Northeast markets of New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Washington, D.C. His principal responsibility is to enhance the value of the portfolio through proactive leasing and the management of major capital projects. Mr. Teti came to Columbia in 2020 from Normandy Real Estate Partners, where he was a Partner and head of its leasing group, responsible for managing the leasing and marketing activities for the company’s portfolio. Mr. Teti also spent time on business development and capital raising activities for Normandy. Earlier, Mr. Teti was part of Normandy’s acquisitions team, where he assisted in underwriting and closing acquisitions and financings. Prior to joining Normandy, he was Vice President of Operations at 52 Transom Group, where he oversaw sales and sourcing operations. Mr. Teti holds a degree in Sociology from Princeton University, where he was a member of the National Champion rowing team. Mr. Teti is also a three-time member of the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, competing in the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Games. As a member of the U.S. National Team, Mr. Teti won ten national championships and is a winner of three World Cup medals and a Pan American Games gold medal. Mr. Teti is active in the community and serves on the Board of Trustees at Stuart Country Day School. He has held leadership positions with several local and national non-profits and charities including Playworks, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, U.S. Rowing and the Princeton National Rowing Association.