Yale Alumni Real Estate Association Conference 2017

The conference, which has convened annually at Yale since 2008, provides alumni, students, and faculty a chance to engage with leading thinkers in real estate—and with one another.  The purpose of the conference is broader than simply “an industry gathering.”  Instead, it is a venue to focus on new ideas and trends shaping a field that has a potential impact on the fabric of our communities. 

• AGENDA

  Thursday, November 9, 2017
  2:00 pm – 5:00 pm	Tour of Yale’s Newest Residential Colleges
  6:00 pm – 8:00 pm	Reception: Olives and Oils New Haven 124 Temple St, New Haven, CT 06510
  Friday, November 10, 2017
  8:00am – 9:00am	Continental Breakfast / Registration
  9:00am – 9:05am	Welcome and Acknowledgements (Francis Lively, COO, The LCP Group, L.P.)
  9:05am – 9:45am	Panel: Emerging Trends Impacting Global Investment in U.S. Real Estate
  9:45am – 10:25am	Panel: The Future of EB-5 Capital Financing
  10:30am – 11:00am	Coffee Break
  11:00am – 11:45am	Keynote Address – Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital on Global Real Estate Investment Outlook
  12:00pm – 1:25pm	Lunch New Haven Lawn Club
  1:30pm – 2:00 pm	Tech Trends in Real Estate – A presentation by Revathi Greenwood, Head of Research Americas, Cushman & Wakefield
  2:00pm – 2:30pm	Panel: Is Retail Dead?
  2:30pm – 2:45pm	Networking Coffee Break
  2:45pm – 3:15pm	An Interview with William K. Reilly, Administrator of EPA (former)
  3:15pm – 4:00 pm	Panel: People, Planet & Profit – Impact Investing in Today’s Real Estate Landscape
  4:00pm	Cocktail Reception (SOM Courtyard, Yale SOM)

Speakers

• Barry Sternlicht

  Starwood Capital Group
  Keynote Speaker
  

  Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Capital Group, the private investment firm he formed in 1991 that is focused on global real estate, hotel management, oil and gas, and energy infrastructure. Mr. Sternlicht also serves as Chairman of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), the largest commercial mortgage REIT in the U.S.; and French crystal maker Baccarat S.A.; as well as Co-Chairman of Starwood Waypoint Homes (NYSE: SFR), one of the largest publicly traded investors, owners and operators of single-family homes in the U.S. For the past 26 years, Mr. Sternlicht has structured investments with an asset value of approximately $84 billion. Starwood Capital’s funds have invested in approximately 146,000 multifamily/condo units, 2,900 hotels, 67 million square feet of office properties, 53 million square feet of retail and 52,000 lots of land in residential subdivisions. Starwood currently manages approximately $52 billion of assets on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners. Starwood Capital, its affiliates and externally managed public companies employ more than 2,000 professionals, while approximately 15,000 additional employees are involved with a dozen portfolio operating companies. Starwood maintains offices in Atlanta, Chicago, Greenwich, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and affiliated offices in London, Luxembourg and Hong Kong. Barry Sternlicht received his BA, magna cum laude, with honors from Brown University. He later earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.

• Francis Lively

  The LCP Group, L.P.
  Conference Chair
  

  Mr. Lively is the Chief Operating Officer of The LCP Group, L.P, a private investment firm specializing in hospitality investments.  Prior to LCP, Mr. Lively served as Vice President and Counsel to Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW) from 2011-2013.  In his role, Mr. Lively led the restructuring and partial disposition of an approximately $4 billion commercial real estate loan portfolio and structured approximately $1 billion in commercial real estate loan originations.  Before LBBW, Mr. Lively practiced law at Shearman & Sterling LLP advising on approximately $7.5 billion in commercial real estate transactions.  Mr. Lively has a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, an MBA from Yale School of Management and a BA from Georgetown University.

• Joel Braun

  Acadia Realty Trust
  Panelist
  

  Mr. Braun has been the Chief Investment Officer of Acadia Realty Trust (NYSE:AKR) since its founding in August, 1998 and has been an Executive Vice President of the Company since January, 2007. He is responsible for all of Acadia’s Merger and Acquisitions activity, as well as overseeing investment strategy for both the REIT as well as Acadia’s Private Investment Funds. Acadia’s investments, which are primarily focused on retail properties, cover a wide range including direct acquisitions of high quality urban properties for the REIT, as well as ground up development, redevelopments, joint ventures and mezzanine loans/preferred equity for the Fund vehicles. Prior to Acadia, Mr. Braun served as Vice President of Acquisitions for RD Capital, Inc., a private investment company owning shopping centers and multi-family properties throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Mr. Braun holds a Bachelors Degree in business and psychology from Boston University and a Masters Degree in Planning from The Johns Hopkins University.

• Antony Bugg-Levine

  Nonprofit Finance Fund
  Panelist
  

  Antony oversees more than $340 million of investment capital and a national consulting practice, and works with a range of philanthropic, private sector, and government partners to develop and implement innovative approaches to financing social change. A frequent speaker and commentator on the evolution of the social sector and global impact investing, he is the co-author of Impact Investing: Transforming How We Make Money While Making a Difference (Wiley, 2011). Prior to joining NFF in 2011, Antony designed and led the Rockefeller Foundation's Impact Investing initiative and oversaw its Program Related Investments portfolio. He is the founding board chair of the Global Impact Investing Network and convened the 2007 meeting that coined the phrase “impact investing.” Previously, he was the country director for Kenya and Uganda for TechnoServe, an NGO that develops and implements business solutions to rural poverty. As a consultant with McKinsey, he advised Fortune 100 financial services and healthcare clients and helped develop frameworks for incorporating social dynamics into corporate strategy. He earlier served as the acting Communications Director of the South African Human Rights Commission and speechwriter for the African National Congress. Antony holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University and a Master of Public Affairs in economic development from Princeton University. He is an associate adjunct professor in the Social Enterprise Program at Columbia Business School and a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum.

• Chris Cayten

  CodeGreen Solutions
  Moderator
  

  Mr. Cayten is a Principal at CodeGreen Solutions, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City. Mr. Cayten has more than 18 years of experience in sustainability consulting, architecture and development in commercial real estate in New York City and overseas. Mr. Cayten has vast experience creating and implementing sustainability initiatives for more than 300 million sf of commercial property around the U.S. including for some of the largest commercial portfolios in New York City.   Mr. Cayten has also worked closely with the New York City Mayor's Office to develop and analyze the impacts of some of the country's most aggressive energy efficiency regulations for buildings (The Greener, Greater Buildings Plan) and to identify a cost effective road map for all buildings in NYC to achieve "80x50" an 80% carbon footprint reduction by 2050. Mr. Cayten holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture and has spoken on a number of panels regarding energy efficiency and energy efficiency legislation in New York, DC, and California. He is on the Advisory Council to the Climate Museum, a new museum being developed in NYC to engage the public on the environment and climate change. He is an active member of Urban Green (the New York City chapter of the US Green Building Council), and serves on the sustainability committees of BOMA-NY and REBNY as well as the board of ScaleAfrica, a non-profit which develops and builds schools in Africa.

• Vincent Chen

  Vincent Chen
  Panelist
  

  Vincent Chen is the co-founder of Visas Consulting Group (VCG), a leading immigration firm in China, and has served as its chairman since 1997. Under his leadership, VCG has grown to be one of the largest and most successful immigration firms, with 13 branches and over 300 employees across China.   In past 3 years, VCG successfully raised over $1.2 billion EB-5 funds for varies real estate projects in New York, Boston and Los Angeles

• Carter Davis

  JBG Smith
  Panelist
  

  As a Senior Vice President at JBG Smith, Carter Davis manages the retail asset and property management departments, which includes over 40 properties totaling 4.5 million square feet of retail and mixed-use retail. Carter is responsible for the direct asset management of a large portion of the retail portfolio while also overseeing JBGS’ 3rd-party portfolio, with oversight of leasing, property management, investor reporting/presentations and overall financial performance. His previous responsibilities have included redevelopments and acquisitions/dispositions of retail assets valued in excess of $1 billion. JBG Smith, with over 20 million SF under ownership and another 18 million SF under development, has been a leader in mixed-use TOD developments in the Washington, D.C. area. Carter has played a key role in the transition of mixed-use retail from development into operations. Carter is a LEED accredited professional and an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). He received his B.A. from Colby College and his MBA from Yale’s School of Management.

• Jessica DeNisi

  Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP
  Moderator
  

  Jessica DeNisi is an Associate at Klasko Immigration Law Partners, LLP and a member of the EB-5 practice group. Jessica works with developers and investors who seek to use foreign investment capital under the EB-5 program to fund job creating projects either through the creation of a Regional Center or under an existing Regional Center. In preparing and filing I-924 and I-526 petitions, Jessica works with economists, business plan writers, corporate attorneys and market analysts to structure regional centers and their projects. Prior to practicing immigration law, Jessica worked as a tax and business attorney. Jessica completed her undergraduate studies at Wake Forest University and earned an M.A. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Arizona. Jessica received her J.D. from Tulane University Law School and an LL.M. in taxation from the University of Washington School of Law. Jessica is admitted to practice in California and Louisiana.

• Cab Grayson

  CBRE Global Investors
  Moderator
  

  As Senior Managing Director for CBRE Global Investors, Cab Grayson is responsible for pension plans $3 billion and larger in Canada and the U.S. Prior to joining CBRE Global Investors, Mr. Grayson served as the Senior Managing Director of the CBRE Investment Properties – Institutional Group. The Institutional Group is CBRE’s higher value equity sales entity across the U.S., placing transactions into the capital markets at values exceeding $50 million. In 2006, the Institutional Group was involved in approximately $38 billion in capital transactions. During his more than 30-year career with CBRE, Mr. Grayson has been active in all phases of the investment process, including capital raising, investor relations, mortgage originations, acquisitions, leasing, asset management and dispositions. For seven years he was first Director of Acquisitions and later Co-Managing Director of CB Commercial Realty Advisors, which subsequently became CBRE Global Investors. Mr. Grayson received a B.A. degree from Yale University. He is a member of professional organizations including the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) and Urban Land Institute (ULI). He is also on the Board of The Nature Conservancy’s DC/MD chapter.

• Adam Greene

  The LCP Group
  Panelist
  

  Mr. Greene is the Managing Director of the EB-5 division of The LCP Group, L.P. Prior to LCP, Mr. Greene established the hospitality financing program at Textron Financial in 2005. Under this program, Textron Financial provided over $250 million in senior debt for hospitality development projects in the US, Canada and Mexico in chain scales ranging from economy to luxury. Before Textron Financial, Mr. Greene focused on project financing for infrastructure, sports and petrochemical projects for six years with JP Morgan Chase in New York and London, and for WestLB in New York. He completed advisory and banking assignments worth over $3 billion, including construction loans for AT&T Park, the American Airlines Center, and Wembley Stadium. Mr. Greene was Chief Financial Officer for a hedge fund investment manager, and started his career as an auditor for Arthur Andersen. Mr. Greene has a BA from Cornell University and an MBA from New York University.

• Revathi Greenwood

  Cushman and Wakefield
  Panelist
  

  Ms. Greenwood is the Americas Head of Research for Cushman and Wakefield with overall responsibility for the research platform within the Americas region. She provides leadership to hundreds of professionals who are focused on producing predictive, timely and interpretative analysis on the latest real estate trends. A well-established thought leader, Revathi has 22 years of experience in the CRE industry, advising on properties valued at more than $15 billion for various clients. She brings significant consulting and corporate finance experience as well as strong global exposure across Europe and Asia. Revathi started her career in India in consulting with a local firm and later moved to London where she worked at Citigroup's European Investment Banking Division. After working as the Director of Corporate Finance for KPMG in London from 2003 to 2012, she moved to the U.S., where she most recently held the position of Americas Head of Investment Research at CBRE. Ms. Greenwood holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

• Brad Hutensky

  Hutensky Capital Partners II and Hutensky Capital Partners III
  Panelist
  

  Brad Hutensky serves as Fund Manager of two, closed-end discretionary retail investment funds. Hutensky Capital Partners II and Hutensky Capital Partners III. In that capacity, he is responsible for overseeing all activities of the Funds with a focus on fund raising, investment strategy, sourcing investment opportunities, and developing overall strategy for creating asset value for the retail real estate investments. Mr. Hutensky also serves as President and owner of The Hutensky Group, a leasing and property management affiliate of the Funds. He has extensive experience in the acquisition, management, leasing and redevelopment, financing and disposition of Shopping centers throughout the country. He has been involved in over 100 shopping centers since joining the Hutensky Group in 1989. He is a licensed real estate broker with hands-on experience in every major discipline in the shopping center industry.  Mr. Hutensky is a member of the Executive Board of the Board of Trustees of the International Council of Shopping Centers and served as ICSC 53'rd Worldwide Chairman from 2012-2013.  Mr. Hutensky has also served as Chair of ULI's Commercial Retail Development Council (Blue Flight).  He frequently speaks on retail real estate topics for the ICSC, ULI and other organizations.  Prior to joining THG, Mr. Hutensky was employed by several national real estate development and finance organizations. He holds an MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business and an AB degree from Dartmouth College

• Peter D. Joseph

  Invest In the USA
  Panelist
  

  Since 2010, Peter D. Joseph has served as the Executive Director of Invest In the USA (IIUSA) - the national trade association for the EB-5 Regional Center Program which accounts annually for billions of dollars in capital investment, creating tens of thousands of U.S. jobs and generating billions of dollars of tax dollars for the U.S. economy. Under his leadership, IIUSA has grown to represent a vast majority of capital flowing through the EB-5 Program - while achieving advocacy, policy, and industry development goals by actively engaging in government and public affairs with an international reach. A frequent international public speaker for the EB-5 Regional Center industry, Mr. Joseph has testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Texas State Legislature, and CIS Ombudsman Office. He has also been quoted in ABC News, Bloomberg Business, CCTV, Commercial Observer, China News, CNBC, Financial Times, Fox News, The Hill, Inc Magazine, Mortgage Observer, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Times. He is also a frequent contributor to The Huffington Post on the intersection of national economic and immigration policy. Mr. Joseph has been involved in various aspects of the EB-5 Program starting in 2007 when he worked at a leading EB-5 law firm, followed by independent consulting with Regional Centers and service providers. He received his M.S. from the DePaul University School of Public Service in Leadership and Public Policy in 2012 with distinction, focusing his research on foreign direct investment and economically-oriented immigration policy. He received his B.S. from Ithaca College in 2007 in Social Studies with minor in Spanish.

• Frank Lively

  Wafra Investment Advisory Group
  Moderator
  

  Mr. Lively is the executive Vice President of the Real Estate Division of the Wafra Investment Advisory Group and is responsible for determining the policies and strategic direction of the Real Estate Division. Mr. Lively’s experience in the real estate industry spans over 35 years. During his career, Mr. Lively has directed investments in and dispositions of assets with an aggregate value in excess of $2 billion. Mr. Lively joined Helmsley Spear Inc. in 1976 where he was active in all aspects of real estate operations and finance, as well as real estate acquisitions. In 1980, Mr. Lively joined Pannell Kerr Forster, an international CPA firm. Subsequently in 1982, Mr. Lively joined Stephen W. Brener & Associates as Senior Vice President, responsible for all aspects of the brokerage and management divisions, as well as management advisory services. Following his tenure at Brener & Associates, Mr. Lively became President of Lively & Associates, a full service real estate firm. Mr. Lively joined Wafra in 1997. Mr. Lively holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting from Manhattan College, as well as a Master’s in Real Estate Finance and Development from New York University. Mr. Lively was formerly a Director of LXP II, Inc., a real estate mortgage investment conduit, as well as a former Director of LXP Funding. Mr. Lively is a full member of the Urban Land Institute, and a council member of the Hospitality Development Council. He is also a licensed Real Estate Broker.

• John Nelson

  Wall Street Without Walls
  Moderator
  

  John Nelson is the Managing Partner at Wall Street Without Walls and winner of Purpose Price Fellow 2008. He had always worked in community development and environmental preservation and was frustrated at the way most nonprofit groups faced an erratic funding stream from foundations and government grants. In 1998, at a Rockefeller Foundation gathering on ways to link nonprofits to capital markets, he met Greg Stanton, a Wall Street investment banker, who had founded an organization of financiers eager to donate their Wall Street expertise. Nelson now leads the group. Financial experts of Wall Street Without Walls help community development organizations think through a financing need, identify the best sources and structures for funding it. Nelson has engaged national financial institutions including the Federal Reserve Bank system to give non-profits access to more than $1 billion of new mission capital since 2000. Mr. Nelson has a B.A. in American History from Yale University and a Master’s degree in History and Psychology from University of Michigan.

• Len O'Donnell

  USAA Real Estate Company
  Panelist
  

  Mr. O’Donnell is President and CEO of USAA Real Estate Company, the real estate investment arm of parent company, USAA, an insurance and financial services association with 12 million members worldwide. Len oversees all operations of the company and a real estate portfolio approximately $18 billion and includes office, industrial, retail and hospitality projects throughout the country. Prior to USAA, Mr. O’Donnell served as President and CEO of Crimson Capital Ltd and Principal of Crimson Real Estate Fund, based in Houston, and as a leading investment sales broker in Washington, D.C. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.

• William K. Reilly

  Former Administrator, US Environmental Protection Agency
  Panelist
  

  William Kane Reilly was Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George H. W. Bush. He has served as President of World Wildlife Fund, as a founder or advisor to several business ventures, and on many boards of directors. In 2010, he was appointed by President Barack Obama Co-Chair of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling to investigate the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. During his time at EPA, Mr. Reilly championed integration of the nation's environmental and economic agendas and sought to strengthen the role of science at EPA. He played a pivotal role in crafting and securing passage of a new Clean Air bill, enacted by Congress and signed into law by President Bush in November 1990. He served on the Yale Corporation where he was a member of the real estate committee, and chaired the committee on honorary degrees. Mr. Reilly began his career serving in the United States Army and served a tour of duty as a captain. Mr. Reilly has a B.A. in History from Yale University, an L.L.B. from Harvard Law School and a Master’s degree in Urban Planning from Columbia University.

• Cherie Santos-Wuest

  Celadon Venture Advisors, LLC
  Panelist
  

  Ms. Cherie Santos-Wuest is the Managing Partner for Celadon Venture Advisors, LLC, where she provides investment strategy and real estate portfolio consultation for family trust offices and real estate operating companies on institutional investment strategies, ESG integration and impact investment initiatives. Previously she was Principal Investment Officer in Real Estate for the CT state pension funds, where she managed $2.5 billion in commitments to Real Estate investments. Prior to this, Ms. Santos-Wuest served in various capacities at TIAA-CREF, among these as Director in TIAA’s Global Social and Community Investments group, where she managed the Program’s $580+ million debt and equity RE portfolio and launched the $50 million Green Building Technology Program venture capital fund. In other roles at TIAA, Ms. Santos-Wuest served as a Director in TIAA’s Global Private Markets group, responsible originating over $1.2 billion in large loan investments in various territories across the United States and Canada. Ms. Santos-Wuest has served on multiple advisory committees of Real Estate funds and venture capital companies. She helped launch and served as Chairman for ULI’s Responsible Property Investment product council and served as Vice Chairman on the Board of Directors for Impact Community Capital, a for-profit CDFI that structures and manages insurance company investments in socially responsive investments in communities within California and nationally. Ms. Santos-Wuest currently serves as a Board Trustee for the NHP Foundation, a not-for-profit real estate organization, dedicated to preserving and creating sustainable, service-enriched affordable housing with offices in NYC and Wash., D.C., where she serves on the Investment, Audit and Compensation committees. Ms. Santos-Wuest has over 25 years of real estate industry experience, including positions at national corporate real estate firms and international architectural design firms. Ms. Santos-Wuest holds a B.S. in Architecture from the University of Virginia, a Masters of Science in Architecture from Yale University and a Masters of Science in Real Estate Development from MIT.

• Ommeed Sathe

  Prudential Financial, Inc.
  Panelist
  

  Ommeed is the Vice President, Head of Social Investments Program at Prudential Financial, Inc., where he is responsible for managing a social investment portfolio of more than $400 million invested domestically and internationally. The portfolio consists of a variety of asset classes with significant concentration in real estate assets, including affordable housing, social purposes businesses and financing platforms for the underserved. Mr. Sathe is also responsible for a massive redevelopment effort in downtown Newark, NJ, that has helped leverage over $1 billion in construction activity and will create over 1,000 new apartments, 250 new hotel rooms and over 300,000 square feet of retail space, including the city’s first Whole Foods. Mr. Sathe also serves on several non-profit Boards. Mr. Sathe previously held positions with the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority, where he was the Director of Real Estate Development; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, LLP, where he was a real estate and land use attorney and the President William J. Clinton Foundation, where he was an Assistant to Domestic and Foreign Policy Advisors. Mr. Sathe received a B.A. in Neuroscience and Urban Studies from Columbia University; a Masters Degree in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School.

Alumni from across Yale University gathered at Edward P. Evans Hall on November 10 for the Ninth Annual Yale Alumni Real Estate Association Conference.

Barry Sternlicht, chairman and CEO of Starwood Capital Group, was the keynote speaker at the event. During his talk, Sternlicht discussed Starwood’s outlook as well as what he called a “structural change” in the real estate market: an increasing number of people are renting property instead of purchasing it, and many of them are millennials, he said.

“Part of it is a demographic change,” he said. “People are getting married later and they can’t afford a home right out of college, which is leading to more demand for renters... We don’t see this change going away.”

The reason? Student loan debt, Sternlicht said, which he called a “major hurdle for home ownership.”

“Even if [millennials] want to buy a house, they don’t have the money for a down payment,” he said. “People are renting more now in the U.S. than they have in the past, and this is part of what’s driving this increase.”

The annual Yale Alumni Real Estate Association Conference provides opportunities for alumni, students, and faculty to meet and engage with top thinkers in real estate. The conference serves as a forum for participants to focus on new ideas and trends shaping the industry and to understand the causes behind them. Other sessions included talks on tech trends in real estate, emerging trends affecting global investment in the U.S. real estate market, and a conversation with William K. Reilly, former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.