Yale Alumni Real Estate Association Conference 2018

The Yale Alumni Real Estate Association 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

Speakers

• Goodwin Gaw

  Founder and Managing Principal, Gaw Capital Partners
  Keynote Speaker
  

  Goodwin is the Founder and Managing Principal of Gaw Capital Partners, a uniquely positioned real estate private equity fund management company that focuses on markets in Greater China and other high barrier to entry markets globally. Gaw Capital has raised five commingled funds targeting the Greater China and APAC regions since 2005. The firm also manages value-add/opportunistic funds in Vietnam and the US, a Pan-Asia hospitality fund, a European hospitality fund and also provides services for separate account direct investments globally. Gaw Capital Partners has raised equity in excess of USD$9.6 billion as of 2018 Q1 and currently commands assets of over USD$18 billion under management encompassing residential developments, retails centers, hotels, commercial and logistic properties. Goodwin has over 20 years of real estate investment and management experience in the United States and Asia. He founded Downtown Properties in 1996 and serves as Managing Principal. He’s especially interested in re-positioning distressed heritage properties. These include the renovation of the iconic Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel and conversion of over 456,000 square feet of empty historical buildings into hip residential lofts in downtown Los Angeles including the acclaimed Douglas Building. He also served as Vice Chairman of Pioneer Global Group and former Chairman of Global Gateway. Goodwin received a BS in Civil Engineering from the School of Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, a BS in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and a MS in Construction Management from Stanford University.

• Francis Lively

  Chief Operating Officer, 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.

• Bruce D. Alexander

  Yale VP New Haven & State Affairs & Campus Development
  Speaker
  

  Bruce D. Alexander retired from Yale at the end of the 2018 academic year after 20 years at Yale. He was appointed Yale’s inaugural Vice President and Director of New Haven and State Affairs in May 1998, and led the University’s initiatives for the revitalization of New Haven, the strengthening of relations with the community, and the extensive redevelopment of commercial properties adjacent to the Yale campus. Mr. Alexander also negotiated the purchase for the University of the 136 acre Bayer Healthcare complex. In February 2006, when he assumed responsibility for the oversight and management of facilities planning, construction, renovation, and operations, his title was changed to Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs and Campus Development. Mr. Alexander retired in 1996 from the Rouse Company to engage in civic activities after twenty-five years as a senior executive with the company. At Rouse, he was Senior Vice President and Director of the Commercial Development Division, responsible for the development of retail and mixed-use properties throughout the United States.

• Scott J. Avram

  Senior Vice President, Development, Lightstone Group
  Panelist
  

  Scott J. Avram is the Senior Vice President of Development responsible for all aspects of operational oversight of Lightstone’s development platform. Before joining Lightstone, Mr. Avram was responsible for the operational oversight of Toll Brothers’ City Living Division. Specific responsibilities included successful supervision of all development, sales, marketing, construction, and financial management for projects in New York City and the surrounding area. Mr. Avram joined Toll Brothers in 2004 as a manager of large scale suburban single-family developments in New Jersey. Before transferring to the New York Division of Toll Brothers, Mr. Avram also managed high-rise urban development, including condo conversions, adaptive reuse, parking garage, and new high-rise development in Hoboken and Jersey City, New Jersey. Mr. Avram graduated with Honors from the University of Maryland Robert H. Smith School of Business Honors Program and graduated with Honors from New York University with a Masters of Science in Real Estate.

• Bruce Becker

  President, Becker + Becker
  Panelist
  

  Bruce Redman Becker is president of Becker + Becker, an integrated green development, planning, preservation and architecture firm. The firm has offices in Fairfield, Connecticut and Manhattan. Becker + Becker plans and implements transit-oriented (TOD) projects that have a social and environmental value, creating mixed-use and mixed-income communities to help revitalize cities. Most recently, the firm completed a LEED® Platinum, 285-unit, net-zero energy TOD, 777 Main, in downtown Hartford. The firm also designed and developed the 500-unit, 32-story, 360 State Street project in New Haven, the 1st LEED Platinum Neighborhood Development in Connecticut, a TOD which incorporates the 1st fuel cell in the world to power an apartment. Since 1988, Bruce has designed and developed more than 1,500 units of affordable housing and 3,000 units of market rate housing, and undertaken five certified historic rehabilitations. Bruce co-founded two non-profit affordable housing sponsors: Common Ground, developer of the Times Square Hotel Supportive Housing; and Under One Roof, developer of The Marvin Intergenerational Child Care and Congregate Housing in Norwalk, CT. He has served as Board Chair of the Harlem School of the Arts and the Institute of Architecture and Urban Studies, and as a director of the Town Green Special Improvement District in New Haven, CT. Bruce was a founding director of the CT Renewable Energy and Efficiency Business Association and board chair of Elm City Food Cooperative and is President of the Connecticut Electric Vehicle Club. Bruce wrote the chapter on Project Delivery as Architect and Developer in the AIA Architect’s Handbook of Professional Practice. In addition to being a registered architect, Bruce is a LEED Accredited Professional and a member of the United States Green Building Council and Urban Land Institute, and has been admitted as a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP). Bruce graduated from Amherst College and received MBA and Master of Architecture degrees from Yale. He lives with his wife Kraemer, two college-age sons, and labrador-mini named Boomer, in Westport, Connecticut.

• John Bockstoce

  Managing Partner, Hotel Management Partners
  Panelist
  

  John previously worked at André Balazs Properties as part of the management team that launched The Standard, Highline and seasonally re-launched the Sunset Beach Hotel in Shelter Island, New York. He has also worked in hospitality and retail related areas at Westfield and UrbanSpace. At UrbanSpace, he co-managed the pre-development of upscale food market projects and an office co-working project. He received an MBA from Columbia Business School and has taught at Yale College and the Columbia School of Professional Studies.

• Ben Brady

  Principal, Bain Capital
  Panelist
  

  Mr. Brady joined Bain Capital in 2018 as part of Bain Capital Real Estate’s founding team. Prior to joining Bain Capital, Mr. Brady was a Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager in Harvard Management Company’s (HMC) Real Estate Investment Group, where he was responsible for sourcing underwriting, structuring, negotiating and managing HMC’s real estate investments. Prior to joining HMC in 2006, Mr. Brady was an attorney at the Boston office of Ropes & Gray, LLP, where one of his principal clients was HMC. Mr. Brady represented HMC’s real estate, commodity, private equity, liquid market and timber groups in structuring, negotiating and documenting domestic and foreign investments and the analysis of tax issues with respect to such investments.

• Stephen Brockman

  Senior Principal, Deborah Berke Partners
  Panelist
  

  Stephen Brockman, LEED AP, is a senior principal at Deborah Berke Partners where he leads the firm’s hospitality and multifamily residential practice. He has been with the firm since 1996 and has served as the design principal for many of the firm's most significant and award-winning hospitality projects, notably the 21c Museum Hotels in Louisville and Bentonville and the Hotel Henry at the Richardson Olmsted Campus in Buffalo, New York. He also led the design for the interior architecture of 432 Park Avenue and the architecture and interiors of 40 East End Avenue, both in New York City, and the adaptive reuse of Wardman Tower in Washington, D.C. Stephen has a background in fine arts and received a Master of Architecture degree from Yale University. In 2017, Deborah Berke Partners received the National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum “in recognition of excellence, innovation, and enhancement of the quality of life.”

• Molly Bryson

  Partner, Ballard Spahr
  Panelist
  

  Molly Bryson is Team Leader of Ballard Spahr's Tax Credits Team. She focuses her practice on advising clients on how to use federal and state tax credits to finance affordable housing, businesses in low-income communities, historic preservation, and solar energy throughout the U.S. and its possessions. A new focus of Molly's practice relates to advising clients on the tax and business considerations relating to Qualified Opportunity Zones, an economic development program created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Molly is a frequent lecturer on tax credits, and more recently Qualified Opportunity Zones, and has spoken at a number of conferences, including those sponsored by the CRE Financial Council, the American Bar Association Forum on Affordable Housing & Community Development, the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, the National Council of State Housing Agencies, the Pennsylvania Housing Alliance, the NMTC Coalition, SEIA, CohnReznick LLP, and Novogradac & Company LLP.

• Diana Budds

  Senior Story Producer, Curbed
  Moderator
  

  Diana Budds is a New York–based writer interested in how design affects and reflects culture. She's currently a senior story producer at Curbed where she reports on architecture, urbanism, technology, and product design. She's covered these topics and more while on staff at Fast Company and Dwell, and her work has appeared in Kinfolk and on Vox.com. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Diana holds degrees art history and environmental policy from the University of California, Davis.

• Chris Cayten

  Principal, CodeGreen Solutions
  

  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.

• Joseph Cohen

  Co-founder, East River Partners LLC
  Panelist
  

  Joseph Cohen has been investing in and developing real estate since 2002. He is a co-founder of East River Partners LLC, which develops and acquires residential properties in New York City and New Haven. He is also focused on the ownership of limited service extended stay hotels nationally under the proprietary Cloverleaf Suites and Chapter Hotels brands. Previously, he was the head of acquisitions for the multifamily property investor Maxx Properties, which owns approximately 12,000 apartments nationwide. Prior to that role, Cohen worked as an executive at Zeckendorf Development, where he managed the development of residential projects in Manhattan with a sellout value of $850 million. Early in his career, he co-founded Elliot Watson Companies, a real estate development firm in Sarasota, Florida. Other experiences include working in private equity at CIM Group, affordable housing development with Jonathan Rose Companies and real estate finance with Related Capital. Cohen earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Yale University.

• Lisa Davis

  Executive Director, PGIM Real Estate and Portfolio Manager of Impact Investing
  Panelist
  

  Lisa Davis is an executive director at PGIM Real Estate and Portfolio Manager of Impact Investing. Based in New York City, Lisa is responsible for developing and leading PGIM Real Estate’s Impact Investing Strategy, including the creation of a new impact investing fund. Most recently, Lisa was Director of Investor Relations and Specialty Originations at Pembrook Capital Management, where she raised capital from institutional investors for commercial real estate investment, primarily focusing on affordable housing and community development. Before joining PGIM Real Estate, Lisa spent six years at the Ford Foundation where she made grant investments in affordable housing and community development, led the foundation’s Detroit program, and helped to start Ford’s impact investing initiative. Prior to the Ford Foundation, Lisa spent 12 years doing commercial real estate development in Boston, first with non-profit community development corporations such as Codman Square Neighborhood Development Corporation and Asian Community Development Corporation, and then with the private equity firm New Boston Fund. She led the redevelopment of some the most significant publicly-owned sites in the city, including the former Boston State Hospital site and MTA Turnpike parcels that came available as part of the Big Dig. Lisa started her career in Texas and the Bronx as a community organizer and advocate on housing and homelessness issues. Lisa has a Bachelors Degree in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development and Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has lived and worked abroad in France, Costa Rica and Japan. Lisa serves of the Board of Directors of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and IMPACCT Brooklyn.

• Louis Dubin

  Managing Partner, Redbrick LMD
  Panelist
  

  Mr. Dubin is a founding member of Redbrick LMD, an opportunistic real estate investment and development company. Mr. Dubin has invested over $700 million of equity in U.S. based real estate investments and acquisitions with a gross value of approximately $3 billion. He has completed over 30 real estate developments and investments, including land development, resort, residential for sale and rental, office, self storage, and master planned communities. Some of the more notable projects include St Elizabeths East Campus(DC), Poplar Point(DC),the former US Coast Guard HQ(DC), Deer Crest (Park City, UT), 838 Fifth Avenue (New York, NY), Waverly at South Beach (South Beach, Miami), Parkside at Ashburn (Ashburn, VA), Parc Reston (Reston, VA), and 2233 Wisconsin Avenue ( DC). Further, Mr. Dubin invested in Westbrook Homes in his capacity as CEO of his previous firm. Mr. Dubin completed his undergraduate work at Washington & Lee University, and his law degree at The Washington College of Law, American University. Mr. Dubin is a past winner of Institutional Investor’s Real Estate Deal of the Year. Since 2003 Mr. Dubin has been a member of the NY State Common Retirement Fund Real Estate Committee, with current total assets of approximately $190 billion. He is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of American University, Washington College of Law, Co-Chair of the Cyber Security Task Force of the Governors Workforce Board for the State of MD, and former co-chairman of the building committee of the Hewitt School in Manhattan, as well as a former board member of the Lincoln Center Institute for Arts and Education.

• Kevin Gray

  Lecturer, Yale University & Principal, Kevin D Gray Consulting (USA)
  Moderator
  

  Kevin D. Gray, FRICS, is Lecturer in the Practice of Real Estate at Yale University and principal of Kevin D Gray Consulting (USA), a real estate advisory firm. He received his M. Arch from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from the Yale School of Management. Mr. Gray is a former managing director of real estate investment banking for PricewaterhouseCoopers Securities, and the editor, with John R. White, of Shopping Centers and Other Retail Properties as well as a licensed real estate appraiser and broker, and a registered architect. Recent publications include: “The Marine Etablissement: New Terrain for Central Amsterdam” (Yale 2016), with Isaac Kalisvaart published by the Yale Bass Studio Fund. Mr. Gray is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Gray is on the faculty at both the Yale School of Management and the Yale School of Architecture where he teaches courses on real estate finance and investment and the history of real estate patronage and ownership.

• James Lansill

  Senior Managaing Director, Corcoran Sunshine
  Panelist
  

  For over twenty years, James Lansill has been a creative force in the dynamic expansion of Corcoran Sunshine Marketing Group from a boutique brokerage to a multi-billion dollar market leader in consulting, marketing and sales at the highest end of the residential condominium market. James is considered the go-to person for the representation of the most complex, architecturally progressive and distinctive properties in the marketplace, creating significant value relative to competition. From the Richard Meier towers in Manhattan’s Far West Village in 1999 to today, James has presided over a renaissance in the Downtown market, including the majority of developments that are the creation of a new neighborhood surrounding the Highline. During the same time, he has also launched numerous market-changing Midtown and Uptown developments. Spearheading the planning, marketing and sales for over 50 developments, James has exceeded $8,000,000,000 in cumulative sales revenues, including a few market-leading $1,000,000,000-plus dollar years. His portfolio of completed or in-progress developments include—but are not limited to—projects designed by Sir David Chipperfield, Philippe Starck, Jean Nouvel, Sir David Adjaye, Aldo Andreoli, John Pawson, Herzog de Meuron, Philip Johnson, Annabelle Selldorf, William Sofield, Frank Gehry, Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Polshek & Partners, Thomas Juul Hansen, Thomas O’Brien-Aero, Thierry Despont, Rockwell Group, Tsao & McKown, Alan Wanzenberg, Gwathmey & Siegel, KPF, Asymptote and Shigeru Ban. The architecture above has had a profound effect on the skyline of New York and has forged a bold new context for urban living. To promote such properties, James has invented and collaborated on highly innovative marketing campaigns and has managed exceptional sales teams that have helped consistently capture the highest attainable market prices, often breaking through the common assumption for the upper limits of achievable price. Before joining Louise Sunshine’s The Sunshine Group, Ltd., in 1998, James established Stribling Marketing Associated, the residential development arm of Stribling & Associates and oversaw the marketing and sales of numerous developments in Downtown Manhattan. James has a BS in International Marketing from Northeastern University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of California, Irvine. A former triathlete and chef, James has a wife, twin children and two dogs.

• David Lynn

  CEO and Founder, Everest Healthcare Properties
  Panelist
  

  David Lynn is CEO and Founder of Everest Healthcare Properties. Dr. Lynn has a long history of investing in real estate investments. Dr. Lynn has invested in over 220 transactions totaling over $20 billion over the course of his career. At Everest, he manages the overall firm’s activities including investment strategy, sourcing, research, acquisitions, underwriting, equity and debt financing, portfolio management, leasing, repositioning/value-add activities and financial reporting. Prior to founding Everest in 2014, Dr. Lynn was CIO and Executive Vice President at Cole Investments where he managed the firm’s $12.3 billion dollar investments including acquisitions and portfolio management of five real estate asset classes including MOBs, bioscience, and pharmaceutical buildings. Prior to Cole, David was a Partner and Managing Director at ING Clarion Partners (ING was the world’s largest real estate asset manager at $130 billion in assets), where he was Head of Strategy, leading all the firm’s strategic and tactical investment decisions for the $45 billion portfolio. At ING Clarion, he led a programmatic joint venture with a leading medical group, developing state of the art MOBs throughout the southwest. He led the investment strategy to invest in biotech and bioscience buildings, investing and creating a portfolio of $300 million. He created and led the investment of senior housing, working with senior housing developers and developing over $430 million of Class A senior housing. Prior to ING Clarion, he was Head of Strategy for AIG Global Real Estate, where he led real estate investment strategy across five asset classes around the world including $150 million of regional medical centers. He was Head of international Investments for the Keppel Corporation (one of the largest property groups in Asia comprising a $43 billion portfolio) where he purchased and renovated over $1 billion of medical centers and hospitals around the Southeast Asia region. David’s academic credentials were earned at the world’s leading universities. He earned his Ph.D. and MS in Financial Economics at the London School of Economics. His Ph.D. dissertation, later published in book form, broke new ground in finance theory. He earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Sloan School of Management, MIT, where he was a Sloan Fellow. He earned an MA at Cornell University in Planning and Real Estate where he was a Cornell Professional Scholarship recipient and a New York Urban Fellow. He earned a BA in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was the recipient of several academic scholarships. David is a preeminent industry researcher, economist, author and thought-leader. He has written many critically-acclaimed and widely-referenced books and articles in the industry including: Active Private Equity Real Estate Strategy (John Wiley and Sons 2009), Emerging Market Real Estate Investment (John Wiley and Sons, 2010) and Real Estate Mathematics (Private Equity International 2011), and The Investor’s Guide to Commercial Real Estate Investment (ULI 2015). “The Tectonic Forces of Global Real Estate” is one of his many industry classics. David’s real estate and economic forecasts are viewed as among the most predictive and useful in the industry. David is deeply committed to creating a better society through his philanthropic work, which is primarily focused on health, education, and the arts.

• Clint Myers

  Partner, Revolution
  Panelist
  

  Clint Myers is a Partner at Revolution, where he focuses on real estate investment initiatives. Clint previously was a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Strategy Officer for Hines where he served as a member of the firm’s internal proprietary research group and oversaw a variety of firm-wide strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Hines, he was in charge of Americas Research and Strategy at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He received his M.S. in Finance from Boston College and his B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina.

• John Nelson

  Managing Partner, Wall Street Without Walls
  

  John Eric Nelson is the managing partner of the Wall Street Without Walls initiative, providing financial technical assistance from finance professionals to community-based organizations and public agencies in order to access the capital markets and for transactions over $3M. Funded by major foundations, WSWW provides capital markets orientation and training programs nationally through the individual banks of the Federal Reserve Bank system and financial technical assistance to community development organizations and public agencies through teams of volunteer finance professionals, including retired and active investment bankers volunteering their expertise as a new form of philanthropy. He recently organized a WSWW exchange between China and the US on “Next Generation Philanthropy.” He earlier served as director of the Corporate Partnership Program at the National Congress for Community Development. Funded as part of the Ford Foundation's Corporate Involvement Initiative, the program facilitated market-driven, business case opportunities with community-based development organizations and minority entrepreneurs in joint venture business investments. He has been involved in comprehensive environmental policy as a senior advisor to the Resource Renewal Institute’s international “Green Plan” initiative and as a consultant to the President’s Council for Sustainable Development during the Clinton administration. Mr. Nelson has over thirty years experience in community economic development, management consulting, and collaborative environmental policy. He designed and managed the Small Business Opportunity Project for HUD to assist public housing residents plan and run their own businesses. He founded the national urban land trust program for the Trust for Public Land and managed non-profit liaison for the Chevrolet-Geo environmental program. Much of his consulting activity has been in the area of multi-sectoral collaboration on behalf of clients in business, government, and the public interest and the design and implementation of corporate social responsibility programs. He is senior advisor for strategic relations at the Institute for Building Technology and Safety. He is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the National Disability Institute, a board member of the Institute for Local Innovation, and previously served on the Board of Overseers of the School of Community Economic Development at Southern New Hampshire University. He is currently on the CRA Advisory Board for BB&T's Washington DC area; the Advisory Board for Impact Community Capital, Waveleand Ventures and for Partners for the Common Good; and a member of the Economic Development Assistance Consortium. Mr. Nelson was the founding President of the William James Foundation, promoting the development of socially responsible businesses by young adults, including a nationwide business plan competition among business and graduate schools. He has spoken as a panelist or keynote speaker before national and regional audiences for numerous conferences over the past 30 years and authored articles in various national publications on innovations in public private partnerships, community development finance, and corporate social responsibility. Mr. Nelson graduated from Yale College and recently co-chaired the class reunion; received his MA degree from the University of Michigan where he also taught social psychology; and has a certification in Community Development Finance from the Milano Graduate School of New School University. He has been a guest lecturer in community development finance at the McDonough Business School at Georgetown University from 2001 to 2012. He was honored by Civic Ventures as a “Purpose Prize” semifinalist in 2009. Married to Kimberly Ballard Nelson for 45 years with two grown children and three grandsons. Likes to play golf and tennis.

• Cherie Santos-Wuest

  Managing Partner, Celadon Venture Advisors, LLC
  Moderator
  

  Cherie Santos-Wuest is the Managing Partner at Celadon Venture Advisors, LLC, a Real Estate Advisory Service that provides investment strategy and real estate portfolio marketing consultation. Prior to this she served as the Principal Investment Officer with the CT State Pension funds, where she managed $2.5 billion in real estate investments, and integrated ESG policies into underwriting for portfolio investments. Previously, she served as Director of Global Social and Community Investments at TIAA-CREF, where she launched a $50 million green building venture capital fund and managed a $600 million SRI real estate portfolio. In other positions at TIAA-CREF, Ms. Santos-Wuest served as a Director in TIAA’s Global Private Markets group, responsible for originating over $1.2 billion in large loan investments in various territories across the United States and Canada. A full member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), she was responsible for helping to launch ULI’s Responsible Property Investment Product Council, which she chaired between 2010 and 2012. Ms. Santos-Wuest has spoken at numerous industry panels and seminars on investment management, urban revitalization, sustainable development, ESG integration and climate change finance. Cherie holds a BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia, an MS in Architecture from Yale University, and an MS in Real Estate Development from MIT. Ms. Santos-Wuest currently serves as a Board Trustee for the NHP Foundation, a not-for-profit affordable housing development firm, with offices in NYC and Wash., D.C., where she serves on various committees. Ms. Santos-Wuest was recently awarded the Vanguard Leader of the Year by the Council of Urban Real Estate (CURE) in NYC, for her work in fostering diversity and social equity in the Real Estate industry.

• Nathan D. Taft

  Partner/Managing Director Acquisitions, Jonathan Rose Companies
  Panelist
  

  Nathan joined Jonathan Rose Companies in 2004 where he oversees the acquisition and preservation of affordable, mixed and middle income multifamily housing nationally. He has lead the investment of six equity funds, helping Rose grown into one of the country’s leading developers and investors in the field with a portfolio of 15,000 units. As a mission-driven firm, Rose acquires multifamily housing in transit-oriented or walkable locations, preserves its affordability, improves its economic and environmental performance, and works to enhance the lives of its residents. We acquire properties directly or in joint venture with local partners who share our vision and commitment to making an impact. Last year, Nathan and his team were recognized as the top acquirer of affordable housing in the country, and he is passionate about doing his part to create more vibrant and resilient communities for low-income families and seniors. Nathan lives with his wife and two kids in New York City.

• Alex Twining

  CEO, Twining Properties
  Panelist
  

  Alex Twining, CEO of Twining Properties, has transformed cities throughout the Northeast Corridor as an innovative developer of mixed use, transit-oriented, projects including the 6.3 MSF Seaport Square and 2 MSF Commonwealth Center in Boston, the 8 MSF Colgate Center and 1M SF MiMA Tower in NYC and 601 Pennsylvania Avenue halfway between the White House and US Capitol. Twining Properties acquires and develops urban mixed use properties at transit nodes in the Northeast. Twining created the Watermark urban apartment brand with over 1,250 apartments in five towers in top locations in Boston including Seaport Square, Kendall Square and Central Square and Long Island City in NYC. The company is currently developing a four block waterfront project in New Rochelle NY, three buildings in the heart of Central Square, Cambridge MA and an historic factory bordering the Yale Campus. Twining was CEO of MetroNexus, a Morgan Stanley Company where he oversaw a 3 MSF portfolio in North America. At Morgan Stanley, Twining oversaw $3B of MSREF’s most complex large scale development investments ranging from the 25,000 acre Woodlands in Texas to the 3MSF North Bridge in Chicago. Twining launched AvalonBay’s high rise luxury apartment business setting up a new team and a 3,000 unit pipeline in three years. For Colgate Palmolive Twining directed their $4B, 8MSF Colgate Center attracting Goldman Sachs with 2MSF. Twining is a ULI Trustee & Governor, serves on the Yale School of Architecture Dean’s Council and has lectured at Columbia, MIT, NYU and Yale. He received both a BA and MArch from Yale University.

Additional Information

• HOTEL

  Hotels rooms are available on a limited basis due to several citywide events during the conference.  Rooms remain available at The Study at Yale Hotel, The Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale  and the Courtyard by Marriott New Haven at Yale Hotel .

  TRANSPORTATION

  • SOM’s Edward P. Evans hall is located at 165 Whitney Avenue, New Haven, CT.
  • New Haven Union Station is about one mile from SOM Evans Hall and is served by Amtrak and Metro North trains.  Please check the Metro North website for the most current schedule.
  • Taxis are available at Union Station and cost about $10.00 to get to Evans Hall.
  • Uber is also available in New Haven.

  Local Taxi Companies:
  Yellow Cab: (203) 777-7777
  Quick Taxi: (203) 777-7778
  City Wide Taxi: (203) 777-0007