Yale Alumni Real Estate Association Annual Conference 2023

Jessica Bailey is President & CEO of Nuveen Green Capital, a leading provider of sustainable commercial real estate finance. Prior to her role at Nuveen, she co-founded Greenworks Lending, the largest provider of commercial PACE (C-PACE) financing in the country. Greenworks Lending was acquired by Nuveen, a TIAA company, in April 2021. The mission of Nuveen Green Capital is to make clean energy a smart business decision for commercial building owners. Utilizing a public-private partnership and state-enabled policy that Ms. Bailey helped to develop in 2010, C-PACE financing has become a mainstream financing tool for clean energy upgrades in commercial real estate and sustainable new construction.

Greenworks (now rebranded to Nuveen Green Capital) was founded in 2015 and has brought C-PACE financing to nearly 30 states across the country. As co-founder and CEO of Greenworks Lending, Ms. Bailey grew the company into a national lending platform operating in over 30 states, has raised and deployed over a billion dollars in debt and equity, and has built a team of over 100 professionals. Greenworks was the first company to securitize the cash flows associated with their clean energy loans in 2017 and completed the industry’s largest public securitization in 2021. Through its nationwide distribution and originations platform, it has experienced double-digit annual originations growth since founding. In 2021, she led Greenworks to a successful acquisition by Nuveen, where she has maintained her role as CEO & President of Nuveen Green Capital.

Ms. Bailey has 20 years of experience in leadership roles within non-profit, public, and private high-growth companies. She is skilled at combining vision and pragmatism to transform concepts into thriving businesses, and highly regarded for her work on translating policy into practice as it relates to reversing climate change. Her career has spanned creating policy within the philanthropic and think tank sector, to implementing policy as a government agent, to scaling solutions to societal problems in the private sector using policy frameworks as market signals.

Prior to co-founding Greenworks Lending, Ms. Bailey was with the Connecticut Green Bank as the Director of Commercial and Industrial Property Assessed Clean Energy (C-PACE), where she joined in 2012. There she designed an award-winning, state-wide PACE program,  allowing building owners to access financing to perform clean energy improvements on their properties, which became the model for numerous other states’ C-PACE programs.

From 2004-2012, Ms. Bailey worked at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), an $800 million foundation based in New York. As the Fund’s program officer for sustainable development, she co-managed a portfolio of grants focused on combating climate change and promoting clean energy. Prior to joining the RBF, she spent time working at the United Nations, Physicians for Social Responsibility, and on a research project in Ecuador. 

Ms. Bailey is a recognized thought leader in the field of sustainability and lauded as a mission-driven leader of a high-growth start-up company with a successful exit. In 2022, she was ranked #30 in Commercial Observer’s 2022 Power Finance List and was also recognized in Crain’s Chicago Business 2022 Notable Leaders in Sustainability list.  She was named an Ernst and Young Entrepreneurial Winning Woman in 2019, a prestigious award affiliated with EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Connecticut Magazine named her “40 Under 40” in 2019.  She was named a “Champion of Change” by the White House for solar deployment in 2014. The Hartford Business Journal dubbed her a “Green Warrior” for her work to design the successful Connecticut C-PACE program. She sits on the boards of PACENow, the leading industry association and advocacy organization for PACE, the CT League of Conservation Voters, and Connecticut Innovations. She is also a member of the Young President’s Organization (YPO). 

Perica serves as Head of Preservation, leading April Housing’s strategy and execution related to protecting the supply of affordable housing in the U.S. She joins April from MUFG Union Bank, where she was head of all LIHTC debt and equity originations. She previously served as a Project Manager at Jamboree Housing Corporation, managing the acquisition, financing, and stabilization activities for multifamily affordable housing developments.

Mr. Cayten is a Partner and Head of Strategy at CodeGreen Solutions, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City supporting over 500 million square feet of property across the country and over 150M in New York City to improve sustainability, target net zero emissions and comply with local energy policies. Mr. Cayten has more than 20 years of experience in sustainability consulting, architecture and development in commercial real estate. Mr. Cayten works with private and public sector leaders to improve the sustainability of the built environment while delivering positive value to building owners, occupiers and investors. Mr. Cayten has worked with numerous city governments on energy and carbon policies for existing buildings including New York, Boston, San Francisco and Washington DC.  Mr. Cayten holds a master’s degree from the Yale School of Architecture and has spoken domestically and internationally about sustainable real estate and energy efficiency policy. He is the Chair of the BOMA NY Energy and Sustainability Committee, a board member of the New York Energy Consumers Council, a member of the REBNY Sustainability Committee, the Building Energy Exchange Industry Leadership Council and is an active member of USGBC and Urban Green Council.

Sant Chatwal defines the term entrepreneur. He has been an internationally recognized business leader and diplomat for the past 45 years. Mr. Chatwal has taken Dream Hotel Group from what was once a New York based business to a company with a global footprint and the most active pipeline in its history. Under his vision and leadership, the company remains committed to the philosophy that forward-thinking design, service and guest experiences should be available across all market segments. Mr. Chatwal is also a renowned philanthropist, supporting countless charities at home and abroad.

Eric Duchon is a Managing Director and the Global Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate. As part of the Real Estate Asset Management team, he partners with the firm’s central ESG team and Portfolio Operations to initiate, manage, implement and report ESG initiatives across the global Real Estate portfolio.

Prior to joining Blackstone in November 2020, Mr. Duchon was at LaSalle Investment Management where he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability. Prior to LaSalle, Mr. Duchon spent over 9 years at Cushman & Wakefield as the Director of Sustainability Strategies.

Mr. Duchon received a BBA from Emory University – Goizueta Business School and a Masters in Real Estate Development Degree from New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Rachel Fine joined the Schwarzman Center at Yale University as executive director in October 2022 following her role as executive director and CEO of the Los Angeles-based Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts (2015-2022).

Rachel joined The Wallis in its first 18 months of operation, following the center’s 19-year capital campaign and building project to convert the historic Beverly Hills Post Office into a vibrant cultural hub and performing arts campus for Southern California. Together with the board of directors and leadership team, she established The Wallis, which serves Los Angeles County and Southern California, as a major player and leading cultural organization in Los Angeles' burgeoning arts scene; demonstrated unwavering dedication to diversity, equity, inclusion and access; built dynamic artistic partnerships and projects between The Wallis and Los Angeles' cultural organizations; launched and implemented a $55 million campaign, which more than doubled the organization's endowment and established a healthy cash reserve in the campaign's first year; and steered and managed The Wallis successfully through the pandemic.

Also a concert pianist, Rachel attended the Music Academy of the West as a student of Jerome Lowenthal and Eastman School of Music as a student of Anton Nel. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and recently received the Distinguished Alumna Award from UCI’s Claire Trevor School of the Arts. Other educational pursuits led her to Yale, where she studied musicology, and The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., where she was an arts management fellow.

Prior to her tenure at The Wallis, Rachel was executive director of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (2010-2015) and Los Angeles Children’s Chorus (2007-2010). In 2009, she founded and built the Los Angeles Children's Chorus' Young Men's Ensemble, a rare chorus for boys with changing voices, and which has toured the United States, Canada, Cuba, Vatican City, and Mexico City.

With the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Fine introduced and produced “Play Me, I'm Yours,” a citywide piano installation and community art project. She also conceived and produced Strad Fest, a weeklong international festival of Stradivarius violins. Additionally, Rachel has held leadership positions at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management, Aspen Music Festival, Santa Fe Opera, and The Juilliard School.

Rachel is happily married to Christopher Hawthorne, a writer who has served as the Chief Design Officer for the City of Los Angeles and architecture critic for the Los Angeles Times. Christopher is Senior Critic at the Yale School of Architecture, with a secondary appointment in English. Rachel and Christopher have two daughters.

Ken Frank is an associate partner at RAMSA. He has extensive experience in construction documentation and detailing for complex academic projects including Pauli Murray and Benjamin Franklin Colleges and the Schwarzman Center at Yale University. Ken is currently working on the renovation and expansion of the Minnesota State Office Building in St. Paul, Minnesota and leading the expansion of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

Kurt Glauber is an associate partner at RAMSA. His work includes two new residential colleges at Yale University and a LEED Gold-certified building for Harvard Law School, in addition to the law school’s master plan. He recently completed the restoration and adaptive reuse of the Schwarzman Center at Yale, a historic Carrère & Hastings’s building that was transformed into a social hub for the university’s students. Kurt is currently working on the expansion of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, designing a prominent campus gateway and a state-of-the-art home for the school’s programs in innovation and data science.

Stephen Green is the Executive Vice president and Chief Investment Officer for the NHP Foundation. Over the last eight years Mr. Green has overseen the doubling of NHPF’s portfolio which currently consists of 10,000 apartments in over 17 states and the District of Columbia. NHPF develops and owns affordable multifamily communities and provides site based resident services to many of these developments. His work at The NHP Foundation benefits from his extensive project financing experience including conventional financing, HUD-insured debt, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and tax-exempt bond financing. As Chief Operating Officer and Chief Investment Officer Mr. Green is responsible for a full range of activities of a national nonprofit affordable housing owner and developer.

His project management engagements have included market rate and affordable residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments. While working for former Mayor Anthony Williams, Mr. Green managed a portfolio of over 3B worth of public investment in a series of developments across the District of Columbia and was the architect of a significant piece of affordable housing legislation which coupled with his other responsibilities led to the financing of over 15,000 units of affordable and mixed income housing in the District of Columbia during a seven year period. In addition, Mr. Green was the principal negotiator of the agreement to bring the Washington Nationals baseball team to the District of Columbia and was responsible for the ballpark site selection and site acquisition.

Mr. Green has more than 40 years of experience in real estate and economic development projects in both the public and private sectors. He has worked effectively with a variety of public agencies, federal, state and local officials, and resident and community groups. He is currently the Chair of the District of Columbia Housing Finance Agency as well as his duties at NHPF.

Ms. Dara Kovel is the Chief Executive Officer of Beacon Communities LLC, a multifamily housing development, investment, ownership and management company with properties throughout New England, New York, and the mid-Atlantic.  The company currently owns over 150 communities with more than 18,000 units of housing, with a wide variety of affordable, mixed income and mixed-use projects.   Beacon has over 50 years of history creating and maintaining award-winning residential communities that serve a diverse cross-section of society that make enduring contributions to the vitality of the cities and towns where they are located. 

Dara began at Beacon in 2015 as President of Beacon Communities Development LLC, overseeing all development activities for Beacon Communities. Dara has been actively involved in the development of affordable housing her whole career. Prior to her joining Beacon, she was Vice President and Chief Housing Officer at the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority (CHFA) where she oversaw all multifamily lending and tax credit allocation activities, as well as the homeownership programs.

Before working at CHFA, Dara ran the New England office of Jonathan Rose Companies, a New York-based, green, real estate development and investment company.  Her previous work was with Mercy Housing California, where she ran the Southern California office and developed affordable housing throughout the state of California.  

Dara currently serves on the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center’s Workforce Housing Board and Boston Advisory Council, the CHAPA and Housing Navigator Boards in Massachusetts and formerly the Board of Dwight Hall at Yale.  She holds a BA and MBA from Yale University.

Mr. Lively is the Chief Executive Officer and President of The LCP Group, L.P. (LCP), where he is responsible for the execution of LCP’s investment strategies and oversees all aspects of business development, operations, and management of the firm’s diverse portfolio of real estate investments throughout the United States, including key sectors such as hospitality, multi family, residential, single tenant net leased properties, value add office properties, and land investments.

Mr. Lively also oversees LCP’s institutional capital relationships and its EB 5 program that raises capital from foreign investors to finance job creating development projects in the United States. Prior to LCP, Mr. Lively served as Vice President and Counsel at Landesbank Baden Württemberg (LBBW) where he led the restructuring and partial disposition of a $5 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 where he advised on complex commercial real estate transactions. Mr. Lively has been involved with structuring the financing of several marquee properties including Chelsea Market, Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago, Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, John Hancock Center (Chicago), and 230 Park Avenue New York. In total, Mr. Lively has led the negotiation of sales, financings and restructurings of over $10 billion in commercial real estate on behalf of several of the largest and most active investors and lenders in US commercial real estate.

Mr. Lively serves on the Advisory Board of Yale’s International Center for Finance (ICF) and is the Chair of the Yale Alumni Real Estate Association’s annual conference sponsored by the Yale ICF. Further, he is an alumni class representative at Yale School of Management and Fordham Preparatory School. Mr. Lively also started LCP’s student sponsorship program at Cristo Rey High School in New York City. Mr. Lively has a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, an M.B.A. from Yale School of Management, and a B.A. from Georgetown University.

Jorge Lopez is a Senior Associate at Hines, one of the largest privately held real estate investors and managers in the world. As part of the Global ESG team, Jorge seeks to create long-term value by reducing the environmental footprint of Hines’ business through workable, real-world solutions. He collaborates closely with the firm’s leadership to guide and execute the firm’s ESG strategy, lead regional and cross-functional initiatives, and track progress towards ESG goals and targets. Prior to joining Hines, Jorge garnered extensive experience at CodeGreen Solutions, a New York-based ESG consultancy, developing and managing ESG programs for major real estate investment management entities.  

Jorge is a Fulbright scholar with an Environmental Management Masters from Yale’s School of the Environment (’15).

Andrew Metrick is the Janet L. Yellen Professor of Finance and Management at the Yale School of Management (SOM) and the Director of the Yale Program on Financial Stability.  He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard in 1994, and a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Yale in 1989.  Prior to joining the Yale faculty in 2008, he held positions in the finance department at Wharton and the economics department at Harvard. In academic year 2009-10, he was on leave at the Council of Economic Advisers in Washington.  Upon returning to Yale, he served as the Deputy Dean of SOM from 2010 to 2016.

Professor Metrick’s current research and teaching is focused on financial stability, including the regulation of systemic risk, the activities of complex financial institutions, and the causes and consequences of the financial crisis of 2007-9.  His past work has been in financial intermediation more generally, with a focus on investment management and corporate governance.

Ms. Miller is co-owner, President, Managing Partner, and Head of Portfolio Management of Hillcrest Finance LLC, a New York City based real estate credit platform. In this capacity, she has oversight of the day-to-day operations of the Firm, as well as portfolio management responsibilities for Hillcrest’s investment vehicles.
Ms. Miller has 35 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining (in 2015) and re-launching (in 2017) Hillcrest, Ms. Miller was Managing Director at Rockwood Capital where she was responsible for business development, product strategy, capital raising, and investor relations. Previously, Ms. Miller held positions with notable real estate investment management firms including Global Managing Director of Trammell Crow Company's Global Services Group, Managing Partner of Investment Strategy with Hart Advisers, Inc., Vice President of Portfolio Management at J.P. Morgan Investment Management, Inc., Vice President of Marketing and Client Services with O'Connor Capital Partners, and Vice President in TIAA-CREF’s Mortgage and Real Estate Division.
Ms. Miller received a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science degree in Real Estate Investment, Finance, and Development from New York University.
She is a Counselor of Real Estate®, a member of the Pension Real Estate Association, a member of the WX, Inc. Board of Directors, and a RELPI community member. In addition, Ms. Miller is a member of Impart Media’s/Hive Wealth’s Board of Directors, The University of Virginia’s Architecture School Foundation Board of Directors, The University of Virginia’s Center for Real Estate and the Built Environment’s Board of Directors, and the Charter School Growth Fund’s Structured Finance Committee.

Lauren Brust Moss is the Senior Vice President – Chief Sustainability Officer at Vornado Realty Trust, where she oversees the Company’s industry-leading sustainability programs including initiatives focused on energy efficiency, green cleaning, waste diversion, technology and infrastructure, and healthy environments. Ms. Moss has more than 20 years of experience managing sustainability, energy and capital improvements for large-scale buildings and portfolios, and is recognized as an industry thought leader and advocate on green policy, regulation and compliance. Prior to joining Vornado, Ms. Moss was Senior Vice President at Adai, the administrator of the Fitwel certification program, and previously worked in the sustainability practices at engineering firms NORESCO and Steven Winter Associates. Ms. Moss is the Executive Vice President of the New York Energy Consumers Council. She earned an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and a master’s degree in Urban Planning from New York University.

Billy Rahm is a Partner and Senior Managing Director at Centerbridge. He leads the Firm’s global real estate investing activities and serves as a member of the Firm’s Management and Investment Committees. Prior to joining Centerbridge in 2006, Billy was a part of Blackstone’s Real Estate Private Equity Group, where he completed investments in lodging businesses and real assets. Billy currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Brixmor Property Group, Inc., Great Wolf Resorts, Inc. (and affiliated entities), Merit Hill Capital, Radius Global Infrastructure, Inc., and Suntex Marina Investors. He previously served on the Board of Directors of Extended Stay, Inc., Carefree Communities, Inc., and Kerzner International Resorts. He is also the Chair of the Board of Trustees of East Harlem Tutorial Program and East Harlem Scholars Academies. Billy graduated from Yale College and received his M.B.A. and J.D. from Harvard University.

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 at the CT State Pension funds, where she managed $2.5 billion in real estate investments in private equity funds, 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 managed a $600 million SRI real estate and a $50M venture capital 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. 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., and Chairs the Audit Committee; and has served on the Board of Directors for CREW DC, a women’s association that promotes women in the commercial real estate industry. Ms. Santos-Wuest was the recipient of the 2018 Vanguard Leader Award from the Council of Urban Real Estate. (CURE), for her work in fostering diversity and social equity in the Real Estate industry. 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.

Mr. Trausch is chief executive officer and chief investment officer of PIMCO Prime Real Estate (formerly Allianz Real Estate) and a managing director at PIMCO. He joined Allianz Real Estate from GE Capital Real Estate International, where he was CEO of the Asia Pacific division. Previously, he held positions at Tishman Speyer Properties and Goldman Sachs. Mr. Trausch holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a bachelor's degree from ESCP École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris.

Since 2021, Douglas Traynor has been CEO of Aareal Capital Corporation (“ACC”), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Germany-based international property lender, Aareal Bank.  Mr. Traynor co-founded ACC in 2006 to start the Bank’s North American lending activities. From 2006-2020 Doug was Head of Origination at ACC, where he was responsible for the closing of over $30 billion in new senior and subordinated loans in the office, hotel, retail, industrial and multifamily sectors of commercial real estate.  Prior to joining Aareal, Doug was a Head of Origination at Commerzbank, where he oversaw commercial real estate lending and syndication activities and originated over $12 billion in new loans. From 1991-1995 he was a loan originator and workout specialist at Westpac Banking Corporation.  Mr. Traynor began his career at Midlantic National Bank from 1987-1991.  Doug is a graduate of Fairfield University and has an MBA from Fordham University.

Miriam is head of the Global Real Estate Financing Group in Investment Banking. She is a member of the Firmwide Capital Committee. Previously, Miriam worked in Fixed Income, Currency and Commodities in Mortgage Sales. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 as an analyst and was named managing director in 2015 and partner in 2018. Miriam serves on the board of the New York Restoration Project, an organization responsible for bringing community gardens, parks and green space to New York. She also serves on the
Leadership Council for the East Harlem Tutorial Program. Miriam earned a BA, cum laude, in Ethics, Politics and Economics from Yale University in 2005.