Yale Real Estate Conference 2025

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is the Senior Associate Dean for Leadership Studies and Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice at the Yale School of Management, as well as founder and president of the Chief Executive Leadership Institute, a nonprofit educational and research institute focused on CEO leadership and corporate governance. He previously served as full tenured professor at Emory's Goizueta Business School for a decade and a professor at the Harvard Business School for a decade.

Professor Sonnenfeld's related research has been published in 100 scholarly articles which appeared in the leading academic journals in management. He has also authored eight books, including The Hero's Farewell, an award-winning study of CEO succession, and another best seller, Firing Back, a study on leadership resilience in the face of adversity.

He is now a member of the board of Lennar, the leading American homebuilder, as well as IEX, Atlas Merchant Capital, and the Ellis Island Honor Society. Professor Sonnenfeld was appointed by Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont to serve as co-chair of Advance CT, where he helped lead the state’s economic development, including attracting and retaining leading global businesses and developing the state’s workforce. Sonnenfeld also serves on the Board of Directors of Connecticut Innovations, which is focused on building the innovation and business ecosystem within the state of Connecticut.

Bethany McLean is an author and journalist. She is a columnist at the Washington Post, and a contributing editor at Vanity Fair. Previously, she was an editor-at-large at Fortune who helped expose the Enron scandal. Her books include The Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, co-authored with Peter Elkind, —which was turned into the Academy Award-nominated documentary of the same name—and All the Devils are Here: The Hidden History of the Financial Crisis, and The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Shows About Who America Helps and Who It Leaves Behind, both co-authored with Joe Nocera. She has also published two mini books, one on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and one on fracking, with Columbia Global Reports. McLean spent three years as an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs.

Stuart Miller is Executive Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Lennar Corporation (NYSE:LEN), one of the nation’s largest homebuilders. He is also a member of Lennar’s Board of Directors.

Mr. Miller joined Lennar after graduating from the University of Miami Law School in 1982, serving in various capacities for the Company’s Homebuilding Division and former Investment and Commercial Properties Division. From 1991 to October 1997, Mr. Miller was the President of both business segments and the primary force behind their growth and success during that time. He became CEO of Lennar in April 1997 until he assumed his current role as Executive Chairman in April 2018.

On October 31, 1997, Lennar Corporation spun off its commercial real estate investment, financial, and management activities into LNR Property Corporation, a separately listed NYSE company. Mr. Miller served as Chairman of the Board of LNR until its sale in February 2005.

In March 2000, Mr. Miller joined the Board of Directors of Builder Homesite, Inc., a consortium of homebuilders nationwide who represented $46 billion in gross revenue for 2001 and built over 203,000 homes in 340 communities across the continental United States. He is the past Chairman of the Joint Center for Housing Studies Policy Advisory Board at Harvard University, a founding Board Member of the Leading Builders of America and a member of the Business Rountable.

Mr. Miller serves as Executive Chairman of the Five Point Holdings Board of Directors. He is past Chairman and current Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Miami and Chairman of the UHealth Board of Directors. He served on the Board of Directors of Doma Holding and served as Director of the Alonzo Mourning Charities and Director of The Overtown Youth Center. He was Chairman of the 2013 Dolphins Cycling Challenge benefitting the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center and is a member of the Miami Dolphins Foundation.

He received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University.

Eric Willett is the Managing Director of RCLCO’s management consulting practice. Eric brings extensive experience in strategic planning and organizational improvement to projects that interface with client teams at all points in the corporate development lifecycle. His collaboration with executive teams has resulted in transformational strategies for real estate companies across all industry sectors and a range of global markets.

More broadly, Eric regularly contributes innovative client-focused research and solutions across industry topics including risk management, alternative investment structures, and evolving consumer demographics. He is a frequent speaker and panelist at industry events and is regularly cited as a commercial real estate expert by national and regional media. His research has been featured in the The Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, among others.

Eric is adjunct professor of Business Economics at the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business where he leads a course on commercial real estate strategy. In addition, Eric serves on the Executive Committee of USC’s Lusk Center for Real Estate. Eric previously worked as the Director of Research and Thought Leadership at CBRE, where he oversaw the delivery of forward-looking insights spanning all major property sectors.

In his free time, Eric enjoys hiking with his dog, visiting postmodern architecture icons, and scouring used bookstores for rare urbanism books.

Marshall Boyd is Co-President and CIO of Interstate Equities Corporation (IEC). Founded in 1981, IEC is a fully integrated apartment investment fund based in Los Altos with >$1 billion in equity under management. He leads investments and capital formation as CIO. As a member of the Executive Investment Committee, Mr. Boyd is involved in property acquisition, financing, asset management and repositioning. During his tenure at IEC, Mr. Boyd has held the roles of Institutional Investment Manager, Vice President and President. IEC invests on behalf of its comingled fund series and manages all its west coast apartment assets in-house. Prior to joining IEC, Mr. Boyd worked on the investment team at TA Associates, a private equity fund with $25 billion under management. Prior to this he worked in investment banking at Credit Suisse First Boston. Marshall holds a degree in Economics with a minor in Spanish from Middlebury College, where he was the Captain of the men’s Cross-Country team. Mr. Boyd is Vice Chair of ULI’s Multifamily Silver Council, a member of The Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and lectures at Haas Business School. Marshall is an open water swimmer, Ironman, ultramarathoner and up for any anything outdoors that involves discomfort.

Bryan Kam serves as the President of University Partners and oversees key business functions and drives strategic growth of the Company. Prior to University Partners, Bryan was a Director at global investment firm KKR & Co, Inc., where he spent a decade, leading over $4bn of transactions across student housing, multifamily and other real estate sectors. Prior to KKR, he was at Goldman Sachs in the real estate investment banking division. Bryan has a B.A. in Political Science, magna cum laude, from Yale University.

Todd Nicotra is the Vice President of Development and head of the Denver office of AvalonBay Communities. Todd is responsible for sourcing and overseeing new development opportunities for AvalonBay in Metro Denver. Todd has been developing apartments with AvalonBay since joining the company in 2012. Before moving to Colorado and opening the Denver office, Todd managed new multifamily developments for AvalonBay in Connecticut and suburban New York. Prior to working in development for AvalonBay, Todd was an Associate Director of Acquisitions and Asset Management for UBS Realty Investors. Todd earned an undergraduate degree from Dartmouth College in 1997 and an MBA from Yale University’s School of Management in 2009.

Dale Watchowski is President and CEO of REDICO, where he has led the company’s growth to a portfolio exceeding $3 billion and 19 million square feet nationwide. With over 30 years of real estate experience, he brings deep expertise in acquisitions, development, capital markets, and operations. Prior to REDICO, he served as Chief Investment Officer at Kojaian Companies and held senior roles at major financial institutions including Travelers/Citigroup, HSBC, and J.P. Morgan Chase.

In addition to REDICO, Mr. Watchowski is CEO of American House Senior Living Communities, one of the country’s largest senior housing operators, and CEO of Continuum Services, a facilities management firm. He is also an owner and board member of AQUIS, a national leader in air handling system refurbishment.

Mr. Watchowski serves on several boards, including Argentum, ASHA, the Pope Francis Center, and the Community Foundation for Southeast Michigan. His leadership has earned numerous accolades, including EY Entrepreneur of the Year, for REDICO and American House, Crain’s Detroit Business Newsmaker of the Year, and DBusiness Top 500.

Mr. Arougheti is a Co-Founder, the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Ares Management Corporation. He is a member of the Ares Operating Committee, the Ares Enterprise Risk Committee and is on the Board of Directors of the Ares Charitable Foundation. Prior to joining Ares in 2004, Mr. Arougheti was employed by Royal Bank of Canada from 2001 to 2004, where he was a Managing Partner of the Principal Finance Group of RBC Capital Partners and a member of the firm's Mezzanine Investment Committee. Mr. Arougheti joined RBC in October 2001 from Indosuez Capital, where he was a Principal and an Investment Committee member, responsible for originating, structuring and executing leveraged transactions across a broad range of products and asset classes. Mr. Arougheti also serves on the board of directors of Operation HOPE, a not-for-profit organization focused on expanding economic opportunity in underserved communities through education and empowerment. Additionally, he is a member of the PATH Organization Leadership Council. Mr. Arougheti received a B.A. in Ethics, Politics and Economics, cum laude, from Yale University.

Francis Lively is Chief Executive Officer and President of The LCP Group, L.P. (LCP), a New York–based private real estate investment manager with approximately $1 billion in assets under management. He is responsible for executing the firm’s investment strategies and oversees all aspects of business development, operations, and portfolio management across its platform, which spans hospitality, golf, early-education, and net-lease. He also leads capital formation and programmatic partnerships with top-tier institutional investors across its equity and credit strategies, and oversees the EB-5 platform, which has raised more than $550 million across 18 projects to finance job-creating U.S. development.

Prior to joining 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 of new loan originations. Before LBBW, he practiced law at Shearman & Sterling LLP, advising on complex commercial real estate transactions. Over the course of his career, he has been involved with structuring the financing of several marquee properties, including Chelsea Market; The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas; the John Hancock Center (Chicago); 230 Park Avenue (New York); Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago; and Trump International Hotel Las Vegas. In total, Mr. Lively has led negotiations for sales, financings, and restructurings exceeding $10 billion on behalf of some of the largest and most active investors and lenders in U.S. commercial real estate.

Mr. Lively serves on the Advisory Board of Yale’s International Center for Finance (ICF), previously chaired the Yale Real Estate Conference, and is an alumni class representative at the Yale School of Management. He also sits on the Board of Trustees of Fordham Preparatory School and founded LCP’s student sponsorship program at Cristo Rey High School in New York City.

He holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management, and a B.A. from Georgetown University.

Carey Doyle is a Managing Director, Capital Formation, at Pennybacker. Carey is responsible for developing and furthering relationships with The Firm's prospective and existing limited partners across the eastern United States and Canada.

Carey has 15 years of commercial real estate experience with a focus on private equity real estate and real assets capital formation, fundraising, and investor coverage across the United States. Prior to joining Pennybacker, Carey was a Director within Lazard’s Private Capital Advisory group in New York where she advised clients on fundraising for infrastructure and real estate private equity funds. Prior to Lazard, Carey held roles at Cushman & Wakefield, Macquarie, Park Madison Partners, and Sinvin Real Estate.

Carey received her BA from the University of Virginia and her MBA from the Yale School of Management. Carey serves on the iMentor Young Executive Board and is a volunteer with the organization.

Robert Kohn is a Managing Partner at Park Madison Partners and serves on the Executive Committee. He is focused on capital formation, strategic advisory services, and client management. He has over 24 years of finance experience in real estate and banking. 

Rob re-joined Park Madison Partners in 2016, having previously been with the firm from 2011-2013. Prior to re-joining Park Madison Partners, Rob was a Senior Vice President at Akridge where he was responsible for sourcing and structuring joint venture partnerships with industry-leading institutional investment firms. He also acted as a senior advisor to one of the largest privately owned private equity real estate firms in Europe providing them with strategic advice on capital formation with a focus on North American investors. 

Rob has extensive international business experience, having lived and worked in both Europe and Asia.

Rob earned his B.S. from Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Ira Shaw is a Partner at Arctos Partners. In addition to his investment responsibilities, Mr. Shaw directs the investment strategy, sourcing, execution and management of Keystone Real Assets.

Prior to joining Arctos Partners, he launched and co-led the Parter Solutions Investment program at Crow Holdings. The strategy provided customized liquidity solutions to property operators, developers, and real estate fund sponsors, offering investors unique access into the real estate sector. Mr. Shaw designed and executed the strategy, capital formation, and business management for Partner Solutions.

Prior to Crow Holdings, Mr. Shaw was a Partner and member of the real estate investment committee at Landmark Partners, a market leader in the real estate, private equity, and infrastructure secondaries sector, where he worked closely with other senior members of the Arctos team. At Landmark, Mr. Shaw helped lead the growth of the real estate secondaries platform, managed real estate investment resources, and structured and negotiated real estate secondary acquisitions and preferred equity financings. At Landmark Partners, Mr. Shaw helped develop innovative transaction solutions and structures that addressed managers’ specific goals, while part of a team that sourced and executed transactions representing more than $5 billion in value.

Prior to that, Mr. Shaw was a member of the Direct Investments team at AEW Capital Management where he invested across property types and geographies on behalf of AEW’s core and value funds and accounts. Mr. Shaw was also, previously, a Director in CIBC’s Asset Securitization Group, where he structured securitization transactions.

Mr. Shaw graduated from Haverford College, where he received a BA in Philosophy. He received his MBA from the Yale School of Management.

Andrew Silberstein is Managing Director at Almanac Realty. He is a member of Almanac’s investment committee and is responsible for the origination, structuring and management of the investments of Almanac’s funds. Mr. Silberstein currently serves on the boards of CIP Real Estate, L3 Capital, PREP Property Group, Claros Mortgage Trust and Davlyn Investments. He has also served on the boards of NRES Holdings, RXR Realty, Welsh Property Trust, Winter Properties, WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:WIR), RAIT Financial Trust (NYSE: RAS), Westcore Properties and Slate Asset Management. Prior to joining Almanac in 2009, he served as the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer for Stoltz Real Estate and during the same period established AMS Real Estate Partners. Prior to that, he worked in real estate investment banking and private equity, first at Bear Stearns and then Morgan Stanley. He has been a member of National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, the Urban Land Institute and ICSC. Mr. Silberstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 and received an M.B.A. in 1995 from New York University Stern School of Business where he was a Glucksman Fellow.

Mike O’Malley serves as Executive Director and Interim Faculty Director of the Notre Dame Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate. Mike's dual role allows him to focus on external engagement with leaders from the real estate industry, including Notre Dame alumni, parents, and friends, and also lead FIRE's academic growth. In addition, Mike is an Associate Professor of the Practice at Notre Dame, teaching courses on Real Estate Private Equity and International Real Estate Capital markets (offered in London), and serving as the faculty advisor for Real Estate Club of Dame, the undergraduate real estate club, and Fighting Irish Real Estate, the MBA real estate club.

Prior to Notre Dame, Mike was a Senior Principal at Pennybacker Capital, a real estate private equity firm headquartered in Austin, Texas. Mike served as the firm’s COO, CFO, and CCO and led the Capital Formation team’s efforts to develop and foster relationships with the firm’s existing and prospective limited partners, and was a member of the firm’s Investment Committee for 15 years. Mike was instrumental in designing and directing the firm’s operational, commercial, and financial strategies as the firm grew from start-up to a multi-strategy investment manager with over $4 billion in assets under management.

Prior to Pennybacker, Mike served as COO and CFO of VisionWeb, also leading its business development initiatives. Under his leadership, the firm closed six private equity placements and grew from fledgling status to a global services provider with over 400 partner affiliations. Early in his career, Mike was an auditor with Price Waterhouse and later a financial restructuring consultant with Ernst & Young Capital Advisors, now Macquarie Capital USA.

Mike graduated cum laude with degrees in Accountancy and Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame, received an MBA with highest honors from McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, and is a Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) and the Collegiate Real Estate Executive Directors (CREED), and serves on investment committees and boards for several not-for-profit and philanthropic organizations.

Hara Perkins, a real estate attorney and Director at Goulston & Storrs, has helped structure city-transforming real estate transactions, including NYC's Essex Crossing (on the public side) and Cornell Tech’s Roosevelt Island Campus (on the private side). Her consensus-building approach delivers long-term value to her clients and involves lasting relationships through joint ventures, ground leases or condominium regimes. She serves as head of Goulston & Storrs’ New York Office and is a member of the firm's Executive Committee. She co-chairs Yale AREA.

Stani Iordanova is a Senior Director at Integrated Design Cubed (IDCUBED) and Principal at Peter Rose + Partners (PR+P), where she leads teams through all phases of design and construction. Her work centers on innovative, sustainable buildings that balance environmental responsibility with complex constraints. Stani has been a leader in the mass timber initiatives at PR+P and IDCUBED, a North American company working in collaboration with European partners with expertise in the construction of modular mass timber housing and schools. She played a central role in the Knight Building, North America’s first large-scale modular mass timber project. Her portfolio spans award-winning residential, masterplanning, educational, and retail projects. Stani holds a Master of Architecture from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

Peter Rose, the Founding Partner of Boston-based Peter Rose + Partners, is a recognized leader in the architectural design profession. Rose has received numerous awards for his residential, institutional, and urban projects, with work ranging from large urban design projects such as the Old Port of Montreal Waterfront Master Plan to architectural projects such as the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Rose received his BA and MArch from Yale University, and has taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design for more than 20 years. Rose is also a co-founder of Integrated Design Cubed (IDCUBED), an integrated team of designers, fabricators, and contractors, who are revolutionizing the process of constructing buildings in North America via a game-changing industrialized construction process – using modular mass timber and software – to deliver high-quality, sustainable buildings, on-time and on-budget.

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. 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 currently serves as Vice-Chair and Board Trustee for the NHP Foundation, a Non-Profit development company that creates and preserves housing for low- to moderate-income families and seniors, with offices in DC and NYC; and 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.

Jim Costello is the Executive Director at MSCI Research. He co-heads the real-assets research team, with responsibility for the Americas. He is the principal author of capital-markets research and a frequent speaker at industry events. At Real Capital Analytics, which MSCI acquired in 2021, Jim was a leader for U.S. research. He spent two decades at Torto Wheaton Research working on issues of real estate risk and forecasting. Jim is a member of The Counselors of Real Estate and served a term as a member of the Commercial Board of Governors of the Mortgage Bankers Association.

Sue Kolasa, CFA, is Portfolio Manager for Strategic Property Fund, J.P. Morgan Asset Management's flagship core real estate fund. She is involved in all aspects of managing the $40B portfolio's investments, positioning, strategy, balance sheet and client base.

Will McIntosh is the founder and CEO of ArcBridge Research Group an institutional real estate and real assets consulting firm. Prior to founding ArcBridge, he served as the Global Head of Research for Affinius Capital (formerly USAA Real Estate Company) and was responsible for helping develop commercial real estate investment strategy and managing in-house research with the objective of informing and enhancing the real estate investment process. Will’s experience in real estate spans over 30 years with the last 13 at Affinius Capital.

Will has served as Head of Global Research for the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s (ADIA’s) Real Estate Department where he was responsible for helping develop ADIA’s global real estate investment strategy and building and leading a real estate research platform. Prior to joining ADIA, Will served as the Chief Investment Officer of Fund Evaluation Group (FEG), and was responsible for investment strategy and manager analysis. Prior to joining FEG, Will was Professor of Finance and Dean of the College of Business at the University of Cincinnati, responsible for overseeing the education of approximately 3,200 undergraduate and graduate students and a faculty and staff of 150.

Over the years, Will has also served in leadership positions with such notable firms as ING Real Estate, AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., Prudential Real Estate Investors (PREI), and MIG Realty Advisors. Additionally, Will has served as President of the Real Estate Research Institute (RERI) and on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) and the International Real Estate Society (IRES). He has served on the Investor Council of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and on the Advisory Boards of several university real estate centers.

Will is a past President of the American Real Estate Society and is a Fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute. He has served as a Co-Editor of the Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management and has published numerous articles in leading real estate professional and academic journals.

Will is the 2017 winner of the James A. Graaskamp award given by the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) in recognition of high-quality research in institutional investment in real estate. He received his Ph.D. in Finance and Real Estate from the University of North Texas (1987), his MBA with a concentration in Real Estate from Eastern Kentucky University (1979), and his BS in Business Education from the same institution (1977). He is a graduate of the School of Mortgage Banking of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America and served as a Faculty Fellow. He is also a graduate of the Management and Leadership in Education Program, Harvard Institute for Higher Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (May 2006).

Christopher Cayten is Senior Director at CodeGreen, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City supporting over 600 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. He has worked with numerous city governments since 2009 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.

Jonathan Flaherty is the Managing Director, Global Head of Sustainability and Building Technologies New York at Tishman Speyer. Jonathan joined Tishman Speyer in 2007 and is responsible for the firm's evolving sustainability strategy. This includes property and fund sustainability certifications, communication with current and future investors, worldwide performance tracking, energy procurement strategy, building technology innovation, diligence in alternative green investments, and execution of the firm's commitment to Net Zero by 2050. He is also working with the firm's joint venture, Breakthrough Properties, in creating their ESG strategy in the life science sector. Jonathan joined Tishman Speyer as part of the Leadership Development Program and has held various roles with the company, including in New York Asset Management and Portfolio Management. Prior to joining the firm, he worked as a legislative aide for Senator Schumer in Washington, D.C. Jonathan is the chair of the board of directors for the Building Energy Exchange, the co-chair of the REBNY Sustainability Committee, the secretary-treasurer of the board of the Green Building Certification Institute and is on the board of the New York Energy Consumers Council. He holds a BA in political science from Kenyon College, and an MBA and MSUP from Columbia University.

Laura Popa serves as the Deputy Commissioner of Sustainability at the Department of Buildings, where she leads the Bureau of Sustainability’s efforts to help New York City achieve its climate goals through emissions reductions, energy efficiency, and the just transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy systems. In this role, Laura works with her team to implement sustainability laws including Local Law 97, landmark legislation that requires significant carbon emissions reductions from the city’s largest buildings.

Prior to her work in the executive, Laura oversaw the development of legislation and policy at the New York City Council, where she directed the Council’s efforts to enact legislation supporting citywide greenhouse gas emissions limits, the institutionalization of long-term sustainability and resiliency planning, the circular economy, the expansion of clean and renewable energy, and environmental justice. She also served on numerous advisory boards and task forces and was a member of the Mayor’s Commission on Gender Equity.

Laura earned her B.A. from New York University and her J.D. from Fordham Law School.

Khaled W. Kudsi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sterling Investors, has been an active institutional real estate investor for over 20 years. Mr. Kudsi serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee and approves all of Sterling's commitments.

Prior to founding Sterling Investors in 2020, Mr. Kudsi was at Northwood Investors. Mr. Kudsi joined Northwood Investors in 2010 and served as a Senior Managing Director from 2013 and then as Head of Acquisitions from 2017 until his departure in 2019. Mr. Kudsi was a voting member of the firm's three-person Investment Committee and a Key Executive of certain Northwood Funds.

Prior to joining Northwood Investors, Mr. Kudsi was a Principal in the Real Estate team at The Blackstone Group for over nine years and was based out of London and New York.

Mr. Kudsi received a B.Sc. in Computer Science, with Honors, from King's College of London in 2000.

Cole Weston is Director at the Yale Investments Office. He joined Yale Investments in August 2023 and focuses on the Endowment’s real estate portfolio. Cole graduated from Yale College in 2013 with a BA in Economics and received his MBA from Harvard Business School in 2020. Previously, he worked in real estate investing across capital structures and various real estate sectors at Morgan Stanley and Dune Real Estate Partners. Most recently, Cole worked at KKR where he was a Principal on the real estate equity team.

Christopher Cayten is Senior Director at CodeGreen, a leading sustainability and energy efficiency consulting firm based in New York City supporting over 600 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. He has worked with numerous city governments since 2009 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.

Carey Doyle is a Managing Director, Capital Formation, at Pennybacker. Carey is responsible for developing and furthering relationships with The Firm's prospective and existing limited partners across the eastern United States and Canada.

Carey has 15 years of commercial real estate experience with a focus on private equity real estate and real assets capital formation, fundraising, and investor coverage across the United States. Prior to joining Pennybacker, Carey was a Director within Lazard’s Private Capital Advisory group in New York where she advised clients on fundraising for infrastructure and real estate private equity funds. Prior to Lazard, Carey held roles at Cushman & Wakefield, Macquarie, Park Madison Partners, and Sinvin Real Estate.

Carey received her BA from the University of Virginia and her MBA from the Yale School of Management. Carey serves on the iMentor Young Executive Board and is a volunteer with the organization.