Real Estate Symposium Steering Committee 2023

Michael Hyun is Managing Director, Chief Investment Officer of Crow Holdings where he is responsible for business development, M&A and strategic investment initiatives. He has been affiliated with the firm since 2019.

Prior to joining, Michael founded Graphene Group, an investment advisory platform partnering with a range of institutions and operators on investments, corporate strategy and capital raising. Prior to founding Graphene, Michael was the Chief Investment Officer, Executive Vice President at Brixmor Property Group (NYSE: BRX), the largest owner of grocery-anchored retail centers in the U.S. where he led investment strategy and portfolio management. Before joining Brixmor, Michael was an Executive Director on the investments team at Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing executing on investments across all real estate sectors and return strategies. Michael began his real estate career at Greenstreet Real Estate Partners, a boutique real estate private equity firm.

Michael earned his B.S. in Economics at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his M.B.A. degree from Columbia Business School, where he graduated with honors. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) member of the New York CFA Society and Horace Mann School Alumni Council.

Katie Pelczar joined Cascade Asset Management Company in 2020 to lead the Real Estate Investment team. Katie oversees real estate investment strategy, sourcing and execution across all property types and geographies. Prior to joining Cascade, Katie was an Executive Director in UBS’ Real Estate and Private Markets division. At UBS Katie closed more than $3 billion of real estate transactions, primarily on the East Coast. Katie is an active member of ULI and CREW. Katie received an MBA from Columbia Business School with a concentration in Real Estate Finance and graduated from Washington University in St Louis with a BA in French and Anthropology.

Edward is an entrepreneur with big-company skills and a start-up spirit. He started in the family construction business and went on to start two companies before graduating from college. He then spent a decade in the fertile training ground of General Electric as a corporate finance professional and private equity investor, from which 3i (a FTSE-100 company) recruited him to be the CFO of its North American division. His experiences span numerous industries and over ten countries.

In 2019, Steve joined with current partner Andy Nathan to form MCRE Partners. Steve and Andy met in 1999 as senior executives at Tishman Speyer and continued their working relationship after they left to start their own companies, ClearRock and Meritage, respectively. Steve co-founded ClearRock Properties in 2009 as a regional investor focused on acquiring, repositioning and operating under-performing assets in New York, Boston and Washington, DC. The company owned/operated 15 properties valued at $1.5bn, highlighted by the successful repositioning of 650 Madison Avenue with Carlyle leading to the highest sale price in the U.S. in 2013. Before ClearRock, Steve served 10 years as a Managing Director at Tishman Speyer, heading various functions including global leasing and asset management. He also served on the firm’s development committee and in the equity capital markets group. Before joining Tishman Speyer, Steve co-led the establishment of the Trizec office in New York. From 1997 to 1999 Trizec’s New York portfolio grew from zero to 8.5 million square feet. Preceding Trizec, Steve spent five years at LaSalle Partners where he led a landlord leasing and property management team in midtown and downtown Manhattan. Prior to business school, Steve worked as an institutional investment advisor at Colonial Consulting in New York City and a financial analyst at Electronic Data Systems in London, Dallas and Saginaw, MI.  Steve is active with New Heights, a not-for-profit that merges basketball and educational mentoring for elementary to high school kids.

Gentry Ashmore Hoit is the Chief Strategy Officer for ARK Homes For Rent. She runs the firm’s Capital Markets vertical and is focused on growing the business. She has an institutional background in CRE including capital markets, advisory, private equity, investment, and development. Formerly, she was CEO and Founder of GAH Real Estate LLC and a Senior Advisor to Finback Real Estate.

Prior to that, Gentry was a Partner and Head of Strategic Business Development at GreenOak Real Estate. Earlier, Gentry was at Park Madison Partners, Atlantic Assets Group, Rubenstein Partners, Shorenstein Company, and Hines. She holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA from Georgetown University.

Ines Leung is a managing director in EQT Exeter's Client Relations and Capital Raising group, responsible for all institutional investor coverage in the U.S. West and Latin America.  Prior to this role, Ms. Leung served as the Head of Investor Relations and Capital Markets at Sundance Bay and Argosy Real Estate Partners, where she led the investor relations and capital raising activities for a variety of middle market real estate equity and debt strategies. She has also held senior positions at GE Capital, Credit Suisse, and DTZ Rockwood, where she was involved in corporate strategy, business development, fundraising, and advisory services for real estate funds and ventures throughout North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia. Ms. Leung began her career at Cushman & Wakefield in the New York Metropolitan Area Capital Markets Group.

Ms. Leung holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and graduated from Cornell University with a BS in Design & Environmental Analysis. She currently serves as an advisory board member of Rainbow Capital Partners and Asians in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE), a regional board member of Women in Real Estate (WIRE), a member of Columbia Real Estate Circle, an EQT Sustainability Ambassador, and an active volunteer at a number of impact-driven philanthropic organizations. When not on the road capital raising, Ms. Leung spends her time on the mat as a RYT® 500.

Christopher Mayer is the Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate at Columbia Business School. His research explores a variety of topics in real estate and financial markets, including housing cycles, mortgage markets, debt securitization, and commercial real estate valuation. Dr. Mayer is also CEO of Longbridge Financial, an innovative reverse mortgage company focused on delivering responsible home equity products to older Americans to help finance retirement. Professor Mayer serves as a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Director of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, and a member of the Academic Advisory Boards for Standard and Poor's and the Housing Policy Center at the Urban Institute. His research has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

Dr. Mayer is active in the media and advising policymakers, testifying six times before committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, writing a paper for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, and authoring numerous op-ed articles in major publications. Dr. Mayer previously served as Senior Vice Dean at Columbia Business School and held positions at The Wharton School, the University of Michigan, Harvard Business School, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.  He earned a BS in Math and Economics from the University of Rochester with highest honors and a PhD in Economics from MIT.

Mark approaches executive recruitment with the energy of an entrepreneur. In 2020, he founded Maple Hill Search Partners with a select group of real estate clients, sharing his vision of a boutique executive search firm that offered more nimble, focused and personalized services than larger shops. Previously, Mark served for a decade as a Managing Director of a global retained executive search firm, overseeing business development and client management for more than 150 searches. Mark started his career as a capital raiser, cultivating $1 billion in growth capital for his clients. It was here that he first developed the entrepreneurial mindset that boutique firms provide a stronger value proposition, where focus, attention, trust and substance matter most—a mindset that would later evolve into his vision for the firm. Mark holds degrees from Georgetown and Columbia Business School. He lives in Glencoe, IL and is married with two boys. His passions include travel, nature, ice hockey, and fishing.

Tom Ortinau is the Head of Acquisitions and Investment Management at GFP Real Estate where he advises the Gural family on investment, capital markets, asset management, leasing and development activities. 

Since Tom joined GFP in 2014, the firm has acquired and developed 13 properties comprising 3.7 million square feet.  These initiatives have broadened the firm’s mandate from existing class B office properties to also include the redevelopment and ground-up development of rental housing, student housing, industrial, and life science.  Tom also helps the Gural family handle its legacy properties undergoing transition.

Prior to joining GFP Real Estate, Tom was a member of the US Transactions team at PGIM Real Estate where he handled investments across asset types, risk profiles and areas of the capital structure.  Tom started his career at WSP Group handling property design and construction activities in New York.

Tom has a BS Architectural Engineering from the University of Kansas, MS in Construction Management from New York University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.  Tom serves on the board of NYPEN Real Estate and is a member of the Real Estate Circle at Columbia Business School.  Tom also teaches real estate investing to graduate students at the Schack Institute of Real Estate at NYU.

Benjamin Schwartz is a Columbia Business School Class of 2022 alum, member of the Real Estate Circle, and serves as an MBA Alumni Ambassador. This is his second year being a part of the Real Estate Symposium Committee. Benjamin is now working on the capital markets team at Bridge Investment Group, focused on all verticals. Prior to Bridge Investment Group, he worked at WS Development based in Boston, MA for 6.5 years. Benjamin still splits his time between New York City and Boston.

Scott Shapiro is the Managing Director of Eagle Rock Ventures LLC and President of ERV Realty Inc. Before returning to his home state of Washington from New York, Scott was with Related Urban Development (formerly The Palladium Company) and Related Lodging Group, real estate development affiliates of The Related Companies, L.P. Prior to that, Scott co-founded Cityfeet, a leading online commercial real estate network that was sold to LoopNet.

While in business school, Scott was a financial analyst at MAX Capital Management Corporation, handling real estate acquisitions and financings. He was also a summer associate at Paine Webber Real Estate Securities, providing principal lending and investments for opportunity funds and other real estate clients.

Before attending graduate school, Scott worked in Washington, DC, conducting property management and marketing at The JBG Companies, management and strategic consulting with KPMG, and government affairs and policy analysis with Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds. Scott received his BA with honors in government and American studies from Wesleyan University and his MBA in real estate and finance from Columbia Business School where he currently serves as an Executive in Residence.

Mr. Sherman is Senior Advisor and Chairman of the Investment Committee at BGO Strategic Capital Partners (formerly Metropolitan Real Estate), a real estate investment management business that he co-founded in 2002 and of which he served as President through 2018. (Metropolitan became part of the Investment Solutions Division of The Carlyle Group in 2013 and was acquired by BentallGreenOak in 2021). In addition, Mr. Sherman is Co-Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate and an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business Administration. Mr. Sherman has more than 35 years of real estate investment, finance and analytical experience.

Previously Mr. Sherman held positions in real estate finance, investment banking, research, consulting, and strategic planning at D. Sherman & Company, Smith Barney, The Harlan Company, First Boston, and Paine Webber. Over the years, Mr. Sherman has published numerous articles in periodicals including American Banker, PREA Quarterly, Shopping Center Business, and National Real Estate Investor.

Mr. Sherman received an A.B. in Mathematical Economics (magna cum laude) from Brown University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia Business School.

Kristin Svenningsen is the Managing Director of the Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. Prior to her appointment at Columbia Business School in 2014, Kristin spent several years working in commercial real estate for SL Green Realty Corp (SLG), focusing primarily on tenant and building operations, managing all occupied and unoccupied office space for the SL Green wholly owned subsidiary, Emerge212 Boutique Office space; supervising expansion and development of new Emerge212 Centers, and overseeing 200+ tenant relationships across a myriad of industries.  While still at SL Green, she was able to redirect her focus to marketing and sales; building brand recognition, generating new business opportunities and leasing over 150,000 sq. ft. of office space, comprised over 250 individual offices.  Concurrently, Kristin received her M.A. in Higher and Post-Secondary Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. She earned a duel B.A. in Mass Communication and Theatre from Towson University, and in the years prior to her career in real estate, worked in the entertainment industry as a casting professional for Broadway and Off-Broadway Theatre (Manhattan Theatre Club and Second Stage Theatre) as well as Network Television (Showtime and The CW).

Mr. Talbert is a Managing Partner of The Shidler Group, where he is responsible for acquisitions and developing new investment initiatives, including The Shidler Group’s multifamily, net-lease, and hotel investment platforms. Since joining The Shidler Group in 2013, Mr. Talbert has played a key role in the acquisition of over $3.8 billion of commercial real estate comprised of over 4,400 apartment homes, 2,000 hotel rooms, and four million square feet of office. 

Mr. Talbert was previously a Managing Director with Chatham Financial where he co-founded the firm’s real estate investment banking group. In this role, Mr. Talbert executed capital raising and structured finance assignments in excess of $5 billion. Mr. Talbert also founded Chatham’s commercial defeasance practice and executed over $100 billion in interest rate and foreign currency trades to hedge client risks. 

Mr. Talbert earned a BS in Industrial Engineering with Honors from The Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.