Center Leadership
David Sherman
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.
Kristin Svenningsen
Kristin Svenningsen is the Managing Director for The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. Prior to joining the Business School in August 2014, Kristin was a Leasing and Marketing Manager for Emerge212, SL Green Realty as well as an Operations Manager. She holds an M.A. from Teachers College and an M.S. in Mass Communication and Theater from Towson University. Kristin was born in Old Bridge, New Jersey and was raised in Manalapan.
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh
Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh is the Earle W. Kazis and Benjamin Schore Professor of Real Estate and Professor of Finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Business, which he joined in July 2018 after 15 years at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He earned his PhD in Economics (2003), MSc in Financial Mathematics (2001), and MA in Economics (2001) from Stanford University, and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Ghent, Belgium (1998).
Center Staff
Alexa Hammel
Alexa Hammel is the Senior Associate Director of Programs and Operations at The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate. Prior to joining the Business school in August 2024, Alexa was the Senior Associate Director of Partnerships at Barnard College. She holds an M.A. in Higher and Postsecondary Education from Teachers College and a B.A. in Psychology from Barnard College. Alexa is originally from Long Island, NY and currently resides on the UWS.
Professors Emeriti
Christopher Mayer
Christopher Mayer is the Paul Milstein Professor Emeritus 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.
Executives in Residence
M. Leanne Lachman
M. Leanne Lachman is president of Lachman Associates, an independent real estate consulting company. Previously, Ms. Lachman spent 13 years as a partner at Schroder Real Estate Associates, a boutique real estate manager that was acquired by Lend Lease, a global institutional investment manager, where she spent four years. Her early career was with Real Estate Research Corporation, where she served as chief executive officer. A highly sought after speaker and widely published author of books and articles on the real estate industry, Ms.
Scott E. Shapiro '99
Scott E. Shapiro '99 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.
Real Estate Faculty
Boaz Abramson
Boaz Abramson is an assistant professor in the finance division at Columbia Business School. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 2022, and holds a MA and BA from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Brian Lancaster
Brian P. Lancaster is a Senior Lecturer in the Discipline of Finance at the Columbia Business School. Professor Lancaster teaches the following courses: Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Debt Markets, Residential Real Estate Finance: Dirt, Debt and Derivatives, Capital Markets and Investments, Real Estate Entrepreneurship, and Debt Markets in the MBA, EMBA, PhD and MS&E programs. Professor Lancaster received the Robert. W.
Tomasz Piskorski
Tomasz Piskorski is the Edward S. Gordon Professor of Real Estate in the Finance Division at Columbia Business School. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and serves on the Academic Research Council of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Professor Piskorski earned a M.S. in Mathematics from New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences and a Ph.D. in Economics from New York University Stern School of Business.
Parinitha Sastry
Professor Parinitha (Pari) Sastry is an assistant professor of finance at Columbia Business School. Her research focuses on climate change, financial intermediation, and real-estate markets. She received her B.A. from Columbia University and her finance Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has worked previously at the Department of Treasury, Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures, Brookings Institution, and New York Fed.
Adjunct Real Estate Faculty
Benjamin Atkins
Over his twenty-five year career in real estate, Professor Atkins has worked at the highest levels of institutional real estate as well as being a successful multi-strategy real estate investor. He has consummated the purchase and development of properties with a gross asset value in excess of $1 billion.
Ivo Servandus De Wit
Ivo de Wit is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow at Columbia Business School and has been a visiting lecturer at University of Cambridge, New York University, MIT, University of Connecticut and University of Northern Carolina.
Ivo is a Managing Director at CBRE Global Investors and has over 20 years of real estate investment experience across the world. He has been the Fund Manager of the core+ global flag ship fund of CBRE Global Investors since inception which grew to $5Bn+ of equity.
Ronald Kravit
Mr. Kravit is currently a Senior Managing Director at Cerberus Capital Management on the Supply Chain and Strategic Opportunities team, which invests in businesses driving next-generation technologies and capabilities that advance supply chain integrity and national security. Mr. Kravit is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business at Columbia Business School and teaches the Real Estate Distressed Investing course.
David Sherman
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.
Ross Smotrich
Ross L. Smotrich joined Barclays in September 2008 and is currently a managing director and senior research analyst responsible for the US real estate investment trust (REIT) and real estate securities sectors. Previously, Mr. Smotrich joined Lehman Brothers in June 2008 after 10 years as a senior managing director at Bear Stearns and four years as a senior equity analyst at Merrill Lynch.
Staff Officers of Research
Research Affiliates
Ivo Servandus De Wit
Ivo de Wit is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Fellow at Columbia Business School and has been a visiting lecturer at University of Cambridge, New York University, MIT, University of Connecticut and University of Northern Carolina.
Ivo is a Managing Director at CBRE Global Investors and has over 20 years of real estate investment experience across the world. He has been the Fund Manager of the core+ global flag ship fund of CBRE Global Investors since inception which grew to $5Bn+ of equity.