NYU Stern and NYU Law
Student Real Estate Conference
Powering the Future

PLATINUM SPONSOR

GOLD SPONSOR

JOIN US - FRIDAY
SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2024

LOCATION
Rosenthal Pavilion
Kimmel Center, 60 Washington Square S,
New York, NY 10012

AUDIENCE
Public

SPONSORSHIP
For more information on sponsorship opportunities,
please email Stern Real Estate Club
reclub@stern.nyu.edu

CONTACT
ran.zheng@stern.nyu.edu

KEYNOTE:

rob naso

Rob Naso is a Managing Partner and Head of U.S. Asset Management for BGO. In this role, Rob is responsible for working with the investment, asset management and development/construction teams on the business plan execution activities across all US portfolios.

Rob has 29 years of institutional real estate experience throughout the United States, including a 13-year period based in Asia where he worked across the region and lived in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Rob’s broad experience has covered acquisitions and dispositions, asset management, development/construction, capital markets, and investor relations/capital raising while managing large culturally diverse teams, hard assets and entity-level investments. Rob’s property type exposure has been equally diverse and has included CBD and suburban office, existing/ground-up development, multifamily, retail, serviced apartments, hotels, land development, residential-for-sale, worker dormitory, self-storage and industrial/logistics. Rob’s past responsibilities have included both equity and mezzanine lending asset management oversight. Rob’s previous work experience includes his role as Founder and Managing Director at Green Bridge Asia Capital in 2012 and Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing in 2002, where he was also Managing Director & Head of Asset Management-Asia-Pacific. Prior to that, Rob spent 10 years with Prudential Real Estate Investors involved in asset and portfolio management.

Rob graduated with a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Scranton, has an MBA from New York University and is a member of ULI.

Managing Partner and Head of U.S. Asset Management

BGO

Reena Agarwal

Reena Agarwal is the Founder of R3 Impact Advisors, an ESG advisory and consultancy practice that assists real estate companies integrate technology, ESG standards and metrics within their broader goals. Prior, Reena was the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of the Center for Active Design and Co-Founder, President & Chief Operating Office of Active Design Advisors Inc. Here she led the launch of the Fitwel Certification System as well as the technology and data platform that underpins this system. Previously, Reena served as a Director of Sustainability and Senior Policy Advisor during Mayor Bloomberg's administration.

Reena has decades of experience leading teams and launching initiatives in the public, private, and not-for-profit sectors, working with urban and building scale projects as a thought leader, regulator, and architect advancing health and sustainability goals. Reena graduated from the University of Michigan with a bachelor’s degree in architecture, and from New York University with a master's degree in urban planning.

Founder and CEO

R3 Impact Advisors

Michael Beckerman

Michael Beckerman is the CEO of CREtech, the largest global conference and content company devoted to technological innovation in the Built World. CREtech’s mission is to help the real estate industry Reimagine Real Estate by discovering, adopting and investing in new technologies and innovation strategies. CREtech’s intelligence and event platform inspires the next generation of ideas, processes and people to champion the world's largest asset class. With a global audience of over 150,000, CREtech’s network consists of the world’s largest real estate owners, developers, asset managers and investors as well as the leading startups and venture firms all devoted to technology and innovation in the Built World.
Michael is one of the most sought-after speakers and thought-leaders in the real estate tech sector, and he has delivered countless keynote presentations at premier global conferences and private company presentations. He is a frequent guest on industry podcasts and also hosts the CREtech Climate podcast, an educational podcast devoted to driving the real estate industry forward on a path to decarbonize the Built Environment. Michael has consistently been recognized as one of the most important and impactful leaders in the world of real estate technology, ranked year after year as a Top Ten Global Technology Influencer by such prestigious media outlets as the Commercial Observer, Connect Media, Bisnow and many other publications.
In addition to serving as CEO of CREtech, Michael is one of the most active Angel Investors in the Built Environment technology sector with a portfolio of nearly twenty five early stage startups.

Alex Brown

Alex Brown is a Partner at Keyframe focused on investments in energy, the built environment, and decarbonization. Like the other Partners of the firm, Alex contributes to the entire lifecycle of an investment, from macro/industry research to sourcing to investment due diligence and execution.

Alex began his career at Cyrus Capital (an affiliate of Keyframe), where he spent three years analyzing and executing investments in the public markets, largely focused on energy and heavy industry. After his time at Cyrus, Alex served as Director of Business Strategy and Operations at Celmatix, a Series A biotech startup in NYC focused on women’s health. Following Celmatix, Alex shipped out to California for business school, where he spent time in Market Operations at Leap, an early-stage energy company that integrates distributed energy resources (DERs) into the wholesale energy markets in a device-agnostic way.

Alex holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Mathematics from Yale University and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California Haas School of Business. He loves music and the outdoors, and when he’s not reading about the future of the grid, he can usually be found exploring the Catskills with his partner Grace and Boston Terrier, Charlie.

Partner
Keyframe Capital

Katie Cappola

Ms. Cappola serves as Vice President of ESG on the Portfolio & Asset Management team, with primary responsibility for Madison’s ESG program and engagement. Prior to joining Madison, Ms. Cappola held positions including Sustainability/ESG Manager at Empire State Realty Trust,  Sustainability Manager at Jones Lang LaSalle.  Ms. Cappola graduated from Freeman College of management at Bucknell University, where she received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Julia Casagrande 

Julia Casagrande is the Deputy Director of the Clean Energy team at the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice. The Clean Energy team focuses on ensuring the just transition of NYC's energy systems to clean and renewable energy through coordinating with State, utility, and local partners, leading by example with our own City assets, and working on regulatory and legislative issues to support clean and renewable energy. Prior to joining the Mayor’s Office, Julia worked as a mechanical engineer, providing sustainability consulting and mechanical design services to various public and private sector clients.

Julia earned a BS in Environmental Engineering at Cornell University and an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University. 

RICK Cook

Rick Cook, FAIA, is a Founding Partner of COOKFOX Architects. Over the past 30 years in New York, he has been recognized as a leader in high-performance, award-winning architectural design that prioritizes human well-being and environmental sustainability. Rick’s diverse portfolio ranges from the iconic Bank of American Tower at One Bryan Park and large mixed-use projects to supported housing and schools. Recent projects include the Marymount School, Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University, the Passive House Betances residences for vulnerable seniors, and the conversion of St. John’s Terminal into a biophilic workplace. He is also a co-founder of Terrapin Bright Green, a sustainable design consulting firm committed to improving the built environment. The firm’s book, 14 Patterns of Biophilic Design, has become a foundational text for designing buildings that support human well-being.

Founding Partner
COOKFOX Architects

David Davenport

David Davenport is a Managing Director at NY Green Bank on the Investment and Portfolio Management team. He is responsible for leading NY Green Bank’s disadvantaged community lending activities, including financing high-performance affordable housing and beneficial building electrification that serves historically marginalized New Yorkers. Mr. Davenport has over 30 years’ experience in real estate, finance, and government.

Prior to joining NY Green Bank, Mr. Davenport served as Senior Vice President at Urban American Management and Managing Principal of its Urban Greenfit subsidiary, where he successfully led financing and development of energy efficiency & renewable energy projects in over 6,000 units of multifamily affordable housing that have been recognized as best-in-class in performance and financial innovation.

Mr. Davenport previously served as a Vice President and Investment Officer at Citi Community Capital where he led nationwide programs investing in mixed-use real estate and affordable housing with debt and equity instruments utilizing new markets tax credits, low-income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, and other leveraged financing structures.

Mr. Davenport earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Wesleyan University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.

Managing Director
NY Green Bank

Jared Della Valle, FAIA

Jared Della Valle has been a real estate professional and architect for more than 20 years and has managed the acquisition and predevelopment of more than 2 million sf in New York City along the Highline, In the Hudson Yards, in DUMBO and in Downtown Brooklyn.
Jared Della Valle is co-chair of the Downtown Brooklyn partnership, sits on the Board of the the Architecture League of New York, and is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. He has previously taught at Columbia University, Syracuse University, Washington University, Parsons School of Constructed Environments and Lehigh University. Jared has widely lectured at major universities and institutions and his work has been the subject of more than 150 articles and publications including a monograph entitled “Think/Make” published by Princeton Architecture Press. He holds a B.A. from Lehigh University and Master’s degrees in both Architecture and Construction Management from Washington University, St. Louis, MO. He is a LEED Certified, licensed Architect in New York State, holds an NCARB (National College of Architectural Registration Boards) Certificate and is a licensed real estate broker and a Fellow of the AIA (American Institute of Architects).

CEO, Founder
Alloy

Elliot Doomes

Elliot Doomes serves as the Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service (PBS) at the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA).
As PBS Commissioner, Elliot manages the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management and disposal of approximately 360 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States and six territories.
Elliot joined GSA as Regional Administrator for the National Capital Region in January 2023. Prior to GSA, Elliot served as Professional Staff on the Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives. He also served as Counsel for the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the House of Representatives for over a decade. His principal responsibility was to advise Committee Members on GSA’s Real Property activities.
Doomes began his career as a Legislative Assistant in the office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) where his primary focus was on economic development in the District of Columbia. His signature staff work included passage of the Federal and District of Columbia Real Property Act of 2006, which executed a complicated land exchange between the District of Columbia, GSA, the National Park Service, and the Architect of the Capitol that has enabled hundreds of millions of dollars of economic development within the District of Columbia.
Doomes graduated from Morehouse College with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and earned a Juris Doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.

Commissioner of the Public Buildings Service

General Services Administration (GSA)

Gregory Elcock

Greg Elcock is Con Edison’s Vice President of Customer Clean Energy Programs, a role that embodies his personal commitment to clean energy.
He leads the company’s delivery of energy efficiency technologies, electrification of buildings and utility scale thermal energy networks. Greg and his teamwork with stakeholders to help shape and deliver New York ‘s climate goals.
Greg joined the company in 2009 and has held positions of increasing responsibility in Customer Energy Solution Group, including Director of Energy Efficiency Programs. He also served as Con Edison’s Director of State Regulatory Affairs.
Greg has more than 20 years of experience in the energy field. Before joining Con Edison, Greg held leadership positions with Community Environmental Center where he managed its New York City multi-family energy efficiency business.
He serves on the board of the Building Energy Exchange, Urban Green Council as well as the American Association of Blacks NYC Energy Executive Committee.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of West Indies, a master’s in Energy Management from New York Institute of Technology and a master’s in Sustainability Management from Columbia University.

Laura Fox

Laura speaks on mobility, city, and climate topics globally, and is on ‘Transportation Power 100’ and ‘Top Women in Mobility’ lists. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Streetlife Ventures, a seed-stage venture fund investing in urban climate solutions to transform sectors including mobility, buildings, energy, waste, and water.
Previously, Laura was the General Manager of Citi Bike at Lyft and built it into a $100M ARR business and one of the country’s largest transportation systems, led diligence on urban climate tech companies at Sidewalk Labs, launched new mobility products with Boston Consulting Group’s digital ventures team, and advised Bloomberg Philanthropies on their urban investment strategy.
Laura also teaches MBA strategy courses at NYU Stern, and is on the board of Governors Island, which will be the test bed for climate innovation in NYC. She is a Senior Fellow with MIT’s Mobility Initiative, and on the urban-focused Expert Taskforce for the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Young Leaders Circle at the Milken Institute.  
Fun fact: Laura’s friends call her ‘20 Questions’ since she loves getting to the heart of a good idea - and she’s given a TED Talk on the topic.

Alfrieda Green

Mapletree is a global real estate development, investment, capital and property management company committed to sustainability, headquartered in Singapore.  Its strategic focus is to invest in markets and real estate sectors with good growth potential. By combining its key strengths, the Group has established a track record of award-winning projects, and delivers consistently attractive returns across real estate asset classes.

The Group manages three Singapore-listed real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) and nine private equity real estate funds, which hold a diverse portfolio of assets in Asia Pacific, Europe, the United Kingdom (“UK”) and the United States (“US”). As at 31 March 2024, Mapletree owns and manages S$77.5 billion of office, retail, logistics, industrial, data centre, residential and student accommodation properties.

The Group’s assets are located across 13 markets globally, namely Singapore, Australia, Canada, China, Europe, Hong Kong SAR, India, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, the UK, the US and Vietnam. To support its global operations, Mapletree has established an extensive network of offices in these countries.

For more information, please visit www.mapletree.com.sg.

Vice President, Property Management, US

Mapletree

Devika Kumar

Devika leads Business Development at Keyframe, focusing on market, portfolio, and platform development. She manages top-of-funnel research and screening. Devika also provides BD and Corp Dev support to Keyframe portfolio companies.

Prior to joining Keyframe, Devika began her career as a go-to-market startup operator before moving to tech sales at Salesforce. Most recently, she led current customer upsell, cross-sell, and renewals as Director of Client Partnerships at a fintech startup.

Devika holds a degree in network analysis, entrepreneurship, and cognitive science from Georgetown University. Outside of work, you might find her working special events at a wine bar downtown (she is a certified sommelier) or playing mixed doubles on the tennis courts (look for the girl in the Federer hat).

Eric Maltzer

As the Director of Sustainable Investment in North America, Eric is IFM’s most senior voice on sustainable investing in the North American market, and is involved in investment strategy, diligence, asset management, as well as client-facing engagements. Eric also leads sustainability-related external engagements and produces thought leadership on sustainability that is calibrated to the complex North American market.
Prior to joining IFM, Eric worked at McKinsey & Company, where he managed the Sustainable Investment Hub and worked on decarbonization strategies, internal carbon pricing, and sustainable investing. Before McKinsey, Eric worked in the State Department’s climate policy and negotiations office, was a venture and private equity investor at a family office in New York, and taught courses on sustainable investment at USC and Middlebury. Eric received a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University, an M.P.P. with a concentration in energy policy from Harvard University, and an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Director, Sustainable Investment
IFM Investors

Ben Miller

Benjamin Miller is contracted as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), where he works with senior leaders on a range of strategy and external engagement projects. Prior to joining EERE, Ben worked in economic development for the City of New York and was an associate partner at global management consulting firm Oliver Wyman. Benjamin has a MPA from Sciences Po in France, and a B.A. from the University of Sydney in Australia.

Senior Advisor (Contractor)
U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)

Clare Newman

Clare Newman serves as the President and CEO of the Trust for Governors Island, charged with delivering on the Island’s mission to serve as a resource for all New Yorkers. Clare is an urban planner who has focused her career on helping cities thrive, driving economic development, and managing great public spaces. Previously, Clare was the Chief of Staff and EVP of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation where she led the real estate portfolio and implemented projects to create thousands of accessible, high-quality jobs. Clare has also served as a senior leader on Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Government Innovation team and as a Vice President at NYCEDC. Clare received a Masters of Urban Planning from GSAPP at Columbia University and a B.A. in Political Economy from Williams College.

Justin Sauber

Mr. Sauber joined TDI as its CEO in January 2023, bringing nearly 30 years of experience in the engineering and construction industry. An innovative and collaborative leader, his skills have been sought out on some of the industry’s most challenging projects covering nine U.S. states and 13 countries. Prior to joining TDI, Mr. Sauber was a Principal Vice President at the Bechtel group of companies, where he spent 21 years specializing in the oversight and estimation of direct hire, union-built projects across the energy, infrastructure, and government sectors. 

Mr. Sauber earned a Bachelor of Science in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Michigan and is a licensed professional engineer (Michigan).

Joseph Sumberg

Joseph Sumberg has spent his career exclusively in real estate, as an investor and lender in equity, debt, and securitizations.

Prior to founding the Sustainable Real Estate platform at Galvanize, Joseph spent 15 years at Goldman Sachs, most recently as a Managing Director in the Goldman Sachs Asset Management (“GSAM”) Real Estate group. In 2011, he co-founded a US real estate investment platform at the firm, which launched seven funds focused on US investments in core, core-plus, value-add, and development. As the Investment Committee Chair, Chief Investment Officer, and Portfolio Manager, he oversaw the platform’s growth from zero assets under management to multiple billions.

Joseph holds a BA with honors from Washington University in St. Louis, where he majored in Philosophy and minored in Business. He is a member of the NAREIM Sustainability Committee, ULI IOPC, ULI Greenprint, NMHC, and ICSC. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons (+ their LEGO).

Cecil Scheib

Cecil is NYU’s Chief Sustainability Officer, leading the university-wide effort to build a healthier and more sustainable future. Key responsibilities include reducing NYU’s greenhouse gas emissions; supporting sustainability teaching and research across NYU’s diverse schools; championing ideas that advance innovation, education, and social justice; and engaging with the community through student, faculty, staff, and administrator opportunities. Cecil formerly served as Chief Program Officer at Urban Green Council, as the Managing Director of the Building Resiliency Task Force for the City of New York, as Director of Energy and Sustainability at NYU from 2007 to 2012, and co-founded Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage. He earned a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Stanford University. He serves on the Board of Directors of Urban Green Council, and is a New York State licensed professional engineer, Certified Energy Manager, and LEED Accredited Professional.