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Full-time MS.RED Faculty and Administration

Vishaan Chakrabarti, AIA, Program Director, Holliday Professor of Real Estate Development
Kate Ascher, Ph.D., Milstein Professor of Urban Development
Emily Griffen, Career Development Officer
Jessica Stockton, Assistant Director, Academic Affairs
Linda LaBella, Executive Assistant to the Director

CURE Faculty

Vishaan Chakrabarti, AIA, Director
Jesse M. Keenan, J.D., LL.M., Research Director
Laurie Hawkinson, Professor of Architecture
David A. King, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
Andrew Laing, Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development
Charles S. Laven, Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development
Julia Vitullo-Martin, Ph.D., Visiting Senior Fellow

Adjunct MS.RED Faculty

Mitch Adelstein
John H. Alschuler, Jr.
Daniela Atwell
Trevor Atwell
Hank Bell, Professor Emeritus
Steven Baumgartner
Shuprotim Bhaumik 
Tommy Brown
Tom Boytinck
Michael Clark
Joanne Douvas
Merrie Frankel
Gary Fogg
Frank Gallinelli
Douglas Gauthier
Michael Gilliard
Martin E. Gold
Abby Hamlin
Arthur Imperatore
Victoria W. Kahn
Joshua Kahr
Sonny Kalsi
Jesse Keenan
Andre Kuzmicki
Andrew Laing
Ryan Levasseur
Dan Mandelbaum
Charlotte Matthews
Brooks McDaniel
Mitchell Nelson
Roger Nussenblatt
Elisa Orlanski Ours
Gregg Popkin
Ed Poteat
Sara Queen
Ryan Severino
Donald Sheets
Joel Silverman
Manish Srivastava
Min Suh
Omar Toro-Vaca
John F. Tsui
Deborah Vanamerongen
Darin Vest
Marc Weidner
Carl Weisbrod
Dwanna Williams
Scott D. Zwilling

Full-time MS.RED Faculty and Administration

Vishaan Chakrabarti, AIA

Vishaan Chakrabarti is the Marc Holliday Associate Professor of Real Estate Development and the Director of CURE., the Center for Urban Real Estate, at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation.   An experienced architect, planner, and developer, Chakrabarti has transformed the Masters of Science in Real Estate Development into a curriculum dedicated to smart growth policies locally, nationally, and globally, with an emphasis on training students to synthetically tackle the three pillars of urban real estate, namely, the financial, the physical, and the transactional. Simultaneously, Chakrabarti is a Partner at SHoP Architects where he advances large-scale projects worldwide. One of seven partners committed to proving that intelligent, exciting, evocative design can be done in the context of real world constraints, he adds to SHoP’s already diverse internal knowledge base and highlights the curiosity and creative thinking essential to groundbreaking design and urban development.

Prior to joining Columbia and SHoP, Chakrabarti was an Executive Vice President at the Related Companies where he ran the Moynihan Station project and oversaw planning and design for the firm's extensive development portfolio including Hudson Yards.  In addition, Chakrabarti was the inaugural Jaquelin T. Robertson Visiting Professor in Architecture for the University of Virginia in 2009.   From 2002 to 2005, Chakrabarti served as the Director of the Manhattan Office for the New York Department of City Planning. While with the City, Chakrabarti successfully gained approvals for major rezonings that have begun to reshape the west side of Midtown Manhattan including the extension of the #7 subway line. In this role Chakrabarti also directed the City's design response to the reconstruction of Lower Manhattan in the wake of 9/11, the expansion of Columbia University into Manhattanville, the makeover of Lincoln Center, the transformation of the High Line, and several other major development proposals in Manhattan.  Prior to his work with the City, Chakrabarti was an Associate Partner and Director of Urban Design at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, as well as a transportation planner at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Chakrabarti holds a Master of Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master of City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and dual Bachelors’ degrees in Art History and Engineering from Cornell University. He serves on the boards of the Architectural League of New York and Enterprise Community Partners, is a trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission, and is an emeritus board member of Friends of the High Line. He is also a member of the Young Leaders Forum of the National Council on US-China Relations. Metropolis Magazine named Chakrabarti one of the top 12 “Game Changers” for 2012.

Chakrabarti is a David Rockefeller Fellow and was a Crain’s “40 under 40" in 2000. Chakrabarti lives in TriBeCa with his wife, son and daughter.

Kate Ascher, Ph.D.

Kate Ascher is the Milstein Professor of Urban Development, as well as a Principal at Happold Consulting in NYC. Her public sector work has involved overseeing major infrastructure and master planning projects for the NYC metropolitan region, including the development of waste, telecommunications and energy plans in cooperation with community, environmental, business and other advocacy groups.  She has also been responsible for navigating and completing a series of major waterfront redevelopment projects in Manhattan and in the Red Hook area of Brooklyn. In the private sector, she has worked in management consulting and corporate finance in London, advising government and private companies on private-public partnerships and strategic planning, and at Vornado Realty Trust in New York, where she oversaw the negotiation of mitigation strategies, subway bonus and community benefits agreements associated with several commercial office projects in midtown Manhattan. She is the author of a number of books on urban infrastructure and municipal service delivery and previously served as the executive producer of a PBS documentary on the impact of technology on the working waterfront. She serves on the Board of the Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center and the Friends of the Hudson River Park.  Professor Ascher holds a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. 

CURE. Faculty

Jesse M. Keenan, J.D., LL.M.

Jesse M. Keenan is the Research Director for the Center for Urban Real Estate (CURE.) and Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development. Keenan has previously advised on matters concerning real estate and housing for agencies of the U.S. Government, Fortune 500 Companies, not-for-profit community enterprises and international development NGOs. Keenan has previously held various teaching, research and visiting appointments at the University of Miami School of Law, Harvard University's Graduate School of Design and Joint Center for Housing Studies, the University of Amsterdam and The Bauhaus Academy in Dessau, Germany. Keenan previously served as is a member of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Regional Disaster Sheltering and Housing Recovery Planning Team and is currently a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s NYC Taskforce for Building Resiliency. Keenan currently leads CURE.’s joint project with various agencies of the Netherlands for advancing climate adaptive development research. Keenan’s work includes contributions to the exhibit, Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The resulting work—which included the first financial spreadsheet ever exhibited—was the subject of a TEDx talk concerning the proposition of Community Growth REITs. Keenan has completed regional planning research in Brazil in collaboration with UN-Habitat; housing research in NYC for the Carnegie Corporation of New York; and, urban systems research in NYC for the Audi Urban Future Initiative. Keenan has had works published by the Wharton Real Estate Review, the Cornell Real Estate Review, Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, Harvard University, the American Bar Association, MoMA.org, Wiley-UK, and has been widely cited as a housing and real estate authority by national and international media, including on-air on PBS's History Detectives and CNBC. Keenan formerly served as a policy advisor and speech writer for numerous policy-makers, including the Honorable Bill Richardson. Keenan concurrently serves as the Managing Editor of Housing.com and as Of Counsel to the law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP.. Keenan is a Fellow of the Forum for Urban Design and was previously a Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Scholar. Keenan attended the University of Georgia (A.B.), Georgia State University (J.D.), Columbia University (M.Sc.) and the University of Miami (LL.M.).

Laurie Hawkinson, RA

Laurie Hawkinson is a Professor of Architecture where she serves as the Director of Advanced Studios. Hawkinson has previously served as a visiting professor at SCI-Arc, Harvard University, Yale University, Parsons School of Design, and the University of Miami. Significant completed projects include the Corning Museum of Glass, the Wall Street Ferry Terminal and “Strategic Open Space” Public Realm Improvement Strategy for Lower Manhattan. Projects currently under construction include the new Land Ports of Entry at Champlain and Massena, New York and a new Emergency Medical Services building for the City of New York. Collaborative projects include the North Carolina Museum of Art Amphitheater and Site Master Plan, the Museum of Women’s History and the NYC2012 Olympic Village. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the Wooster Group and serves on the Contemporary Arts Council of the Museum of Modern Art. Hawkinson received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the University of California at Berkeley, attended the Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program in New York and received her Professional Degree in Architecture from the Cooper Union.

David A. King, Ph.D.

David A. King is an Assistant Professor of Urban Planning in the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. In his research, Professor King explores local transportation planning and finance, with particular attention to parking, taxi service and informal transit. He has written about the phenomenon of cruising for parking, the politics of pricing and developer responses to local land use controls. His current research explores supply-side constraints on parking regulation reform and the complementary role of taxi services to convention fixed-route transit. Other recent research includes the historical co-development of transportation systems and land uses in New York City and the equity implications of road pricing. Professor King received a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and earned a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Andrew Laing, Ph.D.

Andrew Laing is a Director of DEGW, a subsidiary of AECOM, an international consultancy that specializes in research, planning and strategy for workplaces. He set up the practice in New York in 1998, having worked with DEGW in London since 1989. He is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP. He has written many articles on workplace design and authored "New Environments for Working" with DEGW founder Francis Duffy (1997) and was the co-author of "The Responsible Workplace" (1993). He was a contributor to "Reinventing the Workplace", by John Worthington in 2006. He has been a visiting Lecturer at Princeton University’s school of architecture since 2007. His work for DEGW was recently featured in Harvard Business Review (September 2011). Laing's clients have included many organizations interested in workplace innovation and information technology, including Accenture, GlaxoSmithKline, Google, Microsoft, Nike, and the United Nations. His work focuses on user research, design briefing and programming. Much of his work has focused on the implications of new ways of working for the design of buildings, the nature of place, sustainability, and the city. Laing has spoken at many workplace and real estate conferences including: GreenBuild, Corenet, and Work Tech. Laing was educated at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. He received a Ph.D. in urban studies and planning from MIT.

Charles S. Laven

Charles S. Laven is an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP with over 35 years of experience providing advisory and technical consulting services to housing finance agencies, mortgage and investment banking firms, developers, and not-for-profit community-based organizations. Prior to founding Forsyth Street Advisors, he spent 12 years as a partner at Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler, Inc. (HR&A), a New York-based consulting firm. Before joining HR&A, he was a Principal with the firm of Caine Gressel Midgley Slater, where he assisted in financings involving the securitization of real estate debt in excess of $3 billion, and provided real estate advisory services to banks, government and foundations. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Laven was Executive Director of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, a New York City-based non-profit organization responsible for the rehabilitation of abandoned buildings and their conversion to cooperative ownership. Laven has been a member of the faculty of GSAPP since 1981. From 1986-1993, Laven directed the Real Estate Development program. Laven is a director or trustee of several organizations, including Gramercy Capital Corporation, a publicly traded real estate investment trust with nearly $7 billion in assets, the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board, and the Citizens Housing Planning Council, a New York City housing policy organization. Laven is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Julia Vitullo-Martin, Ph.D.

Julia Vitullo-Martin is a Visiting Senior Fellow of the Center for Urban Real Estate. She concurrently serves as a Senior Fellow at the Regional Plan Association, and was previously a Senior Fellow and Director of the Center for Rethinking Development at the Manhattan Institute, Senior Fellow and Director of the Citizens Jury Project at the Vera Institute of Justice, Senior Editorial Advisor for the Commonwealth Fund, Managing Editor for the Mayor’s Commission on New York City in the Year 2000, Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Development with the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation, and Executive Director of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council. She has taught at the New School University, Hunter College, and in the Department of Politics and Education at Columbia University. She has edited and written numerous reports for foundations and for the city, state, and federal governments. Vitullo-Martin holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Chicago.

Adjunct MS.RED Faculty

JOHN H. ALSCHULER, JR.

John H. Alschuler, Jr. is an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP. He teaches Political Environment of Development and Waterfront Development. Course material is drawn from his experience as a consultant and public official. As Chairman of HR&A Advisors, Mr. Alschuler’s practice focuses on the revitalization of urban communities, regional economic development, and asset management. Alschuler’s 30+ years of professional experience is international in scope, ranging from New York City to China. He has received numerous awards for his work, including an AIA/APA Honor Award for Urban Design in 2005 for the Anacostia Framework Plan, a ULI Award for Excellence in 2007 for the development of Daniel Island, and an IEDC Public-Private Partnership award in 2009 for the creation of the Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and the revitalization of Fountain Square in Cincinnati. Alschuler is the lead Independent Director of S.L. Green Realty, the largest commercial property owner in New York City, and is the Board Chair for the Friends of the High Line. He is a regularly requested speaker for conferences and events in New York City and internationally. Recent speaking engagements have been at the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the New York City Bar Association, the International Skyrise Greenery Conference and radio station WNYC. Mr. Alschuler has taught in the Real Estate Development program for over 25 years.

STEVEN BAUMGARTNER

Steven Baumgartner PE, CEM, HBDP, LEED AP is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development where he coordinates the Real Estate Development Program’s new Sustainability curriculum.  Steven is an Energy Engineer and North America Energy Sector Leader with Buro Happold in New York.  He leads design, research and consultancy projects focused on energy and sustainability for the built environment. Steven bridges multiple scales at Buro Happold, impacting buildings, infrastructure, cities and policy, consulting our clients throughout the world on the business case for sustainability. Focused on strategic energy solutions for existing portfolios and campuses, Steven provides environmental expertise, asset management, sustainable research, and energy/carbon audits, evaluation and action plans. He introduces innovative value-add strategies, implementation pathways and custom management tools and processes to his projects that far exceed a traditional engineering suite of services. He is President of the New York Chapter of ASHRAE and contributes to various society-level activities. 

HANK BELL, PROFESSOR EMERITUS

Hank Bell has taught real estate development, finance, architecture, urban planning, historic preservation and architectural technology. He has served as an office manager and construction superintendent, as well as a builder and developer of more than 2,000 apartments, shopping centers, industrial building conversions, and homes. Bell has 60 years of success within a range of economic climates, he knows a good deal from a bad one, and enjoys mentoring and teaching. Bell has been a consultant to federal, state, and city governments on new approaches to saving cities and creating new housing programs. He has been a consultant to major shopping center developments and various land buyers. Bell is a winner of major federal international competitions bringing new housing technologies to the US. He served as NAS (BRAB) Chairman of exchange with USSR and China on housing technologies. Mr. Bell was the builder and owner of the tallest prefabricated apartment house in the US, prior to it being cooped. Bell has been a leading advocate for the independent academic discipline of real estate development and is credited as one of the founding faculty of the RED department.


TOM BOYTINCK

Tom Boytinck has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Real Estate Development Program since 2002, with responsibility for teaching property finance, and more recently, international development and investment. Outside of academia, he founded Allegro Advisors and its broker/dealer affiliate Allegro Securities, in 2005. The company, an investment banking boutique, raises capital for real estate fund managers around the world in the form of co-mingled funds, separate accounts, asset-level joint ventures and debt financings. The firm’s principals have closed funds or investments with a gross value in excess of $7 billion. Allegro has also undertaken extensive research on property investing in the major emerging markets of Latin America, India, China and Russia. Mr. Boytinck was previously Global Head of Real Estate for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, based in New York. Prior to this role, Mr. Boytinck was responsible at Deutsche Bank for the acquisition and portfolio management of a collection of US and Japanese properties. He began his career at Wells Hill Partners in New York, where he worked as a real estate investment banker from 1990 to 2000. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Mr. Boytinck graduated in 1990 from Columbia University with an AB in History. He is fluent in French and German and speaks rudimentary Spanish.


THOMAS B. BROWN

Thomas B. Brown is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP and is a founding principal of Clerestory Capital Partners, LLC, a New York-based real estate investment management company formed in January 2007. Clerestory sponsors performance-focused real estate fund of funds with a global investment focus. He has more than 17 years of real estate experience, most recently as Global Head of Real Estate for Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management, based in London. The majority of his career was spent with JPMorgan Real Estate Investment Banking in London, New York and Frankfurt. At Deutsche Bank, Mr. Brown was responsible for the creation of new real estate investment alternatives – in particular, vehicles for private clients globally to invest in private real estate funds. Prior to that, Mr. Brown spent 13 years as a real estate investment banker at JPMorgan Investment Banking. He joined the firm in Frankfurt in 1993 after completing a scholarship program in Germany sponsored by the U.S. and German Congresses. He began his career with Oak Tree Capital, Inc., in New Orleans, formerly a real estate asset management firm and subsidiary of Oak Tree Capital Savings and Loan. Brown is actively involved with INREV, the European association for institutional investors in non-listed real estate vehicles, helping to formulate corporate governance principles and guidelines. Brown is a graduate of the University of Mississippi and is conversant in German.


MICHAEL CLARK

Michael Clark is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and a Managing Partner of Castle Hill Investors, a real estate private equity firm that invests in collaboration with skilled real estate operators -- providing capital, financial guidance, risk management, and strategic growth expertise. Previously he was a Partner with Meridian Development Partners (“MDP”) a real estate development and private equity firm focused on redevelopment of challenging assets. Prior to joining MDP, he was a Partner in The Jamieson Group (“TJG”), an advisory firm focused on redevelopment, economic development and public-private partnerships. Prior to TJG he worked for the San Diego Padres. Clark is Vice Chairman of Changing World Technologies, a leading renewable diesel company that converts waste into oil. Additionally he is on the management committee of GH Capital, one of the largest affordable housing companies in the U.S.. He holds a Masters of Real Estate Development from Columbia University, and is a magna cum laude graduate of the University of San Diego with a dual degree in Economics and Accounting.


JOANNE DOUVAS

Joanne Douvas is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP and a founding principal of Clerestory Capital Partners, LLC, a New York-based real estate investment management company formed in January 2007. Clerestory sponsors performance-focused real estate fund of funds with a global investment focus. She has more than 29 years of real estate experience, most recently as head of JPMorgan Asset Management’s Real Estate Fiduciary Services Group. Previously, she worked for the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, Clarion Partners and Equitable Real Estate, in asset management, workout, debt origination and acquisitions functions. During her eight-year tenure with JPMorgan, Douvas was the portfolio manager of the real estate allocation of a major U.S. corporate pension fund with full discretion over strategy, acquisitions, dispositions and the hiring of managers. A licensed architect, Douvas holds a bachelors and masters of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, as well as an M.B.A. in finance from Wharton. She is a past board member of leading Mexican public real estate company G. Acción until it was privatized in 2005. She is the author of the Wharton Real Estate Review articles “Reining in Opportunity Fund Fees” (Spring 2004) and “Adjusting Opportunity Fund Fees” (Fall 2006), as well as a chapter on fees in the German textbook Handbuch Real Estate Private Equity (Rudolf Muller GmbH und Co. KG).


MERRIE FRANKEL

Merrie S. Frankel is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP and is a Senior Credit Officer/VP in Commercial Real Estate Finance at Moody’s Investors Service, responsible for a ratings portfolio of REITs and other real estate companies in the US and Canada. She has extensive experience in real estate portfolio management, commercial real estate and mortgage transactions, real estate law, and strategic consulting. Previously, Frankel was SVP/Director of Portfolio Management for the Argo Funds, a real estate opportunity fund with $1.5 billion in assets, responsible for portfolio management, financing, investor relations, and dispositions. Prior positions include: Senior Manager-Ernst &Young’s Real Estate Group; Director-Cushman & Wakefield’s Financial Services Group; an Officer establishing the commercial mortgage group at J.P. Morgan Securities, Inc.; and, a real estate investment banker and senior tax attorney at Salomon Brothers Inc. Frankel holds J.D./M.B.A. degrees from Hofstra Law School/Graduate Business School and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A., honors. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor at the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate (also Advisory Board member) where she teaches capital markets. She chaired the ULI-New York District Council from 2006-09, was a ULI trustee, and has held board and leadership positions in WX, FWA, and YM/WREA. In 2008, she was selected to be one of 50 “Women of Influence” for Real Estate New York.


GARY FOGG

Gary Fogg is an Adjunct Assistant Professor who concurrently serves in the development group of Kimco Realty Corporation, a leading retail real estate investment trust. His primary responsibilities include the evaluation and execution of development and redevelopment opportunities for a mix of uses. This includes entitlement work, extensive financial analysis, partnership negotiations and pre-leasing efforts for development projects totaling more than 5 million square feet. Prior to Kimco, Fogg worked at Cantillon Capital, a long-short equity fund. While at Cantillon, he researched and recommended investment ideas, following a value oriented strategy, in companies across various industries. Before Cantillon, He was an analyst a Lightyear Capital, a private equity firm. Fogg worked directly with the Chief Operating Officer to manage a $1.2 billion portfolio of investments. While at the private equity firm he successfully completed the third and final level of exams necessary to attain the Chartered Financial Analyst designation, a self-study and graduate-level program for investment professionals. Fogg holds a Masters of Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Connecticut.


FRANK GALLINELLI

Frank Gallinelli is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP and the founder and president of RealData, Inc. (www.realdata.com) a real estate software firm that has offered analysis and presentation tools for investors and developers since 1981. RealData also provides educational resources for investors, as well as software and other tools for use in academic environments. A graduate of Yale University, he is the author of numerous articles and several books on real estate investing and finance, including "What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know About Cash Flow..." and "Mastering Real Estate Investment."


DOUGLAS GAUTHIER

Douglas Gauthier is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Architecture and Real Estate Development at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Gauthier coordinates the Design + Development module for the Real Estate Development program. He also serves on the editorial board of the Columbia Real Estate Review, teaches studio in the Master of Architecture Program, and was the 2010 Ivan Smith Eminent Visiting Professor at the University of Florida. Gauthier is Design Director at GA which he founded in 2007, and has played a key role in a number of projects including BURST*003, 168T Residence and Theater, San Jose Repertory Theater, Le Fresnoy: Film School and Mediateque (France, competition award), and Kindertagesstätte and Jungendfreizeitzentrum (Berlin, competition award). Mr. Gauthier’s BURST*008 was commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art for the 2008 exhibition, Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling. Honors include a Fulbright Scholarship, the Berlin Architekturpreis, The Architectural League’s Young Architect Award, Graham Foundation and NYSCA grants, Time Magazine: Innovator of the Year, and an Architecture Magazine Visionary Architecture Award. Recent contributions include articles to Architectural Design, HUNCH and Material Evidence and presentations at the TU Delft, The Berlage Institute, The Slovak National Radio Building, Networked Publics: Studio-X and Home Made: Five Perspectives on Prefabrication. Professor Gauthier is a graduate of Notre Dame and Columbia University


MICHAEL GILLIARD

Michael Gilliard is an Assistant Adjunct Professor of the Real Estate Development at GSAPP. Since 2004 he has taught his case studies course, Structured Real Estate Development Partnerships, and an urban-infill module in the Director’s Capstone course. He has served as faculty advisor for award-winning National urban development competitions undertaken by the Program. Gilliard is also Senior Real Estate Development Project Manager for the NYC affiliate of international developer/builder/advocate Habitat for Humanity, where he is responsible for structuring, securing and implementing the firm’s development portfolio in the City. Recent project General Colin Powell Apartments is the first LEED Platinum residential building in the State. His prior roles include Vice President of Development for national developer/syndicator The Richman Group, Senior Real Estate Development Project Manager of third-generation builder/developer The Bluestone Organization and Analyst functions with Ashley Capital, among the largest privately-held real estate investment companies in the country. Gilliard’s portfolio of built projects spans office, retail, community, residential, hotel/conference and parks; and includes securing Arverne East, the largest development site in NYC. Before graduating from the Real Estate Development program Gilliard was the Managing Editor of GlobeSt.com, an industry publication.


MARTIN E. GOLD

Martin E. Gold has been an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP since 1988, teaching real estate development law and commercial leasing. Gold is also a partner at Sidley Austin LLP, one of the largest law firms in the world. His practice is in real estate and infrastructure and his clients include governments, developers, large corporations and not-for-profits, and financial institutions. From 1978 to 1985, Mr. Gold served as Director of Corporate Law for New York City. As the City’s chief corporate and real estate attorney, he supervised City lawyers and drafted agreements for numerous development projects from South Street Seaport to the Times Square Project. Gold is the author of approximately fifteen articles in law reviews and economic journals, and Law and Social Change: A Study of Land Reform in Sri Lanka (with foreword by Gunnar Myrdal), written while on Ford Foundation grants. He is also the recipient of five pens from New York State Governors for the enactment of laws he drafted. He has lectured at numerous universities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and programs of the U.S. Justice Department, and is listed in The Legal 500, Super Lawyers, and Who’s Who in the World. Gold is received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University and his J.D. and M.P.A. from Harvard Law School and the Kennedy School of Government.

ABBY HAMLIN

Abby Hamlin is Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She is also the President of Hamlin Ventures, LLC. a design-driven real estate development company that focuses on select urban projects. Founded in 1998, Hamlin Ventures is known for producing distinctive market-rate and affordable projects in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Prior to founding Hamlin Ventures, Ms. Hamlin was President of Swig, Weiler and Arnow, a premier developer of major office and hotel properties. Ms. Hamlin is also the founder and head of Studio HV, a creative studio that addresses urban challenges through participation in competitions and consulting assignments. A dedicated urbanist and proponent of the arts, Ms. Hamlin has previously served as Chair of the Board of the Van Alen Institute for Public Architecture, and as Chair of the Public Art Committee of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.  She has also served as a juror for the National Endowment of the Arts ArtWorks program. Currently she sits on the boards of The Actors Fund Affordable Housing Corporation, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Art Omi. Ms. Hamlin received a Bachelor’s Degree from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master’s Degree in Urban Planning from Princeton University.

VICTORIA W. KAHN

Victoria W. Kahn is an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP. Kahn is also the president of Lafayette Capital Group, Inc., providing real estate advisory and consulting services to institutions and private investors. Kahn was Managing Director at ING Clarion Partners (1987-2009) where, as Portfolio Manager, she sourced and managed domestic pension fund assets in diversified equity and debt portfolios. Kahn was a member of ING Clarion’s management committee and was ING’s advisory board member for a variety of ING equity investments in US real estate. Kahn also established ING’s sustainability policies for North America. Prior to ING, Kahn managed real estate operations for American Express and Shearson Lehman Brothers (1978 – 1987). As Senior Vice President, Kahn developed Shearson’s (now Citibank Global Markets) signature office tower and back office operations facilities in Tribeca, working closely with Mayor Koch. As Vice President, Kahn developed American Express Canada’s corporate headquarters in Toronto. Kahn was previously the architectural partner at Kahn & Kiel, an architectural and graphic design firm where she provided design services to Citibank for its first ATM retail banking branches in New York City.


JOSHUA KAHR

Joshua Kahr is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Real Estate Development where has taught real estate finance and real estate capital markets since 2005. He also teaches an Argus workshop and an Excel boot camp. Kahr is the principal of Kahr Real Estate, a company that he founded in 2002. Originally established as a consulting company, it provided market and feasibility studies, financial due diligence, and financial training for a wide range of clients. In 2008, the company changed focus and now invests for its own account in apartment buildings in New Jersey. Prior to this, he held positions in investment sales at a regional brokerage firm and in acquisitions at a fund that focused on environmentally contaminated real estate. He also served for five years on the board of directors for Monmouth Real Estate (NYSE: MNR). Publications include two books on real estate market analysis, Real Estate Market Valuation and Analysis (John Wiley and Sons: 2005) and Beyond the Bubble (Amacom Books: 2007). Kahr has a Master of Science in Real Estate from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Reed College.


SONNY KALSI

Sonny Kalsi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and is the Founder and Managing Partner of GreenOak Real Estate. Mr. Kalsi was, until early 2009, the Global Head of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing (MSREI) and President of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (MSREF). Prior to that, he was the Global Co-Head of MSREI. At its peak, MSREI had approximately $100Bn of AUM in 33 countries and 25 offices around the world with over 800 full time staff. The largest concentrations of asset holdings were in the US, UK, Germany, Japan and China. Prior to managing MSREI globally, Kalsi helped to build its Asian business, spending nine years in Hong Kong and Tokyo. During his tenure, the team grew to over 300 professionals, with an operation that included Japan, China, India, South Korea, Australia and a number of other countries.


ANDRE KUZMICKI

Andre Kuzmicki is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development GSAPP. Kuzmicki concurrently serves is the Executive Director of the Program in Real Estate and Infrastructure at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Toronto, Canada. There he teaches real estate finance and investment and administers the operations of the Program. In addition he is on the faculty of the Real Property Association of Canada Professional Development Institute. He is also the president of his own real estate consulting firm, Excellent! Inc. Kuzmicki’s career in real estate and education spans more than 30 years and encompasses all aspects of the real estate investment industry including acquisitions, development, asset management and portfolio management. Prior to launching his teaching career in 1998, he managed the real estate investment portfolio for Prudential's Canadian arm. He is an experienced corporate director, currently serving on the boards of RealNet Canada Inc. and Chartwell Seniors Housing REIT. Past directorships include the Bentall Group (now Bentall Kennedy) and Artis REIT. He is a past president of the National Association of Office and Industrial Properties (NAIOP), Greater Toronto Chapter and is the founding chairman of its prestigious annual REX Awards and Gala, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. Kuzmicki is a six time nominee and former winner of the Seymour Schulich Teaching Excellence Award. He is a 2011 NAIOP Distinguished Fellow and a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Pension Real Estate Association. Kuzmicki is a graduate of McGill University.


CHARLOTTE MATTHEWS

Charlotte Matthews is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development where she coordinates the Real Estate Development Program’s new Sustainability curriculum. Matthews is Vice President of Sustainability at Related Companies, LP. Related is a premier real estate developer/owner/manager with a diverse property portfolio valued at $15B and rights to develop Hudson Yards, a 26-acre, 12M SF mixed use development over the west side rail yards in New York City. Matthews directs Related's corporate sustainability strategy and oversees its green development activity. Matthews sits on the board of the Institute for Market Transformation and is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York - Sustainability Committee and NYC Green Codes Industry Advisory Committee. She currently focuses on local legislative and research efforts to green New York City’s existing building stock and new construction, as the City is setting precedents other localities will follow. Matthews’ career in green building began at an architecture firm, during which time she became co-chair of the Boston AIA Committee on the Environment and member of the DOE/EPA Lab 21 Environmental Performance Criteria and LEED for Labs development committees. She moved on to Steven Winter Associates, a green building consulting firm, and then into construction management with Bovis Lend Lease to build green buildings. Matthews has also served on the LEED for New Construction core committee and helped with the consolidation of LEED from multiple specialized rating systems into one. Matthews is a graduate of Brown University.


GREGG A. POPKIN

Gregg A. Popkin is an Adjunct Professor of Real Estate Development and an acknowledged Leader in the New York real estate community for over 30 years. In his role as the Chief Operating Officer for RFR Holding LLC, Popkin directs the daily business functions of a multi-national portfolio of office, residential, retail and hotel properties. This portfolio of properties includes well known New York Landmarks such as the Seagram Building and the Lever House as well other notable addresses in the United States, Germany and Israel. Popkin began his real estate career under the guidance of his mentor, Harry B. Helmsley and then went on to work in the development end of the business with John Tishman at Tishman Realty and Construction and at Jones Lang LaSalle. He held operating positions as the Senior Managing Director of Asset Services for CBRE and then Managing Director for Asset Management for Beacon Capital. During his career, Popkin has been associated with the management, leasing and/or development of more than 100 million square feet of office space in the New York metropolitan area as well as numerous commercial, residential and hotel properties around the Globe.

RYAN SEVERINO

Ryan Severino is an Adjunct Assistant Professor and a senior economist in the research and economics department at Reis, the team responsible for the firm’s market forecasting, valuation, and portfolio analytics services. Prior to Reis, Mr. Severino served as the Associate Director of Research at MetLife Real Estate Investments where he was responsible for macroeconomic and real estate market analysis, formulating portfolio strategy, and conducting deal reviews. Before joining MetLife, Severino served as the Director of Investment Strategy and Market Research at Starwood Capital Group. Severino has also held research positions at Prudential Real Estate Investors and UBS. Additionally, Severino currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Urban Economics and Real Estate Portfolio and Risk Management at NYU. Severino’s original research has appeared in a number of journals such as the Wharton Real Estate Review and The Real Estate Finance Journal. His assessments of market conditions have appeared in international publications like The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Financial Times and on business networks such as CNBC and BNN. Severino holds a master’s degree from Columbia University, where he studied International Finance and Political Economy, a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University where he studied Finance, Japanese, and Economics and is a CFA Charterholder.


DONALD SHEETS

Donald Sheets is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development at GSAPP and a Senior Principal at Square Mile Capital Management, a $1.5 billion AUM real estate private equity fund. He identifies, structures, and negotiates non-traditional commercial real estate investment opportunities including distressed debt, discounted performing commercial mortgages, preferred equity, mezzanine financing, and real estate enterprise liquidations. Donald has over 12 years of property acquisition, turnaround, asset management, and restructuring experience across a variety of capital structures, asset types, and geographies. Prior to SMCM, Sheets initiated a special-situation commercial real estate investment platform at Davidson Kempner Capital Management, a $14 billion AUM multi-strategy hedge fund. While at DKCM, Donald sourced, underwrote, managed, and exited over $1.1 billion in realized investments. Prior to DKCM, Sheets worked for The Carlyle Group, EastBanc, and Starwood Urban Investments. Sheets is appointed faculty member at both Columbia University and New York University, where he developed and currently teaches the first graduate-level distressed real estate investing coursework within each institution’s curriculum. Sheets received a BBA in Accounting and Real Estate Finance from The George Washington University magna cum laude and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.


JOEL SILVERMAN

Joel Silverman is an Associate Professor of Real Estate Development teaching Construction Management and Technology. Silverman, who is a licensed Professional Engineer in New York and several other states, has over 40 years of experience as both a contractor / construction manager and consultant. He was the president of HRH Construction Corporation in New York, and was responsible for the construction management of projects such as the Javits Convention Center, Trump Tower, the Rockefeller Research building at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and more than 14 million square feet of high rise commercial, mixed use, residential, hotel, and health related facilities. Since 1999, Silverman has been president of Silverman & Associates, a firm providing full service owner's representation and construction consulting services for private and institutional clients such as the G.E. Pension Trust, NYU, Princeton University, the Georgetown Group, Hines, Related, Bloomberg, IAC / Interactive Corp, and Time Warner. Silverman has taught at Copper Union, has appeared in several Public Television documentaries about the Empire State Building, and also guest lectures on construction related topics for the School of Architecture at Cornell.


JOHN F. TSUI

John F. Tsui is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development based in Beijing, China and New York, where he is Managing Principal of Peninsula House, LLC which is engaged in principal investment in alternative assets in the United States, Brazil and Asia, a/k/a Pacific Americas. As a cross-border hybrid alternative asset investment firm for special situations, Peninsula House, LLC is involved in structured direct investment in the four alternative asset classes: infrastructure, distressed loans and securities; real estate and real estate entities, as well as special situation corporate investments. Tsui previously held managerial positions with hotel chains in their corporate headquarter and regional offices including Marriott Corporation, Sheraton Hotels in the Pacific, Landauer Associates and Bankers Trust Company (real estate banking division). He also held managerial positions at Carvel Corporation and Sky Chefs (in-flight catering). He earned the designation MAI – the appraisal designation of the Appraisal Institute, and is a member of the Turnaround Management Association (7 years), Urban Land Institute (26 years) and Young President’s Organization (YPO) (12 years). Tsui was appointed by Honorable John C. Whitehead to be on the Board of Directors of The Boy Scouts of the Greater New York Council and The Economic Club of New York. He is Visiting Lecturer at the SEM program at Tsinghua University, as well as at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is an Adjunct Visiting Professor of Advanced Case Study on emerging markets investment at Columbia University. He recently authored a Thomson Reuters report titled China Property Investments: Profits and Pitfalls. He received a undergraduate degree from Michigan State University in Hotel Administration and a Masters from Columbia University in Real Estate Development and Finance. He is a graduate of the Owner President Management Program (OPM) at Harvard Business School. Born in Taiwan and raised in Brazil, Mr. Tsui is fluent in Chinese (Mandarin) and has working knowledge of Portuguese and Spanish.


MARC WEIDNER

Marc Weidner is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and is the Managing Director at Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors, New York with over 18 years of investment experience in sourcing, valuing, structuring and transacting global real estate. Weidner joined Franklin Templeton in early 2002 and is a member of the Global Investment Committee of Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors. In addition, he is a member of its Management Committee and in this capacity serves as Head of Investments. Prior to joining Franklin Templeton, he worked in the investment banking group of DLJ/Credit Suisse First Boston in London and New York where he originated, structured and underwrote real estate private equity funds in Europe and the United States. Prior to joining DLJ/CSFB, he was with Security Capital Group in London where he worked on origination and business development for the private equity fund of Security Capital. Weidner holds an M.B.A. from Cornell University where he was a Fulbright scholar. He holds a Master’s degree in Political Science and International Relations, magna cum laude, and a B.A. in Business Management, magna cum laude, from Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Weidner is a member of INREV and PREA, and is a faculty member in the M.S. in Real Estate Development program at Columbia University since 2005.


SCOTT D. ZWILLING

Scott D. Zwilling  is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of Real Estate Development and is a Principal with Spirit Investment Partners, a New York City based investment company that owns and manages residential and commercial properties throughout the Northeast and Midwest. Previously, he was the Director of Acquisitions for JPI, a large national multi-family developer and prior to that he held a similar role as an Acquisitions Manager with Crescent Heights, one of the nation's premier condominium developers. Over the past ten years, Zwilling has been responsible for the acquisition, development and disposition of over $1.0 billion of property located throughout the country. Prior to JPI and Crescent Heights, Zwilling was a real estate investment banker at Wells Hill Partners, Ltd., where he participated in numerous deals, including various residential, hotel and office assets. Other experiences include working as a consultant in the real estate groups of Arthur Andersen and Ernst and Young. Zwilling is a Certified Public Accountant and holds an undergraduate in Business Administration from the Ohio State University; a Masters in Real Estate Development from Columbia University; and, a Masters in Business Administration from Oxford University.