Women of Influence: Metro New York

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As part of a series on accomplished women in the industry, Real Estate Forum is profiling professionals whose achievements have made them standout performers in their local commercial real estate markets. The first of these features focuses on outstanding professionals who have made a name for themselves in the Metro New York market. Be it through their dealmaking prowess, leadership skills or impact on the local community, these executives have broken down barriers and taken a huge bite out of the Big Apple. Here are 30 of Metro New York's Women of Influence.

 

Kirsten Beck
Vice President
Avison Young

Kirsten Beck believes that women bring a unique perspective to their roles in commercial real estate, which is changing the way projects are managed. Beck, who has been with Avison Young for seven-and-a-half years of her 17-year career, launched the firm's New York City Project Management group in late 2012 and has since more than doubled the size of the team. Responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the group, Beck is also charged with its profitability and growth. 2014 marked the completion of the first significant collaboration between Avison Young's project management group and the firm's brokerage team on behalf of client Federated Investors Management Corp., which allowed Beck's team to demonstrate its exceptional project-management skills and provides an example by which future internal projects will be structured at Avison Young.

 

Karen Bellantoni
Executive Vice President
RKF

With 30-plus years of experience in retail leasing and merchandising, Karen Bellantoni is considered a powerhouse in the commercial leasing market not only in New York City but also other major markets throughout the US. In 2014, Bellantoni was selected to work on the leasing for the Milk Building/Milk Studios and the leasing for 83,000-plus square feet of flagship retail space at 535-545 Fifth Ave. Whether representing institutional and entrepreneurial owners or local and international retailers, Bellantoni works to find the perfect tenant for each space and the perfect location for each tenant. Focusing on the right mix of tenants for a given area allows her to stay ahead of the pack by directing the personality of the neighborhood.

 

Sarah Berman
President
The Berman Group

Nine years after Sarah Berman founded her company to serve the construction industry, her client pool now encompasses construction companies, landlords, associations and civic group that shape New York City's built environment. To mobilize communities, her firm uses technology and events ranging from educational seminars for associations to public series like Summer on Sixth galas to connect nonprofits and benefactors. Berman has more than 15 years of experience in strategic business communications and has earned a strong reputation for her creative corporate identity programs, targeted cross-marketing campaigns, creative advertising and sales-training programs. Berman's goals are to continue to serve her firm's clients while growing the team organically and continuing to support civic and community organizations that make the city thrive.

 

Aine Brazil
Vice Chairman
Thornton Tomasetti

Aine Brazil oversees the team of engineers responsible for Hudson Yards. She also has spearheaded other projects such as the structural design for One Beacon Court (a.k.a. the Bloomberg Tower) at East 58th Street and Lexington Avenue, and was the lead engineer when New York-Presbyterian Hospital needed a 485-foot-platform to bridge Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive and bear the weight of a 12-story extension. A member of the board of trustees for Madison Square Park in New York City, she has an active role in helping to implement its public art program, which features new exhibits throughout the park every few months.

 

Christine Chipurnoi    
Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo Insurance Services Inc.

For more than 25 years, Christine Chipurnoi has been instrumental in developing, placing and maintaining insurance programs for regional, national and international clients. Specializing in property, casualty, professional and loss-sensitive insurance programs with special expertise in hospitality, construction, real estate and retail, Chipurnoi is an active member of Wells Fargo National Real Estate & Construction and Hospitality Practice Groups. With 25 years in the business, 13 in her current position, Chipurnoi says she enjoys working with clients that have complex insurance/risk management issues and need a strategic, trusted adviser. Chipurnoi also serves as the 2015 co-president of CREW New York, the largest organization for women in commercial real estate in the city.

 

Faith Hope Consolo
Chairman, Retail Group
Douglas Elliman

Now entering her third decade in the industry, Faith Hope Consolo continues to be a model for women in commercial real estate. Recognized for her candor, compassion and humor, she is also a mentor to many. Known for reinventing shopping corridors from Greenwich Village to Times Square to Madison Ave., Consolo filled vacancies with pop-ups during the downturn that later became permanent. It's believed that she invented the concept of Nolita after leasing much of Soho and repeated those successes in the Meatpacking and Flatiron Districts. Consolo leads the firm's highest-earning commercial division. She and her team offer an extensive range of services and customized solutions. She also manages the development and execution of merchandising and marketing strategies for real estate assets and assists property owners with retail investment decision making.

 

 

Rella Fogliano
President
The MacQuesten Cos.

Rella Fogliano is the leading woman developer of affordable housing in New York State. Since 1992, she has developed 11 buildings with 1,500 units throughout New York City and Westchester County. Her keen understanding of government helps her to assemble creative financing arrangements to make projects possible. As head of the firm, Fogliano is ultimately responsible for all aspects of development, from working with government and other agencies that provide funding for affordable and middle-income housing through design and construction of projects. At the age of 17, she began working for the general contracting company her father started in 1960, taking a full-time role upon graduation from Fordham University in 1983. When her father retired in 1988, she formed MacQuesten General Contracting Inc. and continued to perform work for many of the same clients. In the early 1990s, Fogliano set out to develop properties the company had acquired, especially in the Bronx, where she there was a significant shortage of affordable housing. In 2003, she founded the MacQuesten Cos., which will have in excess of $200 million in current projects and developments throughout the five boroughs and Westchester.

 

Kelly Gedinsky
Licensed Salesperson
Winick Realty Group

Kelly Gedinsky has become one of the most successful young female brokers in the industry, leasing almost 600,000 square feet of retail in her seven years at Winick. Gedinsky has cultivated a comprehensive understanding of major lease transactions, legalese, zoning laws and classifications, as well as a detailed understanding of ground-up construction. Recently, she has been assigned to the extremely high-profile redevelopment at 10 Times Square, adding LED signage to her list of retail expertise. Over the past 12 months, Gedinsky has completed many high-profile transactions, including Saint Laurent at 3 W. 57th St., Lowe's at 2000 Broadway, Rent the Runway at 16 W. 18th St. and TD Bank at 1276 Lexington Ave.

 

Laurie Golub
COO and General Counsel
HFZ

With 25 years in the business, three in her current position, Laurie Golub is responsible for business and legal operations at HFZ. The firm has purchased some of the most aggressive and strategic assets in the past few years with Golub's involvement. With a special focus on mixed use, Golub is a lawyer who got her first break at Forest City Ratner Cos. Her professional accomplishments include negotiating naming rights for Barclays Center and being named by an industry outlet as among its 50 most-influential women. Golub's career goal is simply to “do great projects!” A Madison Square Park Conservancy Board member, she believes the industry has changed in that women are rising to C-level positions increasingly throughout the NYC area.

 

Mimi Grotto
Managing Director, Business Development
Mission Capital Advisors

In her current role, Mimi Grotto has paved the way for the firm's continued success in the mortgage-services space, leveraging her expertise into a new service offering that has differentiated MCA from its key competitors. Starting in 2003, Grotto played an integral role in MCA's entrance into the mortgage-services business through her work on loan sales for agencies including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Through her diligence, MCA's mortgage services business has continued to grow, along with MCA's customer base. In 2014 alone, the MCA Mortgage Services team consulted on more than $8 billion of advisory assignments for banks around the US. In 2014, Grotto worked on MCA's largest contract, exclusively providing mortgage services to one of the world's largest banks.

 

Leslie Himmel
Principal
Himmel + Meringoff Properties

Leslie Himmel formed Himmel + Meringoff in 1985 with Stephen Meringoff. Since then, they have accumulated a portfolio of assets valued at more than $500 million. Considered the highest-ranking female landlord in New York's commercial real estate marketplace, Himmel has been instrumental in acquiring and financing more than 45 commercial properties in transactions valued at more than $1.5 billion during her three-decade career. A respected leader in NYC's real estate community, she continues to co-chair REBNY's Economic Development Committee, which she founded in 1992. As an example of a standout accomplishment, in August 2014 H+M partnered with San Francisco-based Swig Co. to acquire the remaining 49% interest in 1460 Broadway, a 16-story office tower in the heart of Times Square. Himmel's immediate goal is to renovate and rejuvenate the property to attract either a single user or multiple world-class office tenants, and to sign a long-term lease with a retail anchor keen to showcase a flagship in the landmark neighborhood. 

 

Marion Jones
Senior Director
Ackman Ziff

A rising star in New York's investment sales community, Marion Jones is both entrepreneurial and analytical in her approach. Having closed approximately $900 million in sales in the past five years, the multifamily expert has represented private families, investment funds, non-profits and large banking institutions over the course her 11 years in real estate. Recently, Jones has been leading the marketing and directing the execution of the King's Portfolio, a 15-building, 1,432-unit collection of properties primarily in Brooklyn on behalf of Urban American and Fannie Mae. Her primary objective is to build a robust sales group within Ackmkan Ziff's leading capital markets platform by expanding its market share.

 

Lisa Kiell
International Director
JLL

Lisa Kiell is one of JLL's most-successful brokerage professionals in the New York market. An expert on law firms, she also has considerable expertise in real estate for technology companies and financial-services firms. Kiell provides expert strategy and implementation services to all of her clients, while facilitating the development and execution of their real estate programs. She's been responsible for some of the city's most significant deals, including Microsoft's 205,000-square-foot lease at 11 Times Square and Reed Smith's 180,000-square-foot renewal at 599 Lexington Ave. Kiell's career goals are to continue to serve her clients while mentoring young women, facilitating strategies to rise to the top of the brokerage field.

 

Wilson Kimball
Commissioner, Planning and Development
City of Yonkers

Yonkers is one of the fastest-growing urban centers in the metropolitan area, and Wilson Kimball is an integral part of that, helping to facilitate private-sector growth. Since joining Mayor Mike Spano's administration in 2012, Kimball has worked tirelessly to centralize offices and improve some of the bureaucratic processes that have been the death knell of smart development in the past. She has been active in promoting environmental sustainability in both the city's own operations and private development. She oversees the city's Office of Sustainability and has integrated an aggressive green agenda into every aspect of the Department of Planning and Development's operations. One of Kimball's career goals is to bring Yonkers to the forefront of developers' thinking so that they want to build a new project or invest there.

  

 

Jennifer McLean
Chief Financial Officer
GFI Capital Resources Group Inc.

Jennifer McLean is a bold business leader, playing a pivotal role in the ongoing success of GFI and its numerous affiliates. Her multifaceted, wide-ranging leadership touches every aspect of the company's operations across all affiliates. She has implemented several initiatives designed to increase GFI's profitability and ensure the company is positioned for long-term, continued success. McLean works tirelessly to implement a level of structure that is demonstrable in terms of results while maintaining the familial atmosphere of the family-run business. In addition to having direct oversight responsibility for the financial operations of GFI and its related affiliates, she oversees various day-to-day aspects of business operations.

 

Melanie Meyers
Partner
Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP

For nearly 20 years, Melanie Meyers has worked across various facets of the real estate industry, including as an architect, as general counsel to the New York City Department of City Planning and as a private attorney representing developers and leading institutions. Her unique background has enabled her to assume a primary role in obtaining land-use entitlements for some of the most transformative developments in the city, including Barclays Center and the Pacific Park project in Downtown Brooklyn, the development of the Western Rail Yards in the Hudson Yards area and the Applied Science Campus for Cornell University on Roosevelt Island. Meyers is consistently recognized by both Chambers USA and Legal 500 for her expertise in real estate land use and zoning.

 

Dana Moskowitz
Principal and President
EVO Real Estate Group

Dana Moskowitz is responsible for the day-to-day management of EVO Real Estate Group and also oversees the brokerage division. Her current focus is corporate growth, encompassing both brand visibility and active recruiting to expand the brokerage division and the company's agency portfolio. Moskowitz played a major role in securing a future for the former Winoker Realty after David Winoker, its president and owner, died in a skydiving accident in 2012. After several months, she and three others purchased the firm from Winoker's widow, and Moskowitz became the firm's president. While many in the industry doubted that the company could survive, since her ascension the firm—subsequently renamed EVO Real Estate Group—has not only survived, but thrived.

 

Catherine O'Toole
Managing Principal
Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance

One of the most recognized female brokers in New York City over the past decade, Catherine O'Toole is one of the most successful brokers in the Garment District. She's closed more than three million square feet of transactions throughout her career, having worked with a variety of prominent clients, with a particular focus on both office and retail companies. In January 2014, O'Toole became the managing principal of CBC Alliance after a merger with her former firm, Tarter Stats O'Toole. She is helping CBC Alliance continue to grow into a New York City brokerage powerhouse as it provides a full menu of CRE services to small and midsize companies throughout the Manhattan market. O'Toole is seeing more women coming into the industry in different roles, particularly in retail, office and investment brokerage—though not in an ownership/landlord capacity—which has been a major change from the past 10 years.

 

Joanne Podell
Vice Chairman
Cushman & Wakefield

Joanne Podell is consistently among C&W's top retail brokers both locally and nationally. Managing a team of five professionals, she is presently responsible for growth strategies for multiple retail tenants including TD Bank, Nike, Converse, Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lou & Grey and Beauty Brands. She also represents landlords for about 20 retail properties. Originally a retailer with furniture stores within the metropolitan area, Podell's accomplishments in 2014 include completing more than 25 retail leases; a Nike Flagship in Soho; 10 TD Bank deals; 112 W. 34th St. for Sephora; and an upper-west-side lease for LOFT. Podell sees more of an effort today than ever before for women to act as mentors and with more women in senior positions in real estate services, it's led to more collaboration, teamwork and information sharing across a business platform.

 

Adelaide Polsinelli
Senior Director
Eastern Consolidated

Adelaide Polsinelli has been a dominant force in the investment sales industry for over two decades. As head of Eastern Consolidated's retail group, she leads the firm's sales brokerage, advisory, research, financial structuring and marketing services for all retail-driven deals. Through her leadership, Polsinelli was instrumental in first classifying retail condos as a new real estate asset class, the urban equivalent to triple-net-leased single-tenant properties. She has also been recognized as a strong leader for her work with co-ops and condos, where she has been successful in unlocking value from their retail spaces. Polsinelli consistently seeks ways to capture opportunities in the real estate industry to help her clients achieve successful portfolios.

 

Denise Pursley
Practice Group Leader
Nixon Peabody LLP

In addition to being an exceptional real estate attorney with a specialty in leasing, Denise Pursley is one of only three female practice-group leaders at Nixon Peabody. Responsible for the firm's national real estate practice that consists of more than 50 lawyers and other professionals in nine offices, Pursley's major responsibility near term is to integrate the lawyers who just joined the firm in Chicago from the Ungaretti & Harris firm. She also will be involved in lateral recruiting for her practice group across the US. Of the many transactions Pursley handled in 2014, the biggest was a recent $80-million Manhattan property closing. She wants to continue the growth of the firm's CRE practice in the US and serve as a role model for women.

 

Sara Queen
Senior Vice President
Brookfield Office Properties

Sara Queen oversees asset management for BPO's core office portfolio, comprising 45 million square feet of class A properties. Queen has created new destinations at FIGat7th in L.A. and 1801 California  in Denver and supported the redevelopment work in NYC at Brookfield Place and 450 West 33rd St. Queen's genuine love of real estate comes through in her work and her numerous volunteer activities. She seeks to recognize and develop talent, regularly mentoring junior colleagues as well as making time for her current and former students at Columbia. Working to join a company board, Queen believes there are still relatively few women in the C-suite in real estate companies, and she hopes to change that.

 

 

Laura Rapaport
Senior Vice President
L&L Holding Co.

Laura Rapaport always rises to the occasion and commands the respect of people with decades more experience. As the project director for L&L Holding's 425 Park Ave. development, Rapaport and her team have the daunting challenge of creating an iconic office tower worthy of its place among its esteemed neighbors. At L&L, she has a tenacity that is unmatched and doesn't take no for an answer. With the rare combination of quantitative skills, people skills and creativity, Rapaport can see things from different angles and come up with solutions outside the box but, most importantly, she has a real passion for real estate. In addition to her development work, she has been an integral leader of the capital-raising efforts for all of the firm's activities. Rapaport wishes to continue to contribute to New York City's iconic skyline by developing and redeveloping interesting projects of architectural distinction.

 

Amy Rose
Co-President
Rose Associates

An owner of a 90-year-old, New York City-based family business, Amy Rose is an extremely active and hands-on leader. She oversees many of the firm's new developments while focusing on the growth of its third-party services. Cited as one of the most active developers in the city, Rose manages roughly $2 billion in new construction and conversion projects. In 2014, she was instrumental in the successful development and leasing of the Maximilian in Long Island City. A former brownfield, the site was transformed into a 188-unit boutique rental that reflects the industrial vibe of the neighborhood. Rose is also deeply committed to expanding the role of women in the industry, helping mentor and support young individuals who are intersted in real estate. She is active in several organizations for women, such as AREW and WX, and for the past few years has helped attract and promote professional women into senior positions in the firm.

 

Sara Rubenstein
Business Development Manager
LendLease

Sara Rubenstein is known for her ability to bring parties together and to consummate difficult, complex deals. Her business acumen enables her to take a pragmatic look at a transaction and find creative solutions to obstacles and challenges. Rubenstein has worked in the real estate and construction industries for more than 15 years, where she has accrued a broad range of legal and operations knowledge in real estate finance, complex development, sales and acquisitions, leasing and the construction process. As business-development manager for Lend Lease's development business unit, she leads acquisitions for New York and has responsibility for feasibility, entitlements, programing, design, marketing and leasing. Rubenstein successfully negotiated and closed more than $2 billion in contracts in 2014. Her career goal is to ultimately run a development business.

 

Karen Scanna
Partner
Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP

Karen Scanna's “dirt law” practice is incredibly diverse, and she has been successful in adapting it and enabling it to flourish, notwithstanding the ups and downs of the market. In 2008, during the height of the financial crisis, Scanna represented the joint venture that acquired and financed the 1.8-million-square-foot, 47-story, class-A office building known as Worldwide Plaza in New York City. More recently, she has assisted her clients in capitalizing on the hot multifamily market by acquiring thousands of units for them throughout the boroughs of New York City. She has also represented the developers of several of the most noteworthy transactions of the Bloomberg administration, including the Willets Point, Seward Park and Kingsbridge Armory developments. As she continues her professional journey, she wants to continue to learn, take on additional responsibilities and contribute as much value as she can, both within Stroock and in outside related professional associations. 

 

Audrey Sokoloff
Partner
Skadden

One of global real estate's most accomplished lawyers, Skadden partner Audrey Sokoloff leads transformative transactions in the Metro New York market. One of her specialties is advising foreign acquirers of iconic US properties, a skill that recently came to bear in the blockbuster $1.95-billion acquisition of the Waldorf Astoria by Anbang Insurance Group—the largest-ever acquisition of a single hotel in the US and the largest-ever US real estate acquisition by a Chinese buyer. This historic transaction builds on her work advising on the $3.4-billion sale of a stake in the iconic General Motors building, the second-largest US real estate acquisition by a Chinese buyer and among Real Estate Forum's “2013's Deals of the Year.” Sokoloff believes that women build strong networks among other women as well as among male colleagues, and that the diversity of their voices and perspectives has greatly enhanced the New York market and our industry overall.

 

Darcy Stacom
Vice Chairman
CBRE Group Inc.

Darcy Stacom has been responsible for both the largest residential and office sales transactions in history. Stacom's diverse, prolific résumé ranges from $2-million trust and estates dispositions to the $5.4-billion sale of Peter Cooper Village/Stuyvesant Town for MetLife. She also arranged Google's $1.8-billion purchase of 111 Eighth Ave., which transformed Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, in 2010. In her career, Stacom has completed more than $60 billion in sales, financing, joint venture, leasehold and development transactions. She has been a leader in advancing the inclusion of women in the real estate industry and is a past recipient of CBRE's Women's Network's Endurance of Spirit Award, given to the professional who best exemplifies the Women's Network's mission of promoting an environment that values individual differences and supports inclusiveness, both internally and externally.

 

Mary Ann Tighe
CEO, New York Tri-State Region
CBRE Group Inc.

Mary Ann Tighe has been responsible for more than 90 million square feet of commercial transactions, and her deals have anchored more than 13.7 million square feet of new construction in the New York region—believed to be a record in commercial brokerage. Under Tighe's leadership as CEO of CBRE's New York tri-state region, which contains 2,300 employees, CBRE has become one of New York's preeminent firms. Having wrapped up a three-year term as REBNY's first female chairman in 2013, Tighe spent 2014 closing on more than three million square feet of office deals in Manhattan, including Sony Corp. of America at 11 Madison Ave., GroupM at 3 World Trade Center, AMC Networks Inc. at 11 Penn Plaza and Teach for America Inc. at 25 Broadway. Tighe will continue to work with customers to impact New York City positively through transactions that change the face of the city for the betterment of business and people.

 

Beth Zafonte
Director, Economic Development Services
Akerman LLP

Beth Zafonte serves a unique role in real estate transactions for clients, with a focus on delivering “gap” financing and economic development incentives to enhance project feasibility. She has a specialized area of expertise in representing clients before governmental agencies in New York and throughout the US. Zafonte has 30 years of experience in the practice of economic development incentives, representing a broad range of national and locally based private developers, various Fortune 500 corporations and manufacturing concerns on a national basis. At Akerman, she serves as the deputy chair of the national Real Estate Practice Group, representing both public and privately held companies, as well as institutions. Zafonte has been involved in projects that have utilized more than $3 billion worth of incentives.