The 32nd Annual Cornell Real Estate Conference kicks-off the morning of October 9th in the Convene space at 32 Old Slip along the South Street Seaport. The conference features thoughtful, forward-thinking and inspiring leaders in the real estate industry able to provide valuable insights about some of the most important real estate investment, development and management issues of the day.
The opening session includes a Job Barometer update by David Funk, the Director of the Baker Program in Real Estate, and then a luncheon with Matt Slepin, Founder and Managing Partner of Terra Search Partners, followed by a panel discussing the trends in real estate career management. The panel will be moderated by Lynn Gray, Chief Executive Officer of Campus Scout, LLC with panel members from Toll Brothers, Real Mortgage Finance, Related Companies, UBS, and Starwood Capital Group. The afternoon Career Summit and Internship Fair will allow attendees to speak with representatives from a broad spectrum of select commercial real estate employers available to discuss employment opportunities individually with Career Summit attendees. “Not only will there be a fascinating collection of speakers and panel discussions, but the opportunities to meet accomplished practitioners and forge meaningful connections are phenomenal. The career summit is also a highlight of the event, and looks to have an exciting array of prospective employers,” said Chris Lloyd (Baker ’15).
The Conference Dinner and Fireside Chat will feature David M. Rubenstein, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of The Carlyle Group, along with Mike Spector, a reporter on private equity from the Wall Street Journal. Founded in 1987, The Carlyle Group is a global asset management firm specializing in private equity with total assets of over $35 billion.
“Like many of the students of the Baker program, I look forward to the upcoming Cornell Real Estate Conference as an opportunity to network with key industry professionals. It will be a doubly exciting event since the conference will act as a great book-end to the first couple months of our intensive core curriculum,” said Scott Guo (Baker ’16). In addition to providing networking opportunities to Baker students, the conference provides a three-part panel series on several cutting-edge real estate topics and trends.
The next morning on October 10th, Kyle Kimball, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation will deliver a welcome to the City address, followed by Robert White, Founder & President of Real Capital Analytics, a firm specializing in providing comprehensive information on commercial property investment. The first of three panel discussions will focus on global investing: Moderator Adam Metz, Managing Director of The Carlyle Group, will lead a discussion with members from BlackRock’s Global Real Estate, Gaw Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, and KKR’s Real Estate Platform.
The Deal Making panel discussion will be moderated by Russ Bernard, Managing Principal of Westport Capital Partners, and will feature Jim Heistand, President and CEO of Parkway Properties, Michael Franco, EVP and Co-Head of Acquisitions & Capital Markets for Vornado Realty Trust, and Stephen Furnary, Chairman & CEO of Clarion Partners. The closing panel, Reimagining Real Estate features MaryAnne Gilmartin, President and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, Christopher Sharples, Principal of SHoP Architects, and Thomas Vecchione, Principal & Director of Real Estate Strategy and Gensler.
As a highlight event in the Baker Program each year, the Annual Real Estate Conference brings together industry professionals to share their insights and meet one-on-one with Baker students. For more information, see the Real Estate Conference Agenda webpage here.
