The Baker Program in Real Estate’s Distinguished Speaker Series features many successful real estate practitioners who are also alumni of Cornell. The resulting ability to relate to current students experiences and subsequent knowledge of post-Cornell career paths make these individuals among the best who come to Baker. On February 18, the Baker Program’s signature Distinguished Speaker Series featured Andrew Isikoff (BS’91), Managing Director of New York City-based Silverfern Group.
Silverfern Group is the real estate arm of the world’s largest family office investment club. In this capacity, Silverfern serves as the conduit through which many of the world’s sharpest and most successful billion-dollar single family offices deploy capital into a variety of real estate strategies. Baker students were treated to a vibrant mix of personal and business stories, delivered in story-like fashion. Isikoff’s real estate roots run deep. His father, fellow Cornell alum Nathan Isikoff, has enjoyed a prominent career in the Washington D.C. and Mid-Atlantic real estate market, and currently serves as the Vice Chairman of TransWestern in addition to serving on the Advisory Board for the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell.
Andrew graduated from Cornell with a degree in Economics in 1991, and later earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He first entered the real estate private equity arena at Cerberus Capital Management in the late 1990s before moving to Perry Capital, where he headed the investment firm’s real estate activities until 2011. With wealthy investors increasing their allocations to real estate across the board over the past few years, Silverfern has been extremely busy.
Baker students garnered many great takeaways and other pieces of advice from Isikoff’s lecture. Tushar Bundhela (Baker ’17) stated that “his views on real estate private equity in many international markets, especially Europe, was very informative. The crux of his speech was the sheer importance of coordination between high net-worth individuals, with each party coming to a consensus on investment targets while maintaining focus on the bigger picture. That is much easier said than done, but he does it very successfully.”
