Boston State of the Market

Tina Cassidy is WGBH’s Chief Marketing Officer, leading WGBH’s marketing, communications and public relations efforts, which includes responsibility for local and national marketing, institutional branding, events strategy, creative and design services, station relations and audience and media research. Before joining WGBH in 2019, Cassidy was the executive vice president and chief content officer at InkHouse, an innovative bi-coastal integrated digital marketing and public relations agency which she helped expand into new markets and service offerings. Prior to that she was a journalist with a wide range of experience as a reporter and editor, primarily at the Boston Globe. Cassidy is the author of several nonfiction books that focus on women and culture. Her latest is Mr. President How Long Must We Wait?: Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson and the Fight for the Right to Vote. She is on the board of The Conversation US, and was previously on the board of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Northeastern University.

Rosemarie E. Sansone, President & CEO of the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District (BID) Corporation, has focused on business, jobs and community in a career that has spanned the private and public sectors. She has worked in government, community affairs, advertising and fundraising. Rosemarie was twice elected to the Boston City Council, where she served at large, developing a broad understanding of the relationships among city, state and federal agencies. Later she played a pivotal role in attracting businesses, tourism and conventions to the city as the director of the Mayor’s Office of Business and Cultural Development in the Flynn administration. In 1994, she joined Suffolk University as director of public affairs, with responsibilities that included collaborating with public- and private-sector partners on downtown’s ongoing revitalization. In 2007, Rosemarie transitioned to the Downtown Crossing Partnership, the BID’s predecessor organization. As its leader she spearheaded the multi-year campaign that led to the BID’s establishment in 2010. Rosemarie brought a collaborative style built upon teamwork with hundreds of business and property owners as the driving force behind the creation and success of Boston’s first BID. In leading the BID, Rosemarie is committed to serving its members through direct and immediate attention to their needs and those of the district. She works closely with the mayor’s office, the Boston Planning & Development Agency, the Boston Police Department, and a host of other city agencies to ensure the BID achieves the district’s full potential as a premier and vibrant destination. Rosemarie studied liberal arts at Suffolk University and earned a master’s degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Boston. Rosemarie has served on many boards, including the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Economic Development Industrial Board. She currently serves on the board of Revolution 250, which commemorates the anniversaries of significant events that led to the outbreak of the American Revolution. In 2013-14, Rosemarie served on Mayor Martin J. Walsh’s transition team, advising the incoming administration about basic city services. In 2016, she served as co-chair of the commission that oversaw the creation of the Raymond L. Flynn Marine Park in Boston’s Seaport.

Ms. Silk is a Development Partner with more than 20 years of planning and real estate experience.  As a Development Partner for Jefferson Apartment Group, her responsibilities include sourcing, permitting and executing all residential development projects in the Boston market.  Most recently, she led the development team for the an assemblage of properties in Malden Center, currently under construction to be redeveloped into over 500,000 sf of mixed use retail, residential and office space. She previously acted as Director of Development for Federal Realty Investments Trust’s Assembly Row project in Somerville and has worked in multifamily development for JPI and Archstone and for Harbor Properties in Seattle. She also has experience in historic resource and recreational planning for the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (when it was known as the Department of Environmental Management).  To date, Ms. Silk has been directly involved in the development and construction of more than 1500 multifamily units in the Boston area including Archstone Boston Common and Archstone (now Avalon) North Point as well as Jefferson at Admiral’s Hill, Chelsea and Arlington 360 in Arlington.  She currently oversees more than 500 units in development and has experience with permitting and developing projects in multiple jurisdictions including Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Malden. She earned a Masters in Urban Planning and a Masters in Business Administration at the University of Washington in Seattle and received a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies and Public Policy from Boston University.

Richard Galvin is Co-Managing Partner of Accordia Partners and the President and Founder of CV Properties, LLC, a Boston-based real estate development and investment firm. Mr. Galvin has over 30 years of experience in acquiring, developing, and managing commercial real estate throughout the United States. Dick has developed and acquired more than 4.5 million square feet of office and residential projects valued at $2.5 billion. Dick started his career at Trammell Crow Company in 1984, one of the largest real estate development companies in the world. He spent the first eight years of his career in Boston, eventually becoming a Partner in the Boston office, where he was involved in the development of over 2.5 million square feet of office and research & development space. He then moved to Stamford, Connecticut in 1992 to help found the Corporate Services business of Trammell Crow Company (TCC). Mr. Galvin was instrumental in growing that business into one of Trammell Crow Company’s largest subsidiaries. Now known as Global Workplace Solutions (GWS), CBRE acquired TCC in 2006 and now GWS is a $3 billion business. Mr. Galvin left Trammell Crow Company in early 1999 to co-found NeXcomm Capital Partners, whose primary focus was the acquisition and development of technology related office buildings. NeXcomm and its partners acquired and/or developed such signature projects as the Dallas InfoMart, a 1,200,000 SF building and the Los Angeles InfoMart, a 475,000 SF historic renovation of the former US Post Office building in downtown LA. Mr. Galvin founded CV Properties in 2003 to focus on development activities in New England. Signature development projects include the GTECH corporate headquarters in downtown Providence, RI, the renovation of the former Verizon building located in Post Office Square in downtown Boston, now the headquarters for Brown Brothers Harriman, a new 500,000SF state of the art building for State Street Bank at One Channel Center in Boston and the recently opened Aloft and Element hotels in Boston’s Seaport, the largest hotel project in New England in the last 10 years. Mr. Galvin received his BA in Economics from Brown University, and was inducted into its Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. He is formerly Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Fairfield Wakeman Boys and Girls Club, is on the Board of the Providence Foundation, A Better City, NAIOP, the Laboure Center in Boston, and served as Honorary Chair of the 2014 Renaissance Charter School Gala. Recent awards for Mr. Galvin and CV Properties include received the Developer of the Year Award for 2012, by the Commercial Brokers Association of Boston, Boston Business Journal project of the year in 2012, was inducted, along with CV Properties into the Massachusetts Building Congress Hall of Fame, and won the UMass Boston’s Chancellor’s Medal in 2016. In August 2019, NAIOP announced that Mr. Galvin would be honored with this year’s Edward H. Linde Public Service Award for his pioneering and impactful efforts to increase diversity in the CRE industry. In October 2019, Mr. Galvin was awarded the 2019 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation National Preservation Award for South Street Landing, an adaptive reuse complex in Providence, Rhode Island. The award recognizes the best historic preservation projects to be completed in recent years.

Tim Doherty currently serves as Executive Vice President, Head of Investments. In this role, Mr. Doherty leads the investment team of Safehold Inc (NYSE: SAFE), a public REIT focused on the acquisition and creation of ground lease investments across all property types nationwide. Safehold is the first publicly traded company focused solely on ground lease investments and is externally managed by iStar. Mr. Doherty worked at iStar between 2000 and 2008 and recently rejoined iStar in 2013. Prior to becoming the Head of Ground Lease Investments, he focused on structured finance having worked on over 60 transactions totaling more than $5 billion during his tenure at iStar. The transaction structure types included first mortgage, mezzanine, B-notes, preferred equity, DIP financing, participations and corporate finance investments and included all traditional property types (office, retail, hotel and industrial) and non-traditional product types (self-storage, entertainment and land). Prior to his latest tenure at iStar, Mr. Doherty co-founded and operated Shem Creek Capital (“SCC”), a boutique real estate finance fund located in Boston, MA. Prior to joining iStar Financial in 2000, Mr. Doherty was at Archon Group, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, investing on behalf of the Whitehall funds. He received his BS in Finance from Georgetown University.

Kory Klebanoff is a Director at ACORE Capital, responsible for sourcing, underwriting, structuring and executing real estate debt investment opportunities. Prior to ACORE, Kory was a Director at GE Capital Real Estate focused on debt origination and asset management. At GE, Kory was involved in transactions, both in originations and asset management roles, totaling in excess of $3 billion. Prior to joining GE, Kory worked for Blackheath Financial, where he underwrote commercial mortgages set for securitization. Kory is a graduate of Tulane University with a BSM in Finance and Marketing.

Ed Kindelan is the Office Managing Partner of CohnReznick’s Boston office and leads the Commercial Real Estate practice in the New England Region. Ed is also an active member in the Hartford business community. He focuses on client service and firm growth within our Connecticut and Massachusetts offices. He works closely with CohnReznick partners to ensure we provide the full depth and breadth of CohnReznick resources to our clients. As a member of the Commercial Real Estate Industry Practice, Ed provides assurance, tax, and advisory services to commercial real estate developers, property managers, private equity funds and investors. He has extensive experience in providing business, succession and estate planning to closely-held businesses and their stakeholders. He regularly participates in Commercial Real Estate panels on a variety of topics. Education · University of Connecticut: Bachelor of Science, Accounting Community Involvement · American Heart Association, Connecticut and Western Massachusetts, Board Member · Community Foundation of Greater New Britain, Board member · National Conference for Community and Justice, Board Member Professional Affiliations · American Institute of Certified Public Accountants · Connecticut Society of Certified Public Accountants · Real Estate Finance Association

Maria Paitchel is an Area Vice President for IWG and has worked in the flexible workspace industry for over 30 years. IWG’s companies include Regus, Spaces, No18, Open Office, and Signature – each catering to professionals in need of flexible workspaces around the world. At IWG, Maria is responsible for the Sales and Operations, overseeing 60 locations across both the Regus and Spaces brands supporting customers of all sizes from start-ups to entrepreneurs as well as to Fortune 100 and 500 multinational organizations. Maria has seen the flexible workspace sector evolve and grow to what it is today with many companies wanting to join the revolution in helping transform the way people work. Maria began her career in Chicago with a privately held and operated firm, OmniOffices where she played an entrepreneurial role in finding new sites and ran the sales and operations in a profitable business. Maria has been recognized as a top Sales Leader and has received many Global Sales Achievements recognitions during her tenure at IWG. Maria studied Communications at Loyola University of Chicago.

Imran Khan is an AVP and Business Head managing strategic partnerships and business development for Flipspaces, a global tech-enabled Interior Design and Build Brand focused on CRE. Powered by a cutting edge tech suite spanning across VR enabled space planning, interiors visualisation and project Management technology, Flipspaces is redefining the rules of Commercial Design and Build. Imran has extensive experience in various domains including research, analytics, consulting, technical product development, marketing, operations and business development. Imran successfully established one of the largest freelancer's communities in the world with more than 120,000 members - working for a common goal. An Engineer at heart, he has been awarded for innovation, optimization and scaling up processes, products and businesses. He studied Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and MBA from IIM Ahmedabad.

Bobby Goodman manages strategic brokerage initiatives and business development at Truss and is the commercial real estate subject matter expert. He also oversees the company’s newest platform, Truss CRE. Bobby combines his extensive background in real estate with Truss’ marketplace vision, helping shape a new era in leasing commercial space. Bobby is a recognized industry visionary, never satisfied with the status quo. Bobby’s mission is to simplify and streamline the entire leasing process to make it easy for Truss customers. Prior to starting Truss, Bobby held positions for international real estate firms JLL, Colliers and Mark Goodman & Associates, completing transactions for some of the largest companies in the world. Goodman has been named Most Influential Real Estate Brokers by Crain’s Chicago Business. He holds a Bachelor of Arts & Science in Psychology from the University of Colorado.

William “Wil” H. Catlin, Jr. is Partner and Managing Principal of Boston Realty Advisors, where he oversees the Commercial Leasing Division, as well as the overall strategic growth of the firm. Wil has an innate ability to translate business objectives and corporate culture into an effective environment that yields productivity and creativity. Mr. Catlin leads a group of client-centric professionals in both tenant representation and agency leasing. Since 2017, the Commercial Leasing Division has leased over 1.5 million square feet, establishing Boston Realty Advisors as the market leader for the TAMI office sector and specialists in navigating gut rehab commercials projects throughout Greater Boston. Mr. Catlin is an active member of NAIOP and the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB). He is on the board of Love Lane Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program, The Tremont School and part of the Menlo College Alumni Association.

Mark Hickey is a Real Estate Economist with the CoStar Group, the leading provider of data and analytics to the commercial real estate industry. He has been with the firm for over 10 years and focuses his time on the analysis of market trends in Boston and greater New England. Mark has been quoted about commercial real estate markets in major metropolitan newspapers and national media, including the Boston Business Journal, the Boston Globe, and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to joining CoStar, he spent 10 years working in financial services for some of the nation’s leading investment banks. Mark received his B.S. in Finance and Economics from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from the Carroll Graduate School of Management at Boston College.