Capital Markets and the Future of Tax-Advantaged CRE

Spencer Levy is Global Client Strategist and Senior Economic Advisor for CBRE, the largest commercial real estate services firm in the world. In this role, he focuses on client engagement and public-facing activities, including thought leadership work performed in conjunction with CBRE Research. He also serves as Co-Chair of the Real Estate Roundtable’s Research Committee. Spencer is frequently quoted in major business publications and appears on business television, including CNBC, CNN, Bloomberg, PBS and Fox Business. Spencer is the host of CBRE’s podcast “The Weekly Take.” He is considered one of the most insightful commentators on issues of importance to commercial real estate. Spencer has 27 years of experience in commercial real estate, including the past 15 at CBRE. In this time, he has served as a lawyer, investment banker, capital markets and senior research leader. He leverages that varied background to formulate advice and create presentations that go deep and touch on all aspects of commercial real estate. His thoughtful analysis, coupled with a highly engaging presenting style, has made him one of the most sought-after commentators and advisors in the industry. Spencer regularly speaks at major events of the country’s leading commercial real estate organizations, including CORENET, NAIOP, ULI, ICSC, NAREIM and CREW. He also has guest lectured at his alma maters Harvard and Cornell, as well as Columbia, NYU, Johns Hopkins, Indiana, Georgetown, Pitt, UCLA, USC, Ohio State and many others. Spencer is a recipient of multiple industry awards, including a two-time winner of the CORENET Luminary Award for Excellence in Public Speaking, the CBRE Trammell Crow Master Builder Award, the CBRE Gary J. Beban Teamwork Award, the CBRE Capital Markets “MVP”, and was named a State of Maryland Influencer in Real Estate and was recently given the Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Commercial Real Estate by the Daily Record. While a New Yorker for most of his life, Spencer currently resides in Baltimore with his wife of 23 years and their three children. Spencer serves on the board of the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women.

Ethan is the Founder and Managing Partner, CIO of MREC Management, LLC. He is a recognized pioneer in the fields of real estate and finance with a 35-year career marked by filling voids and responding to unseen or poorly understood opportunities. Most consequently, he is credited with being the primary driver in the creation of the Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities market while at Nomura Securities, for which he received broad recognition including being named one of the U.S. Real Estate Industry’s 100 icons of the 20th century. In 2011, Real Estate Forum voted him one of the Real Estate Industry’s 65 living legends in their 65th anniversary issue. In 2008, Penner founded and served as President of CBRE Capital Partners, a real estate debt investment platform that successfully raised and managed over $600 million from institutional and high net worth investors. CBRE Capital Partners substantially exited all investments in 2014. Ethan is also committed to improving the lives of others and enhancing awareness and does so in a number of ways including; Teaching – he currently serves as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio School of Business and Management, and previously held the same capacity at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business; Writing – he maintains a blog and has had many articles published in a variety of publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Wharton Real Estate Review and the Institutional Real Estate Investor; Public speaking – he is a frequent featured speaker at industry conferences and universities; Philanthropy & Civic involvement – He is a member of the Advisory Board of the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, in 1996 he founded the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation which provided internships to teenagers at major U.S. corporations in New York City, and has been on numerous boards including that of The League, which had a competition-based, in-school community service model, KIND, which is dedicated to bringing education and opportunity to woman, and The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is dedicated to enhancing awareness to combat hate; and Fitness – he is the founder of Fitwall, LLC, a company aimed at revolutionizing the exercise industry through its patented Fitwall product. Ethan is married to Marisol Penner, a former professional athlete and native of Venezuela, and they have five children and reside in Los Angeles.