NYC Sustainable Development & ESG Investing

Carlton, one of the three founding principles at Direct Invest Development is leading the firm’s development of “restorative human settlements”. The focus of the firm is the development of real estate assets which bring new stakeholders to dis-invested communities while protecting the interests of long-term stakeholders in these historically dis-invested communities. Direct Development’s projects always attempt to include and create “opportunity structures” which will contribute to creating self-actualized people and communities. Carlton believes that investments in real estate have the potential to heal broken communities and contribute to Equitable Economic Development in ways that are economically, environmentally, socially, culturally, and financially viable i.e., far beyond “triple bottom line” development. Before founding Direct Invest Development, Carlton was a founding principal at Full Spectrum of NY where, for 25 years, he led the firm’s development projects. Under his leadership, Full Spectrum was widely acclaimed as one of the national leaders in sustainable green development of affordable and workforce housing in disinvested urban communities. At Direct Invest Carlton is expanding the vision first developed at Full Spectrum into other communities both urban and rural. New initiatives include the development of Passive House certified multifamily workforce housing; a multifamily development integrated into a vertical farm powered by renewable energy and sustainable development in rural and peri-urban sub-Saharan Africa. The big questions around human settlement & sustainability like how Climate Change, Resilience, Food Security, and Structural Changes in the Global Economy will affect our collective ability to create thriving communities are the ones that keep Carlton up late at night.

Over the past 20 years, Charu Singh has worked in the non- profit, public, and private sectors as a practitioner and investor to create positive social and environmental impact. She is the Director of Portfolio Management at Emergent Capital Partners, a Southeast Asia-focused PERE firm. She leads investment strategy, portfolio creation, and risk management efforts across the firm’s portfolios. Under her leadership, Emergent has scaled its business in Southeast Asia from start-up to an institutional-grade investment platform. Charu served as Assistant Vice President at the New York City Economic Development Corporation, where she structured public-private real estate transactions and planning efforts impacting economic development, community needs, and sustainable, equitable development.   Charu is a graduate of MIT, where she earned an M.Sc. in Real Estate Development and a Master of City Planning. She earned a B.A. in Political Science and International Development from McGill University.

Alison Novak is Head of Sidewalk Urban Development. Alison has overseen the acquisition, design, financing, construction, and completion of a wide range of housing developments ranging from affordable to high-end, home ownership to rental, single-family to high-rise. She has over 15 years of real estate development experience. Prior to Sidewalk she was a principal at one of New York City's premier residential development firms, The Hudson Companies Inc. Under her leadership, Hudson launched its commitment to green building, its first equity investment funds, and its internal committee for Equity, Inclusivity, and Diversity. Alison studied Community Development at Grinnell College and earned a Master of City Planning and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from M.I.T. She is a Vice Chair of Women in Housing and Finance, an honor bestowed on past board presidents. Alison is a member of the 21st cohort of Coro Leadership New York and sits on the board of The Osborne Association.

Lawrence Hammond is a Vice President and Mortgage Officer in the Community Preservation Corporation’s (CPC) New York City Originations division where he is responsible for the company’s lending activities throughout New York City and Long Island. In this capacity he facilitates the growth of CPC’s efforts in providing construction and permanent financing opportunities that seek to reflect CPC’s core mission to stabilize and revitalize communities. Mr. Hammond joined CPC in 2015 after spending over 30 years with various financial institutions inclusive of Popular Community Bank, Bank of New York Mellon, and JP Morgan Chase Bank. Throughout his banking career, he has continued to demonstrate an ability to cultivate established relationships with leaders in the public and private sectors of business and government. Mr. Hammond earned a Doctorate of Ministry and Masters of Divinity from New York Theological Seminary and a Bachelor of Science from Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus). He is married to Primrose Hammond and has three sons and two granddaughters.

Dr. Angie Scott is Director and Community Concept Lead for the WELL Building Standard and Health Equity Lead at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI). She previously served as an Assistant Professor of Interior Design believing that the built environment should be equitable for everyone regardless of race, gender, age, or ability. Her research takes a preventative approach to the interior environment focusing on the intersection of residential design, housing, and well-being; and cultural well-being and workplace environments. Through these perspectives, she focuses on mental health (stress reduction) and occupant satisfaction. Scott has worked in the interior design profession as a practitioner, educator, and researcher for nearly 20 years. She earned a Ph.D. in interior design focusing on evidence-based design from the University of Minnesota, holds a DEI Workplace Certificate from the University of South Florida, and was named an inaugural ASID Ones To Watch Award Winner and Scholar. Scott believes the building industry can make significant contributions to people's lives through the impact of the built environment on mental, physical, and social well-being.

Michael focuses on the structuring, negotiation, and documentation of a variety of credit products, including broadly syndicated corporate loans, asset-based loans, cash flow loans, trade and supply-chain finance, the purchase and sale of individual loans and loan portfolios, and the workout of troubled assets. His clients include money-center and regional banks, foreign banks, investment funds and finance companies.

Bert van den Hoek was appointed Senior Portfolio Manager North American Investments at Bouwinvest Investment Managers at the beginning of 2020. He heads Bouwinvest’s New York City satellite office with a view to increasing its investments in North America on behalf of the Dutch Constructions Workers Pension Fund, bpfBOUW. Van den Hoek has worked in real estate for almost three decades and has broad international experience in both Europe and the U.S. with Partners Group, Deutsche Bank, PGGM, GIC, Morgan Stanley and Westbrook Partners.

Eric Duchon is a Managing Director and the Global Head of ESG for Blackstone Real Estate. As part of the Real Estate Asset Management team, he partners with the firm’s central ESG team and Portfolio Operations to initiate, manage, implement and report ESG initiatives across the global Real Estate portfolio. Prior to joining Blackstone in November 2020, Mr. Duchon was at LaSalle Investment Management where he was a Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability. Prior to LaSalle, Mr. Duchon spent over 9 years at Cushman & Wakefield as the Director of Sustainability Strategies. Mr. Duchon received a BBA from Emory University – Goizueta Business School and a Masters in Real Estate Development Degree from New York University Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Chris Pyke is the Senior Vice President for Arc Skoru -- part of the USGBC and GBCI family of organizations. Arc helps projects in more than 130 countries score, benchmark, and report real world sustainability performance. Prior to joining Arc, Dr. Pyke was Research Officer for the US Green Building Council, Chief Strategy Officer for Aclima, and Chief Operating Officer for GRESB. Dr. Pyke is on the faculty of the Urban and Regional Planning Program at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a B.S. from the College of William and Mary.

Dailey Tipton has spent many years in senior positions of management where he is recognized for his expertise in energy and sustainability. He has a long history of growing companies, from start-up to Fortune 500 in size. As the leader for revenue generation for Evolution Energy Partners, Dailey focuses on creating opportunities for customers to drive impact to their bottom line through energy management projects while increasing their sustainable footprint. Prior to EEP, Dailey worked at CPower as a General Manager, SAP as the leader for Energy Management and Sustainable Applications Center of Excellence, DATUM as part of the management team and created, launched and managed a highly successful SAP sustainability practice for ERM. Dailey started his career as a Naval Flight Officer and is a Veteran of Foreign War with multiple recognitions including two Navy Achievement Medals. He holds two degrees in Engineering: MS in Civil Engineering from the University of Texas and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Auburn University. In his off time, Dailey is a competitive runner, cyclist, long distance open water swimmer and sails boats competitively. Dailey is on the Board of Directors for US Patriot Sailing, a wounded warrior program that provides support to the “Silently Wounded” warriors. Married 34 years to Jessica, who he met at Auburn, with two children Nate 30 and Leah 27.

Ben Myers is the Senior Vice President, Sustainability, at Boston Properties (BXP), the largest publicly-traded developer, owner and manager of Class A office properties in the United States. He is an engineer and non-routine project manager with a passion for resource efficiency, healthy workspaces and urban ecosystems. His primary responsibilities include ESG strategy and implementation, enterprise energy and water management, green building initiatives, distributed generation and storage, energy conservation measure implementation, resilience planning, education, communication and public reporting. He holds an M.A. in Urban Environmental Leadership from Lesley University and a B.S. in Civil & Environmental Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Under Mr. Myers’ leadership, BXP has been recognized as an industry leader in ESG and sustainability. • In 2019, BXP ranked among the top 4% of all real estate companies in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (“GRESB”) assessment. 2019 was the eighth consecutive year that BXP has ranked in the top quartile of GRESB assessment participants, earning another “Green Star” recognition and the highest GRESB 5-star Rating. • In 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019, BXP was selected by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (“Nareit”) as a Leader in the Light Award winner. In 2019, BXP earned the “Most Innovative” Leader in the Light Award. This award is given to only one company and is the highest achievement in sustainability innovation for all REITs and real estate companies. • BXP is a corporate member of the U.S. Green Building Council® (USGBC) and has a long history of owning, developing and operating properties that are certified under USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental DesignTM (LEED®) rating system. The company has LEED certified over 26 million square feet of our portfolio, of which 93% is certified at the highest Gold and Platinum levels. • BXP has been an active participant in the green bond market since 2018, issuing $1.85 billion of green bonds, which provide access to sustainability-focused investors interested in the positive environmental externalities of our business activities. • BXP has been named a Green Lease Leader at the highest Gold level by the Institute for Market Transformation and the U.S. Department of Energy for exhibiting a strong commitment to high performance and sustainability in buildings and best practices in leasing. BXP’s master lease form includes green lease clauses that support a more sustainable tenant-landlord relationship. • Since adopting public goals in 2016, the company has made great strides towards meeting its targets to reduce energy use intensity by 32%, reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 45% and reduce water use intensity by 30% by the year 2025. The company achieved its 45% greenhouse gas emissions intensity goal six years early in 2019 and advanced our commitment to responsible climate action measures by pursuing the adoption of a science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. • As a result of BXP’s efforts to improve energy efficiency and cut emissions, the company was named a 2020 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year. • BXP was named one of America’s Most Responsible Companies by Newsweek. The company ranked 122nd on Newsweek’s 2020 list of America’s 300 Most Responsible Companies, the second highest ranking given to a public REIT and the highest ranking of any office company.

Adam Shelly is Project Development Director with Ecosystem, based in New York City. He works at the intersection of sustainability and technical innovation, bringing together energy expertise and knowledge of the NYC energy landscape to identify potential infrastructure modernization that addresses both asset renewal priorities and carbon reduction mandates. He also serves as a key member of NYSERDA's Technical Advisory team for the Empire Building Challenge, which provides $50 million to a group of leading building owners to test innovative new green retrofit solutions. Adam is a P.E. in several states, a C.E.M. and a licensed electrical contractor. He has an MS in Sustainable Engineering from Villanova University, and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ken Colao is a recognized leader and entrepreneur in the construction industry with more than 37 years of experience as a principal of several major firms, working on domestic and international high-profile projects. As Founder, President and CEO of CNY, Ken leads an innovative solutions oriented Manhattan based company that is credited with leading change in the industry including “open shop” construction that disrupted an otherwise all union labor marketplace for large-scale development. As a thought leader and early adopter of ESG initiatives at CNY he brings a discipline and an approach to problem solving that fulfills objectives of clients and designers. Ken enthusiastically challenges the norm, unlocking value and leading CNY’s management in the delivery of its proven best practices and expertise, including its Social Conscience, Technical Prowess and Sustainability Practices CNY provides CMAR and design assist services with a collaborative, open forum management style. The company differentiates itself with expertise involving complex reconstruction and repurposing of buildings, and buildouts of sustainable and uniquely designed spaces. The firm was named ENR Contractor of the Year, among other notable recognition from BD+C with three of its projects, Times Square Edition, Woolworth Tower and Tammany Hall receiving Best Project Awards. An engineer with a B.S.C.E. degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology, Ken serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of Overseers for NJIT and Chairs the Board of Advisors for the Hillier School of Architecture and Design. Ken has received the University’s Alumni Achievement Award and is amongst its Top 30 Influencers. He also serves as Vice Chairman on the Board of Governors for the New York Building Congress and has held positions at several charitable organizations. Ken has been an active member of YPO for over 28 years serving on boards of YPO Metro, Metro Gold and Big Apple Gold and Construction Industry Global Network where he is Vice Chair. He has spoken on several industry panels and was speaker at YPO CIN RT in 2014 on Life Lessons: Story about Construction and Perseverance Following 911. Ken was named EY Entrepreneur of The Year® in 2017 for the New York Region, in the category of Real Estate, Construction and Hospitality. EY’s global program recognizes individuals who excel in innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. He also Championed YPO CIN Digital Roundtable Event 2021 on ESG—An Emerging Influence in our Society, Industry, and Businesses—a topic Ken is passionate about. For more information, visit www.cnygroup.com

Sarah Welton’s role as US Business Growth Director draws upon her education and experience in real estate finance, public health and urban planning. At Longevity Partners, Sarah leads the business growth of Longevity Partners within the United States. Prior to joining Longevity Partners in early 2021, Sarah spent seven years at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), where she transformed the built environment by helping create better and more valuable spaces for people and the environment. She also supported the launch of IWBI's Investing for Health initiative, which aims to elevate health and well-being within the ESG landscape. Sarah earned a dual master’s degree in Public Health and Urban Planning from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Georgia’s Terry School of Business. Sarah is also a triathlon coach and yoga instructor, and mother to two beautiful and intelligent girls.

Becca Timms the Director of ESG at Jamestown. She leads environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives through the Jamestown Green program and the Jamestown Charitable Foundation. Prior to joining Jamestown in 2012, Ms. Rushin worked as a local government consultant for Clark Patterson Lee, where she served as Community Development Coordinator and Sustainability Commission Staff Liaison for the City of Dunwoody. She is a Certified Energy Manager (CEM) and holds a LEED AP O+M credential. Ms. Rushin is an active volunteer with the Urban Land Institute, the US Green Building Council, and Community Farmers Markets. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Environmental Policy from Sewanee: the University of the South and a Master of Science in Sustainable Development: Environmental Policy and Management from Utrecht University.

Mike Eardley is Director of Energy & Sustainability at EBI Consulting, managing EBI’s nationwide engineering team. He has 20 years of experience in energy consulting, building commissioning, and high performance facilities. His contributions to the industry have included serving as President of the Northeast Chapter of the Building Commissioning Association, President of the Building Commissioning Certification Board, Board Officer of the U.S. Green Building Council’s New Hampshire Chapter, and Program’s Chair for a national technical committee of ASHRAE. Aside from work, Mike enjoys the challenges of coaching the baseball and football teams for his two sons.

Sonu Panda is the CEO of Prescriptive Data, a privately-held SaaS company focused on the intersection of the Internet of Things, big data, and machine learning as applied to built environments of all types. Sonu develops and executes Prescriptive Data’s business and technology strategy, and oversees all functions within the company, including sales, business development, marketing, customer on-boarding and success, engineering, talent management, finance and administrative operations. Prior to Prescriptive Data, Panda most recently served as the co-founder and COO of H.Bloom, a B2B marketplace company, where he developed the company’s operational model, established both product/technology development and process engineering efforts, and managed day-to- day business operations. headshot: attached