The Flex Games: State of Flexible Office

Benjamin Dyett is a Partner at DecoGroup – a coworking consultancy with global reach which offers counsel on coworking operations and advises corporations and real estate entities on how to incorporate collaborative workspace solutions into their property portfolios and/or human resource strategies. Benjamin was also the Co-Founder and former Co-President of Grind – an early premium entrant in the coworking industry that he grew to 5 locations. Throughout his career, Benjamin has founded, funded, operated and advised many successful start-ups. Also, as a lawyer in both the USA and the UK, he has deep experience in real estate and corporate law and has represented financial institutions and many prominent business people. Benjamin has always been at the epicenter of where business and imagination meet.

As a magnetic leader, poised public speaker, and master networker, Lisa has spent a lifetime amidst thriving small businesses. She managed two restaurants in Danny Meyer’s hospitality empire, worked on a top residential & commercial real estate sales team with The Corcoran Group, built one of the world’s largest and most prosperous BNI (Business Network International) chapters based in Manhattan, and served as WeWork’s founding Head of Community — overseeing operations for their first two locations in New York City. In the winter of 2015, Lisa (entrepreneurial community builder) and her husband Brian Hain (10-year triathlon coach and endurance athlete) approached Danny Orenstein (design construction specialist, formerly with WeWork) to launch a vision she created in 2012. Realizing that wellness had helped each of them excel in both work and in life, the founders embarked on a journey to combine both elements into a thriving workspace community—leveraging Brian’s fitness expertise. In May 2016, "NYC’s Coolest New Wellness-Focused Coworking Space” concept called Primary opened its doors at 26 Broadway in the Financial District. Named 3rd Best Coworking Space in the US in 2019, Primary features turnkey private offices, coworking seats, onsite yoga/meditation/fitness studios with showers and locker rooms, and healthy food cafes. Primary currently occupies 100,000SF of commercial space between two locations in Manhattan. The 1st location, the company’s flagship, comprises 75,000SF in the famous Standard Oil building downtown. The 2nd location occupies 25,000SF on three floors at 251 West 30th Street, just below Penn Station. Lisa is a walking talking positive powerhouse, having negotiated everything from $10mm in private funding, large leases with landlords and smaller contracts with vendors.

Ms. Galli joined Tishman Speyer in 2016 and currently oversees Studio, the firm’s global coworking and flexible leasing platform. She previously was a part of the Strategy team, where she focused on corporate initiatives. Prior to Tishman Speyer, Ms. Galli was a consultant for McKinsey & Company, where she worked on restructurings, turnarounds, mergers, and acquisitions for large global corporations. She holds her BA in Business and Economics from Fundação Getulio Vargas and her MBA from Harvard Business School.