Women Leaders in Real Estate -- A Virtual Feature

Mrs. Santiago is Head of Real Estate Private Credit and Managing Director at Cerberus. Prior to joining Cerberus in 2020, Mrs. Santiago spent eight years at Goldman Sachs, where she was a Managing Director in the Real Estate Principal Investment Area investing both in private equity and debt. While at Goldman Sachs, she oversaw the firm’s investment strategy in the Midwest, Texas, and South Florida as well as the hospitality sector. Mrs. Santiago began her 15-year real estate investing career as a real estate banking analyst at Merrill Lynch and held principal investing positions at Lehman Brothers, Scout Real Estate Capital, and H/2 Capital. Mrs. Santiago graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University and received an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Teresa Zien is a Managing Director at Invesco Real Estate (IRE) and is responsible for overseeing the capital markets activities for the Invesco Real Estate Structured Investments group. Prior to joining IRE in 2017, Ms. Zien spent two years as the chief operating officer of Colony Mortgage Capital, LLC, with responsibility for overseeing the company's day-to-day operations. Prior to joining Colony, Ms. Zien spent three years as a director in the asset finance – commercial real estate group of Credit Suisse, where she oversaw all US commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) securitizations and commercial real estate warehouse facilities. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, Ms. Zien was a director at Citigroup in the CMBS and real estate finance group, where she managed CMBS issuance in her 10-year tenure. Ms. Zien earned a BS degree from the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst.

Angele Robinson-Gaylord has been helping retailers and developers create and implement strategies to grow and protect their real estate portfolios for over 13 years. Over her career, Angele has held roles as an attorney, property manager, real estate manager. Currently she serves as President for IKEA North America Real Estate. At IKEA, Angele leads the management team that oversees site acquisition, construction and portfolio management for all real estate in IKEA’s US and Canadian portfolios, including office, retail, logistics and call centers. She is an advisor to the Country Management Teams for the US and Canada and serves on the Board of Directors for several internal entities.  Originally from Maryland, Angele holds a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University and a J.D. from George Washington University School of Law.  She is a proud 2009 graduate of Project REAP, an ICSC-supported, market-driven program that serves as a bridge between talented minority professionals and commercial real estate companies looking for talent. Angele was formerly with McDonald’s Corporation in the US Restaurant Development division, where she supported real estate issues for existing restaurants for a portfolio of approximately 1,900 locations across nine states. Prior to joining McDonald’s, Angele practiced law for over fifteen years in the areas of litigation and commercial real estate. Angele’s volunteer activities include supporting Stanford University Admissions, Junior Achievement, the Lower Merion Family Network and mentoring many up and coming Retail Real Estate professionals. Angele has served on the Board of Trustees for ICSC since 2018 and she was recently elected to the Board of Directors for the ICSC Foundation. Angele is married to Travis Gaylord, a Managing Director with Accenture Strategy, and they have two sons, Trent (age 18) and Tyler (age 11).

Belinda Schwartz has chaired Herrick’s Real Estate Department since 2014, is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 2017 and is a 30+ year veteran of New York City’s commercial real estate market. She is a leader and mentor for 50+ attorneys and urban planners (23 of which are women) and one of the only women in the country to chair a major commercial real estate practice. One of the industry’s most creative real estate dealmakers, Belinda’s clients value her ability to find common ground in negotiations and achieve a desirable outcome as swiftly as possible. Her clients include prominent developers, owners, funds, investors and family-owned real estate businesses, whom she advises in complex debt and equity transactions including real estate restructurings and workouts; fund formation; property acquisitions and sales; joint ventures; development deals; construction matters; ground leases and commercial leases. Belinda frequently advises clients in single asset and portfolio transactions involving residential, hospitality, office and retail properties across the U.S. She has also advised on several of New York City’s largest development projects, including Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Empire Stores complex, Downtown Brooklyn’s 1.8 million square-foot City Point project, and one of the largest land swaps in Manhattan history, a deal which won REBNY’s coveted Most Ingenious Deal of the Year Award. Recently, Belinda has been leading her clients through the impact of COVID-19 on their real estate transactions, development projects, workouts and restructurings, loans and leases as a critical addition to her clients' business team. Belinda has consistently been ranked one of New York City’s leading real estate lawyers by Chambers USA, Super Lawyers, City & State and Real Estate Forum, which has twice named her a “woman of influence.” Belinda was named one of National Law Journal's Trailblazers in Real Estate/Construction Law in 2020. In 2019, Belinda was named one of Real Estate Weekly's, Real Estate Dealmakers, and in 2018, one of Real Estate Weekly’s Leading Ladies of Real Estate. In 2017, Belinda was named one of Crain’s New York Business’ top 100 women lawyers and for the past number of years she has been named one of Bisnow’s New York power women.

Lisa M. Fischman is a Vice President at Greystone, a private national commercial real estate finance company and the #1 HUD lender of multifamily and healthcare loans. She successfully and effectively sources debt and equity finance solutions for owners of multifamily, seniors housing and healthcare communities. Lisa specializes in 40-year construction-to-permanent debt loans for multifamily and assisted/independent living senior homes, and the refinance and acquisition of multifamily portfolios. Her footprint extends from coast to coast with a wide range of clients from nationally recognized not-for-profits to developers building Class-A properties, to a single-asset owner. A recent refinance for a major not-for- profit netted the organization multimillions in proceeds to help fund the organization. Lisa has uniquely and successfully fostered relationships with real estate owners that are new to the FHA/HUD platform by using creative solutions, attention to detail, and applying a hyper-focus on the client’s wants and needs. After a career in advertising at JWT, managing award-winning campaigns for clients including Pepsi, Kodak, and American Red Cross, followed by several years in senior care finance, Lisa joined Greystone in 2011 and focuses on originating FHA-insured loans, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, CMBS and bridge financing, and a range of other solutions for the acquisition and refinancing of commercial real estate and healthcare facilities.