Forbes 30 Under 30: The Next Generation's Superstars Of Commercial Real Estate
Forbes just released its 2016 "30 Under 30" list, featuring 600 rising stars across 20 sectors who still haven't hit the big 3-0. But who are the up-and-coming superstars in commercial real estate?
From multibillion-dollar fund managers to tech superstars, here are 10 breakout stars you might come across in the very near future. (If you haven't already.)
1. Vladimir Tenev, Robinhood
Age: 28
Position: Co-founder
Business: Tech
This Bulgarian-born son of two World Bank staffers dropped his UCLA Ph.D. studies to make stock trading software with college buddy Baiju Bhatt. That pursuit turned into Robinhood, an app that allows you to trade REITs (and other stocks, for that matter) commission-free from your smartphone. It's raised $66M to date from an all-star list of investors, including Snoop Dogg and Linkin Park.
2. Frank Yu, Blackstone
Age: 29
Position: Associate
Business: Private Equity
Over $1B has been invested under Frank's watch with Blackstone's Tactical Opportunites Group, including blockbuster deals with high-rolling Lombard International and Eleston Shipping. In between overseeing nine-figure transactions, Frank (somehow) manages to run a campaign to raise money for a library in Cambodia.
3. Nate Paul, World Class Capital Group
Age: 28
Position: Founder
Business: Investment management, real estate development
This college dropout out of Austin founded World Class Capital in 2006, snatched up his first property in 2007, and now has a $1B portfolio of over 9M SF across the US. The market upstart made waves recently by bidding $800M for a portfolio including the "world class" Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.
4. Vikas Patel, Millenium Management
Age: 29
Postion: Senior Analyst
Business: Hedge fund manager specializing in REIT management
After two years with Cohen & Steers' REIT specialists, Vikas joined the $32B hedge fund Millenium Management to help the company manage its REIT holdings. When he isn't scoring knockouts trading REITs, Vikas (don't let the smile fool you!) is a budding amateur boxer.
5. Divya Nettimi, Viking Global Investors
Age: 29
Position: Investment Analyst
Business: Hedge fund investing
This investment prodigy co-managed Harvard Business School's Alpha Fund while in the MBA program, and moved on to Goldman Sachs for four years, before ending up facilitating e-commerce and retail investments with $30B hedge fund Viking Global Investors.
6. Yuta Kambe, Bank of America
Age: 29
Position: Vice President
Business: Banking
A product of two worlds, Yuta was raised in both Japan and the US. He studied at Notre Dame, picking up a degree in finance. Today, Yuta markets and executes IPOs, for BofA—with around 25 IPOs going down under Yuta's watch.
7. Minesh Bhatt, UBS
Age: 29
Position: Director
Sector: Banking
Minesh started at UBS during the financial crisis, working unpaid to launch the Swiss bank's family office business. He then rose through the ranks to run $7B (out of UBS's $20B) for high rollers in the US. We assume he now has a salary.
8. Robert Kalsow-Ramos, Apollo Global Management
Age: 29
Position: Principal
Sector: Private Equity
Robert keeps a low profile overseeing big-time investment deals with real estate and private equity giant Apollo, which most recently sold its stake in Ahuja Towers for $69M—good for a 230% gain. He got taken on by Apollo in 2010, and just last landed a spot on the boards of both Hexion and Momentive Performance Materials.
9. Hao Zou, PIMCO
Age: 29
Position: Portfolio Manager
Sector: Investment Management
One of five deal-makers running a $20B PIMCO portfolio, a company that's seen a lot of its upside come from its real estate activities. (Bloomberg called it the firm's "hidden profit engine.") Before becoming the youngest portfolio manager on staff, he was picking up—check this out—a Ph.D. and MS in Electrical Engineering, an MBA, and an MA in Economics, all from Stanford University, completing the four degrees in three years. Just because six years (at least) would be too long.
10. Nila Das, Citigroup
Age: 27
Position: Vice President
Sector: Mortgage bond trading
A long way from her undergrad in Finance/International Management at Boston University, Nila joined up with Citi after gigs at Goldman Sachs and two different "royal banks" (Royal Bank of Canada and Royal Bank of Scotland). Look out for her rise to real estate royalty—she now oversees billions of dollars daily running CitiGroup's secondary trading in agency collateralized mortgage obligations.
