Commercial Observer Announces 2021 CRE Power Rankings Honoring Changemakers At Industry Inflection Point

Larry Silverstein to Open 14th Annual Power Gala to Reflect on 20th Anniversary of 9/11 & What Recovery & Resilience Mean Today.

NEW YORK, July 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Commercial Observer, the premier media and information services company that informs and connects leaders in the commercial real estate industry, has announced its 2021 14th Annual Power 100, 9th Annual Power Finance, and 3rd Annual Power DC lists. 

2021 POWER GALA TO ADDRESS URBAN RESILIENCE & RECOVERY
Larry SIlverstein, Chairman of SIlverstein Properties, will serve as a keynote speaker at the 14th Annual Power Gala's special, in-person Honoree Reception on September 29th. This being the 20th anniversary of September 11th, the Honoree Reception will be hosted in Downtown New York City and Silverstein will deliver opening remarks to reflect on the importance of resiliency, recovery and moving forward together.

"We look forward to convening the industry's top thought leaders after a year of unprecedented changes," said Observer Media CEO, Michael Rose. "Advancing the commercial real estate industry by informing and connecting top business- and thought-leaders is paramount to our mission. Mr. Silverstein opening the gala and providing a call to action for everyone to once again unite and rebuild stronger is the symbol of gravitas and ambition that this moment deserves."

The September 29th Honoree Reception will be followed by a national, industry-wide virtual program on September 30th. The program will highlight the industry's top priorities and will build on a wave of innovation that is catapulting CRE forward. 

A NEW BENCHMARK FOR EXCELLENCE IN LEADERSHIP EMERGES FROM A PIVOTAL YEAR
The Commercial Observer Power lists are among the most coveted and sought after recognitions in the commercial real estate industry. The annual lists honor the commercial real estate owners/developers, investors, brokers, corporate heads of real estate, advisory firms, lenders, REITs. Lawyers, public officials and other key influencers behind the largest deals, developments, and transactions across the U.S., as well as the public officials establishing the policies and procedures that are driving the future of urban planning and smart cities. The 2021 Power lists also welcomed new honorees from emerging sectors transforming the commercial real estate landscape such as proptech, cannabis retail and SPACs.

The past 15 months have given rise to a new standard in leadership and excellence, driven by those who possessed an unwavering commitment to better the industry and the communities it serves. The 2021 Power lists recognize the visionaries who sparked innovation, fueled economic activity by supporting high-growth industries, elevated the importance of diversity and inclusion in the industry, and were especially skilled at creating new dealmaking opportunities. 

"While the past year has brought its challenges, it has also allowed strategic thinkers to identify the right opportunities to improve and advance commercial real estate," said Commercial Observer Editor-in-Chief, Max Gross. "In organizing this year's lists, we took a close look at the executives and policymakers who set the new standard in leadership. We wanted to recognize those who led with clarity and the future in mind.".

TOP 2021 POWER HONOREES 

Power 100
Power 100 recognizes the national owners/developers, investors, corporate tenants, brokers, financiers, lawyers, architects, contractors, alternative lenders, policymakers, and other key influencers driving the future of commercial real estate. This year's top honorees include:

  • Jonathan Gray, COO and President, and Ken Caplan and Kathleen McCarthy, Co-Heads of Real Estate at Blackstone

  • Scott Rechler, Chairman & CEO, RXR Realty

  • Steven Roth, Chairman & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

  • Marc Holliday, CEO, and Andrew Mathias, President, SL Green Realty Corp.

  • Rob Speyer, President & CEO, Tishman Speyer

  • Brian Kingston, Managing Partner & CEO; Lowell Baron, Managing Partner & CIO; Bill Powell, Managing Partner & COO; and Ben Brown, Managing Partner & U.S. Head of Real Estate, Brookfield Property Partners

  • Douglas Durst, Chairman and Jonathan "Jody" Durst, President, The Durst Organization

  • Larry Silverstein, Chairman and Marty Burger, CEO, Silverstein Properties

  • Tommy Craig, Senior Managing Director, Hines

  • Stephen Ross, Chairman & Founder; Jeff Blau, CEO; and Bruce Beal, President, Related Companies

The 2021 Power 100 list also included a record number of newcomers on the list, including:

  • Melissa Roman Burch, Executive General Manager, Lendlease

  • Michael Hackman, CEO, Hackman Capital Partners

  • David Solomon, Chairman & CEO; Stephanie Cohen, Global Co-Head of Consumer & Wealth Management; and Sherry Wang and Daniel Alger, Co-Heads of the Urban Investment Group, Goldman Sachs

  • Jorge Perez, Chairman & CEO and Jon Paul Perez, President, Related Group

  • Jenny Wong, Managing Director, of Innovation, Tishman Speyer

  • Cedric Bobo, Co-Founder, Project Destined

The complete Power 100 listing can be found here. 

Power Finance
The Power Finance list recognizes leading banks, lenders, advisory firms, investors, mortgage REITs, life companies, government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), and other key decision-makers influencing the capital stack. This year's top honorees include:

  • Debby Jenkins, Executive Vice President & Head of Multifamily and Rich Martinez, Senior Vice President, Multifamily Production & Sales, Freddie Mac

  • Michele Evans, Executive Vice President & Head of Multifamily, Fannie Mae

  • Brian Baker, Global Head of Commercial Mortgages, JPMorgan Securities; Al Brooks, Head of JPMorgan Chase Commercial Real Estate; and Chad Tredway, Head of Real Estate Banking, JPMorgan Chase

  • Katie Keenan, President, Blackstone Mortgage Trust; Michael Nash, Co-Founder & Chairman, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies; Stephen Plavin, CEO, Blackstone Mortgage Trust; Jonathan Pollack, Global Head, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies; and Senior Managing Director, Blackstone Real Estate Debt Strategies, Blackstone

  • David Bouton and Joseph Dyckman, Co-Heads of U.S. CMBS, Citigroup

  • Margaret Anadu, Global Head of Sustainability & Impact, and Ted Borter and Miriam Wheeler, Co-Heads of the Americas Real Estate Financing Group, Goldman Sachs

The complete Power Finance listing can be found here. 

Power D.C.
The Power D.C. list recognizes the Capital's top real estate executives and policymakers transforming both the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia (DMV) region and national trends and policies. Among those honored include:

  • Holly Sullivan, Director of Worldwide Economic Development, Amazon

  • Gina Baker Chambers, Principal & Portfolio Manager, Artemis

  • Art Santry, Vice Chair and Kurt Richter, Vice Chair, Cushman & Wakefield

  • Katy Kale, Acting Administrator, and Robin Carnahan, Administrator-Designate, General Services Administration

  • Marcia Fudge, U.S. Secretary of Housing & Urban Development

  • Muriel Bowser, Mayor of District of Columbia, D.C.

  • Kyle Schoppman, President, Mid-Atlantic Division, CBRE

  • Sadvhi Subramanian, Senior Vice President, Capital One

  • Robert Stewart, Chairman and Matt Kelly, CEO, JBG Smith

  • Hillary Allard Goldfarb, Senior Vice President & Regional Development Officer, Rockefeller Group

  • Peter Otteni and Jake Stroman, Co-Heads of the Washington Office, Boston Properties

The complete Power D.C. listing can be found here.

ABOUT COMMERCIAL OBSERVER
Commercial Observer is the leading commercial real estate media and information services company, delivering high-impact content, events and platforms designed to connect and inform industry participants of key trends and people defining the global real estate landscape. Commercial Observer reaches a national audience of the most active real estate owners/developers, corporate occupiers, brokers, investors, lenders, leasing professionals, tech firms, public officials, contractors, architects, attorneys, and accountants, as well other business owners and key decision-makers impacting the trajectory of the building industry. The company holds its reporting to the highest editorial standards with a strong commitment to fairness and accuracy. Commercial Observer is a unit of Observer Media, a company which informs and connects leaders in commercial real estate to help them innovate, grow and make smarter decisions.

Contact:
Vivian Louthan
vlouthan@observermedia.com

SOURCE Commercial Observer

Related Links

http://www.commercialobserver.com

Meg Marco Named Observer Editor-in-Chief
Former ProPublica, Wall Street Journal and Gawker Media Editor to Lead the Observer’s Multi-Platform Editorial Operations

 NEW YORK, NY, July 13, 2021 -- Observer Media CEO Michael Rose announced today that Meg Marco has been named the Editor-in-Chief of the Observer.  Marco will lead all editorial operations for the storied Observer brand as it relaunches later this year with a renewed focus on original reporting and coverage of the powerful across key media channels.

 Marco comes to Observer from ProPublica, where she was the senior editor managing audience strategy, social and editorial newsletters. She was also a co-editor of the coronavirus coverage that was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Interest. Under her leadership ProPublica’s audience team won a number of awards, including the 2021 National Magazine Award for Social Media for “Grace: A Failure of Michigan’s Juvenile Justice System.”  During her time at ProPublica, its on and off-platform readership increased dramatically each year, and newsletter subscribers grew by over 200%.

 “Meg has a unique mix of sharp story-telling, audience-development, technical and creative skills that intersect perfectly with the Observer’s journalistic mission. She sees around corners, understands the digital and physical media ecosystem, and knows what it means to build a modern, award-winning editorial organization.” said Rose.  "Her immediate priority will be to expand the newsroom, reestablishing Observer as a brand known for original reporting and a focus on the powerful. She's an intellectual, funny powerhouse who will build a great team, and inspire us all to do better.”

 “I can't imagine a more important or interesting time to relaunch the Observer,” said Marco, "The late David Carr once said that the Observer 'let those in the know know what else they should know about.' I'm honored to have the chance to reimagine the publication that launched the careers of so many journalists who have both inspired and influenced me over the years, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to bring that legacy into the future.”

 Marco was previously a masthead editor at The Wall Street Journal where she oversaw Digital Content Strategy, including the multi-platform expansion of the Future of Everything franchise and the digital launch of the weekend section Exchange. During her time at the Journal, she founded and staffed the WSJ Media Science Lab, a center for AI and machine learning in the newsroom, and her team successfully relaunched over 30 newsletters.

 She is formerly the editor and head of product of Consumerist, a Gawker Media site that was later acquired by Consumer Reports. During her tenure, Consumerist produced deeply reported coverage of topics such as fraud, surprise medical bills, for-profit colleges, telecom policy, consumer privacy and product safety. She is also the author of Field Guide to the Apocalypse, a satirical guide to surviving the end of the world published by Simon & Schuster in 2005, well in advance of the actual end times.

 As Observer invests in expanding its team, Marco has also announced several new roles.  Effective immediately Observer is hiring a business editor, visuals editor, a copy and standards editor, a strategy editor, and a media reporter.  Interested candidates can apply at https://www.observermedia.com/careers  Questions? Write to: editor@observer.com

 About Observer
Observer is a digital media company, chronicling the world's power players in the arts, entertainment and media, and business innovation.  Through credible, authoritative and thought-leadership content, Observer inspires and challenges an urban audience of global thinkers, business leaders and influential, highly engaged consumers.

 About Observer Media
Observer Media is a diversified media, information and services company with interests in digital media such as Observer and Commercial Observer, and information platforms including Realgraph. Observer Media seeks to build brands and businesses that utilize technology and media to empower influential business executives. 

 Contact:
Vivian Louthan
Observer Media
vlouthan@observermedia.com

Related Links:
https://observer.com/
https://www.observermedia.com/

COMMERCIAL OBSERVER EXPANDS ITS AWARD-WINNING COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE COVERAGE ACROSS KEY U.S. CITIES 
NEW YORK (February 16, 2021) - Commercial Observer, the premier media and information services company that informs and connects leaders in the commercial real estate industry, has announced it is significantly expanding its existing presence and coverage in key cities and areas throughout the U.S., including Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and South Florida with new markets to follow by the end of 2021.

Commercial Observer has launched an aggressive expansion plan that includes new products, services, and events and programs in these markets. The announcement comes as Commercial Observer also builds on its editorial team, welcoming new reporters, data journalists, and correspondents to provide additional coverage and exclusive, in-depth reporting on all aspects of the commercial real estate industry across major U.S. markets.

At a time when many companies have made the move to downsize, Commercial Observer states it is investing heavily in its internal and external growth. “As the industry continues to endure unprecedented business challenges, and is flooded with tons of resulting opportunities, experts are looking for key intel and market insights to help them make informed decisions. We see this as an important function of our job as a media company and look forward to connecting with a more national audience” said Editor-in-Chief, Max Gross.

Los Angeles, South Florida and Washington D.C. are all driving the national growth of the commercial real estate industry. California and South Florida had booming markets pre-Covid and have recently had an influx of market activity as companies looking for sunnier pastures have announced office relocations and portfolio expansions along the West Coast and in cities like Miami. Washington D.C. is ushering in several large-scale developments and welcoming new industries supporting innovation and economic growth, including life sciences and technology. 

“These regions are showing outsized growth and innovation as a resurgent commercial real estate industry takes shape post-COVID.  Each is showing strong activity and taking a leading role in smart city development. It’s important to us that we have the smartest feet on the ground to cover and make sense of these fast-changing developments and breakthrough industry trends as they unfold” stated Observer Media CEO, Michael Rose. 

In addition to its breaking news coverage, Commercial Observer has announced new regional forums and events, and daily newsletters in all three markets that will deliver national commercial real estate news directly to tens of thousands of leading industry professionals across the country.

ABOUT COMMERCIAL OBSERVER

Commercial Observer is the leading commercial real estate media and information services company, delivering high-impact content, events, and platforms designed to connect and inform industry participants of key trends and people defining the global real estate landscape. Commercial Observer reaches a national audience of the most active real estate owners/developers, corporate occupiers, brokers, investors, lenders, leasing professionals, tech firms, public officials, contractors, architects, attorneys, and accountants, as well other business owners and key decision-makers impacting the trajectory of the building industry. The company holds its reporting to the highest editorial standards with a strong commitment to fairness and accuracy.  Commercial Observer is a unit of Observer Media, a company that informs and connects leaders in industries undergoing transformation, to help them innovate, grow and make smarter decisions