Sheena Gohil

CHAIR

Sheena Gohil is an Executive Director based in Colliers International's New York City office. With more than 12 years of experience as a broker, Sheena provides brokerage and advisory services to corporate, multi-market clientele. Sheena originally started her career in Boston, where she graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with dual concentrations in Accounting and Finance.

Neil Austin

PRESIDENT

Tommy O'Halloran

VICE PRESIDENT

Tommy O’Halloran is a Vice President in the New York headquarters of Structure Tone, where he drives the strategic direction of the firm’s client relations on local and global levels. For the last 13 years, he has spearheaded new business opportunities for the firm and maintained relationships with the firm’s clients, including high-profile commercial landlords and tenants. During this time, he has been responsible for the procurement of new clients representing millions of dollars in revenue streams. Prior to joining Structure Tone, Tommy was an Associate Director and licensed NYS Real Estate broker in the Midtown office of Cushman & Wakefield. Tommy is a graduate of Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science. Tommy is an active volunteer in his local and professional communities, having served charitable causes such as the Archdiocese of New York, the CYO of Westchester/Putnam Counties, Little League Baseball and The Boy Scouts of America, among others.

Frank Cuevas

FINANCE & INVESTMENT

Frank Cuevas is a real estate executive whose experience spans more than 25 years of service to some of the most respected companies in the world in more than 140 countries. Most recently, Frank served as Vice President, Global Real Estate at IBM Corporation, headquartered in Armonk, New York. Frank joined IBM’s senior executive team in November 2015 as a transformational leader and catalyst to fuel the continuing transition of the enterprise and its workplace from product focus to SaaS and technology services. He led the management of IBM’s global real estate operations, including finance, business controls, energy, environmental and M&A. The portfolio comprised 82 million square feet worldwide, including data centers, research labs, manufacturing and office space for approximately 370,000 employees.

Sarah Brown

SECRETARY

As the portfolio manager for the NorthEast Sarah handles real estate and workplace strategy from occupancy planning, design & construction, client management, facilities management, to amenity services. Prior to Capital One Sarah owned Global Corporate Services at a legal consulting firm with a core focus on the real estate portfolio, gaining 10 years of experience in the industry. An active member of CoreNet, Sarah has previously participated in the Annual Dinner, SIG, Awards and Young Leaders committees, working with Young Leaders to start their Community Outreach program.

Marc Chiapperino

DEVELOPMENT

Marc D. Chiapperino has more than 30 years of professional experience in commercial real estate, engineering and construction. Marc’s team-oriented approach and broad range of managerial, creative and technical talents have enabled clients to realize his unmatched value. As a long-time partner at VVA, LLC, Marc has made vital contributions to the growth and success of the firm, as well as their stature in the marketplace. He consistently demonstrates his leadership abilities by mentoring VVA staff and overseeing many of the firm’s highest-profile clients. His broad range of technical knowledge, along with his communication skills, enable him to effectively orchestrate the entire project team to successfully deliver complex projects to the most demanding client objectives.

Frank Cuevas

FINANCE & INVESTMENT

Frank Cuevas is a real estate executive whose experience spans more than 25 years of service to some of the most respected companies in the world in more than 140 countries. Most recently, Frank served as Vice President, Global Real Estate at IBM Corporation, headquartered in Armonk, New York. Frank joined IBM’s senior executive team in November 2015 as a transformational leader and catalyst to fuel the continuing transition of the enterprise and its workplace from product focus to SaaS and technology services. He led the management of IBM’s global real estate operations, including finance, business controls, energy, environmental and M&A. The portfolio comprised 82 million square feet worldwide, including data centers, research labs, manufacturing and office space for approximately 370,000 employees.

Sarah Brown

GOVERNANCE & NOMINATING

As the portfolio manager for the NorthEast Sarah handles real estate and workplace strategy from occupancy planning, design & construction, client management, facilities management, to amenity services. Prior to Capital One Sarah owned Global Corporate Services at a legal consulting firm with a core focus on the real estate portfolio, gaining 10 years of experience in the industry. An active member of CoreNet, Sarah has previously participated in the Annual Dinner, SIG, Awards and Young Leaders committees, working with Young Leaders to start their Community Outreach program.

Sara Francini

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Sara Francini is Senior Director of Business Development for Skanska’s New York Metro Region and is responsible for establishing strategic partnerships, developing new client relationships and strengthening existing ones. Prior to joining Skanska, Sara spent a decade on the design side, where she led business development and marketing efforts for STUDIOS Architecture and Holzman Moss Bottino Architecture. Sara assumed the role of Chair of the Marketing & Communications Committee in 2019, having previously served on the CoreNet New York Chapter Board as Secretary from 2017-2019. In addition to her commitment to CoreNet, Sara is an active member of the Society for College & University Planning and the New York Building Congress. Sara earned a Bachelor of Science and a minor in Business Administration from Saint Michael’s College.

Mindy Williams - McElearney

MEMBERSHIP

Mindy Williams-McElearney is a Vice President at L&K Partners Inc., a general contractor and construction management company based in New York City. She has more than 25 years of experience working in partnership with the real estate, design and construction industries. As Vice President, Mindy collaborates with the firm’s partners to bring strategic vision and direction on all marketing, branding and client-relations initiatives. Her previous work experience at design firms and furniture companies, as well as her involvement with CoreNet and IFMA, lends a unique perspective on industry trends and market trajectories.

Alison Kwiatkowski

PROGRAMMING & OUTREACH

Alison Kwiatkowski is the Americas Business Partner for Deutsche Bank’s Corporate Real Estate & Services Division, as well as the Business Strategy PMO Lead for the Bank’s Americas Headquarters Relocation. Prior to her current role, Alison served as the JLL Account Director for Deutsche Bank’s Americas Region and operated as the Project and Development Services Team Lead. In this role, she oversaw JLL’s project delivery, transaction management and consulting work for project scope throughout the Bank’s North and South American real estate portfolio. Prior to her time with JLL, Alison worked as a strategy and design consultant for both AECOM Strategy+ (formerly DEGW) and Perkins+Will. Alison holds a Masters in Real Estate Development from New York University and a degree in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. Fueled by a passion to foster the professional development of emerging talent in the New York real estate industry, Alison assumed the role of Vice Chair of the Communities Committee in 2019 and previously served on the CoreNet New York Chapter Board as Chair of the Young Leaders Committee.

Jeremy Libby

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Jeremy Libby is the Real Estate Strategy & Operations Manager at Google. Working alongside Google’s Director of Real Estate, Jeremy is responsible for developing strategy, leading transactions, overseeing development and managing a vast portfolio of initiatives in Manhattan that enable the company to thrive. Prior to joining Google, Jeremy led Global Real Estate Strategy and Portfolio Planning for American Express. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff and Real Estate Strategist to the Head of Real Estate at Bridgewater Associates. Jeremy currently serves on the Executive Board for the CoreNet New York City Chapter and on the Young Leaders Board of CoreNet Global.

Larry Charlip

TECHNOLOGY

Larry Charlip, Vice President of Facilities Management and Corporate Real Estate, manages the global real estate portfolio and facilities operations for Take-Two Interactive. T2 and its subsidiaries operate 40+ offices and over 1 million square feet of office space in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Larry has more than 25 years of experience in facilities management and corporate real estate across multiple industries including commodities trading, pharmaceutical research, law firms, publishing and interactive entertainment. Larry has taken on many responsibilities at T2 over the past seven years. Prior to joining T2, Larry spent six years as Director, Facilities and Security at Wenner Media, publishers of Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men’s Journal magazines.

John Pavone

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

John is a Senior Managing Director with Colliers International's New York City office where he focuses on tenant representation and select landlord agency assignments, primarily in Midtown Manhattan. John works directly on a team with Michael T. Cohen, President of the Tri-State Region for Colliers International's NYC office.

During his 20+ years in the business, he has been involved in over 8.0 million square feet of sale and lease transactions. While primarily focused on the Manhattan market, he has advised numerous corporate tenants with multi-market transactions and strategic management of their office portfolios, including mark-to-market analysis.

He has advised entrepreneurial landlords as well as institutional ones, such as CalStrs with the successful leasing and marketing for their NYC based assets, including 551 Madison Avenue.

John is a notable adviser to the flex office sector, primarily with Knotel, where he has concluded 250,000 sf of lease transactions in NYC, as well as other consulting assignments within and outside of NYC for the flex office provider; other flex office occupiers John has represented include Virgo Business Centers and HelloAlma in the healthcare sector. 

Jennifer Stein

LANDLORD CIRCLE

Jennifer Stein, Director of Rockefeller Group’s New York leasing portfolio, is responsible for leasing Rockefeller Group’s owned real estate in midtown Manhattan, which contains approximately 4.7 million square feet of office space and approximately 100,000 square feet of retail space. Jennifer negotiates economic, operational and legal issues with respect to commercial real estate leases. Since joining Rockefeller Group’s New York leasing team in 2012, Jennifer has been directly involved in the completion of leases for approximately 3.9 million square feet of office. She joined Rockefeller Group in 2008 and previously held positions in the property management and design and construction departments for Rockefeller Group’s New York office portfolio. Jennifer holds a Bachelor's Degree from Rutgers University and a Master of Science from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Vito Bacarella

OCCUPIER FORUMS

Vito Bacarella joined UBS in May of 2006 as Managing Director of Branch Real Estate for Wealth Management Americas. In his role, Vito oversees a 4.5 million square feet of real estate portfolio spread over 400 locations in the US, spanning coast-to-coast, as well as South America.

Katie Koncar

PARTNERSHIPS

Faisal Hadi

PROPTECH

Faisal Hadi has 11 years of Consulting Transformational experience with JLL and Deloitte. Currently, Faisal is a VP in JLL Consulting based in New York focused on commercial real estate transformation and supporting executive leadership at the enterprise or functional level in standing up or enhancing the commercial real estate function.

Margaux Jaffa

PUBLIC POLICY

Margaux Jaffa is a Vice President of Business Development at NELSON, focusing on developing and implementing new business across NELSON’s global solutions platform and network of offices. In this role, Margaux works directly with various client real estate teams, connecting them with corresponding NELSON teams, facilitating and securing new projects and global account agreements.

Debra Cole

SPECIAL EVENTS

Debra Cole is Client Relations Director for the New York Office of HLW International, and builds industry relationships with a diverse range of clients including broadcast and media, financial corporations, technology, academic institutions and residential buildings. She is the New York industry face of HLW, with more than 30 years of experience connecting clients, architects and consultants. Prior to joining HLW International, Debra led business development efforts at Perkins+Will and prior to that at SOSH Architects. Debra also currently serves on the Executive Board for the New York City Chapter of CoreNet, as well as the Executive Board for both CREW NY & the Women’s Builders Council and is an active member of IFMA and New York Building Congress. In addition, she serves on the leadership event committee of SHARE (Self Help for Women with Breast or Ovarian Cancer) and the event committee for the Special Olympics Real Estate and Construction Gala.

Stephen Coulthard

STRATEGY & PORTFOLIO PLANNING

Stephen is part of the Senior Management Group at Cumming Corporation, a fast-growing, 900-person, program and project management firm operating out of 33 offices across the US, UK and China. Stephen is currently charged with helping shape strategy, drive organic and acquired growth, and lead national accounts. A program and project manager by background, Stephen established Citi’s PMO across their 33msqft Americas’ portfolio, and led Manchester’s 32-acre Millennium Village and Novartis’ 1.2m sqft Shanghai Research Campus projects.

Thomas Baade-Matheisen

SUSTAINABILITY

Thomas Mathiesen is Vice President at Altanova - Sustainable Strategy and Innovation, and oversees corporate engagements from concept through project delivery and further partnerships. In real estate, he currently advises a growing portfolio of companies on projects ranging from site selection to portfolio optimization and strategies for high profile build-outs. 

Jack Senske

UNIVERSITY RELATIONS

Jack Senske is an Associate Director at Colliers International, one of the largest real estate services firm in the world. With over 5-years of experience, Jack has advised a wide range of companies, from early stage start-ups all the way to corporate, multi-market institutions. Jack is originally from Long Beach, California and received a duel degree from Virginia Tech in Real Estate and Business Administration.

Ellen Herman

WOMEN'S LEADERSHIP

Ellen is a broker, consultant and advisor to commercial occupiers for single-site and multi-site commercial real estate transactions and is very experienced in all product types including urban, suburban, warehouse and retail. Ellen also leads the nonprofit practice group at JLL which focuses on associations, social service agencies, government and education clients.

Chelsea Flaim

YOUNG LEADERS

Chelsea is a dynamic connector and collaborator dedicated to developing relationships and promoting M Moser’s services. Her experience implementing governance frameworks enables her to actively manage stakeholder communication, resulting in successful project outcomes and identification of organizational growth opportunities.

Barry Alton

EMERITUS BOARD

In his current role at Jefferies LLC, a full- service Investment Bank with a real estate portfolio of more than 1 million square feet distributed across more than 35 cities through the U.S., Europe and Asia, Barry Alton is responsible for strategic planning, real estate transactions, project design and build, critical infrastructure and on-going maintenance of all sites within the company’s portfolio. Previously, Barry was a Vice President and Manager of Premises and Logistics at BNP Paribas. His early career as a Mechanical Engineer led him into corporate real estate while working closely with landlords and tenants on creative infrastructure projects.

Jason Aster

EMERITUS BOARD

Jason Aster is a Managing Director at KBA Lease Services where he oversees firm management and operations, corporate development, new product ideation, business development, account management and strategic partnerships. Jason is also a subject matter expert with respect to lease administration and audit implementation, processes and negotiation strategies as well as real estate BPO organizational structure. Prior to joining KBA, Jason practiced in a big law corporate real estate and structured finance department as well as a litigation consultant to a boutique Wall Street firm, representing major international banks, federal agencies and private lenders with a focus on real estate and finance.

Lou D'Avanzo

EMERITUS BOARD

Lou D’Avanzo is a Vice Chairman at Cushman & Wakefield, one of the world’s largest real estate services firms and is one of the firm’s leading brokerage professionals. After beginning his career there in 1991, Lou has advised many of the world’s largest financial institutions, hedge funds, private equity firms, law firms and telecommunications firms on their real estate occupancy requirements worldwide. He received his Master of Business Administration in Real Estate and Corporate Finance from Columbia University.

Paul Darrah

ADVISORY BOARD

Paul Darrah is Director of Real Estate for Google where he is responsible for overseeing all aspects of real estate strategy, design and development in the New York area. This includes delivering innovative workplace solutions and amenities that enable Googlers to thrive, while accommodating Google's continued growth in New York City. Prior to joining Google, Paul was Director of Corporate Services and Real Estate for Bridgewater LP, as well as Director of Real Estate for Lehman Brothers. Paul also served as Director of Real Estate for Bloomberg, where he managed their global portfolio and delivered 731 Lexington Avenue. Paul received his Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and started his career in New York City as an architect for Brennan Beer Gorman, also opening offices in Washington, D.C. and Kuala Lumpur.

Dan Fishbein

EMERITUS BOARD

As the head of Global Real Estate at CIT, Dan Fishbein is responsible for strategic real estate planning, transactions management, subleasing, and lease administration for CIT locations worldwide. As part of his role, he also participates in business unit acquisitions and dispositions. Dan’s past experience includes seven years as Director of Real Estate at The Vanguard Group and asset management responsibilities for investment real estate at BNY Mellon and The Rubenstein Company. He began his career at Boston’s Economic Development Industrial Corporation rising to the position of Director of Real Estate and Planning. After graduating from Boston University, Dan received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Dan has held leadership roles in CoreNet Global since 1994.

Marcus Rayner

EMERITUS BOARD

Marcus Rayner has more than 30 years of real estate experience and is a recognized leader in our industry. He specializes in strategic planning and execution for tenants and has completed transactions for more than 10 million square feet of space in New York alone, including some of New York’s largest and most successful tech companies. Marcus is a former Chair of the New York City Chapter and a former Member of CoreNet’s Global Executive Board. Prior to joining Colliers, Marcus was a Managing Principal of Cresa from 2001 to 2014. He began his career as a Chartered Surveyor in the United Kingdom. Within the Chapter, Marcus focuses on Public Policy issues, the Landlord Circle, Programing and Mentoring.

Gina Rizzo

ADVISORY BOARD

Gina Rizzo is Global Client Relations for Herman Miller and has 30 years of experience in providing solutions to the changing workplace environment. Gina is responsible for the marketing and new business efforts globally within the corporate real estate community and concentrates on building and maintaining relationships early in the process with top decision makers. To assure a strong partnership between Herman Miller and the client, Gina teams with Herman Miller’s global resources to bring an effective and long-term solution for the corporate environment. Gina led the CoreNet NYC Chapter as Chair and President 2009-2011 and served on the CoreNet Global Executive Board 2011-2014.

Dale Schlather

ADVISORY BOARD

During his 32 year career at Cushman & Wakefield, Dale Schlather has been responsible for the financial structuring, analysis, and negotiation of major corporate and institutional relocations involving the assessment of current leasehold interests and the feasibility of lease/equity transactions, development opportunities and joint venture partnerships. He has played an integral role in the implementation of more than 40 million square feet of lease/purchase transactions in over 50 cities across the United States and internationally, as a tenant representation broker. Dale joined the Midtown office of Cushman & Wakefield as Senior Director in 2001. In 2012, he was promoted to Executive Vice Chairman and was the top producing broker. Dale is also the chairman of Cushman & Wakefield’s tenant advisory group globally.

Pay Wu

EMERITUS BOARD

Pay Wu is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years in corporate estate management and advisory. As the Executive Managing Director for Strategic Consulting, she heads consulting services for the Tri State region, Cushman & Wakefield’s largest region of corporate clients. Prior to Cushman & Wakefield, Pay served as Senior Vice President, Head of North American Real Estate Client Relationship Management for TD Bank’s Corporate portfolio, where she gained extensive experience solving complex challenges across portfolio, workplace and location strategies. Pay brings her deep operational experience in commercial real estate when navigating Cushman & Wakefield’s broad real estate brokerage. Pay drives value for clients with her vast experience in business service. Pay is a frequent speaker in industry events and published author of numerous articles. She is an MCR workplace and technology instructor on the CoreNet MCR faculty and currently serves as a Senior Advisor to the Executive Board for the NYC Chapter of CoreNet Global.