Cushman & Wakefield announced that John D. Busi has been promoted to chief executive officer, Global Valuation & Advisory .
Busi, who was named global head of the group in 2013, also serves on the firm’s Global Management Committee.
A 34-year veteran of the firm, Busi will continue to drive the strategic direction and execution of the real estate valuation practice, which consists of approximately 700 professionals operating in 99 offices in 28 countries.
In 2014, V&A completed appraisals with a record global value exceeding $1.2 trillion.
Under Busi’s leadership, the V&A group significantly enhanced its platform by adapting to asset class specialization and introduced nearly 20 new Specialty Practice Groups.
He also led the launch of a state-of-the art technology initiative and built an industry leading Quality Control platform.
Busi joined Cushman & Wakefield in 1981 in the firm’s Property Accounting Group in New York and in 1990 was promoted to head the New York V&A practice.
In 2004, he assumed national oversight responsibilities. When he later assumed the role of Head of V&A for the Americas region, Busi was active in the continued globalization of the firm’s management structure.
Busi holds a B.S. from Long Island University’s School of Business Administration
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Eastern Consolidated has promoted both Adelaide Polsinelli and Lipa Lieberman to managing director and principal.
Adelaide Polsinelli currently heads the retail sales division at Eastern Consolidated, where she leads the firm’s sales brokerage, advisory, research financial structuring, and marketing services for all retail driven investment sales.
Awarded Eastern Consolidated’s Broker of the Year in 2013, Polsinelli has achieved multiple record-breaking prices for the noteworthy sales of: SoHo’s “The King of Greene” building at 72-76 Greene Street; 530 Lincoln Road and the “Diesel/Dash” retail center in the heart of South Beach; and 711 Madison Avenue, also known as “The Roberto Cavalli Building” in Midtown, among others.
Named Eastern Consolidated’s Most Promising Broker of the Year in both 2011 and 2012, Lipa Lieberman has closed more than $700 million in total transactions for the firm, specializing in investment sales of all property types, as well as mortgage notes.
Lieberman also specializes in handling bankruptcy sales, such as 114-116 West 86th Street, 555 Sixth Avenue and 334-336 West 46th Street, and traditional properties such as The Chatsworth located on 344 West 72nd Street, which sold for $150 million.
Both Polsinelli and Lieberman were previously Senior Directors.
Prior to joining Eastern Consolidated, Polsinelli was Vice President for national investment sales firm Marcus & Millichap.
Lieberman previously served as Sales Director at Cornerstone Property Group.
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Sara Fay has been promoted to the position of senior marketing director at L&L Holding Company, LLC.
Fay, who joined the firm last year primarily to develop marketing initiatives for two of its highest profile ground-up development projects — 425 Park Avenue and 390 Madison Avenue — will now expand her role and oversee all corporate marketing and leasing campaigns for L&L’s six million square foot real estate portfolio.
Prior to joining L&L, Fay was a member of Boston Properties’ New York leasing team, where she oversaw the marketing, branding and leasing of its new developments at 250 West 55th Street and 510 Madison Avenue.
Earlier in her career, Fay worked in property management, overseeing tenant relations at 280 Park Avenue, a 1.2 million square foot Class A Manhattan office building.
Fay graduated from Rollins College and received an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from Fordham University.
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Debbie Pomerantz, Gebroe-Hammer Associates’ Bergen/Passaic county multifamily investment market specialist, has been named the firm’s 2014 Salesperson of the Year.
The Passaic County, N.J., resident, who earned this award for the second consecutive year, also was recently promoted to vice president.
In addition to arranging transactions on behalf of clients throughout New Jersey’s northernmost counties, Pomerantz also represents clients whose interests extend beyond the state.
She is widely acknowledged as an industry leader and has been named a NJ Top Broker and “Woman of Influence” in real estate.
Pomerantz has recorded more than $60 million in sales totaling 556 units during the past 12 months.
Since joining Gebroe-Hammer in 2011, she has risen through the ranks from sales representative and assistant vice president to her new position as vice president.
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Eastern Union Funding has welcomed Philip Krispin, who will focus on its FHA & GSE loan production from its Howell, NJ, office.
Formerly senior originator at Greystone, Krispin joins Eastern Union as it continues to grow its national presence.
The company closed deals in nearly every state last year, many of which were market rate and affordable assets in top and tertiary markets where the agency lending platforms are paramount.
Among a variety of platforms, one of Krispin’s main focal points is FHA, a self-amortizing 35-year fixed-rate loan product which is offered nationwide.
FHA is a viable solution for multifamily and healthcare loans of all sizes and recently, such deals are still closing in the low three percent range.
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Friedman-Roth Realty Services announced the addition of Michael Guarino as an associate broker to the investment sales team.
Guarino, formerly of ERG Property Advisors, specializes in commercial investment sales throughout the Greater New York Area.
Guarino began his real estate career in 1989 building houses on Long Island. His is an expert in the Long Island submarket as well as the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens submarkets of New York.
Guarino has closed millions of dollars in investment sales transactions throughout the Greater New York Area.
His previous experience in property management has given him the ability to identify the value of a property and its assets in a detailed and accurate manner.
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RFR Realty LLC announced a new division, RFR Retail, headed by Jordan Claffey.
Claffey was hired as vice president and director of retail leasing last spring.
he joined the firm from Thor Equities, where he was a vice president of leasing.
At RFR Retail, Claffey is responsible for lease negotiations, business development, and marketing initiatives across the firm’s retail portfolio.
Additionally, he assists with the identification and valuation of potential retail acquisition targets.
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International facilities management company Macro has appointed Richard Hayes as managing director of North America.
Hayes, who will be based in New York, was previously a senior operations executive at integrated facilities provider firm ABM Industries, where he was recognised for his business development capabilities, organically growing several portfolios.
He joined ABM in 2009 as vice president of Facilities Services and two years later, transitioned to solidify the firm’s Integrated Facility Services offering for the Northeast region.
With an academic background in engineering, hayes transitioned his career into financial services in the 90’s when he launched start-up Horizon Financial Corporation.
During this time, he concurrently acted as Director of Sales for two years at Accenture.
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Clark F. Machemer, senior vice-president and regional development officer of the Northeast Region for The Rockefeller Group, was elected to serve a two-year term as head of the NAIOP-NJ leadership team.
He takes the reins from Michael Allen Seeve of Mountain Development Corp.
At The Rockefeller Group, Machemer is responsible for development and marketing efforts related to the company’s New Jersey and Pennsylvania projects, including The Green at Florham Park, a 268-acre master-planned development.
In his new role as president, Machemer looks to grow the organization’s education, advocacy and economic development efforts, while positioning the trade organization as a fundamental resource for the state’s commercial real estate professionals.
At 662 members strong, NAIOP NJ represents a diverse cross-section of real estate professionals ranging from developers, builders and brokers to those working in the environmental, legal, accounting, consulting, engineering, banking and title insurance industries.
Levin Management announced two key vice-president promotions.
Joseph Lowry of Columbus, New Jersey, has been named vice president of acquisitions and business development, while Melissa Sievwright of Long Branch, New Jersey, has been appointed vice president of marketing.
A 28-year commercial real estate industry veteran, Joseph Lowry joined Levin in 2009 as director of acquisitions and in 2012 was promoted to director of acquisitions and business development.
He is responsible for marketing Levin’s third-party retail services to institutions, fund managers and private owners, and identifying off-market shopping center acquisition opportunities for a select group of clients. His efforts have resulted in nine new shopping center assignments for Levin over the past year.
Melissa Sievwright joined Levin in 2010 as an associate marketing director. The vice president appointment marks her fourth promotion with the company in just over four years.
Among her recent accomplishments, Sievwright has been instrumental in Levin’s comprehensive and strategic rebranding efforts, which include a new company logo and redesigned corporate website; new trade show exhibits and signage; the creation of a corporate newsletter; and all-new marketing materials to support the Levin leasing team. She also works closely with Lowry to help increase Levin’s market presence and generate new business.
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Greystone announced that Ted Nasca has joined Greystone as a managing director.
Nasca will report to Robert Russell, head of production for Greystone’s CMBS Group.
In his new role, Nasca will focus on establishing a stronger CMBS presence for Greystone in the central states through Texas.
Nasca joins Greystone from Guggenheim Commercial Real Estate, where he was responsible for originating life company, CMBS and agency loans in the Central Region.
Prior to Guggenheim, he held roles at Cantor Fitzgerald and Credit Suisse. He began his career at Sumitomo Bank of California as a Real Estate Loan Officer.
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Steve Pastor, vice president, NAI James E. Hanson, Inc., was named the 2015 Industrial Council Chair for NAI Global, the largest global network of owner-operated commercial real estate brokerage firms.
The NAI Global Councils focus on elevating the professional competency of its Members and ensuring consistent service delivery across the network.
In his role at NAI James E. Hanson, Pastor’s primary focus is on the industrial sector with a concentration on multi-market accounts.
Pastor is also part of the NAI Global Logistics & Ports Practice Group, which represents companies operating in that space within the Industrial sector on a local, regional & national basis.
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Timothy J. Trifilo, CPA, has joined CohnReznick LLP, as the lead tax partner of the firm’s national Commercial Real Estate Industry Practice.
Trifilo brings extensive experience advising global clients in real estate, asset management, private equity, and venture capital industries including opportunity funds, public and private REITs, institutional investors/advisors, and real estate owners/developers.
He specializes in structuring global private equity funds and investments with diverse investor profiles.
Trifilo joins CohnReznick from a Big Four accounting firm where he was a tax partner in the financial services and real estate industry practices.
He began his career in New York and later relocated to Washington, D.C., to lead the development and growth strategies of the firm’s real estate practice.
Most recently Trifilo was leading the asset management and real estate tax practices in the greater Atlanta market.
