NAI Global announced that its president, Jay Olshonsky, has been named a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (FRICS), an international organization with over 118,000 land, property and construction professionals.
RICS members regulate and promote the industry; maintain the highest educational and professional standards; protect clients and consumers via a strict code of ethics; and provide impartial advice and guidance.
The prestigious FRICS designation is a professional symbol of the highest level of knowledge, skill and experience production and ethics in the real estate industry.
Olshonsky joins 2,500 qualified members in 25 countries throughout the Americas. Only 20 percent of RICS members worldwide have attained the FRICS designation.
Fellowship is awarded on the basis of individual achievement in the profession, recognizing commitment to professionalism, leadership, technical innovation, standards setting, academic achievement, raising the profile of the profession and demonstrating corporate social responsibility.
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National law firm Akerman LLP announced consultant Richard Bass has joined the Real Estate Practice Group in the New York office.
Bass brings more than three decades of experience in land use and zoning issues for New York City and New Jersey.
Bass has effectively represented 26 properties impacted by Phase I of the 2nd Avenue Subway Project in Manhattan, by providing technical and political assistance and was involved with the no. 7 train expansion.
He also serves as an expert witness for eminent domain compensation trials involved with Hudson Yards, Atlantic Yards and the Columbia University expansion.
Bass has previously served as the planning director of the Manhattan Borough President’s Office (Ruth Messinger), the City of Jersey City, and the City of Coral Gables and has extensive experience with various tax exemption programs, inclusionary housing regulations, transfer of development rights, landmarks issues and various tax exemption programs.
Bass is a licensed professional planner and is an American Institute Certified Planner.
He started his career in Jerusalem, planning new towns for the State of Israel.
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LCOR announced that Peter DiLullo III has been named senior vice president of investments.
DiLullo, in addition to his current responsibility for LCOR’s residential property and asset management groups, will participate in the arranging of debt and equity financing for LCOR’s acquisitions and developments as well as underwriting investments in new opportunities.
DiLullo joined LCOR in 2006 in an acquisitions role. Subsequently, he became a vice president in charge of residential property and asset management and was an active participant in LCOR’s recapitalization in May 2012.
Prior to joining LCOR, he worked with PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP in Philadelphia.
DiLullo is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Accounting from James Madison University.
Vision Real Estate Partners has announced the expansion of Vision Management and Vision RE Construction.
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Stephan Dicke is heading Vision Management with a 12-member staff that provides full property and asset management services for the Vision Real Estate Partners portfolio and select third-party assignments.
Through previous positions with CBRE and Newmark Grubb Night Frank, Dicke has served clients like RREEF, Principal Real Estate Investors and The Hampshire Companies.
Vision RE Construction is being led by Matthew DiSousa, whose experience in general contracting began as a carpenter’s apprentice at age 16 and spans every level from foreman to project supervisor and general supervisor.
Previously, he founded Corporate Construction Services, a firm with nearly one million square feet in projects annually.
In recent years, the company handled nearly all of Vision Real Estate Partners’ tenant fit-out work.
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Hines, the international real estate firm, announced that Sarah Hawkins has been promoted to managing director in the firm’s New York Office.
Hawkins joined Hines as an associate in 2011 to work in the New York development office. In 2013, she was promoted to director. Since joining the firm in 2011, she has played a critical role in the project management of 7 Bryant Park and has been actively involved in project financing, leasing and new business activities.
Prior to joining Hines, she was an associate at Fortress Investment Group and prior to that, she
was an analyst with the Blackstone Group.
She graduated from the University of Texas, Phi Beta Kappa, with a BA and BBA with High Honors in 2007.
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National Cooperative Bank (NCB) announced that Sandra Braun has joined the bank as vice president, heading the Commercial Loan Underwriting and Credit Analysis Team.
Braun will be responsible for the underwriting and analysis of all commercial lending transactions and will work closely with the Chief Credit Officer in developing commercial credit policies and guidelines for NCB.
She brings three decades of experience in relationship/portfolio management, credit analysis and business development with various-sized private and public firms.
Prior to joining NCB, Braun was a principal relationship manager in the business banking group at Wells Fargo Bank in Summit, N.J. She also was a senior vice president in the Government Contractors Group at Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania in Vienna, Va., where she managed a portfolio of 10 clients with $204 million in aggregate credit exposure.
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First Nationwide Title Agency, which launched with 12 professionals two-and-a-half years ago, now has a staff of more than 50, and a legal team comprised of a total of ten attorneys, and an experienced paralegal.
To accommodate the growth, First Nationwide will more than double the size of its Uniondale, Long Island office.
Joining as senior vice president on the national sales team, Dominic Morandi most recently served as a principal in the executive search firm Morandi, Taub & Sarnoff LLC.
In addition, he is an auxiliary professor in the Business Division at Molloy College in Rockville Centre, New York.
His legal experience includes acting as Associate Counsel at New York Life Insurance Company; and at Windels, Marx, Davies & Ives, where he was a litigation associate.
Morandi earned his J.D. degree, with various honors, from Brooklyn Law School and a B.S. degree in business administration from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He is actively involved in the Georgetown Real Estate Finance Initiative.
Brian Weiss brings nine years of national real estate closing and title insurance underwriting experience to First Nationwide.
Most recently, he worked in-house for Unison Site Management. Before Unison, he acted as Associate Underwriting Counsel for First American Title Insurance Company’s New York City- based National Commercial Services division.
Weiss obtained his Juris Doctorate from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University and his Bachelors of Science, magna cum laude, from the University of Florida.
Andrew Ricci, underwriting counsel, joins First Nationwide from the Law Office of George P.
Ricci, where he was associate attorney for trust and estates and real estate.
Earlier, he was a Commercial Litigation Associate, for Reisman Peirez Reisman & Capobianco LLP; and Meyer Suozzi English & Klein. He provided legal advice to the New York City Bar
Justice Center’s Legal Graduate Fellowship for the Cancer Advocacy and Elder Law projects, and he was a real estate/landlord-tenant law clerk for Rosenberg & Estis, P.C., and a class action investigator for Horwitz, Horwitz & Paradis.
He earned his J.D. degree from Fordham University of Law and a BA degree from Columbia University.
Antonella Mesuraca, a commercial real estate paralegal, has come aboard to work with the legal team on title searches and closings.
She was formerly vice president, Commercial Real Estate Closer for Safra National Bank of New York. Before that she worked for a number of prominent law firms as a paralegal, namely Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP; King & Spalding LLP; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP.
A notary public, with a fluency in Italian, Mesuraca earned a Bachelor of Science degree from St. John’s University.
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Colliers International has further expanded it New York operations with the addition of John DiFiore as executive managing director for the Property Management and Owned Portfolio division.
Prior to joining Colliers, DiFiore served as the chief financial officer for Metropolitan Equity Partners where he oversaw all aspects of the operation and financial reporting of its investment funds.
Prior to MEP, he served as the CFO for a $250 million privately held real estate investment firm, which owned several retail centers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
DiFiore has also held various positions for Real Estate Capital Partners, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor, where he served for 17 years overseeing a portfolio of single and multi-tenant office buildings around the country and managing multi-family residential real estate investment and development transactions.
DiFiore received a B.A. in Business Administration from Pace University, an M.B.A. in Accounting, and became a Certified Public Accountant while working for Arthur Anderson.
