The Kaufman Organization announced that Michael Kazmierski has been appointed president of Kaufman Investments.
Kazmierski, who was previously principal and director of acquisitions, will now lead all real estate investment strategies and activities for one of New York City’s oldest and largest commercial landlords at 35 years of age.
Kazmierski was the youngest employee in Kaufman’s 108-year history to be elevated to the position of principal and director of acquisitions in 2016 and now the youngest be elevated to president of Kaufman Investments.
Throughout his tenure at Kaufman, Kazmierski has played a role in approximately $1.5 billion in acquisitions, dispositions and financings of New York City office transactions.
Most recently, the orchestrated the $120 million refinancing of the Madison Square Portfolio which was inclusive of an additional acquisition facility to purchase a newly restructured ground lease.
Prior to joining the Kaufman Organization, Kazmierski held finance and investment positions at HFF and Mesirow Financial Consulting.
Originally from the Detroit area, Kazmierski holds an M.S. in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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The NRP Group announced the hiring of Samantha Hennessey, an expert on affordable housing in New Jersey, with the goal of accelerating the development of quality affordable housing in the northeast.
Hennessey, who currently serves on the board of the Affordable Housing Professionals of New Jersey, has a deep background in real estate development, construction and property management.
She served for more than a decade at Community Investment Strategies as project coordinator where she had direct involvement in the development, construction and management of more than 2,000 affordable homes throughout New Jersey.
In her new role, Hennessey will leverage her experience in all aspects of project development, including due diligence, land closings, financial underwriting, permitting, architectural and engineering design, grant writing, RFP submissions, construction administration, and professional oversight.
She also has considerable expertise with the Mount Laurel Doctrine, the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program (LIHTC), and other affordable housing programs and initiatives, including the Federal Home Loan Banks program and Community Development Block Grant program.
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Jaime Tuozzolo will be joining the Community Preservation Corporation (CPC) as the organization’s new Vice President, Mortgage Officer.
Tuozzolo will be responsible for sourcing and originating business in Syracuse across all loan products, as well as actively monitoring projects through construction and conversion.
Tuozzolo comes to CPC with roughly 20 years of experience in real estate finance, as both a lender and as part of a development company.
Most recently, she worked for Community Development Lending, North East Team at Key Bank as Senior Relationship Manager/Vice President. Prior to that, she served as Relationship Manager/Vice President at First Niagara Bank’s Commercial Real Estate Finance team in Syracuse, where she oversaw a CRE portfolio of more than $200 million.
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Ruskin Moscou Faltischek P.C. announced that Partner Jerry Siegelman, a member of the Real Estate Department, will take on the role of co-chair of the firm’s Real Estate Department, working alongside Partner and Co-Chair Eric Rubenstein.
Siegelman will succeed Partner Ben Weinstock, long time co-chair of the Real Estate Department, who will be stepping down from his role to focus more of his time on servicing the firm’s large roster of clients.
Siegelman has been a member of the Real Estate Department, one of the firm’s cornerstone departments, since joining the firm in 2015.
his practice concentrates on commercial real estate transactions and he routinely counsels clients in the development of retail and mixed-use projects and loans.
Siegelman received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Queens College in 1982 and earned his Juris Doctorate from Boston University School of Law in 1985.
He received a Master of Public Administration degree from Baruch College in 1995.
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Integrated Business Systems (IBS) continues to expand its sales team with the addition of Lesley Slepian.
Slepian is a seasoned sales and client management professional with more than 25 years of experience in the accounting and technology industries.
In her new role, she is focused on building IBS’s customer base and ultimately helping end users leverage the firm’s products effectively.
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Janover LLC announced that senior manager Rodney Nassimi, CPA was selected to the NYSSCPA Leadership Institute for 2019.
The exclusive group of leaders is limited to 20 up-and-comers from across New York State and are selected by the NYSSCPA Executive Committee. Rodney is part of the inaugural group for the Institute.
Nassimi, a rising star at the firm, is a seasoned CPA, with over 12years of public accounting experience.
He works primarily in the assurance and attest areas for nonprofit, employee benefit plans, and privately held businesses across multiple industries, including marketing, construction and film distributors.
At Janover, he is a member of the Assurance Team. Nassimi is active at the NYSSCPA and is a member of its Entertainment, Arts and Sports Committee and the Employee Benefits Committee.
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DeSimone has announced the appointment of Brian Hanifin as the Director of Risk Management Services. Hanifin has more than 30 years of experience overseeing Project Management and Construction Claims Consulting operations.
He has provided expert testimony in the areas of Construction/Project Management (CPM) and CPM Schedule Analysis, and also has assisted major insurance companies with a variety of high-profile contractor surety bond portfolios.
In 2004, his project team received the Construction Management of America (CMAA) National Project Achievement Award for project management excellence in the $100 Million category.
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Marisa Chambers has joined the STO Building Group in the new position of EEO & Diversity Manager.
Chambers will assist with project pursuits with EEO requirements as well as help guide the firm’s continued diversity and inclusion efforts.
Chambers’ background includes a variety of human resources roles, including recruitment, training and career development and HR management.
In the last several years, her responsibilities have become increasingly focused on diversity and inclusion as she developed D&I initiatives and strategy for such organizations as PSEG, Panasonic North America and the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.
Chambers holds several human resources certifications and a degree in international studies from New York University.
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Eli Y. Meltzer, AIA, has joined Meltzer/Mandl Architects, P.C., serving alongside his architect/developer father, Marvin H. Meltzer, AIA, who founded the firm in 1995 with his late partner, David Mandl.
In that time, the firm has gone on to design approximately 12,000 units of affordable and market-rate housing in the New York City area.
Eli Meltzer comes to Meltzer/Mandl after successful positions at Kohn Pedersen Fox, where he worked on the Hudson Yards mega-development, and at Kliment Halsband Architects, where he worked with Mt. Sinai Hospital in developing innovative prototypes for clinical and exam space in the Department of Surgery, and served as lead designer and project manager for several privately-funded, and state-bonded K-12 facilities in New York and its suburbs.
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Aufgang Architects LLC has appointed Shiva Ghomi as Director of Planning and Community Development.
Ghomi was a co-founder of SPARC–Spatial Art and Construction–with offices in Brooklyn and Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Focusing on affordable housing, SPARC won a contract to reconstruct over 100 single- and two-family coastal homes in New York destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.
Ghomi holds a Master’s Degree from the New York Institute of Technology in Architecture and Urban & Regional Design. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Urban Design at Tehran Azad University Science & Research Unit and a Bachelor of Architecture Degree from Tehran Azad University South Branch.
