2023 Speakers

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Sarah K. Abrams is Senior Vice President and Head of Global Real Estate at Iron Mountain, a global company and public REIT dedicated to storing, protecting, and managing information and assets.  Sarah leads a global team responsible for real estate strategy, transactions, project delivery, and facility management for a portfolio of 85+ million sf in 70 countries and over 1,450 facilities.  A leader in the business beyond her corporate real estate responsibilities, Sarah is a member of the firm’s Enterprise Risk Committee, a director of the Iron Mountain PAC, and a board member of the company’s India Shared Services enterprise.  She works closely with the company’s sustainability leadership on executing projects around the world to advance Iron Mountain’s 2040 Net Zero goal and closely with the commercial teams on the design of services to benefit the corporate real estate industry. 

Prior to joining Iron Mountain, Sarah was president of Fidelity Real Estate Company, the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments.  She holds a BA in Economics, magna cum laude from Boston University, a JD degree from Cornell Law School, and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Sarah is the recipient of 7 Luminary Awards for excellence in speaking at CoreNet Global Summits and was awarded CoreNet Global’s Distinguished Leader Award in 2019.  She is a past president of CoreNet’s New England chapter and a current member of its Advisory Board.

Troy Adams is the Vice President of Real Estate at NFI and leads the site selection, leasing, development, and portfolio management of more than 70 million square feet. Troy joined the NFI team in 2013 and works closely with the NFI operating companies, our customers, and third-party brokers to structure creative real estate solutions and customized build-to-suits. Before joining NFI, Troy spent ten years in economic development roles with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and Select Greater Philadelphia.

Troy serves on the Board of Directors of the St. Joseph’s Carpenter’s Society (SJCS), a community development non-profit located in Camden, NJ. Since its founding over 30 years ago, SJCS has rehabilitated or developed more than 1,027 homes for sale or rent to qualifying families throughout East Camden and the surrounding community.

Troy has an MBA with a finance concentration from Drexel University and a BA in Political Science from James Madison University. He resides with his family in Haddonfield, NJ. 

As PBS Commissioner, she manages the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States and six territories. 

Albert brings 20 years of experience in public real estate disposition, public-private partnership negotiations, economic revitalization, and sustainable development to GSA. Albert most recently served as Vice President of Real Estate and Parking at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), where she managed a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio.

While working at the District Department of Environment, Albert led the design and development of a first-of-its-kind $250 million energy efficiency financing program targeting commercial and multi-family property owners. As the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Manager, she oversaw a $1.3 billion redevelopment project in Washington D.C., including a 2,800-acre waterfront revitalization program.

A military veteran, Albert served as a first lieutenant and Company Executive Officer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Albert holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.

Dan Anninos PMP, VP, is responsible for Global Facility Management and for capital Project Delivery in LATAM, APAC including India, and Eastern Europe for Iron Mountain, a global company focused on protecting and managing information and assets. In his role, Dan has direct responsibility for the strategy and execution of all facility management services in Iron Mountain’s 90+ million sf portfolios across 70 countries and leads the team responsible for capital project delivery in the regions noted above. Dan also leads Global Real Estate’s global disaster planning and recovery program and works closely with the firm’s sustainability leadership, executing sustainability and energy efficiency projects globally to ensure that Iron Mountain meets its science-based targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2025.

Prior to joining Iron Mountain, Dan was the Chief of Staff for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a worldwide organization responsible for programs and project management of the USA’s civil works and defense installation infrastructure. Dan holds a BA in Mathematics, cum laude from LaSalle University as well as a Master of Science degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Transportation and Systems Engineering, and a Master of Science degree from the Air Force University in Strategic Studies. Dan is a past president of the Washington DC chapter of the Society of American Military Engineers and is an active current member of IFMA, the International Facility Management Association. He is the recipient of numerous industry awards and honors from Port Authorities, was recognized by the U.S. Congress for providing support to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is a recipient of two Bronze Stars for his service in Iraq.

Anshuman founded Terra.do, the global platform for working in the climate economy. They combine immersive cohort-based learning programs with a powerful community of climate insiders and the top climate employers worldwide. Think of them like a LinkedIn for Climate. They aim to move 100M people into climate work this decade.

Anshuman is a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded and sold his first startup (RightHalf.com) while an undergrad at IIT Bombay, seeing it through the first boom & bust on the internet. After his MBA at Stanford, he spent some time selling solar lights in Vietnam and started a non-profit that helped Indian Members of Parliament develop their constituencies. All this while working with Deloitte, then Google in New York. He moved to Bangalore in 2009 to start Mygola.com, a travel planning app that was acquired by MakeMyTrip in 2015, where he was their Chief Product Officer until 2019 when a classic midlife crisis sent him in search of what was truly worth working on. He currently lives at Stanford University where his wife is finishing her Ph.D. He has two kids and often finds himself taking climate inspiration (and career advice!) from them these days. 

President of CBRE’s Infrastructure, Defense & Public Enterprise Sector. Provides a full suite of integrated real estate solutions to CBRE public sector, utility, and defense industrial base clients.

Darren brings 27 years of public sector experience, previously serving as the Public Buildings Service’s (PBS) Regional Commissioner for the National Capital Region (NCR). In this role, he oversaw a quarter of the real estate in the US Federal government, which included several nationally iconic properties such as the entire White House campus and several historic Cabinet-level headquarters buildings.

Earlier in his career, Darren served as the Associate Executive Director for Real Property within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In this role, he was responsible for all land and real property interests. Including, the acquisition of land, major healthcare facility leasing actions/construction standards, property disposal, and establishing an infrastructure for private-public partnerships.

Darren also held several leadership roles for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Leveraging his understanding of how the private sector industrial base supports critical government operations, Darren successfully partnered with a number of private providers to establish a network of technical systems and facilities that endure today.

Prior to his civilian career, Darren served on active duty for nine years in the US Army in a variety of infantry, special operations, and intelligence assignments. Today he continues service in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Diane is the North America Real Estate Lead at Vanguard, responsible for the planning, analysis, negotiation, and execution of real estate transactions. Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment management companies with $7.6 trillion in global assets under management. 

Diane is also an adjunct faculty member at Drexel University, where she teaches the Senior Capstone Course in the Real Estate Management and Development program. Diane also serves on the CoreNet Global Philadelphia Chapter Board of Directors as the University Relations Co-Chair.

Diane graduated from Holy Family University with a B.S. in Business Administration and from Drexel University with an M.S. in Real Estate. She is a licensed real estate broker in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida. 

Certifications: Master of Corporate Real Estate MCR®, Certified Property Manager CPM®, LEED AP® Operations + Maintenance, and Facility Management Professional FMP®.

Del’s thoughts, passion, sincerity, and client relationships are hallmarks of his way of life. Whether representing a corporate client, an economic development organization, or a public/private partnership, his boldness, commitment, opinions, and team approach have made Boyette Strategic Advisors one of the nation’s foremost economic development consulting firms. His career includes working and leading state economic development agencies and consulting services at KPMG and Deloitte, where he started and led the Comprehensive Incentives Management Services practice before launching Boyette in 2005. Prior to the consulting business, Del was Executive Director of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission and Deputy Commissioner for Economic Development of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade, and Tourism.

With deep relationships ranging from CoreNet Global members to leading economic development practitioners, Del’s hands-on involvement with all clients produces tailored creative approaches that generate desired outcomes. He has experience working in a broad range of industry sectors.

Del serves as president of the Central Arkansas Library System Foundation Board; Vice Chair of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre Board of Directors; and is a member of the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business Executive Forum. He was an inaugural board member of CoreNet Global and is affiliated with the CoreNet Global New England Chapter.

As a project manager, Corinne works alongside her clients to ensure their projects are delivered with favorable results. Through the project lifecycle, she sets the scope, budget, and timeline with the client, sets expectations early on, and addresses and manages risks along the way. Her superb organizational skills and effective communication prove essential in the project management process. Corinne has experience with lease reviews, space programming, scheduling, budgeting, writing RFPs, advising on vendor selection, construction management, move management, workplace strategy, and change management.

Leah Brooks is an Associate Professor at the Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Administration at the George Washington University and Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies.  After receiving her Ph.D. from UCLA in 2005, she taught at the University of Toronto and McGill University and worked at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Her work examines Business Improvement Districts and land assemblies to understand the resolution of collective action problems, analyzes the Community Development Block Grant program to understand the political economy of grant giving at the municipal and sub-municipal levels, investigates the long-run impacts of streetcar investments in Los Angeles on urban form, and analyzes whether and why US infrastructure costs have increased. She is currently working on understanding the long-run impacts of Washington, DC’s 1968 civil disturbance and the impact of e-commerce on physical retail establishments.

Linda Dunn is the Faculty Director and assistant professor of the practice for the Master’s in Supply Chain Management (SCM) Program at Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies. Dunn guided the curriculum and course development for the SCM master’s program, which launched in the Fall of 2020. She is also a passionate speaker, author, and researcher on how SCM intersects with corporate social responsibility, change management, communications, and organizational agility. She has appeared as a supply chain expert on Fox 5 DC, the Discovery + Channel, and multiple webcasts and podcasts.  

Dunn has extensive supply chain industry experience beyond academia. Before joining Georgetown, she served as Vice President of Supply Chain & Quality Assurance for HMSHost, overseeing the planning, sourcing, distribution, supplier relationship management, and food safety. Other areas of oversight while at HMSHost included revenue optimization, business process improvement, and FP&A. Previous tenures before HMSHost included marketing and finance roles in the telecommunications and banking sectors. 

In 2020, Dunn received The Women in Supply Chain Award from Supply and Demand Chain Executive Magazine. Dunn served on the inaugural National Restaurant Association’s Conserve Sustainability Advisory Council. She is a member of the CSCMP.

Dunn earned her MBA from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. She obtained her BBA with a double major in Finance and English from James Madison University.

Deane brings over 30 years of experience managing global real estate portfolios and workspaces for industry leaders such as Booz Allen Hamilton, GDIT, and Columbia Energy Group.  He recently led the workplace transformation effort at Booz Allen that dramatically improved workspace design efficiency and utilization.  His team developed and implemented workplace analytic tools in coordination with an expanded hoteling program that identified underutilized properties and generated millions in annualized savings. 

Deane has been a member of CoreNet since its inception in 2002 and served the organization in a variety of roles, including two terms as President of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter.  

Matt has 31 years of real estate experience representing occupiers. He was a founder of Cresa and has served in several leadership positions. His education and early career as an engineer enable him to bring a true problem-solving thought process to all client engagements. His clients benefit from his ability to see the entire business picture and develop a strategic approach to delivering a solution to best address their needs.

Over the course of his career, he has been fortunate to work with clients who have been willing to deliver projects that have provided better workplaces for their employees and have improved upon the sustainability of the area where they are located.


Dan uses his extensive experience in Corporate and Investment Real Estate to teach real estate courses at NYU’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.  He was the Director of Real Estate at CIT Bank, having previously served as Director of Real Estate Management at The Vanguard Group.  On the investment side, Dan was VP of Asset Management for BNY Mellon’s Urdang Capital Group and Director of Portfolio Management at Rubenstein Partners.  Early in his career, Dan was Director of Real Estate at Boston’s Economic Development Industrial Corporation. 

 

Dan received a Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania after receiving his BA from Boston University. He has held leadership roles in CoreNet Global including chair of the New York City Chapter for which is currently a Board Advisor, President of the Philadelphia chapter, leadership for 15 Eastern Regional Symposiums, and participation on multiple global and chapter committees. He is a member of the New York Executive Leaders Council and has been a moderator and speaker for industry programs.

Peter J. Gordon is Chief Investment Officer for Commercial Real Estate Debt (CRED) in AB’s Real Estate Debt Group. CRED oversees nearly $6 billion in committed capital from insurance companies, pension funds, and banks, across three vintage closed-end funds and various other institutional mandates. Gordon has been gaining experience in the US commercial real estate markets since 2001 and has also spent four years in construction management. Previously, he was the managing director of Commercial Real Estate Debt. Prior to joining the firm in 2016, Gordon served as managing director and head of commercial real estate (CRE) whole loan originations at Angelo, Gordon & Co., a global alternative investment management firm, where he led the CRE whole loan team, responsible for sourcing, pricing, financing, and structuring transactions as well as managing assets in the investment portfolio. Prior to that, Gordon was a senior member of the real estate finance and investment banking groups at both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, where he was involved in all aspects of commercial real estate lending, from originations for balance sheet and commercial mortgage-backed securities to loan structuring, syndication, and securitization. Gordon holds a BS in mathematics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and an MBA from Columbia University. Location: New York

Hermalyn is the CEO and founder of Thalo Labs. He is a scientist and engineer with a background in aerospace, environmental science, and sensing. Dr. Hermalyn has led programs that have been deployed on land, air, and space—from Antarctica to the moon.  Before starting Thalo, he worked on the faculty of the University of Hawaii, at NASA Ames, Skybox imaging, Google, Waymo, and GM/Cruise - and now is singularly focused on getting his hands on as much carbon as possible.

Dean Jordan is the Vice President of University & External Relations for CoreNet Global. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to raise awareness of corporate real estate and generate a diverse pipeline of talent into the profession by cultivating relationships with faculty, staff, and students in universities around the world. 

Prior to this role, Jordan served as a major gifts officer for several organizations, including The George Washington University, Emory University, and Georgia State University, raising millions of dollars in support of education, medical research, and other philanthropic purposes.  Originally from New York and Cape Cod, he holds an MBA in Finance from George Washington University and BS in Management from Boston University. 

Katty Kay is an award-winning journalist and news anchor who brings an instinctively global perspective to her observations on American politics and global affairs – a result of having grown-up living and traveling all over the Middle East, as well as reporting from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. throughout her career. During her nearly 30 years with BBC News, she was a reporter and then news anchor, bringing important news from America and around the world to a huge global audience from her studio in Washington, D.C.

Katty has reported on six U.S. presidential elections, Washington politics, financial crashes, world trouble spots, sex scandals, global affairs, and much more. She is a regular contributor and substitute host of Morning Joe on MSNBC. Katty also writes on the art and science of self-assurance in women and girls. She is co-author, with Claire Shipman, of four New York Times bestselling books: Womenomics, The Confidence Code, The Confidence Code for Girls, and Living the Confidence Code. Katty is an engaging keynote speaker on a wide range of topics as well as a brilliant moderator, interviewer, and host.

Session: Shifting Global Alignments; Why We Should Pay Attention | Monday, June 5th | 3:30 - 4:45 PM 

Spencer Levy is the Global Client Strategist and Senior Economic Advisor for CBRE, the largest commercial real estate firm in the world. Spencer is part of our Global Client Care team, a group of professionals around the world who are responsible for account management and client experience programs for the company’s largest clients. In addition to his client-facing role, Spencer serves as a primary company spokesperson and is considered one of the most insightful commentators on issues of importance to commercial real estate. He is frequently quoted in major business publications and is the host of CBRE’s award-winning podcast The Weekly Take, the most heavily downloaded podcast in commercial real estate.

After 25 years of federal service in Congress and the executive branch, Dan founded Mathews Associates LLC in 2021 as a strategic consulting and business development firm. He helps his clients navigate the highest levels of Washington and the complex world of federal real estate and government procurements to expand their revenue, identify new partners and enter new markets.

Mathews served as the Head of Federal Sales at WeWork where he led a team of professionals dedicated to bringing the quality and cost savings of flexible workspace solutions to the federal marketplace. He helped secure WeWork a spot on the federal government’s Flexible Coworking Services contract and several other agency acquisitions.

As Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service (PBS), he managed the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management, and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States. He led a team of 5,500 employees, over 30,000 contractors, and a budget of $12 billion. In 2017, Mathews launched an aggressive strategy to lower the cost and improve the quality of real estate housing federal agencies through consolidations and strategic investments. During Mathews’s tenure, PBS disposed of 420 government-owned properties with proceeds totaling over $293 million.

David Meade has been inspiring and engaging live and virtual audiences in over 40 countries for more than fifteen years. World-class brands like Apple, PwC, Harvard, and Mercedes Benz share rave reviews on his work and continue to trust David’s electrifying style with their most important events.

On the back of his ground-breaking BBC TV projects, he’s become a household name in his native Ireland. Today he’s developed a global reputation as a Keynote SpeakerFacilitator, Broadcaster, Virtual Event Speaker, and Entertainer, presenting to groups ranging from 6 executives in London to the 22,000-seat Altice arena in Portugal.

David is a first-class honours graduate from Ulster University’s School of International Business. His work as a lecturer and award-winning researcher in business and strategy with one of Ireland's leading Universities has built his reputation as one of Europe’s most sought-after organizational facilitators. David’s personal interests have always focused on aspects of popular psychology, consumer behavior, and choice. By combining his professional background with his personal passions and his love of the performance of mentalism, David has become a sought-after speaker with a reputation for an innovative style that forces audiences to think critically about the challenges around them.  

Having caught the bug for mind-reading and mentalism as a teenager, David has been honing his act for nearly 20 years. He has combined a childhood interest with his academic interests to create the remarkable set of skills that he is famous for today. Drawing inspiration from many sources and day-to-day observations, David's act is always developing and progressing, and he is always learning. David says "In my line of work you have to keep an open mind, so I'm always open to new lessons, new experiences, and new technology. It's the only way you can keep up to date and stop your work from getting stale."

Peter Miscovich leads the JLL Global Future of Work Consulting practice and he is co-author of “The Workplace You Need Now”. 

With more than two decades of executive management consulting experience, Peter has pioneered leading research and consulting engagements focused on the high-performance workplace including the evolutionary forces that are shaping “The Future of Work”. 

Peter is focused on strategy development and execution of global enterprise Future of Work client engagements including Fifty Fortune 100 Corporate Headquarters. Primary areas of expertise include Corporate Real Estate Performance Improvement, Hybrid Workplace Strategies, and Global Real Estate Portfolio Optimization solutions. 

Peter has served in senior executive leadership roles overseeing 1.5 Billion Square Feet of Corporate Real Estate transformation primarily in the Global Financial Services, Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Technology industry sectors.  His academic research affiliations include Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) New York University (NYU), and Stanford University.

Peter serves on the Accenture Technology Vision Board as well as the CERES Presidents Advisory Board. He also serves as a thought leadership advisor and conference speaker with CoreNet Global, WORKTECH, ULI, and the World Economic Forum. https://www.us.jll.com/en/people/peter-miscovich

Toyin Ogunfolaju leads Jacobs’ Social Value and Equity Americas practice, delivering creative social-economic solutions by leveraging Public Private Partnership models as the foundation to identify opportunities and practices that promote regenerative social systems. Her expertise in executive leadership, community engagement, and operations management advance structural change beyond performative metrics to a culture that embraces DEI. 

Bob Peck is a principal at Gensler, co-leading the firm’s Government and Defense industry practice. He leads complex workplace programming, portfolio strategy, interior buildouts, and public-private projects. In the Clinton and Obama Administrations, Bob was Commissioner of Public Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration, responsible for portfolio and building management, design, construction, leasing, and security of the Federal government's nationwide civilian real estate inventory. At GSA, he launched the Design Excellence program, instituted businesslike real estate metrics, and created a Green Proving Ground sustainability program.

Bob was chief of staff to the late U.S. Senator and public design advocate Daniel Patrick Moynihan and has been a commercial real estate attorney and broker, head of government affairs at the American Institute of Architects, and President of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. He served as a Special Forces officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Sanjiv Sanghavi is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, product leader, and climate investor, who co-founded ClassPass in 2010. Prior to co-founding ClassPass, Sanghavi worked as an associate at Petsky Prunier, where he gained valuable experience in investment banking focused on the technology sector. At ClassPass, he built teams across product, marketing, and engineering, playing a pivotal role in driving the platform's growth and success.

Although he left ClassPass in 2015, Sanghavi continued to make significant contributions to the industry, working as the Chief Product Officer at Knotel, a flexible workspace platform, and Arcadia, a platform that connects people to clean energy. At Knotel and Arcadia, he led the product development teams and contributed significantly to their growth and success.

Currently, Sanghavi is a climate investor at Day One Ventures, leveraging his extensive experience and skills to support and invest in innovative climate startups. His contributions to the industry have been recognized by his inclusion in the list of 70 rising stars in venture capital and 50 climate investors to know.

Overall, Sanghavi's career trajectory is a testament to his exceptional leadership, entrepreneurial spirit, and strong product acumen.

 

Senior Managing Director responsible for leading Hines' global research efforts combining real-time information generated by Hines local offices with top-down macroeconomic trends.

Heads Hines’ proprietary research group identifies how market forces, including macroeconomics, commercial real estate fundamentals, and capital markets influence investments and returns. Served as editor-in-chief of PPR’s white paper series, Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist. 

Mr. Scoville is a frequent speaker at industry gatherings, and is a voting member of the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) and a member of ULI, where he sits on the Urban Development and Mixed-use Blue Council.

Mr. Scoville has written on a variety of topics for real estate journals and has been quoted in numerous financial and commercial real estate publications.

Ms. Shefali Shah is a respected executive in the pharmaceutical industry and a visionary strategist in business transformation. She has 24 years of experience leading strategy and execution to fuel innovation across the globe.

In her current role, she leads Global Real Estate Services, a strategic corporate function that serves the global business by developing and executing cost-effective real estate strategy & workplace solutions.  Shefali also manages real estate divestiture strategies, site acquisition selection, workplace transformation, master planning, occupancy planning, and space utilization.

During her tenure at Merck, she has developed a great reputation with a proven track record of success in various divisions. She has developed expertise in strategy development and execution, marketing, policy, communications, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, lean six sigma, change management, and business transformation.

Shefali holds an MBA with a concentration in Pharmaceutical Business from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia; a Bachelor of Science in Toxicology from Rutgers University, NJ; and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, M. G Science University, India. She is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, certified change agent, behavioral coach, and trained Inclusion Change partner. 

Randeep joined Iron Mountain as Vice President, Global Head of Communications and Sustainability in October 2022. He joined following a 17-year career in the asset management industry at M&G Investments, where for the last three years he launched and led its Global Climate Solutions strategy. He helped in framing the process for the impact investing equity fund range and chaired the ESG integration process.

Randeep also led external communications for public markets. He is an author of articles and blogs on investing, sustainability, and impact investing, and has been a regular speaker and writer for worldwide media including Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC, The FT, and The WSJ. Randeep is a CFA charterholder.

Holly Sullivan is the Vice President of World-Wide Economic Development at Amazon.  In addition to spearheading the search for Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, VA, and bringing 25,000 jobs to the region, Holly led the development of the new 5,000-employee Amazon Nashville location and the expansion of Amazon’s 18 North American Tech Hubs creating more than 50,000 corporate and tech roles. Holly has also worked with local leaders to foster the growth of the company’s operations and logistics footprint, studio production hubs, and job creation efforts worldwide.

She has more than 20 years of experience in economic development, most recently as President and CEO of the Montgomery Business Development Corporation in Maryland.  She also formerly led economic development organizations in the Nashville region.  Holly received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tennessee.  She was recently named one of Washington DC’s Most Powerful Real Estate Players in 2020 by the Commercial Observer, Bethesda Magazine “Women Who Influence” in 2021, Honorable Scout Award in 2021 by the Scouts of America, and among the “Power 100” by the Commercial Observer in 2022. In 2023, Holly was among “Nashville’s Most Powerful People 2023” by the Power Poll.  She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is on the Tennessee Business Leadership Council board, and is an Advisory Board member for the University of Tennessee Haslam School of Business. Holly also serves on Governor Younkin’s GACRE Advisory Board.

Kristin Taylor, CDR is an award-winning recruiter specializing in Commercial Real Estate. Recognized in Crain's New York as a Notable 2022 HR Leader and Winner of the 2021 & 2022 Top Recruiter Award™ (Corporate, U.S.A.) via TopRecruiter.co, Kristin is currently a Partner with Arch Advisory Group, a talent acquisition search and advisory firm servicing a multitude of clients across a diverse array of industries globally.

Prior to Arch, Kristin led the National Talent Acquisition efforts for Broker Sourcing and Engagement in the United States at Collier's. She also served as the Co-Leader and founder of the Employee Resource Group Pillar for the North America Diversity & Inclusion Program. Kristin also managed the recruitment relationship between Colliers and Project REAP, a program with a mission to advance DE&I in the commercial real estate industry through education, mentorship, and partnerships.

Before Colliers, Kristin was with Cushman & Wakefield, where she supported staffing initiatives for some of the firm’s largest blue-chip clients in Occupier Services, Valuation & Advisory Services, and brokerage nationwide.

I serve as Senior Advisor to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Chief Commercialization Officer, Dr. Vanessa ChanOur office is working to accelerate the commercialization of critical clean energy technologies from the DOE’s national labs to full-scale market adoption, in pursuit of America’s climate goals.

Previously, I was the Chief Analytics Officer at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), leading a team of analysts, data scientists, and engineers in the fight for civil liberties and civil rights. We brought quantitative evidence to the courtroom, to our legislatures, and to the public through research on issues as diverse as voting rights, immigration, and criminal justice. We also helped improve the efficacy of the ACLU’s fundraising, member engagement, and voter outreach through testing and analysis. Sitting at the nexus of civil liberties and the use of data and technology, we informed the organization’s data and AI policies.

I’ve also worked in McKinsey’s Washington D.C. office, with public and private sector clients across defense, transportation, revenue, and infrastructure. I helped build McKinsey’s public sector analytics practice, which brings modern data and analytics capabilities to government functions. In 2016, I served as the Deputy Director of Data Science for the Hillary for America campaign.

I’m a proud MIT Engineer, with a dual degree in Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and Economics. I subsequently earned an M.A. in Economics from Harvard.

Robert Valero is the Executive Director of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at The George Washington University School of Business, a position he has held since November 2010. At GW, Rob runs the university's academic research program, including an undergraduate concentration in real estate that currently numbers more than 100 students. He is responsible for creating student and alumni programming and engagement, providing career counseling and networking opportunities for students and alumni, and working with faculty on the real estate curriculum. Though GW's undergraduate real estate concentration was only launched in 2017, it has already received numerous national rankings. 

Deborah Whittemore is the Senior Director of Strategy and Operations for PepsiCo Global Real Estate.  In her 18 years with PepsiCo, Deb has held various positions within the finance and the corporate real estate organization and recently completed her MCR.w with a concentration in workplace strategies through CoreNet Global. She brings insights into new ways of working and process improvements. Deb is known for her ability to make connections and raise the bar on talent and diversity.  She motivates cross-functional teams and encourages out-of-the-box thinking. She is based in the PepsiCo Headquarters in Purchase, NY.