Mindy Williams - McElearney

CHAIR

Director
Turner & Townsend

Mindy Williams-McElearney is the Head of Client Development for global professional services firm, Turner & Townsend, based in their New York office. In this position, Mindy leads the strategic growth program to expand the firm’s profile and market share within the Eastern United States. Mindy brings over 25 years of experience working in partnership with the real estate, design and construction industries. Her previous work experience at architectural firms and construction management companies, as well as her involvement with organizations like CoreNet and IFMA, gives her a unique perspective on industry trends and the challenges facing corporate enterprises.

Christian Bryan

PRESIDENT 

Vice President, Head of Real Estate and Facilities
CrowdStrike

Experienced Real Estate Executive with a demonstrated history of working in the media, technology, software and the sports industry. Strong business development professional skilled in Operations, Project Management, Construction, Negotiation, Budgeting, Front Office, Customer Service, and People Management.

Sonya Dufner, FASID

VICE PRESIDENT

Director of Workplace Strategy, Principal
Gensler

Sonya Dufner is a Principal and Director of Workplace Strategy at Gensler. She works with fortune 100 clients to conceptualize strategy for the future of hybrid work that aligns with their company culture and business strategy. With over three decades of experience, Sonya leads transformative projects for a diverse range of industry-leading clients, including Christies, L’Oreal USA, United Nations, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, Thomson Reuters, Fidelity Investments, Paramount Global, Verizon, and Warner Music Group. She is sought after as a long-term strategic partner, helping clients to make decisions about not only their real estate portfolios, but how to best support talent through new policy language, as well as work-point analysis to redefine the physical space and support productivity when employees come into the office. Her design choices inform new service design strategies, rethinking amenities that make employees lives better, and location strategies to deliver impact to the business.

Sonya has been featured in various prominent articles and platforms. Her work has been featured in FastCo Design, Entrepreneur, and The Huffington Post, and she has been quoted in Forbes, Bisnow, and HR Outlook. She also frequently speaks at high-profile conferences such as Microsoft's "The Future of Work and Play" and the 2024 “Future of Work Summit”. She has also been involved in industry boards, such as CoreNet NYC, where she serves as Strategic Planning Chair.

Will Monaghan

TREASURER

WTW
Global Corporate Real Estate & Workplace Experience

Jason Aster

INTERIM SECRETARY

Managing Director, Growth
KBA Lease Services

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.

Sandra Yencho

SECRETARY

Will Monaghan

FINANCE & INVESTMENT

WTW
Global Corporate Real Estate & Workplace Experience

Jason Aster

INTERIM GOVERNANCE & NOMINATING

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.

Sandra Yencho

GOVERNANCE & NOMINATING

Principal
Cresa

Jeremy Libby

INNOVATION AND SPECIAL PROJECTS

Real Estate
Newmark

Courtney Grill

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

Business Development Director
Skanska USA Building

Courtney Grill is a Director of Business Development for Skanska USA Building’s Metro New York Region and is responsible for establishing strategic partnerships and strengthening client relationships. Prior to joining Skanska, Courtney worked on the owner’s representative, project and program management side of the industry for Faithful+Gould and their parent company, Atkins North America, an infrastructure-focused design and engineering firm. While at Faithful+Gould / Atkins North America, Courtney was a National Capture Manager for all sectors and previously a Senior Marketing Manager for the corporate real estate sector of the firm. Courtney assumed the role of Chair of the Marketing & Communications Committee in May 2021, having previously served as the Vice Chair and on other CoreNet Committees with various roles including the Vice Chair of the Public Policy Committee and as a member of the Young Leaders and New Year’s Party committees. Courtney earned her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Elon University.

Ariel Zurad

MEMBERSHIP

Vice President, Sales
Creative Office Resources

Margaux Jaffa

PROGRAMMING & OUTREACH

Senior Director, Americas Consulting
CBRE

Margaux is a dynamic workplace leader with 20 years of experience driving business growth across diverse market sectors, providing workplace strategy, consulting, and client relationship management to clients ranging from startup tech unicorns to Fortune 500 companies. She is skilled at leading cross-functional teams and executing strategic initiatives, and has successfully lead business development at a few of the largest architecture and interior design firms.

Margaux has been an active member of CoreNet’s NY Chapter for over 12 years. In this time she has volunteered on multiple committees, and currently serves as an Executive Board Member and the Chair the Programming and Outreach Committee overseeing much of the programming for the NY Chapter.

Debra Cole

SPECIAL EVENTS

Principal/ Client Relations Director of New York
hlw

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.

Holly Martin

INTERIM SPONSORSHIP

Senior Principal
OTJ Architects

Laura Patel

SPONSORSHIP

Managing Director | Global Head of Business Analytics Sales & Client Solutions
CBRE

With over a decade in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, I'm dedicated to promoting tools at the cross section of technology and real estate: PropTech.

An experienced sales and partnerships leader, I'm skilled at scaling sophisticated and transformational products with challenger-based sales models. I have a proven ability to build accomplished sales teams and am passionate about talent enablement, with a track record of hiring and developing top-performing business leaders.

A thought leader on AI, virtual reality and PropTech, I've spoken at nearly two dozen exhibitions and conferences around the world, including The World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting of New Champions (Dalian, China), Thin Air Festival (Park City, UT), The Art, Science and Bottom Line of Innovative Designs Technologies (NYC, NY), The Emerging Trends Summit (New York, NY), and The Office of the Future Summit (NYC, NY).

An active member of the New York real estate community, I serve as Chair for CoreNet New York’s Programming and Outreach Committee, and on Urban Land Institute’s Technology and Innovation Council. I’m also a proud board member at BUILD: NYC, a student mentor with Student Sponsor Partners, and a post-secondary coach with Syrian Youth Empowerment. A travel enthusiast, I've visited 40 countries— most recently exploring Taiwan, Bosnia, and Guatemala.

Michael Martino

STRATEGIC PLANNING

Facilities Solution Engineer
CBRE