SCOTT M. STRINGER
Manhattan Borough President
During his nearly three decades of public service, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer has achieved tangible results for New Yorkers by forging diverse coalitions and addressing the City's most enduring urban challenges. He has dedicated himself to making Manhattan more affordable and livable, tackling issues such as housing, school overcrowding, public safety, balanced development, sustainability, and equal opportunities for underserved communities.
Prior to being elected Borough President in 2006, Stringer, a native New Yorker, served for 13 years in the New York State Assembly. Representing Manhattan's Upper West Side, he led the successful fight to end "empty-seat voting" in the State Assembly, and voted against every attempt to weaken rent regulations. In endorsing him for Borough President, the New York Times praised his "sterling reputation as a catalyst for reform.”
As Borough President, Stringer has championed an economic development agenda that invests in our residents, business community, and infrastructure. In his 2012 State of the Borough Address, he called for the creation of a Small Business Growth and Retention Fund, a lending source that would give small businesses much-needed access to capital funding. Stringer has taken a solution-oriented approach to fixing the region’s crumbling infrastructure by proposing a public and privately supported infrastructure bank to fund mass transit projects in the metropolitan region.
Scott Stringer was born and raised in Washington Heights. He resides on Manhattan's Upper West Side with his wife, Elyse Buxbaum, and son, Maxwell.

JEFF DYBAS
Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Jeff Dybas is a Senior Vice President/Client Manager in the Commercial Real Estate Banking group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He focuses on new business, originating a variety of real estate loans for strong clients. He also actively works to provide these relationships the broad scope of services that the firm has to offer.
Mr. Dybas has more than 20 years of real estate experience. Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch in 2010, he was with Anglo Irish Bank, originating, syndicating, and restructuring commercial real estate loans. Before that, Mr. Dybas pursued real estate equity investments and financing opportunities at Marathon Asset Management. Earlier in his career, he was with Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank where he was responsible for real estate lending, equity investments, and portfolio management. In his younger years, Mr. Dybas was an associate with the Real Estate Advisory Group of Arthur Andersen, where he provided real estate valuation, restructuring, and work-out services.
Mr. Dybas obtained his BA in International Relations from the University of Virginia and his MBA in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

JOSEPH A. McMILLIAN, Jr.
DDG Partners
Joe McMillan is Chief Executive Officer of DDG Partners, an integrated investment and development firm focused on the acquisition and development of real estate and underlying equity, debt or hybrid securities, with offices in New York and San Francisco.
DDG's vertically integrated structure allows it to provide capital, designs, construction, development and asset management expertise across its portfolio. DDG focuses on mixed-use and luxury residential investment and development on the east and west coasts, pairing each of its companies in a manner that helps create and enhance the built environment by focusing on innovative design and superior construction. DDG and its principals have owned, developed and managed approximately two million square feet of real estate across various asset classes.
Current and recent DDG projects in New York include 41 Bond (41bond.com, ground-up luxury residential) in NoHo, 345 MP (ground-up mixed-use luxury residential with retail) in the Meatpacking District, 24 & 26 Warren (ground-up and luxury residential conversion)in TriBeCa, Landmark 17 (luxury residential conversion) in Gramercy, 7 Essex (ground-up luxury residentail) in the Lower East Side, L3 and 4P Condominiums (ground-up and residential conversions) in Brooklyn and the Highlands (office complex) in Peekskill. Recent and current projects in San Francisco include 8 Octavia Boulevard (ground-up mixed-use luxury residential with retail and parking), 450 Hayes Street (ground-up mixed-use luxury residential with retail and parking) and 400 Grove Street (ground-up mixed-use luxury residential with retail and parking), all located in a fashionable and artistically focused area known as Hayes Valley.
Prior to the founding of DDG in 2009, Joe's prior experience included Och-Ziff Capital Managment Group (NYSE: OZM)a multi-strategy asset management firm with $30 Billion of assets under management, where he was a senior member of the U.S. private equity investment team; and Greenhill & Co. (NYSE: GHL) and Greenhill Capital Partners, where he was a principal and founding member of the Greenhill Capital Partners investment team managing $1.1 Billion of equity capital.
Joe also previously served in the U.S. Army and holds a B.S. in Commerce, Concentration in Finance from the University of Virginia.

GREG REIMERS
JPMorgan Chase Real Estate Banking
Greg Reimers career in Real Estate spans over 25 years and includes experience in most facets of commercial real estate banking including; origination, syndication, re-structuring, deposit banking and credit. His lending expertise includes construction loans, acquisition and portfolio lending, subscription financing, project loans and various forms of credit enhancement. In various capacities he has managed groups focused on mortgage banking, community development lending, residential mortgage origination and CMBS.
Greg currently has responsibility for Real Estate Banking in the North East Market within the JPMorgan Chase Commercial Bank. He manages an office based in New York staffed with real estate professionals who cater to the credit and non-credit banking needs of a large and diverse real estate client base. Prior to joining JPMorgan Chase in July 2007, Greg headed the Real Estate Division of The Bank of New York.
Greg is currently on the Board of Governor’s of the Real Estate Board of New York, a board member of the Community Preservation Corporation and a steering committee member for an Association for a Better New York.

JONAH SONNENBORN
Dune Real Estate Partners
Jonah Sonnenborn is a Managing Director and a member of the Investment Committee at Dune Real Estate Partners, an opportunistic real estate private equity firm with over $1.5 billion under management. In this position, he is responsible for sourcing and executing transactions across multiple US and European property sectors and maintaining relationships with an extensive network of operators and developers. Sonnenborn plays an integral role in managing the firm’s investment portfolio, including single-assets, programmatic acquisitions and development joint ventures, in particular in the hospitality, residential and retail sectors.
Prior to joining Dune, Sonnenborn worked in the Investment Banking divisions of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Sonnenborn received an MBA from Columbia Business School where he was a member of the Dean’s List, and a JD from Columbia Law School where he served on the Law Review. He was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude from Dartmouth College with a dual degree in English and Government. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (UDMUC Gold), the Real Estate Academic Initiative at Harvard University and is a Director of the New York Private Equity Network Real Estate Group.


ALAN SILVER
Toll Brothers City Living
Alan Silver is the Acquisition Manager for Toll Brothers City Living in New York City. He is responsible for originating, underwriting and structuring all new development acquisitions for Toll Brothers City Living in the five boroughs. Since joining the company in July of 2010, Alan has successfully closed four transactions totaling more than $150 MM, including the Touraine at 865 Lexington Avenue, 280 Third Avenue, 400 Park Avenue South and 1108-1110 Park Avenue. Prior to joining Toll Brothers City Living, Alan was a Vice President at FrontView Group, where he primarily focused on acquiring distressed debt, and the Director of Acquisitions at Blesso Properties. Prior to his career in real estate, Alan practiced law in the New York office of Pillsbury Winthrop. Alan received his J.D. and B.A. from Tulane University in New Orleans and he has a MS in Real Estate from the Schack Institute at New York University.

MODERATOR:
Dennis Russo
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
Dennis Russo is a partner of the firm, and the co-chair of Herrick's 50-member Real Estate Department, one of the largest in New York City.
Dennis has more than 25 years of experience representing a wide range of institutional real estate clients, including some of the nation's largest funds, private banks, lenders and real estate operating companies. He focuses his practice on sophisticated real estate financings, workouts, restructurings, joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions and development projects. He also has a number of corporate clients for which he handles the sale and acquisition of companies, formation of funds, joint ventures, shareholder rights issues, buyout situations and day-to-day business issues.
Earlier in his career, he was a principal in a real estate development and operating company, where he was responsible for the acquisition and management of commercial and multi-family projects. His hands-on experience helps him provide a balanced perspective that takes into account both the legal and business aspects of a real estate transaction.

Dennis is a member of the firm's investment committee, which makes real estate debt and equity investments. As such he reviews acquisition sites, provides market and financial analysis, and structures and negotiates joint venture and syndicated investment terms.