From Touro to Global Commercial Real Estate

What inspired you to go into real estate? 

Real estate doesn’t mean one thing. It is a wide market with many different opportunities. I happened to have interned at a local real estate management firm on Long Island one summer while I was in college, and it opened my eyes up to all the different opportunities within the field of real estate.

I was never going to be an employee that sat at a desk and worked spreadsheets. I like having social interaction, I appreciate the art of negotiation and I enjoy problem-solving, which made a sales job more up my alley than an analyst or management job.

Can you describe your career trajectory from when you left college to your current position?

Someone introduced me to a senior-level broker at Meridian Capital Group in 2005, he hired me and I spent 19 years there building relationships and learning the business. Earlier in 2024 I switched companies to a large national full-service real estate firm called CBRE.

Can you share a day in the life as Executive Vice President, Debt and Structured Finance,  at CBRE?

Honestly, every day is different. It contains many interactions with many people across the company. Cross-selling and sharing relationships, concepts, and ideas. It involves speaking with banks, real estate owners, lawyers, appraisers and other service individuals across the industry. Essentially what I do is originate, place and close loans on commercial real estate. We work with all types of lenders from banks, debt funds to credit unions, CMBS, insurance and agency lenders (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac).The goal is to find the right loan product and lending solution for each deal and each sponsor at any given point in the market.

What has been the high point of your career so far? 

I have to say the best feeling I had was when I was able to leverage relationships that I built in the business world to help the yeshiva I am connected to, Yeshiva Gedolah of the Five Towns to secure a loan to build the building they are currently occupying.

What is the secret to your success? 

Not feeling like you are ever successful. I love observing successful people who are truly humble. Finding a balance between staying hungry and staying humble seems to be a good recipe for those who are successful. Holding true to your values and having the right perspective and priorities.

What do you find most rewarding about your job? Most challenging?

Human beings are driven by the feeling of winning. When you win you feel good but more importantly, it makes you hungrier to go out and do it again, do it better and push even further. I feel that when we are transacting, and you get the deal through challenges and close it,  it drives you to want to fight the next battle. I also truly believe that it conditions you for life. We each have to define what winning is for us in each situation and feel satisfaction in what we do.

What did you study at Touro? 

At Lander College for Men, I majored in management and marketing. And the truth is—I’m marketing, or selling myself, all day, so the training was quite valuable.

You give back as part of the Alumni Association at Lander College for Men. Why do you contribute in that way and how do you think it helps the school and the students?

My parents have always driven home the importance of gratitude and having a good reputation. Lander College created a great bridge for me coming off the highs of Torah study in yeshiva for a few years and coming back to the realities of life--trying to be a Jew who lives by the Torah, when I’m out in the real world and no longer in the yeshiva environment.

What advice do you have for students who want to enter the field of real estate today?

Just speak to everyone. Ask a lot of questions. Network a lot and remember wherever you are and whatever you are doing, you are always marketing yourself. Make sure to always be presenting yourself in the way you want to be “selling” yourself to other.