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Deals & Dealmakers

Who’s News: Rockefeller hires Shearer as VP, Megalith lands Lobron

Rockefeller Group announced that Mark Shearer has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Regional Development Officer for the New Jersey/Pennsylvania region.

Mark Shearer

Shearer, a 30-year veteran of the commercial real estate industry, will be based in Rockefeller’s Morristown, NJ, office and will lead all New Jersey and Pennsylvania development operations for the company.

Shearer joins Rockefeller Group from Prologis, where he was Senior Vice President, Market Officer for New York/New Jersey. Prior to his work in the New York/New Jersey region, Shearer held the same position at Prologis in the Mid-Atlantic region, managing a 15-million-square-foot industrial portfolio in Maryland, North and South Carolina, and Virginia.

Prior to joining Prologis, Shearer worked for AMB Property Corporation as Vice President, operating an eight-million-square-foot industrial portfolio in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and for NAI/KLNB Management as Vice President He has also worked for Mid-Atlantic-based companies Manekin LLC, Corporate Office Properties Trust and KLNB Management Services.

Shearer holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Salisbury State University in Salisbury, Md.

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Megalith Capital Management announced that Matthew Lobron has joined the firm as Senior Vice President of Development.

Mathew Lobron

He will be responsible for overseeing all major residential and commercial ground-up development activities for the company.

In his career, Matt has worked on projects totaling in excess of three million square feet that have achieved a gross sellout of over $5.0 billion.

Prior to joining Megalith, he was at Zeckendorf Development where he oversaw the development of 50 United Nations Plaza and 520 Park Avenue. He also worked at Extell Development and he started his career in the Project Finance Group at Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp.

Lobron holds a BS in Business Administration from Georgetown University, and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

•••

Signature Bank announced the establishment of its new Fund Banking Division dedicated to the private equity industry.

Tom Byrne, named Managing Group Director and Head of the Fund Banking Division, will lead the Bank’s nationwide platform.

Byrne, who brings nearly 30 years of banking industry experience to his new role, was previously Group Head of Silicon Valley Bank’s Global Fund Banking Division in New York City. Befoer that, Byrne was Group Head of the Peacock Equity Fund, an investment arm of NBCUniversal. In this capacity, he had global investment and portfolio management responsibility for the firm’s venture capital fund.

Before Peacock Equity, Byrne was a senior media and telecommunications banker at both ABN AMRO and Royal Bank of Canada, with responsibility for developing global client relationships.

Several top professionals with expertise from some of the nation’s top fund banking platforms have joined the Bank’s new Fund Banking Division.

These include Brian Schneider, Trevor Freeman, Charles Newcomb and Victor Rutenberg, each named Managing Directors.

•••

Castle Lanterra Properties (CLP) has appointed Mischa Edwards as Chief of Staff to the CEO, and Head of Client Services.

Edwards will be responsible for the continuous improvement of the investor/client reporting and support process.

Edwards brings nearly 10 years of management experience as a director of client services, Investor Relations and research for Asset Management, private equity, and life insurance brokerage firms.

Most recently, Edwards was a director of client services for Winged Keel group, a life insurance brokerage firm.

Previously, at Golub Capital, she served as chief of staff to the CAO and head of business development, and was a senior member of the investor relations team. Prior to that, Edwards was the chief of staff to the global head of Fixed Income at Blackrock.

Edwards earned a B.A. in English with a minor in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1997.

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New York State Association for Affordable Housing (NYSAFAH) announced the hiring of Robert Agyemang as NYSAFAH’s Director of External Affairs.

Robert Aygugan

Agyemang will help to amplify and drive NYSAFAH’s efforts to advance pro-affordable housing policies and legislation at the city, state and federal level.

Previously, Agyemang served as Director of Communications for State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte, where his work raised the Assemblymember’s public profile and helped her strengthen ties with constituents and key stakeholders across her Brooklyn district.

He has also served as National Director of Governance for the Actors’ Equity Association and as Campaign Manager and strategist for several New York-based campaigns.

Agyemang received his Master of Arts in Political Science, Urban Policy and Public Administration in 2011 and his Bachelor of Science in Psychology and his Bachelor of Arts in Africana Studies in 2008, all from Brooklyn College, CUNY. He serves as a Trustee of the Afro-Latino Association for Policy & Advocacy.

•••
The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce announced Hector Batista as the new President and CEO and the first Hispanic President to serve in the Chamber’s 100-year history.

Batista comes to the Chamber with a wealth of knowledge and experience from the nonprofit sector, most recently serving as CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters NYC.

He succeeds Andrew Hoan who left in May to lead the Portland Business Alliance.

Batista will lead all three arms of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, including its 501c (3) corporation, the Brooklyn Alliance, and its Community Development Financial Institution, Brooklyn Alliance Capital Inc.

Hector Batista

He will continue to work closely with the Board of Directors of all three organizations, with Brooklyn’s small businesses, elected officials and other neighborhood and community leaders.

Batista devoted most of his professional and personal endeavors to public service and has served as a leader of large government departments as well as nonprofit and private organizations.

He began his career in the Brooklyn Borough President’s office, where he served as Director of Real Estate for the Brooklyn Economic Development Corporation, Director of Economic Development and Director of Development and Finance, over the course of nine years.

He was later appointed by New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to serve as Deputy Commissioner and Chief Operating Officer of Department of Housing Preservation and Development. He also served as Executive Vice President of the New York Metropolitan Region of the American Cancer Society.

•••

Mayer Brown announced that JoonBeom Pae has joined the firm’s Tax Transactions & Consulting practice in New York. He joins from Weil Gotshal & Manges.

Jooe Pae

Pae’s practice focuses on the tax aspects of the formation, financing and investment activities of domestic and international private funds.

He regularly advises both sponsors and investors in connection with structuring and operating various types of funds, including buyout, infrastructure, real estate and debt funds.

Pae is also experienced in the secondary sale of fund interests and M&A transactions involving partnerships.

•••

Rose Associates announced that it has hired Kerry A. Salter as a managing director of property management.

Kerry Salter

Salter has more than two decades of experience in residential property management. She will focus on operations, service and resident satisfaction within Rose’s New York City rental portfolio.

Salter joins Rose with 25 years of multifamily industry experience. She spent four years as senior director of real estate leading Greystar’s expansion into New York City.

Prior to Greystar, Salter had oversight of portfolio operations of luxury high-rise communities in and around Manhattan for both Archstone and UDR. Prior to that, she was an asset manager with Sentinel Real Estate Corporation, responsible for a portfolio in various markets throughout the Southeast.

Salter earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration from the University of Rhode Island.

•••

Lee & Associates New Jersey announced two new hires on its investment sales, multi-family and redevelopment team.

Sheneeza Ali and Eric Heller have joined the company as Vice Presidents of Investment Sales/Redevelopment, with a sub-specialty in the multi-family asset class.

SHENEEZA ALI

Sheneeza and Eric are both responsible for representing several multi-family projects in the North and Central New Jersey markets including a mixed-use development project for over 100 residential units and almost 20,000 square feet of commercial space in Linden.

Prior to joining Lee & Associates, Ali and Heller were a team at Prominent Properties Sotheby’s International Realty in Westfield and have extensive experience in sales, acquisitions, development, leasing and marketing.

Sheneeza Ali brings over 14 years of experience in the real estate industry, with the past seven focused on commercial. She iholds a B.S. degree in Computer Science and a Master’s Degree in Education.

Eric Heller

Eric Heller is a member of the NY Metro CCIM Chapter and currently is pursuing a CRE designation, while continuing to build on a substantial portfolio of CRE transactions.

•••

Avison Young announced that Gail Donovan has been appointed Senior Director of Marketing, Tri-State, based in the firm’s New York City office.

Donovan will oversee the execution of marketing, corporate communications and public relations initiatives across the firm’s New York City, New Jersey, Fairfield/Westchester and Long Island offices.

Gail Donovan

Donovan brings over two decades of experience to her new position. She most recently served as the Chief Marketing/Communications Officer for Eastern Consolidated.

Donovan also served as Director of Communications for investment sales brokerage Ariel Property Advisors and ran her own public relations and marketing firm, Donovan Communications.

Earlier in her career, she worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in the press office and in other communications positions, and was a reporter and news editor at several newspapers.

Donovan holds an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Studies (with an emphasis on development economics) from New York University as well as a BA in Journalism from the University of Oklahoma.

•••

Marino announced that John F. Marino has been named agency president.

Frank C. Marino, the namesake founder, will continue in his role as the agency’s chief executive officer.
John Marino joined the firm in 2002. Today he serves as a communications counselor to C-suite executives and other organization principals.

In 2015, he was elevated to serve as a managing director and chief operating officer, playing an integral role in managing day-to-day operations and ensuring best-in-class client service as Marino grew.

In addition to leading the agency’s expansion into Los Angeles and Boston, John also has spearheaded building out the agency’s social media and digital offerings and oversaw the agency’s rebranding as Marino.
Marino has represented a wide array of clients such as McDonald’s, Walmart, The Home Depot, Cushman and Wakefield, Silvercup Studios and One World Trade Center as well as developers, brokers and builders, trade associations, not-for-profits and higher education institutions.

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