Key Executives is pleased to announce The Top 25 Real Estate Executives for 2023. Real estate is the largest asset class in the world. In June 2023, the value of housing in the U.S. alone hit $47 trillion. At the helm of this dynamic sector are the men and women who hold executive-level positions in real estate, where they serve as strategic leaders who drive profitability and sustainability in the sector. They are essential because they bridge the gap between investors, developers, and the market, ensuring the efficient utilization of resources and capital.
On this year's list, the accomplished leaders have been instrumental in spearheading their companies to innovation and success in everything from identifying investment opportunities, conducting market research, and assessing risks to make informed decisions that maximize returns on real estate investments – making them indispensable for both investors and the broader economy.
William Meaney serves as the President and CEO of Iron Mountain, a prominent S&P 500 company. With extensive experience in the industry, Meaney previously held the position of CEO at The Zuellig Group, a $12 billion conglomerate, where he successfully tripled its sales over his nearly 8-year tenure. Charles Meyers, on the other hand, is the President and CEO of Equinix. He is renowned for his pivotal role in shaping Equinix’s strategy, which includes doubling the number of global IBX data centers and quadrupling its revenues.
Finally, since 2002, Bruce Flatt has held the role of CEO at Brookfield, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $850 billion in assets under management (AUM). Under Flatt's astute leadership, Brookfield has expanded its global presence to encompass operations in more than 30 countries, solidifying its position in the industry.
Please join us in recognizing the accomplishments of The Top 25 Real Estate Executives for 2023.
1. Bob Sulentic
President and Chief Executive Officer, CBRE Group
Bob Sulentic has been President and CEO of CBRE Group since December 2012. CBRE is the world’s largest commercial real estate services and investment firm, with 2022 revenues of $30.8 billion and approximately 115,000 employees serving clients in more than 100 countries. Notably, the company is ranked #135 on the Fortune 500 – and has been Fortune's Most Admired Real Estate Company for four out of the last five years. Prior to becoming CEO, Sulentic held the role of President, with responsibility for all business segments. In addition, he served as the company's CFO in 2009, during the depth of the global financial crisis. Earlier, Sulentic served as Group President for CBRE’s EMEA, Asia Pacific, and Development Services businesses.
Sulentic began his real estate career with Trammell Crow Company in 1984 as an Industrial Leasing Agent in Houston, Texas. Throughout the next 23 years, he served in various leadership positions, including Project Partner, Divisional Partner, Managing Director, and CFO. Sulentic was elected President and CEO of Trammell Crow Company in October 2000, and he became Chairman of the Board in April 2002. He served in those roles when Trammell Crow Company merged with CBRE in late 2006. Sulentic received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Computer Science from Iowa State University.
2. Christian Ulbrich
Global Chief Executive Officer, Jones Lang LaSalle
Christian Ulbrich is the President and CEO of JLL, a leading global professional services and investment management firm. They are a Fortune 500 company with more than 100,000 colleagues in over 80 countries. Ulbrich has held management positions at JLL for more than 15 years. When he joined the company in 2005, he took on the role of Managing Director for Germany. In 2009, he was appointed CEO of the EMEA region and also became a member of the Executive Board. In 2016, he assumed the role of Chairman of the Executive Board and became a member of the Supervisory Board. Before joining JLL, he spent seven years as CEO of the Germany-wide HIH Group, headquartered in Hamburg.
He also spent ten years in senior positions at other national and international banks. Notably, Ulbrich is a passionate advocate for a sustainable, diverse, and inclusive global future. He is a Vanguard board member of the World Economic Forum’s Partnering Against Corruption Initiative. He is also a member of the board of directors of Vonovia SE, Europe’s largest residential real estate company. Ulbrich earned a senior degree in business administration from the University of Hamburg and attended the Stanford University GSB program. He lives near Frankfurt, Germany.
3. Michelle Mackay
Chief Executive Officer, Cushman & Wakefield
Michelle MacKay is Cushman & Wakefield’s CEO, overseeing the management of the global business. Cushman & Wakefield is a leading global commercial real estate services firm for property owners and occupiers with approximately 52,000 employees in approximately 400 offices and 60 countries. In 2022, the firm reported revenue of $10.1 billion across its core services. Mackay previously served as President and CEO, responsible for leading the firm’s Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region; Global Occupier Services (GOS); the facilities services business C&W Services; DTZ Investors; and Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
MacKay was appointed COO in 2020, having previously served on Cushman & Wakefield’s Board of Directors since 2018. Before joining Cushman & Wakefield, she occupied the positions of Executive Vice President, Investments & Head of Capital Markets at iStar, Inc.; Executive Director, Commercial Real Estate at UBS; Vice President, Fixed Income at J.P. Morgan; and Assistant Vice President, Real Estate and Fixed Income at The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. Mackay holds an MBA from the University of Hartford and a BA in Political Science and Government from the University of Connecticut.
4. William Meaney
Chief Executive Officer, Iron Mountain
William Meaney is President and CEO of Iron Mountain, an S&P 500 company that provides information management and data center services. Meaney also serves as a director on the company's board. Previously, he was CEO of The Zuellig Group, a $12 billion primarily business-to-business conglomerate based in China, Hong Kong. During his tenure from August 2004 to March 2012, the company saw sales triple. Prior to leading The Zuellig Group, Meaney spent a number of years in the airline industry, serving as the chief commercial officer and managing director of publicly-traded Swiss International Airlines from December 2002 to January 2004; and executive vice president of South African Airways from 1998 to 2001.
Earlier in his career, Meaney served as the acting CEO of South African Vaccine Producers; the founder and managing director of Genhro Management Consultancy; and a principal of Strategic Planning Associates, now part of Oliver Wyman. Meaney started his career as a CIA operations officer. Today, he is a member of the Asia Business Council and The Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a bachelor's in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a master's in industrial administration from Carnegie Mellon University. He also serves on the Board of Directors of State Street Corporation; and is a member of the Massachusetts General Hospital President's Council.
5. Jose Gordo
Chief Executive Officer, The GEO Group
Jose Gordo is GEO’s CEO and a member of the Board of Directors. GEO provides complementary, turnkey solutions for numerous government partners worldwide across a spectrum of diversified correctional and community reentry services. From the development of state-of-the-art facilities and the provision of management services and evidence-based rehabilitation to the post-release reintegration and supervision of individuals in the community, GEO offers fully diversified, cost-effective services that deliver enhanced quality and improved outcomes. Notably, Gordo previously served as an Independent Director and Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of GEO’s Board of Directors. He has over 20 years of experience in business management, private equity, corporate finance, and business law.
Prior to joining GEO, Gordo served as the CEO of a general partnership that invests in and actively oversees privately held companies, with a focus on the healthcare and consumer products industries. From 2013 to early 2017, Gordo served as the CFO of magicJack Vocaltec Ltd., a publicly traded company in the telecommunications industry. Before that position, Gordo served as a Managing Director at The Comvest Group, a Florida-based private equity firm. Gordo was also previously a partner at the national law firm of Akerman LLP, where he specialized in corporate law matters, advising public and private companies and private equity firms on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. He previously represented GEO as outside counsel for several years. He received a JD from Georgetown University Law Center and a BA from the University of Miami.
6. Charles Meyers
President and Chief Executive Officer, Equinix
Charles Meyers is the President and CEO of Equinix, the world's digital infrastructure company. Meyers is responsible for leading Equinix’s strategy, innovation, and continued track record of growth, execution, and service excellence. In this role, Meyers partners with his more than 10,000 Equinix colleagues around the world to be in service to one another and the customers, partners, shareholders, and communities. Notably, Meyers has shaped the company’s strategy and continued industry leadership, including doubling the number of global IBX data centers, evolving the capabilities of Platform Equinix, building ecosystems with thousands of the world’s leading businesses as customers, and quadrupling revenues during his tenure.
Meyers joined Equinix in 2010 with more than 25 years of experience in executive leadership positions at leading technology and IT companies, including Verisign, Level 3 Communications, and BellSouth. Meyers earned dual master’s degrees from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management and McCormick Graduate School of Engineering. He also holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado.
7. Damon Hininger
President and Chief Executive Officer, CoreCivic
Damon Hininger was named President and CEO of CoreCivic in August 2009. CoreCivic is a diversified, government-solutions company with the scale and experience needed to solve tough government challenges in cost-effective ways. Previously, Hininger was appointed as President and Chief Operating Officer in July 2008. He also served as senior vice president of Federal and Local Customer Relations since September 2007 after having served as vice president of Federal and Local Customer Relations since June 2002. Hininger previously served CoreCivic as vice president of Business Analysis since December 2000.
Hininger joined CoreCivic in 1992 as a correctional officer at Leavenworth Detention Center in Leavenworth, Kansas – and was promoted to training manager at Central Arizona Detention Center in 1994. That same year, Hininger was also selected as both Central Arizona Detention Center's and CoreCivic's company-wide Employee of the Year. He joined the corporate office in 1995, serving as manager of Facility Start Up for three years. Hininger earned a bachelor's from Kansas State University and an MBA from the Jack Massey Graduate School of Business at Belmont University.
8. Devin Stockfish
President and Chief Executive Officer, Weyerhaeuser Company
Devin Stockfish has been President and CEO of Weyerhaeuser Company since January 2019. He also serves on the company's board of directors. Weyerhaeuser Company, one of the world's largest private owners of timberlands, began operations in 1900. They own or control approximately 11 million acres of timberlands in the U.S. and manage additional timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. They are also one of the largest manufacturers of wood products in North America. Previously, Stockfish served as the company’s senior vice president of Timberlands from January 2018 to December 2018, and as vice president of Western Timberlands from January 2017 to December 2017. He also served as the company’s senior vice president, general counsel, and corporate secretary from July 2014 to December 2016.
Before joining the company, Stockfish was vice president and associate general counsel at Univar Inc., where he focused on mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, and securities law. Previously, he was an attorney in the law department at Starbucks Corporation and practiced corporate law at K&L Gates LLP. Before he began practicing law, he was an engineer with The Boeing Company. He received his JD from Columbia University School of Law and holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Colorado.
9. Bruce Flatt
Chief Executive Officer, Brookfield Property
Bruce Flatt is the CEO of Brookfield, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $850 billion in assets under management. Brookfield Corporation is focused on compounding capital over the long term to earn attractive total returns for its shareholders. Today, their capital is deployed across three businesses: Asset Management, Insurance Solutions, and their Operating Businesses.
Those three businesses generate substantial and growing free cash flows, all of which are underpinned by a conservatively capitalized balance sheet. Flatt joined Brookfield in 1990 and became CEO in 2002. Under his leadership, Brookfield has developed a global operating presence in more than 30 countries. Prior to his current role, Flatt ran Brookfield’s real estate and investment operations and has served on numerous public company boards over the past two decades.
10. George Chappelle Jr.
Chief Executive Officer, Americold Realty Trust
At Americold Realty Trust, George Chappelle Jr. was appointed CEO in February 2022, after serving as Interim CEO. He’s also been a member of the Board of Trustees since November 2021. Notably, Americold is a global leader in temperature-controlled logistics real estate and value-added services. Focused on the ownership, operation, acquisition, and development of temperature-controlled warehouses, Americold owns and/or operates 242 temperature-controlled warehouses, with approximately 1.5 billion refrigerated cubic feet of storage in locations around the globe.
Chappelle most recently served as an executive of Tyson Foods, holding a variety of leadership roles, including Chief Corporate Services Officer; General Manager of Emerging Proteins, Research and Development and Logistics; Chief Operating Officer of Prepared Foods; and Chief Integration Officer. Prior to joining Tyson Foods in 2017, he served as Chief Operating Officer at several leading consumer packaged goods companies, including AdvancePierre Foods, Vi-Jon, and Solo Cup Company. Previously, Chappelle spent more than four years with Sara Lee Foods and served as Chief Information Officer of HJ Heinz. In addition, Chappelle currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Flagstone Foods and as a member of the Boards of Apex International and Randall Foods.
11. Glenn Kelman
President and Chief Executive Officer, Redfin
Glenn Kelman is the CEO of Redfin, a technology-powered real estate company. They help people find a place to live with brokerage, rentals, lending, title insurance, and renovation services. They also run the country's #1 real estate brokerage site. Redfin’s home-buying customers see homes first with same-day tours, and the company’s lending and title services help their customers close quickly.
Prior to joining Redfin, Kelman was a co-founder of Plumtree Software, a Sequoia-backed, publicly traded company that created the enterprise portal software market. In his seven years at Plumtree, Kelman at different times led engineering, marketing, product management, and business development. In addition, he was responsible for financing and general operations in Plumtree's early days. Before starting Plumtree, Kelman worked as one of the first employees at Stanford Technology Group, a Sequoia-backed start-up acquired by IBM. Kelman was raised in Seattle and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley.
12. Jay Brown
Chief Executive Officer, Crown Castle International
At Crown Castle International, Jay Brown was appointed President and CEO in June 2016. Crown Castle has worked around the country to build and maintain the infrastructure behind the world’s most revolutionary technologies. This comprehensive portfolio of towers, small cells, and fiber gives people and communities access to essential data, technology, and wireless service and opens the door to countless opportunities and possibilities. They continue to work closely with wireless carriers, businesses, technology companies, governments, and communities to make sure these transformative ideas and innovations find their way to the people who rely on them.
Previously, Brown served as Crown Castle’s CFO from July 2008 to May 2016; and served as Treasurer of Crown Castle from May 2004. Since Brown joined the company in 1999, he’s held numerous roles in corporate development and corporate finance. Before Crown Castle, he worked for a start-up healthcare company and Arthur Andersen. Brown holds a BBA from Baylor University. He serves on the advisory board of governors of NAREIT, the board of directors and executive committee of the Wireless Industry Association (WIA), and the Baker Institute Board of Advisors. He also serves on the Baylor University Board of Regents and the Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees.
13. Thomas Bartlett
Chief Executive Officer, American Tower
Thomas Bartlett is the President and CEO at American Tower Corporation, one of the largest global Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). As of 2022, it was ranked 375th on the Fortune 500. Notably, Bartlett joined American Tower in April 2009 as EVP and CFO. During his prior 25-year career with Verizon Communications and its predecessor companies and affiliates, he served in numerous corporate, operations, and business development roles, including President and CEO of Bell Atlantic International Wireless, where he was responsible for wireless activities in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia.
In addition, Bartlett served as CEO of Iusacell; served as CEO of Verizon's Global Solutions Inc., served as an Area President for Verizon’s U.S. wireless business; and served as the Corporate Treasurer and Controller with Verizon Communications. He began his career at Deloitte, Haskins & Sells. Today, Bartlett is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) Board of Governors and the Business Roundtable. He also currently sits on the Samaritans advisory council and is on the Board of Advisors of the Rutgers Business School and is on the MIT Presidential CEO Advisory Board. Bartlett earned an MBA from Rutgers University and a BS in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University.
14. Andrew Florance
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, CoStar Group
Andy Florance is the Founder and CEO of CoStar Group. From founding the company in his dorm room to a successful IPO in July 1998, Florance has led CoStar Group’s expansion to its market-leading position today as a publicly traded enterprise included in the S&P 500. A leading global provider of commercial and residential real estate information, analytics, and online marketplaces, CoStar Group serves more than one million clients in total, and its websites have received more than one billion visitors in the past twelve months alone.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., CoStar Group employs a staff of more than 5,500 worldwide and maintains offices around the world to manage a wide range of industry-leading brands. Florance is a graduate of Princeton University with a BA in Economics and received an honorary doctorate from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2019.
15. Barry Gosin
Chief Executive Officer, Newmark Group
Barry Gosin is the CEO of Newmark Group, a world leader in commercial real estate, seamlessly powering every phase of the property life cycle. Newmark’s comprehensive suite of services and products is uniquely tailored to each client, from owners to occupiers, investors to founders, and startups to blue-chip companies. Combining the platform’s global reach with market intelligence in both established and emerging property markets, Newmark provides superior service to clients across the industry spectrum.
Since 1979, Gosin has led the business which operates as Newmark, one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. He guides the firm’s national and global expansion initiatives and oversees all facets of its day-to-day operations. Previously, he spearheaded Newmark’s IPO in 2017; and the company’s spin-off from BGC Partners in 2018 – after leading the sale of Newmark in 2011. Gosin continues to captain the firm’s growth and has led Newmark in the acquisition of over 50 companies and its increase in annual revenues of over 1,100 percent. Gosin is a graduate of Indiana University.
16. Stuart Rothstein
President and Chief Executive Officer, Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance
Stuart Rothstein is Partner and Chief Operating Officer of Real Assets of Apollo, where he serves as COO of Apollo’s global real estate business and the CEO, President, and a member of the Board of Directors of Apollo Commercial Real Estate Finance. His company, Apollo, is a high-growth, global alternative asset manager. In their asset management business, they seek to provide their clients with excess return at every point along the risk-reward spectrum from investment grade to private equity with a focus on three investing strategies: yield, hybrid, and equity. For more than three decades, their investing expertise across their fully integrated platform has served the financial return needs of their clients and provided businesses with innovative capital solutions for growth.
Before joining Apollo in 2009, Rothstein was a Co-Managing Partner of Four Corners Properties, and with KKR Financial Advisors, RBC Capital Markets, and the Related Capital Company before that. Rothstein began his career at Spieker Properties, where he was later named CFO. Rothstein graduated from the Schreyer Honors College at Pennsylvania State University with a BS in Accounting and received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. He is a member of Penn State Smeal College of Business Board of Visitors and a member of the board of directors and Chair of the Nominating Committee for the JED Foundation.
17. Steven Roth
Chief Executive Officer, Vornado Realty Trust
Steven Roth is Chairman of the Board and CEO of Vornado Realty Trust, a fully integrated real estate investment trust (“REIT”) with a portfolio of premier New York City office and retail assets and the developer of the new PENN DISTRICT. While concentrated in New York, Vornado also owns the premier assets in both Chicago and San Francisco. Vornado is a real estate industry leader in sustainability, with over 27 million square feet of LEED-certified buildings and over 23 million square feet at LEED Gold or Platinum.
Roth has been Chairman of the Board since May 1989 and Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board since April 1980. He was the CEO from May 1989 through May 2009 and was reappointed on April 15, 2013. Roth is the co-founder and Managing General Partner of Interstate Properties and Chairman and CEO of Alexander's, Inc. Roth is the Chairman Emeritus of JBG Smith Properties and a Trustee of Urban Edge Properties. Roth is a graduate of DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx. He received his AB degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.
18. Andrew Power
President and Chief Executive Officer, Digital Realty Trust
Andrew Power is the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors at Digital Realty, an organization that brings companies and data together by delivering the full spectrum of data center, colocation, and interconnection solutions. Digital Realty gives its customers access to the connected data communities that matter to them with a global data center footprint of 300+ facilities in 50+ metros across 27 countries on six continents. Power also has served as Digital Realty’s President since 2021 and as CFO since 2015, with responsibility for global portfolio operations, technology development, and innovation, service provider and enterprise customer solutions, asset management, and information technology, as well as the company’s financial functions across its global platform.
Prior to joining Digital Realty, Power held positions of increasing responsibility at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently served as Managing Director of Real Estate, Gaming and Lodging Investment Banking and was responsible for relationships with over 40 public and private companies, including Digital Realty. Prior to Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Power was employed by Citigroup, where he held similar positions. During his career, he has managed the execution of over $30 billion of public and private capital raises, including the largest REIT IPO to date, and more than $19 billion of merger and acquisition transactions. Power received a BS in analytical finance from Wake Forest University.
19. Christopher Marr
President and Chief Executive Officer, CubeSmart
Christopher Marr has been CEO of CubeSmart since January 1, 2014. CubeSmart is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust. The Company’s self-storage properties are designed to offer affordable, easily accessible and, in most locations, climate-controlled storage space for residential and commercial customers. According to the 2023 Self-Storage Almanac, CubeSmart is one of the top three owners and operators of self-storage properties in the United States. Previously, Marr served as President, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of the Company, having assumed the President and Chief Investment Officer roles in 2008 and, additionally, the Chief Operating Officer role in May 2012.
Marr joined the Company in 2006, serving as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer until November 2008. Prior to joining CubeSmart, Marr was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Brandywine Realty Trust, a publicly traded office REIT, from August 2002 to June 2006. Prior to joining Brandywine Realty Trust, Marr served as Chief Financial Officer of Storage USA, Inc., a publicly traded self-storage REIT, from 1998 to 2002. Marr currently serves on the board of STAG Industrial, Inc., a publicly-traded industrial REIT, and also as a member of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts' Executive Board.
20. Carrie Wheeler
Chief Executive Officer, Opendoor Technologies
Carrie Wheeler serves as Opendoor’s CEO and a member of the Opendoor Board. Opendoor’s mission is to power life’s progress, one move at a time. Since 2014, Opendoor has provided people across the U.S. with a simple way to buy and sell a home. Opendoor currently operates in a growing number of markets nationwide. Wheeler previously served as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer.
Prior to Opendoor, Wheeler was with TPG Global for more than two decades, a leading global private investment firm. At TPG, she was a partner and led its investments in the consumer and retail sectors. She has been on the boards of numerous companies, including leading brands such as Dollar Tree, Neiman Marcus, and Petco Animal Supplies, and currently sits on the board of APi Group. As an experienced executive, investor, and board member, Wheeler brings a wealth of experience across different industries, finance, and strategy to the company. Wheeler graduated from Queen's University with an undergraduate degree in commerce.
21. Mark Parrell
President and Chief Executive Officer, Equity Residential
Mark Parrell has been CEO of Equity Residential since January 2019 and President since September 2018. Parrell served as EVP and CFO of the Company from October 2007 to September 2018. Parrell was Senior Vice President and Treasurer of the Company from August 2005 to October 2007; and has held various positions within the Company’s finance group since September 1999. Equity Residential, a member of the S&P 500, is focused on the acquisition, development, and management of residential properties located in and around dynamic cities that attract affluent long-term renters. The Company owns or has investments in 305 properties consisting of 80,505 apartment units, with an established presence in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and San Francisco, among other areas.
Parrell is a former director of Brookdale Senior Living Inc., a leading operator of senior living communities throughout the United States, from April 2015 to July 2017. He also served as a director of Aviv REIT, Inc. from March 2013 until April 2015, when it merged with Omega Healthcare. He is a member of the Advisory Board for the Ross Business School at the University of Michigan, his alma mater, and is a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (“NMHC”) and served as Chair of its Finance Committee in 2015-2016. Parrell also serves on the Board of Directors, is Chair of the Finance Committee of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, and is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Mr. Parrell received a B.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.
22. Anthony Malkin
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Empire State Realty
Anthony Malkin is Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. He joined its predecessor entities in 1989. Malkin has been a leader in existing building energy efficiency retrofits through coordinating the team of Clinton Climate Initiative, Johnson Controls, JLL, and Rocky Mountain Institute in a groundbreaking project at the Empire State Building. Empire State Realty Trust, Inc. is a NYC-focused REIT that owns and manages a well-positioned property portfolio of office, retail, and multifamily assets in Manhattan and the greater New York metropolitan area. Owner of the Empire State Building – the “World’s Most Famous Building” – ESRT also owns and operates its iconic, newly reimagined Observatory Experience.
Malkin led the development of standards for energy-efficient office tenant installations, which is now known as the Tenant Energy Optimization Program at the Urban Land Institute. Malkin is a board member of APi Group Corporation, the Real Estate Roundtable and Chair of its Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee, a member of the Climate Mobilization Advisory Board of the New York City Department of Buildings, a member of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York, and a member of the Partnership for New York City’s Innovation Council. Malkin received a bachelor’s from Harvard College.
23. David Nunes
President and Chief Executive Officer, Rayonier Inc.
Dave Nunes has more than three decades of timber industry experience, and today serves as CEO for Rayonier. Nunes joined Rayonier in June 2014 as Chief Operating Officer, and shortly thereafter assumed the additional role of President and CEO, following Rayonier’s spin-off of its Performance Fibers business. Rayonier is a leading timberland real estate investment trust with assets located in some of the most productive softwood timber growing regions in the United States and New Zealand. Prior to joining Rayonier, Nunes served as President and CEO of Pope Resources/Olympic Resource Management from 2002 to 2014. He joined Pope Resources in 1997 as director of portfolio management, working with third-party investors and timberland owners to develop and manage timberland investment portfolios.
The following year, he was named Vice President of Portfolio Development and then served two years as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Portfolio Development before being named President and COO in 2000. Previously, Nunes spent nine years with Weyerhaeuser Company, joining the organization in 1988 as a business analyst and advancing through a number of leadership roles to become Director of Corporate Strategic Planning. Nunes began his career in the forest products industry in 1979 with the Seattle-Snohomish Mill Company where he worked in both sawmill operations and lumber sales capacities. He holds a BA in Economics from Pomona College and an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.
24. Marc Ganzi
Chief Executive Officer, DigitalBridge Group
Marc Ganzi is the CEO of DigitalBridge and has been an investor and operator in the digital infrastructure sector for more than 25 years. Ganzi has led DigitalBridge’s transformation to become a premier platform for digital infrastructure and real estate investment. Ganzi originally founded Digital Bridge Holdings in 2013 and, as its CEO, built the firm into a leading global manager of digital infrastructure assets with more than $20 billion in AUM, until its merger in July 2019 into the current public company. With a heritage of over 25 years, the DigitalBridge team manages a $72 billion portfolio of infrastructure assets on behalf of its limited partners and shareholders.
Previously, Ganzi founded Global Tower Partners (“GTP”), which grew to become one of the largest privately-owned tower companies in the U.S. under his leadership before being acquired by American Tower Corporation in 2013 for $4.8 billion. Prior to the formation of GTP, Ganzi worked as a consulting partner for DB Capital Partners from 2000 to 2002. Before joining DB Capital, Ganzi co-founded and served as President of Apex Site Management. Ganzi received a BS from the Wharton School of Business in 1993. He was a Board Member of the Wireless Infrastructure Association from 2008 to 2017 and served as Chairman from 2009 to 2011. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization and the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee of the Federal Communications Commission.
25. Jeffrey Lipson
Chief Executive Officer, Hannon Armstrong Sustainable Infrastructure Capital
Jeff Lipson is President and CEO of HASI, a leading investor in climate solutions. As CEO, he focuses on the development and execution of all aspects of our strategy of making climate-positive investments with superior risk-adjusted returns. Before becoming CEO of HASI in March 2023, Lipson served as both chief operating officer and chief financial officer from January 2021 to February 2023 and as chief financial officer from January 2019 to December 2020.
Prior to HASI, Lipson was president and chief executive officer of Congressional Bank (now Forbright Bank). Lipson has also been a senior vice president and the treasurer of CapitalSource, with previous roles in corporate treasury, at Bank of America and its predecessor FleetBoston Financial. Lipson received an MBA in finance from New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business and a BS in economics from Pennsylvania State University.