Brian Harris is the Chief Executive Officer of Ladder Capital. Mr. Harris has 23 years of experience in the real estate and financial markets. While maintaining a strong credit and due diligence culture, Mr. Harris has been recognized as one of the most innovative commercial real estate lenders and investors in the industry. Mr. Harris was a Managing Director and Head of Global Commercial Real Estate at UBS from 1999 to 2006; before leaving UBS to join Dillon Read Capital Management LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of UBS, as a Managing Director and Senior Partner from early 2006 through May 2007. Mr. Harris managed UBS's proprietary commercial real estate activities globally and was a Member of the Board of Directors of UBS Investment Bank and, while at Dillon Read, managed a $500 million equity capital investment from UBS for Dillon Read's commercial real estate activities globally. From March 1996 through April 1999, Mr. Harris was the Head of Commercial Mortgage Trading at Credit Suisse, responsible for managing all proprietary commercial real estate investment and trading activities. Prior to that, Mr. Harris also worked in the real estate groups at Lehman Brothers, Salomon Brothers, Smith Barney and Daiwa Securities. Mr. Harris holds a B.S. in Biology and a M.B.A. from The State University of New York at Albany.
Alan Fishman is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ladder Capital. Mr. Fishman has had an extensive career in the financial services industry; most recently serving as the Chief Executive Officer of Washington Mutual Inc. Mr. Fishman also served as the Chairman of Meridian Capital Group and, from June 2006 to December 2006, as President of Sovereign Bancorp. From March 2001 until the sale of Independence Community Bank to Sovereign in June 2006, Mr. Fishman had served as Independence Community Bank's President and Chief Executive Officer. Previously, Mr. Fishman served as the President and Chief Executive Officer at ContiFinancial Corp. from July 1999 to December 2000. Mr. Fishman has been a private equity investor focusing on financial services at Neuberger and Berman, Adler & Shaykin and at his own firm, Columbia Financial Partners LP, and has held a variety of senior executive positions at Chemical Bank and American International Group. Mr. Fishman is on the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of Israel Discount Bank and serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Chairman of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation, Co-Chairman of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and on the Boards of several other not-for-profit and civic organizations. Mr. Fishman holds a B.S. from Brown University.
Greta Guggenheim is a co-founder and serves as the President of Ladder Capital. Prior to helping form Ladder Capital, Greta worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management from 2002 through 2007 as a Managing Director and the Head of Investments and Originations. Ms. Guggenheim was consistently one of the top producers at UBS, sourcing and managing the underwriting of proprietary real estate investments. Ms. Guggenheim has over 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Before joining UBS, Ms. Guggenheim worked as a senior originator and as a real estate investment banker at a number of leading global financial institutions including Credit Suisse and Bear Stearns. Ms. Guggenheim holds a B.A. in Economics & Spanish Literature from Swarthmore College and a M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Marc Fox is the Chief Financial Officer of Ladder Capital. Mr. Fox joined Ladder Capital from Capmark Financial Group, where he was the Treasurer since 1999. As the first and only formal Treasurer of Capmark, Mr. Fox formulated and executed the strategies and tactics required to fund a major commercial real estate finance company with over $20 billion of assets. Mr. Fox was instrumental in the formation of Capmark's wholly-owned banking platform and debt management of Capmark Bank, a regulated industrial bank subsidiary of Capmark with $7 billion of debt and deposits. He formerly worked in the Treasurer's Office of General Motors Corporation. Mr. Fox holds a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Thomas Harney is Head of Merchant Banking & Capital Markets of Ladder Capital. Mr. Harney has 25 years of experience in the commercial real estate finance & investment industries. He started his career in 1983 at Olympia & York Properties and subsequently held senior investment banking and principal investment roles at Merrill Lynch and BT Securities. Mr. Harney also worked at Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. for over eleven years and served as Senior Managing Director of Real Estate, Gaming, Lodging & Leisure and Co-Head of the Real Estate Investment Banking Group during his tenure at the firm. Mr. Harney also served as Head of Real Estate at Tri-Artisan Capital Partners, a private merchant banking group based in New York. Mr. Harney has extensive experience in completing large-scale M&A transactions as well as a broad range of securities transactions including bank, bond, mortgage, and convertible debt, and common, preferred, convertible, and joint venture equity in multiple formats including private placements, IPOs, and follow-on offerings for issuers in all major property categories. Mr. Harney holds Series 7, 24, and 63 Principal/Supervisor FINRA security designations and holds a BA degree in Urban Studies (Magna Cum Laude) from the University of Pennsylvania and is a graduate of the New York University Real Estate Finance & Development Program.
Pamela McCormack, one of the co-founders of Ladder Capital, is General Counsel, Head of Transaction Management and Secretary of Ladder Capital. Immediately prior to helping form Ladder Capital, Ms. McCormack worked at UBS Securities LLC/Dillon Read Capital Management LLC, as an Executive Director and Head of Transaction Management. In that capacity, Ms. McCormack managed a team responsible for the structuring, negotiation and closing of all real estate investments globally. Ms. McCormack has over 13 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining UBS, initially as outside counsel in 2003, Ms. McCormack worked as in-house counsel at Credit Suisse and as a real estate and finance attorney at Stroock, Stroock & Lavan LLP and Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner. Ms. McCormack holds a B.A. in English from the State University of New York at Stony Brook and a J.D. from St. John's University School of Law.
Robert Perelman is a Managing Director and the Head of Asset Management of Ladder Capital. Immediately prior to helping form Ladder Capital, Mr. Perelman worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management as a Director and Head of Asset Management. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Perelman was a Managing Director and Partner at Hudson Realty Capital LLC, a real estate private equity fund formed in 2003, where he was responsible for loan origination, real estate investments and asset management. In 1998, Mr. Perelman worked as a Vice President and later as a Director at Credit Suisse, where he had significant responsibility for the structuring and closing of a wide variety of real estate investments within the U.S. and Asia. Before joining Credit Suisse, Mr. Perelman practiced law in New York, specializing in all aspects of real estate and real estate finance, including acquisition, development and workout. Mr. Perelman received his J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and his B.S. in Telecommunications Management from Syracuse University.
Edward Peterson is a Managing Director and Head Trader at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Dr. Peterson worked at Eurohypo AG as a Managing Director and Co-Head of CMBS Capital Markets where he was responsible for trading, loan pricing and securitization placement. Before joining Eurohypo, Dr. Peterson worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management in the commercial real estate finance group. He has 23 years of experience in real estate financial markets. Before joining UBS, Dr. Peterson worked in the mortgage backed securities groups at Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Daiwa Securities, and Prudential Securities. Dr. Peterson received a B.A. and a Ph.D. degree from The City University of New York.
Tom Lally is a Managing Director and Trader of mortgage back securities at Ladder Capital. Mr. Lally has joined Ladder Capital after working as a Managing Director in the multifamily and commercial origination and trading efforts at First Boston, Daiwa Securities, Greystone, UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management. Mr. Lally holds a B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross.
David Traitel is a Managing Director in the Transaction Management team at Ladder Capital. Immediately prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Traitel practiced in law firms for 18 years, having spent 10 years as a Partner at the law firm of Winston & Strawn LLP, where he represented a variety of national and international institutions in connection with the origination, restructuring, workout, sale and securitization of commercial mortgage and mezzanine loans. Mr. Traitel holds a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from the University of Michigan.
Michael Casavant is an Executive Director and Co-Head of Underwriting of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Casavant was a Senior Vice President in Lehman Brothers, Inc.'s Global Real Estate Group where he closed over $22 billion in large commercial real estate loans. During his 10 years at Lehman, his primary responsibilities included evaluating and closing loans and then getting the loans rated for commercial mortgage backed securities. He also worked on providing financing for real estate mergers and acquisitions and Lehman's real estate funds. Prior to joining Lehman in 1998, Mr. Casavant worked at Ocwen Asset Investment Corporation, lending on construction and asset repositioning projects. Prior to that, he worked in Coopers & Lybrand LLC's Real Estate Advisory Services Group and focused mainly on real estate bankruptcies, litigation and M&A throughout North America. Mr. Casavant has over 14 years of experience in the real estate and financial markets. He holds a B.S. in Finance from Bentley College.
Michael Comparato is an Executive Director within the loan/investment origination group at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Comparato was Managing Director of BankAtlantic Commercial Mortgage Capital, the CMBS affiliate of BankAtlantic (NYSE: BBX). Mr. Comparato was also President of Compson Holding Corporation, where he oversaw day to day operations focusing on various equity investments in the commercial real estate marketplace. Mr. Comparato has been involved in over $1 billion of debt and equity transactions during his career, receiving national recognition for his attempted leveraged buyouts of Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC) and Sizeler Property Investors (NYSE: SIZ). Mr. Comparato earned his B.S., Summa Cum Laude, from Babson College.
Craig Picket is an Executive Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. He is responsible for sourcing, structuring and closing both fixed and floating rate loans, on all property types, to be held on book and for securitization. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Picket spent over 10 years at Deutsche Bank as a Managing Director in their Real Estate Capital Markets Group. He was consistently a top performing banker and personally closed over $5 billion in loans during his time there. Mr. Picket has approximately 20 years experience in the commercial real estate industry. He holds a M.S. in Real Estate Investment and Development from New York University and a B.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Sam Rosen is an Executive Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Mr. Rosen worked at Deutsche Bank from 2000-2009 as a Managing Director in the Commercial Real Estate Group. His responsibilities included originating, structuring and evaluating commercial real estate transactions including fixed and floating rate loans. Prior to that, Mr. Rosen worked in the Principal Finance Group at UBS/Warburg Dillon Read and in the Real Estate Capital Markets area of First Union. Mr. Rosen holds a B.S. in Finance from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia.
Michael Scarola is an Executive Director and Co-Head of Underwriting of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Scarola worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management, most recently as Co-Head of Underwriting. His responsibilities included evaluating and underwriting commercial real estate transactions including fixed rate loans, floating rate loans, mezzanine loans and equity investments. He has over 12 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining UBS, Mr. Scarola worked at Citigroup focusing on commercial real estate equity investments. Prior to Citigroup, he worked in the Real Estate Capital Markets Group of Deloitte & Touche LLP and with the E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group of Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Scarola holds a B.S. in Finance & Management from the Stern School of Business at New York University.
Stewart Schulman is an Executive Director and the Controller of Ladder Capital. Mr. Schulman joined Ladder Capital from UBS, where he was an Executive Director and Business Unit Controller for the Global Commercial Real Estate Finance Business. Mr. Schulman has extensive accounting experience with the full spectrum of commercial real estate products including loans, securities and proprietary equity investments. Prior to UBS, Mr. Schulman worked at Deutsche Bank and Bankers Trust in a similar capacity. Mr. Schulman started his career in public accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York. Mr. Schulman holds a B.S. in Accounting from Brooklyn College, City University of New York and an M.B.A. in Finance from New York University.
Lee Warshaw is an Executive Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Mr. Warshaw worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management from 1999 through 2008. His responsibilities included originating and evaluating commercial real estate transactions including fixed rate loans, floating rate loans, and equity investments. Prior to that, Mr. Warshaw worked in the real estate groups at Daiwa Securities, Lehman Brothers, and Kenneth Leventhal and Company. Mr. Warshaw holds a B.S. in Accounting from the Stern School of Business at New York University and is a CPA.
Sarah Gochberg is a Director within the Transaction Management team of Ladder Capital. Ms. Gochberg has over 10 years experience in the commercial real estate industry, most recently as a Vice President at Fisher Brothers. While at Fisher Brothers, she formed a joint venture to originate, evaluate and structure commercial real estate transactions, including varying mortgage positions, construction loans and equity investments. Prior to Fisher Brothers, she worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management, beginning in 2001, as a member of their Transaction Management team and Securitization team, respectively. During this time, she carried transactions through the securitization process from closing through sale, including asset summaries, prospectuses, and agency integration. Ms. Gochberg holds a B.A. in Psychology from Columbia College of Columbia University.
Micah Goodman is a Director and Senior Transaction Manager at Ladder Capital. Mr. Goodman has over 12 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry, most recently in the Real Estate Finance and Securitization group at Credit Suisse, where he was part of an origination team focusing on highly structured debt and equity transactions. Prior to Credit Suisse, Mr. Goodman was the co-head of the closing department in the JP Morgan Chase Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities group, where his team was responsible for structuring, negotiating and closing transactions originated by the group. Before joining JP Morgan Chase, Mr. Goodman worked as a real estate and finance attorney at such prominent law firms as Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP and Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP. Mr. Goodman received a B.A. in History from Swarthmore College and a J.D. from Cornell Law School, where he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell International Law Journal.
Kevin Moclair is the Director of Finance and the Chief Accounting Officer of Ladder Capital. Mr. Moclair joined Ladder Capital from Rabobank Intl., where he was an Executive Director and the U.S. Controller for the Americas. Mr. Moclair has over 11 years of accounting experience in the banking industry where he has dealt with various product lines including loans, securities, and various derivatives. Mr. Moclair started his career in public accounting as an auditor for Ernst and Young LLP. Mr. Moclair holds a B.S. in Accounting from Manhattan College, Riverdale, N.Y. and is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of New York.
Summer Nemeth is a Director within the Merchant Banking and Capital Markets team at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Ms. Nemeth served as a Vice President at JF Capital Advisors, a boutique investment bank serving the hospitality industry, where she worked on debt, follow-on equity, asset acquisition and going-private transactions totaling over $1.5 billion. Ms. Nemeth started her investment banking career at Bear Stearns, where she completed 12 transactions totaling over $2.6 billion in the real estate, retail, transportation and mining sectors, including mergers and acquisitions of public and private companies, asset sales, equity financing, high yield financing and bank financing. Ms. Nemeth holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics and Computer Science with highest distinction from the University of Michigan.
Jack Weisselberg is a Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. He worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management as part of the origination team since 1999. He was responsible for analyzing, originating and underwriting a variety of commercial real estate loans, which included permanent financing, short term bridge loans, as well as mezzanine and equity transactions. Mr. Weisselberg has over 9 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Mr. Weisselberg holds a B.A. in Real Estate from Pennsylvania State University.
Matthew Jacobs is an Associate Director in the Underwriting Group at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Jacobs was a Senior Associate in the Real Estate Financial Advisory Services Group of Deloitte & Touche, where he provided consulting and valuation services to clients on various real estate debt and equity investments. Prior to Deloitte, Mr. Jacobs worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management as an underwriter, evaluating and underwriting commercial real estate transactions including fixed and floating rate loans, mezzanine loans, and equity investments. He has over 7 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Mr. Jacobs holds a B.A. in Economics & Finance from Washington University in St. Louis.
Ryan Jantzen is an Associate Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Jantzen worked at Merrill Lynch & Co. in the Global Real Estate CMBS Group. During his tenure at Merrill Lynch, Mr. Jantzen was responsible for initial credit review, underwriting and loan origination for a top tier origination team that closed over 150 loans totaling in excess of $1.5 billion during his time at Merrill. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Ryan received his B.S. from Binghamton University.
Kelly Porcella is an Associate Director within the Transaction Management team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Ms. Porcella worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management, most recently as an Associate, where she assisted with equity investment management, loan servicing and the administration of the group's repurchase facilities. Ms. Porcella also negotiated the sale of various commercial real estate properties and loans and assisted with legal analysis and underwriting. Ms. Porcella holds a B.S. in Marketing from The Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John's University and a J.D. from St. John's University School of Law.
Michael Stone is an Associate Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Stone served as Vice President at Capital Trust and was responsible for originating subordinate debt and equity investment opportunities on behalf of Capital Trust's private equity investment management vehicles. Mr. Stone has over 11 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Before joining Capital Trust, Mr. Stone ran his own real estate finance business in Austin raising equity capital for commercial and multifamily developments, acquiring and renovating residential real estate, and originating commercial mortgages on behalf of conduit lenders. Mr. Stone previously worked as an origination banker at Natixis Real Estate Capital, Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette, and Nomura where he was responsible for evaluating, underwriting, and closing floating and fixed rate commercial loans. Michael holds a B.S. from Cornell University.