Greta Guggenheim is the President, Head of Origination, and oversees underwriting and asset management at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Ms. Guggenheim worked at UBS and Dillon Read Capital Management from 2002 through 2007 as a Managing Director and the Head of Originations. Before joining UBS, Ms. Guggenheim worked as a senior originator and as a real estate investment banker at leading global financial institutions including Credit Suisse and Bear Stearns. Ms. Guggenheim holds an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. in Economics & Spanish Literature from Swarthmore College.
Peter Smith is a Managing Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Mr. Smith is a 20-year veteran real estate lender with a wide scope of structured debt product experience including workouts, portfolio purchases, interim financings, mezzanine loans and CMBS origination. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Smith headed an origination team at Credit Suisse and served as Head of Loan Originations at UBS, where he was a member of the Investment Committee. Most recently he joined Aion Partners LLC as a Managing Director where he sourced distressed first mortgage loans, mezzanine debt and portfolios for purchase. Mr. Smith graduated from the University of Michigan with a major in accounting in 1987 and is a past member of the Finance Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York.
Dave Bednar is a Managing Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Mr. Bednar focuses on bridge, participating and special situations first mortgage lending as well as selected loan acquisition, mezzanine and equity transactions. Mr. Bednar is a 17 year real estate lending and investing veteran with global expertise spanning the capital structure from equity to first mortgage lending and closed transactions in six countries. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Bednar ran the New York office of JPMorgan Real Estate Special Situations, a proprietary lending and investing group. Mr. Bednar worked at Goldman, Sachs and Co. in the Global Special Situations Group in New York and after running the non-Japan Asia business for Morgan Stanley Real Estate from Hong Kong. Mr. Bednar received a BA and MBA from Harvard University and served for four years in the United States Marine Corps.
Ben Black is a Managing Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to Ladder Capital, Mr. Black worked for over 12 years in commercial real estate finance on Wall Street including 10 years at Morgan Stanley and two years at UBS. His responsibilities included originating and structuring commercial real estate transactions including fixed and floating rate loans. Mr. Black holds a B.S. from the University of Michigan and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.
John Boyt is a Managing Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Located in Los Angeles, California, Mr. Boyt is responsible for originating commercial real estate mortgages throughout the Western United States. Mr. Boyt has extensive experience in the origination, structuring, sales and trading of first mortgage, mezzanine debt and preferred equity. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Boyt held senior positions with Credit Suisse / DLJ Real Estate Capital Partners, Cantor Fitzgerald, Resource Real Estate and Bear Stearns. Additionally, he has acted as an advisor to several real estate equity and distressed debt investors. Mr. Boyt has a B.A. from Boston College.
Michael Comparato is a Managing Director within the origination team 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 earned his B.S., Summa Cum Laude, from Babson College.
Richard Kirikian is a Managing Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Mr. Kirikian’s career in commercial real estate spans more than 20 years, the last 16 of which has been on Wall Street where his primary focus has been on the origination, credit and structuring of commercial mortgages. His breadth of knowledge covers all commercial and multifamily types and he has extensive experience in managing loan origination platforms. Most recently, he was a Managing Director and Co-head of United States Commercial Mortgage Loan Origination in the Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities area of J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc.
Up until June 2008, Mr. Kirikian had spent eight years with Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. as a Senior Managing Director in the Commercial Mortgage Finance Group where he was Co-Head of the Commercial Mortgage Loan Conduit and a member of the division’s Credit Committee. He had oversight responsibility for several loan production teams totaling approximately 60 professionals nationwide. Previously, Mr. Kirikian was with Morgan Stanley & Co. for seven years in the Securitized Products Group (SPG). Within the Principal Transactions Group, Mr. Kirikian’s responsibilities included the management of production, underwriting and closing of commercial mortgages. He was also a Credit Officer for Morgan Stanley Bank and a member of the SPG Loan Credit Committee. Mr. Kirikian is a graduate of Tulane University and holds an M.B.A. from Fordham University.
Lee Warshaw is a Managing Director within the origination team at 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.
Sam Rosen is an Executive Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Mr. Rosen worked at Deutsche Bank for nine years 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.
Jeff Zickefoose is an Executive Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Located in Dallas, Texas, Mr. Zickefoose is responsible for originating commercial real estate mortgages through out the Southwest United States. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Zickefoose worked as Vice President of Acquisitions for Dunhill Partners, a Dallas based company that owns and manages over 4 million square feet of shopping centers in Texas, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Tennessee. Prior to working for Dunhill Partners, Mr. Zickefoose had a long track record originating both fixed and floating rate loans of behalf of several national leading commercial mortgage debt providers. Most recently he was a Director for Prudential Mortgage Capital Corporation covering Texas. Mr. Zickefoose was also Vice President of Southwest Region with CW Capital and a Director with GE Commercial Finance Real Estate based in Dallas, Texas. Mr. Zickefoose is a graduate of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, earning his B.B.A. with an emphasis in Finance and a minor in Economics.
Aaron Casden is a Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Located in Los Angeles, California, Mr. Casden is responsible for originating commercial real estate mortgages throughout the Western United States. Mr. Casden is a seasoned real estate lender with a wide scope of structured debt product experience including workouts, asset management, interim financings, mezzanine loans and CMBS origination. Prior to joining Ladder, Mr. Casden worked at Credit Suisse in both its large loan origination platform and asset management group. Mr. Casden has a B.A. from Tulane University.
Ryan Jantzen is a 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, where was involved in initial credit review, underwriting and loan origination. Prior to joining Merrill Lynch, Ryan received his B.S. from Binghamton University.
Harris Lukashok is a Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Lukashok worked as Director of Finance and Acquisitions for S&H Equities, a boutique owner and developer focused on mixed use properties in NYC. From 2002 through 2008 Mr. Lukashok worked on the originations team at Bank of America. His responsibilities included originating and analyzing fixed rate and floating rate commercial real estate loans. Prior to that Mr. Lukashok worked in the risk finance group at Barclays Capital and securitization group at Arthur Andersen. Mr. Lukashok holds a M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a B.A. in Economics and Finance from Binghamton University.
Raphael Golberstein is an Associate Director within the origination team at Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder, Mr. Golberstein worked as an associate at Gramercy Capital Corp, where he was responsible for managing and working out a portfolio of debt, preferred equity, and REO assets. Prior to joining Gramercy, Mr. Golberstein worked at Credit Suisse in its large loan origination group. Mr. Golberstein received his B.S. from Ithaca College.
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. Prior to joining Capital Trust, Mr. Stone ran his own real estate finance business in Austin,and worked as an origination banker at Natixis Real Estate Capital, Donaldson, Lufkin, and Jenrette, and Nomura. Michael holds a B.S. from Cornell University.
Adam Sturdevant is an Associate Director within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Mr. Sturdevant served as an Associate at Westmount Realty Capital where he was responsible for originating subordinate debt and opportunistic equity investments. Prior to joining Westmount Realty Capital, Mr. Sturdevant was a Senior Investment Analyst at Prudential Mortgage Capital Corporation where he was involved in the origination and underwriting of CMBS and Balance Sheet transactions. Mr. Sturdevant has also held similar positions at Cantor Commercial Real Estate and BBVA Group. Mr. Sturdevant holds a a B.B.A with majors in Finance and Accounting from Texas Christian University.
Tierney Boisvert is an Associate within the origination team of Ladder Capital. Prior to joining Ladder Capital, Ms. Boisvert worked as a Client Relations Senior Associate at AllianceBernstein where she serviced institutional clients and prospects. Before joining AllianceBernstein, Ms. Boisvert worked as an analyst at Credit Suisse in its real estate finance group where she was responsible for the loan origination process of commercial properties. Ms. Boisvert holds a B.A. in Economics and Psychology from Hamilton College.