The CRE Finance Council Unveils Its 2025 Class of '20 Under 40'
CREFC celebrates young professionals from lenders, investors, borrowers, legal and accounting firms
NEW YORK, June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The CRE Finance Council (CREFC), the trade association that exclusively represents the $6 trillion commercial and multifamily real estate finance industry, unveiled its 2025 class of accomplished '20 Under 40' professionals. The 2025 class will be introduced at CREFC's Annual Conference in New York City.
This year's '20 Under 40' recipients are reshaping commercial real estate (CRE) finance with fresh ideas and innovation. They work with lenders, investors, borrowers, and legal and accounting firms. These young professionals focus on a wide range of commercial properties and support servicers, borrowers, and lenders. They originate loans, structure CMBS transactions, and are involved with loan workouts. Also, this class of '20 Under 40' mentors other young professionals and devotes time to community charities.
"We want to congratulate and welcome members of the 2025 class of '20 Under 40', who will become tomorrow's CRE finance leaders. As professionals, they have come of age in a market that has been challenged by high benchmark and mortgage rates and a wide range of economic uncertainty," said Lisa Pendergast, President and CEO of CREFC.
"We salute this class of talented professionals, many of whom are actively involved with CREFC committees and help shape the development of novel and engaging CREFC programming. Their creative energy, determination, and innovations help ensure the CRE finance industry continues to evolve and meet a variety of challenges as we move forward."
CREFC's annual '20 Under 40' awards are part of an ongoing effort to recognize the next generation of leaders in CRE finance. CREFC's Young Professionals Network offers career development, networking, and educational opportunities for this group of CRE finance professionals.
DANIEL BLAKELY
ALLISON M. BORTNER Partner Duane Morris LLP PATRICK BOYLE Vice President, Boston Capital Markets Colliers ANTHONY CANDELA Senior Vice President Slate Asset Management THOMAS F. DUGAN Partner Eversheds Sutherland EVAN GIBSON Executive Vice President, Capital Markets Merchants Capital BRANDON HEIM Principal, Real Estate Ares Management RACHEL HUNTER-GOLDMAN Managing Director KKR NITYA KUMAR GOYAL Partner Dechert LLP MICHAEL IANNO Senior Director, Capital Markets Walker & Dunlop | EUNI JO Associate Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP KENNETH KASMIR Senior Manager Deloitte & Touche LLP SOPHIA (XUEFEI) OUYANG Director KPMG LLP CHLOE PARK Assistant Vice President, CMBS & Real Estate Finance Group Citibank CLAYTON ROSS Director JLL Capital Markets JEFFREY SCHWARTZ Director, Real Estate Sector Coverage ING PRERNA SONI Partner Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher STEPHANIE STEIN Partner McDermott Will & Emery LLP MADELINE TRACY Director, U.S. CRE Finance Group Barclays MICHAEL WATSON Director SVN |
To learn more about this year's '20 Under 40' recipients, click here.
About CREFC
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) is the trade association for the nearly $6 trillion commercial real estate finance industry with a membership that includes more than 400 companies and 19,000 individuals. Member firms include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers, rating agencies, and borrowers.
For 30 years, CREFC has promoted liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in the commercial real estate finance markets, and acted as a legislative and regulatory advocate for the industry, playing a vital role in setting market standards and best practices, and providing education for market participants.
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SOURCE CRE Finance Council