Leaders

Atif Qadir ’14

Atif Qadir started Amanat Properties in 2017 to focus on the renovation of historic real estate in New Jersey. Previously, he was at Extell Development, where he was on the acquisitions and development teams for deals across the United States and Canada. Prior to that, he was at Turner Construction and at Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman & Associates Architects. He is a licensed architect and a member of the American Institute of Architects. He also is the host of “American Building” a new podcast with Michael Graves Architecture & Design that will be launching this summer. He has previously spoken on real estate and entrepreneurship at Columbia, Harvard, Michigan, MIT and Yale. Atif serves as a city planning commissioner in Hoboken, where he also lives. He is on the boards of The Hudson School, Haven Adolescent Community Respite Center and En Garde Arts. Atif received his bachelor's degrees in architecture and in urban planning from MIT and his MBA from Columbia Business School.

James Schmid ‘05

As Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer for Anchor Health Properties, James is primarily focused on the firm's investments efforts, capital markets activities, asset management initiatives, and investor relationship management, in addition to supporting the sourcing of new development and property management opportunities. Under James’ leadership the firm has closed on over $1.7 billion of new investments since June 2016. Prior to joining Anchor, James led the efforts at CNL Financial Group to launch and grow the CNL Healthcare Properties medical facilities investment platform to over four million square feet of assets across the country. The CNL Healthcare medical facilities platform was sold to Welltower (NYSE: WELL) and Global Medical (NYSE: GMRE) for approximately $1.5 billion in 2019. James has also spent time in key leadership roles at HCP in Long Beach, CA and UBS in New York City.

James received his BA (Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and MBA from Columbia University in New York City and has also studied at Pembroke College, Oxford University in England. James is a founding officer of the ULI Healthcare & Life Sciences Product Council, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the Healthcare Real Estate Insights publication.  James lives in Villanova, Pennsylvania with his wife Amy and daughters Ava (5) and Eleanor (2).

Kyle Torpey ’10

Mr. Torpey serves as a Director with primary responsibility for the oversight of Madison’s US investment activities including sourcing, underwriting and execution of transactions for Madison’s managed funds. Mr. Torpey works on all aspects of financial analysis, property due diligence and transaction structuring in the US markets. Prior to joining Madison in 2017, Mr. Torpey was a Vice President in the Goldman Sachs real estate investment banking group with responsibility for real estate and gaming mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. Previously he was an associate in Lazard’s real estate investment banking group and prior to business school was a Captain in the US Army. Mr. Torpey received a BA degree in politics from Princeton University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Associates

Michael Barkman ’20

Michael Barkman is a Class of 2020 CBS graduate. He is currently an Associate on the Investments team at Welltower, a senior housing and healthcare REIT and is based in New York. From 2014 to 2018, Michael worked in the M&A group of Mizuho Securities USA, advising on cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Michael graduated from the University of Denver in 2014 with a BS in Business and Economics.

Federica Burelli ’20

Federica Burelli recently graduated from CBS. She will be joining the New York Development group at Boston Properties where she has been interning since last summer. Prior to CBS, she spent 8 years at Clark Construction Group. Federica began her career working in field supervision and project management on ground-up multi-family residential projects. She then transitioned into Preconstruction Services focusing on budgeting, estimating and purchasing. Most recently, she was the Senior Project Manager on Midtown Center DC, a $231M core & shell office building (Fannie Mae Headquarters) that delivered under an accelerated schedule of 2.5 years. At CBS, Federica was a Real Estate Circle Fellow and served as Co-President of the Real Estate Association. Federica holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering and a certificate in Architectural Engineering from Duke University.   

Lisa Cations ’17

Lisa is responsible for Enterprise Solutions across EMEA at Hana. In her role Lisa is dealing with corporate clients helping them find flexible solutions that meet their changing occupational needs.

Lisa is a seasoned real estate professional with 15+ years of international experience working with global enterprise and investor clients. She has extensive commercial real estate strategy, portfolio and transaction management track record with the top global occupier clients, including Microsoft, Goldman Sachs, Unilever, Coca Cola, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, and Standard Chartered Bank.

Lisa is a globally recognised industry expert and influencer with publications on WeWork and the flex sector. She is a visiting lecturer on the topics of proptech, flex and agile workplace and the future of the office sector.

Lisa has MBA degrees from Columbia Business School and London Business School, MRICS and MSc in Real Estate from the University of Reading. Lisa is passionate about hospitality and making a difference to people's wellbeing through built environment.

Chris Grube ’20

Prior to Columbia Business School I spent four years as an Analyst and Associate in the CRE group at Deutsche Bank. I was responsible for the origination of commercial mortgages for both CMBS and the bank's balance sheet. I spent my summer at CBS at Invesco as an Associate on the real estate acquisitions team. I am currently seeking a full time role in either acquisitions or development.

Jeremy Holder ’20

Jeremy Holder is a recent graduate of Columbia Business School where he focused on a real estate and finance based curriculum. Prior to CBS, Jeremy worked for BB&T in their real estate lending group where he evaluated the risks in the bank’s office portfolio and created models for mitigation. Last summer, Jeremy interned with Beacon Capital Partners as an Acquisitions Associate underwriting potential office acquisition targets in the Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco markets. Jeremy received his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Claflin University

Musashi Liu ’20

Musashi Liu ’20 is a Senior Associate at Tishman Speyer in their Leadership Development Program in New York City and focuses on Acquisitions, Development and Asset Management. At CBS, he was a VP of Careers for the REA, VP of the Hospitality Club, VP of Social Enterprise, and was a Teacher’s Assistant (TA) for four real estate classes: Real Estate Private Equity, Real Estate Transactions, Real Estate Portfolio Management, and Real Estate Social Impact. He was also selected to the Dean’s List and given an academic scholarship as a to be a CBS Real Estate Circle Fellow. Prior to CBS, Musashi worked as a Senior Associate focusing on M&A, Capital Markets/Strategy for Mill Creek Residential Trust of Boca Raton Fl., a vertically integrated real estate developer/investment manager/operator ranked as the 2nd largest US apartment developer. Most recently, he spearheaded Mill Creek’s $650MM M&A transaction with the Arizona State Retirement System and, in the past, has contributed to the successful completion of more than $1 billion of US, Asian, and Middle Eastern capital investments in multifamily, retail, office, and land development. He has prior experience in real estate investment banking and global foreign exchange at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and BlueGate Partners. Musashi graduated from Georgetown University - Bachelor of Arts in Chinese and Business Administration, studied abroad at Minzu University in Beijing becoming fluent in Mandarin, was a student-athlete on the Georgetown University Men's Rugby Team, and graduated Sidwell Friends High School in Washington DC. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute, the Georgetown Real Estate Finance Initiative, The Real Estate Council, and a core volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.

Ellen Qiu ’20

Menglan (Ellen) Qiu, Class of 2020, is an Alexander Bodini Real Estate Fellow at Columbia Business School. She is joining the Real Estate Investment Banking Group at Credit Suisse in New York as an associate. Before CBS, Ellen was a founding member of the real estate group at WeWork China, and a Manager of the Investment and Capital Markets team at Cushman & Wakefield. Ellen received a master’s degree with a specialization in Real Estate from Brandeis University, and a bachelor’s degree from University of Nottingham.

Thomas Sternfeldt ’17

Thomas Sternfeldt is the Principal at Sternfeldt + Co, a specialty owner’s representative firm based in New York City.  

Sternfeldt + Co.’s clients include direct to consumer brands that are looking to grow their physical presence as well as established retailers seeking a new approach to their existing expansion strategies.  Some of the firm’s recent work includes the Nordstrom Local concept in New York City’s West Village as well as Cuyana’s roll-out to major markets across the US. In addition to retail, Sternfeldt + Co. is currently overseeing the redevelopment of a property in Brooklyn for a San Francisco based hospitality group.

Prior to launching his firm in 2018, Tom was a senior member of the team at Warby Parker, where he was responsible for overseeing the company’s corporate, retail and supply chain expansion across North America.  Before Warby Parker, Tom spent 10 years as a Project Manager for construction/development firms across the United States and Australia. Since arriving in New York City in 2010, he has led projects in some of the city’s most iconic historical buildings, including Carnegie Hall, the Park Avenue Armory and the American Museum of Natural History. 

Tom received his MBA from Columbia Business School and holds a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management from Central Queensland University. He lives in Manhattan and enjoys spending his spare time with friends, family and his dog, Arnold at their recently completed residential project in Amagansett, NY.

Kevin Thompson ’17

Kevin Thompson is a Vice President at MCAP Advisers, a boutique real estate private equity firm based in New York. In addition to asset management, he focuses on executing the firm’s financing strategies, investment restructurings, dispositions.

Kevin has been with MCAP Advisers since its inception in 2011. MCAP Advisers specializes in low-to-moderate income housing; senior living; and distressed, defaulted and/or non-rated municipal bonds secured by real estate. Specifically, MCAP has purchased, restructured and developed more than 8,000 multifamily housing units nationwide and 2,100 senior living beds.

Kevin received his bachelor’s degree in Economics from Duke University, a Master of Management Studies from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University, and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University. He is a National Board Member of the Duke University Young Alumni Development Council and Chairperson of its New York Chapter.

Ethan Woo ’20

Ethan Woo is an Associate at Morgan Stanley in their Real Estate Investment Banking group, working with public and private real estate companies on mergers and acquisitions, strategy advisory, and execution of public and private capital markets transactions. Prior to attending Columbia, Ethan worked at England & Company, a boutique investment bank focused on industrial and healthcare companies. Ethan received his MBA from Columbia Business School and graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a B.A. in Economics.