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Jay Sugarman is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Safehold and its manager, iStar. Mr. Sugarman has served as director of iStar since 1996 and Chief Executive Officer since 1997. Prior to forming iStar, he managed private investment funds on behalf of the Burden family (a branch of the Vanderbilt family) and the Ziff family. Mr. Sugarman received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, where he was nominated for valedictorian and received the Paul Volcker Award in Economics, and his M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, graduating as a Baker Scholar and recipient of the school's academic prizes for both finance and marketing.
Marcos Alvarado currently serves as President and Chief Investment Officer, responsible for overseeing originations and driving growth across the company’s diversified $5 billion investment portfolio. Throughout his career, Mr. Alvarado has closed more than $25 billion of investments across all parts of the capital structure. He was previously Head of Acquisitions & Business Operations for Cadre, a technology-enabled real estate investment platform, and a Managing Director at Starwood Capital. Prior to Starwood Capital, Mr. Alvarado served as Vice President in Lehman Brothers’ Global Real Estate Group. He started his career in Morgan Stanley’s CMBS group. Mr. Alvarado holds a BA from Dartmouth College.
Douglas B. Heitner currently serves as iStar’s Chief Legal Officer. Prior to joining iStar in 2019, Mr. Heitner was a partner in Kasowitz Benson Torres' Real Estate Transactions group, where he represented the nation's leading real estate companies in a wide range of real estate matters. He was previously an associate in Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP's real estate group. Mr. Heitner is ranked in Chambers USA and has also been named to Law360's “Rising Stars” list four times, making him one of only 156 lawyers nationwide selected for inclusion in the prestigious listing. Mr. Heitner is regularly recognized in The Legal 500, The Best Lawyers in America, and Super Lawyers. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and a B.A. from Dartmouth College.
Brett Asnas currently serves as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Asnas is responsible for overseeing capital markets, investor relations, treasury, finance and strategy. He manages relationships across investment banks, investors and lenders, rating agencies and analysts. He directs the finance group’s budgeting, forecasting, management and performance reporting and strategic analysis. Mr. Asnas has vast experience in debt and equity capital markets across single asset, portfolio and corporate transactions via term loans, unsecured and secured notes, credit facilities, mortgage and mezzanine financing, preferred equity, convertible notes, IPO’s and secondary offerings. Mr. Asnas joined the Company in 2008 and previously held positions in the real estate private equity business at Fortress Investment Group, the real estate investment banking division at Nomura Securities, as well as structured finance advisory at Ernst & Young LLP. Mr. Asnas holds a B.S. degree in Finance from the School of Management at Binghamton University.
Elisha Blechner serves as Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Investments. Previously, he led the firm's asset management efforts across our real estate finance, net lease, operating properties and land & development portfolios, development risk management, reporting and servicing. Mr. Blechner has held several positions within the Investments team since joining iStar in 2004, responsible for originating, structuring, underwriting and closing investments throughout the capital structure. Prior to joining iStar, Mr. Blechner served as an Investment Banking analyst for Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. where he assisted hospitality, gaming and transportation companies with a range of capital markets activities. He holds a B.S. degree, magna cum laude, in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Kyle Curtin serves as Chief Administrative Officer, providing leadership and oversight for Operations, Technology and Human Resources. She is also responsible for driving transformation and efficiency efforts. Previously, Ms. Curtin was a member of the global leadership team of American Express Global Business Travel – a private equity run joint venture between American Express and the investor group – Certares. In her role, she led the restructuring of the company’s service delivery and sales enablement organizations globally. Ms. Curtin previously held several senior leadership roles at American Express including spearheading strategic planning as well as operational consulting efforts for American Express’s merchant business. Ms. Curtin is a graduate of Smith College and received her MBA from Columbia Business School.
Tim Doherty currently serves as Executive Vice President, Co-Head of Investments. Mr. Doherty leads the investment team of Safehold Inc (NYSE: SAFE), a public REIT focused on the acquisition and creation of ground lease investments across all property types nationwide. Safehold is the first publicly traded company focused solely on ground lease investments and is externally managed by iStar. Mr. Doherty worked at iStar between 2000 and 2008 and recently rejoined iStar in 2013. Prior to becoming the Head of Ground Lease Investments, he focused on structured finance having worked on over 60 transactions totaling more than $5 billion during his tenure at iStar. The transaction structure types included first mortgage, mezzanine, B-notes, preferred equity, DIP financing, participations and corporate finance investments and included all traditional property types (office, retail, hotel and industrial) and non-traditional product types (self-storage, entertainment and land). Prior to his latest tenure at iStar, Mr. Doherty co-founded and operated Shem Creek Capital (“SCC”), a boutique real estate finance fund located in Boston, MA. Prior to joining iStar Financial in 2000, Mr. Doherty was at Archon Group, a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs, investing on behalf of the Whitehall funds. He received his BS in Finance from Georgetown University.
Theresa Ulyatt currently serves as Chief People Officer. Ms. Ulyatt is responsible for talent acquisition and management, performance management, employee engagement, diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well all traditional human resources functions. Ms. Ulyatt provides guidance and coaching to the organization on leadership, developing high-performing teams, and inclusive colleagueship. Prior to joining the company in 2018, Ms. Ulyatt spent over two decades in the human capital space both in the Fortune 50 and in emerging, entrepreneurial organizations. Ms. Ulyatt is a Certified Diversity Executive and completed her studies in Psychology at Russell Sage College.
Jay Sugarman is the Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Safehold and its manager, iStar. Mr. Sugarman has served as director of iStar since 1996 and Chief Executive Officer since 1997. Prior to forming iStar, he managed private investment funds on behalf of the Burden family (a branch of the Vanderbilt family) and the Ziff family. Mr. Sugarman received his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from Princeton University, where he was nominated for valedictorian and received the Paul Volcker Award in Economics, and his M.B.A. with high distinction from Harvard Business School, graduating as a Baker Scholar and recipient of the school's academic prizes for both finance and marketing.
Stefan M. Selig served as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade at the U.S. Department of Commerce from June 2014 to June 2016, and during this period headed the International Trade Administration, a global bureau of more than 2,200 trade and investment professionals. During this period, he also served as the Executive Director of the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, sat on the board of directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, was a Commissioner for the Congressional Executive Commission on China and was the Executive Director of the President's Advisory Council on Doing Business in Africa. Prior to that, he held various senior level leadership positions at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, one of the underwriters in this offering, beginning in 1999, including being the Executive Vice Chairman of Global Corporate & Investment Banking from 2009 to 2014, and prior to that, he was Vice Chairman of Global Investment Banking and Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. Prior to joining Bank of America Merrill Lynch, he held various senior investment banking positions at UBS Securities and Wasserstein Parella & Co., and began his investment banking career at The First Boston Corporation.
Robin Josephs serves as a member of iStar's board of directors and as its lead director, with duties that include presiding at all executive sessions of the independent directors and serving as principal liaison between the chairman and the independent directors. Ms. Josephs is also chair of iStar's nominating and corporate governance committee and a member of iStar's compensation committee. From 2005 to 2007, Ms. Josephs was a managing director of Starwood Capital Group L.P., a private equity firm specializing in real estate investments. Previously, Ms. Josephs was a senior executive with Goldman Sachs & Co. in various capacities. She currently serves as a director, chair of the compensation committee and a member of the audit committee of MFA Financial, Inc. (NYSE: MFA), which is primarily engaged in investing in residential mortgage‐backed securities, and as a director and member of the audit committee and compensation committee of QuinStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: QNST), a vertical marketing and online media company. Ms. Josephs previously served until 2016 as a director and member of the audit and compensation committees of Plum Creek Timber Company, Inc. (NYSE: PCL) until its sale to Weyerhaeuser. Ms. Josephs is a trustee of the University of Chicago Cancer Research Foundation. Ms. Josephs received a B.S. degree in economics magna cum laude from the Wharton School (Phi Beta Kappa) and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University.
Dean S. Adler is a Co‐Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lubert‐Adler Partners, L.P., a private real estate investment firm. He has served as a Principal of Lubert‐Adler Partners, L.P. for over ten years. Mr. Adler has been a director of Bed Bath and Beyond Inc. since 2001. Mr. Adler also previously has served as a director of Developers Diversified Realty Corp., a shopping center real estate investment trust, and Electronics Boutique, Inc., a mall retailer. Among other things, Mr. Adler has wide experience and involvement in commercial real estate including, in particular, retail real estate. Mr. Adler graduated magna cum laude from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and also holds a juris doctor degree with honors from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
ay S. Nydick has been the Co‐Head and Co‐Chief Investment Officer of the Real Estate Investment Group at AB Global since October 2009. Mr. Nydick was the president of iStar from November 2004 until September 2009. Prior to joining iStar, Mr. Nydick spent 14 years as an investment banker at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Mr. Nydick has significant experience in capital markets and commercial real estate. Mr. Nydick holds a bachelors degree from Cornell University where he graduated as a Presidential Scholar and an M.B.A. degree from Columbia University.
Jesse Hom is a Managing Director and Global Head of Real Estate Credit at GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, where he has focused on both equity and credit investments since 2008. Additionally, Hom sits as a director on several private real estate company boards. He is a graduate of Cornell University with a bachelor's degree and real estate finance concentration from the School of Hotel Administration.
