The CRE Finance Council Announces New Chairs for Industry Forums

New Chairs and Chair-Elects Introduced at Annual Conference this Week

NEW YORK, June 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) today announced new Chairs for their 2026-2027 industry Forums. The new Forum leadership was elected at CREFC's Annual June Conference in New York City this week.

CREFC's Forums represent specific market constituencies that drive the U.S. commercial real estate finance industry. Forums include:

• Alternative Lenders and High-Yield Investors
• CMBS Investors:
  • CMBS B-Piece Investors
  • CMBS Investment-Grade Bondholders
• CMBS Issuers
• CMBS Servicers
  • Master Servicers
  • Special Servicers
• GSE/Multifamily Lenders
• Portfolio Lenders
  • Bank Lenders
  • Insurance Company Lenders

Each Forum interacts and addresses issues critical to its business sector, while working to achieve solutions that serve a common purpose and continue to drive the industry forward. CREFC's Forums manage disparate and converging market views, advocate a consensus of positions to policymakers and lawmakers, educate members, develop market best practices and standards, and work to the betterment of these unique individual market sectors within the commercial real estate finance market in its entirety.

The incoming slate of Forum leaders includes:

• Alternative Lenders & High-Yield Investors. CREFC welcomes Tony LaBarbera (Blackstone) as Chair-Elect, Rachel Hunter-Goldman (KKR - Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) as Chair, and Samantha Rotchford (BDT & MSD Partners) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Samir Tejpaul (Madison Realty Capital) served as Past-Chair.
  
  
• B-Piece Investors. CREFC welcomes Zach Freedman (Eightfold Real Estate Capital, L.P.) as Chair-Elect, Josh Brand (Argentic) as Chair, and Frank Yin (KKR-Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Peter Lindner (Rialto Capital) was Past-Chair.
  
  
• GSE/Multifamily Lenders. CREFC welcomes Yahli Becker (Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.) as Chair-Elect, Lee Green (Wells Fargo) as Chair and David Haynes (CBRE Capital Markets, Inc.) as Past-Chair. Wayne Ip (Fannie Mae) and Jason Griest (Freddie Mac) serve as GSE representatives. In 2025-2026, the Past-Chair was Ahmed Hasan (Capital One).
  
  
• Investment-Grade Bondholders. CREFC welcomes Li Pang (J.P. Morgan) as Chair-Elect, Wendy Pei (Ellington Management) as Chair, and Adam Smith (DWS) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Rajesh Bansal (Quiq Capital) served as Past-Chair.
  
  
• CMBS, CRE CLO and Agency Issuers. CREFC welcomes Raul Orozco (Citigroup Global Markets) as Chair-Elect, Scott Epperson (Goldman Sachs & Co.) as Chair, and Shaishav Agarwal (Barclays) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Brigid M. Mattingly (Wells Fargo) served as Past-Chair.
  
  
• Portfolio Lenders – Bank Lender Subforum. CREFC welcomes Mauricio Duran (Webster Bank) as Chair and Robert Grudzinski (U.S. Bank, NA) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Bridget Scanlon was Chair.
  
  
• Portfolio Lenders – Insurance Company Lenders Subforum. CREFC welcomes Lisa Paterson Simonetti (Apollo Global Management) as Chair-Elect, Kevin Catlett (Principal Real Estate Investors) as Chair, and Melissa Farrell (PGIM) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Kevin Pivnick served as Past-Chair.
  
  
• Servicers – Master Servicers Subforum. CREFC welcomes Michelle Engle (KeyBank) as Chair-Elect, Amanda Dugat (SitusAMC) as Chair, and Dana Jo Martino (Berkadia Commercial Mortgage LLC) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Adam Fox (Fitch Ratings) served as Past-Chair.
  
  
• Servicers – Special Servicers Subforum. CREFC welcomes William Clarkson (Torchlight Investors) as Chair-Elect, Brett Mann (LNR Partners) as Chair, and Alex Killick (CWCapital) as Past-Chair. In 2025-2026, Pamela Dent served as Past-Chair.

"We are excited to welcome these new leaders to our industry Forums, which serve as the backbone of CREFC and all that it does. I want to thank all of our existing and past Forum leaders for their dedication and continued support of our work," said Lisa Pendergast, President and CEO of CREFC.

About CREFC
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) is the trade association for the over $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 over 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. For more information, visit www.crefc.org.

SOURCE CRE Finance Council