The CRE Finance Council Unveils Its 2025 Class of '20 Under 40'

News provided by

Jun 06, 2025, 13:22 ET

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.

SOURCE CRE Finance Council