The College of Pennsylvania has lengthy served as a pipeline to the higher echelons of finance, legislation and actual property. It’s no shock, then, that its Wharton Faculty has produced a gentle stream of dealmakers who now assist form New York Metropolis’s skyline.
Penn seems as a standard denominator amongst greater than a dozen of The Actual Deal’s list of the top 100 real estate titans. Alumni embody hedge fund billionaire-turned-casino developer Steve Cohen, Blackstone govt Jon Grey, Two Bushes’ Jed Walentas, Innovo Property Group’s Andrew Chung, L&L Holding’s Rob Lapidus, Savanna’s Christopher Schlank, Brodsky Group’s Daniel Brodsky, BKREA founder Bob Knakal and Corcoran dealer Lisa Lippman.
Alumni Jeff Sutton of Wharton Properties and Associated Firms CEO Jeff Blau serve on Wharton’s Board of Advisors. And the Trump household’s connection to Penn is effectively documented. President Donald J. Trump graduated from Penn’s Wharton Faculty in 1968, and Donald Jr., Ivanka and Tiffany Trump adopted.
Trump household buddy and Witkoff group CEO Alex Witkoff additionally attended Penn. And CBRE’s Doug Middleton performed free security on the soccer crew and helped win an Ivy League title in 2003.
The opposite Ivies
Penn isn’t the one Ivy League launching pad for New York’s energy gamers.
At Brown College, Newmark’s Doug Harmon and Sotheby’s Serena Boardman adopted a liberal-arts-to-real property observe. Cushman & Wakefield’s Ethan Silverstein was a pitcher on the college’s baseball crew and Compass agent Alexa Lambert rowed on the crew crew for 4 years.
Cornell counts A&E’s Douglas Eisenberg, Fisher Brothers’ Winston Fisher, and Constructing and Development Trades Council president Gary LaBarbera as alumni, whereas Columbia cranked out Jasper Wu of ZD Jasper, Compass CEO Robert Reffkin and Council Member Julie Menin.
Savanna founder Nicholas Bienstock and ESRT’s Anthony Malkin and Carlyle’s Bob Stuckey walked the hallowed halls of Harvard. Vornado CEO Steve Roth is a Dartmouth graduate; he and his spouse Daryl not too long ago donated $25 million to the college. TF Cornerstone’s Tom Elghanayan attended Yale and competed on the tennis and squash groups earlier than incomes an MBA from Harvard Enterprise Faculty.
Different pipelines
Outdoors of the ivy league, a number of elite establishments dominate our listing of dealmakers.
On the high is New York College, which has produced a gentle pipeline of New York actual property gamers, together with Corcoran dealer Steve Gold and Joseph Sitt of Thor Equities. Father-daughter alumni duos embody Charles Kushner and his daughter Nicole Kushner Meyer, William Rudin and his daughter Samantha Rudin Earls, and Larry and Lisa Silverstein. Menin additionally holds an MBA from NYU.
Tufts College produced its personal cluster of energy brokers, corresponding to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Cohen Brothers Realty’s Charles Cohen and Eastdil Secured’s Will Silverman. A number of members of family-run actual property dynasties are additionally alumni, together with Jody Durst of Durst Group and Zeckendorf Growth’s Arthur Zeckendorf.
Metropolis College of New York, in the meantime, has served as a scrappier counterweight to the Ivies, producing distinguished alumni like Extell’s Gary Barnett, Time Equities’ Francis Greenburger, and the Modlin Group’s Adam Modlin.
The dropouts
After all, not all of our dealmakers have school levels. Ben Ashkenazy took lessons at Adelphi College however ended up six credit shy of graduating. Harry Macklowe attended the College of Alabama, New York College and the Faculty of Visible Arts earlier than leaving to pursue a profession in actual property.
Soloviev Group chairman Stefan Soloviev attended the College of Rhode Island then spent a quick stint enjoying soccer at St. John’s College earlier than dropping out to work full time for his father.
