Date
Thursday, April 18, 2024
Reception
6:00 PM
Breakout Sessions
7:15 PM
UJA and Toronto Real Estate Leaders (TREL) are excited to present Leaders Lounge 2024.
Join us for the premier real estate networking event and hear career advice from some of the best in the industry. You will have the opportunity to take part in intimate conversations and hear firsthand from the leaders building our city.
Don't miss your chance to connect with Toronto's most prominent and successful real estate leaders!
Thursday, April 18, 2024 | 6:00 PM
Hosted at Goodmans LLP
333 Bay Street, Toronto, ON M5H 2S7 | #3400, Bay-Adelaide Centre
Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails to be served | Kashrut observed
Ticket price: $72
Please register by April 5th.
Event Chairs:
Jacob Iftah, Managing Partner, Kin Capital
Elliot Medoff, Director, Real Estate Brokerage, TD Securities
Avery Shopsowitz, Managing Partner, Reach Developments
2024 Annual Campaign Co-Chairs:
Laurie Sheff & Cary Green
2024 Community Campaign Co–Chairs:
Leslie Richmond & Darren Sukonick
Thank you for your interest in Leaders Lounge. This event is now sold out. For more information, please contact Adi at atooch@ujafed.org.
2024 Featured Speakers
Rael Diamond, President and Chief Executive Officer, Choice Properties
Mr. Diamond is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Choice Properties and has held that position since May 2019, prior to which he was the Chief Operating Officer of Choice Properties. Mr. Diamond previously served in the roles of President & Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Real Estate Investment Trust (CREIT) from 2012 to 2018. Prior to joining CREIT, Mr. Diamond served as Chief Financial Officer for several of Brookfield subsidiary public entities, including Rouse Properties, Brookfield Office Properties Canada, and Howard Hughes Corporation.
Mr. Diamond graduated from York University with a Bachelor of Business Administration. He is a Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Accountant (CA).
Stephen Diamond, President and CEO, DiamondCorp
Stephen Diamond is the founder and CEO of DiamondCorp, a real estate development company which was founded in 2008. Since its inception, DiamondCorp has developed over 20,000 units across 27 projects totaling over 21 million square feet. DiamondCorp has a reputation for building high quality projects which make a positive contribution to both the social and urban fabric of the Greater Toronto Area. Prior to the creation of DiamondCorp, Stephen was a lawyer at McCarthy Tetrault LLP where he was head of the Municipal Law and Planning Group.
Stephen is also heavily involved in the community and has been recognized for his philanthropic and civic contributions with a number of awards including the Order of Ontario and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD).
Daniel Drimmer, Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Starlight Investments
Daniel Drimmer is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Starlight Investments, a Canadian real estate asset manager with over 360 employees and $28B in AUM encompassing more than 66,000 multi-family suites and 7M commercial square feet across Canada and the U.S.
In addition to the formation of Starlight Investments, Daniel is currently the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of TSX-listed True North Commercial REIT; a director and Chief Executive Officer of the general partner of TSX-V listed Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 2) Core Plus Fund; a trustee and Chief Executive Officer of Starlight U.S. Residential Fund; Chief Executive Officer of Starlight Western Canada Multi-Family (No. 2) Fund and a trustee and Chairman of the Board of TSX-listed Northview Residential REIT.
Daniel was previously a director and Chief Executive Officer of the general partner of the formerly TSX-V-listed Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 1) Core Plus Fund, a director and Chief Executive Officer of the general partner of the formerly TSX-V-listed Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 1) Value-Add Fund and a director and the Chief Executive Officer of the general partner of the formerly TSX-V-listed Starlight U.S. Multi-Family (No. 5) Core Fund. Daniel also established TSX-listed True North Apartment REIT and was the creator and sponsor of TSX-listed TransGlobe Apartment REIT.
Over the last ten years, Daniel has completed more than $50 billion worth of acquisitions and dispositions in residential and commercial real estate (including nine initial public offerings).
Daniel obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Western Ontario and both a Master of Business Administration and a master’s degree in Contemporary European Policy Making from European University in Geneva, Switzerland and is a third-generation real estate investor.
Daniel is the Vice Chair of Starlight’s Investment Committee.
Gary Goldman, Chairman and CEO, Stafford Homes
Gary Goldman is currently the Chairman and CEO of Stafford and its various subsidiaries and Co-Chairman of The Goldman Group. Gary operates Stafford along with his son Jonathan who is President. Stafford has extensive multifaceted development capabilities and is presently developing such notable projects as 110 Adelaide St. East, 181 Sheppard East, Linea on Warden, 429 Walmer Rd, 914 Bathurst St., and The Georgian on Gerrard to name a few and a large JV with Mattamy Homes for over 2000 homes in Brantford.
Stafford and The Goldman Group of Companies have developed and built millions of square feet of residential and commercial properties around Toronto, in a portfolio of over 300 projects. Stafford and its sister companies presently have over 2000 units in various stages of development and construction around the GTA. In addition, The Goldman’s have been founders and major shareholders of multiple ventures outside of the Real Estate industry. These operations continue to be largely a secondary focus of their corporate activities.
Finally, Mr. Goldman has been involved in numerous charities and non-profit organizations including JACS of which he served as Chairman for almost 10 years and still assists thereto as well as Kehilla in which Stafford recently built an apartment building dedicated for its sole usage.
Andrew Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer, CentreCourt
Andrew Hoffman is founder and Chief Executive Officer of CentreCourt Developments Inc., a private development company focused on high-rise residential development in the Greater Toronto Area. Since its inception in 2010, CentreCourt has become one of the most active developers in the GTA with 19 projects comprising over 10,000 units and $5.6 billion in development value.
Andrew holds an LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School and has over 30 years of experience in the development of residential, office, industrial and mixed-use real estate projects.
Andrew has also been active in numerous volunteer endeavors including as a Board member at Mount Sinai Hospital (current Vice-Chair of the Board), Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and Ronald McDonald House Toronto. Andrew is also co-founder and board member of Hold'em for Life Charity Challenge, an organization that has raised over $40 million for cancer research. For his contributions to the community, he is the recipient of NAIOP’s Community Service Award.
Rob Kumer, Chief Executive Officer, KingSett
Rob Kumer is Chief Executive Officer at KingSett Capital, a Canadian private equity real estate investment business which creates and co-invests in real estate investment solutions to deliver sustainable premium risk weighted returns.
Founded in 2002, KingSett has raised $16.2 billion of equity for its Growth, Income, Urban, Mortgage and Affordable Housing strategies. KingSett has $17.5 billion of assets under management in a portfolio of $19.3 billion. KingSett continues to seek further opportunities to invest in a wide range of real estate properties, developments, joint ventures, and mortgage lending.
Rob is a graduate of Ivey Business School and holds an Honours Business Administration Business Degree. Rob is a member of the Ivey Business School's Advisory Board and sits on the Board of Directors for the Sinai Health System Foundation.
Rafi Lazer, Chief Executive Officer, Almadev
Mr. Lazer joined Almadev in 2011 and was appointed CEO in 2015, leading the company’s strategic growth and diverse business activity including acquisitions, investments, finance, and development strategy. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr. Lazer served as CFO of the company and was responsible for financial oversight and operations, equity and debt structuring, and capital markets. Prior to Almadev, Mr. Lazer served as regional CFO at ZIM Integrated Shipping Services, one of the top 20 global shipping and logistics carriers and as a CPA at Ernst & Young, Israel.
Almadev is a development, investment, and asset management company with over 10,000 units in various stages of planning and development and $2.85 billion in assets under management which include in addition to its diverse Canadian portfolio, a portfolio of 6.5 million square feet of industrial and commercial assets in the United States held through its subsidiary, Agellan. Almadev has built a reputation of excellence over two decades, skillfully creating best-in-class residential, commercial, retail, and rental properties across Canada and the United States.
Mr. Lazer holds a degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of Haifa, Israel; a certificate in Comptrollers and Financial Management from the University of Haifa; and a Master of Business Administration in Financial Management from the University of Tel Aviv.
Jaime McKenna, Managing Director, Group Head of Real Estate, Fengate
Jaime McKenna is President of Fengate Real Estate and leads all aspects of Fengate’s real estate group including asset management, development, investment, financial reporting, and governance.
Fengate has been successful in growing its real estate portfolio through land entitlement, development, and core strategies to over $15B in completed value, with a pipeline of over 25,000 residential units and 5M square feet of industrial space under various stages of stabilization and development. Since joining Fengate in 2019, Jaime has led several key initiatives including establishing a best-in-class executive team, accelerating capital deployment, launching multiple growth funds, and closing numerous key transactions on behalf of our investors, including the acquisition of Rail Deck District in 2021.
Prior to joining Fengate, Jaime was Chief Investment Officer of Minto Apartment REIT where she was part of the executive team that led the initial public offering as well as the follow-on equity offering in April 2019.
Jaime is a member of several boards including: REALPAC and Seasons’ Retirement Homes, as well as a member of Marlin Spring’s advisory committee. Jaime holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with honours, and has Chartered Professional Accountant, Chartered Business Valuator, and Institute of Corporate Director designations.
Mazyar Mortazavi, President & CEO, TAS
Mazyar Mortazavi is an impassioned city builder and the president and chief executive officer of TAS, an impact real estate investment company making waves for its innovative approach to city planning, connecting purpose and profit, while keeping communities at the core. Over the past 20 years, Mazyar has led the evolution of TAS from a custom home builder to a mixed-use impact developer that engages, designs, and invests with the intent to build more inclusive, livable cities. He guides a growing passionate team of experts who push the boundaries, experiment, and innovate to solve pressing urban needs. He is deeply committed to unlocking equity across all community stakeholders and leading the evolution of capital as a tool to drive long term resiliency. Mazyar is active and involved in the community as a Board of Director on the Toronto Board of Trade, a Trustee at the Art Gallery of Ontario and across the YPO network.
Miles Nadal, Founder, Chairman & CEO, Peerage Capital Group
Over his 40-year career as a respected entrepreneur, philanthropist, and thought-leader, Miles Nadal has refined his partnership principles for business building.
These principles, which provide proven entrepreneurs with the tools to add vale and accelerate the growth of their companies, are at the heart of Peerage Capital, a privately-owned investment company based in Toronto.
In addition to North American luxury realtor, Peerage Realty Partners, Peerage Capital has forged successful long-term partnerships in the self-storage, wealth and asset management, and land assembly sectors. Peerage Realty Partners is the single largest franchisee of Sotheby’s International Realty, and it has also partnered with other prestigious realty brands.
Peerage has over 7500 employees and advisors, $10 billion of assets under management, 5.5 million ft.² of residential land assembly, over 3 million ft.² under management, ownership of 30 separate self-storage locations. Peerage Realty annually sells $70 billion in resale and new construction of residential real estate across North America.
Miles and his family support several local, national, and international organizations, including The Miles S. Nadal Jewish Community Centre in Toronto, The Miles Nadal Heart Centre at the Sinai Health Network in Toronto, The Miles and Kelly Nadal Youth Centre for the Toronto Kiwanis Boys and Girls Clubs, York University’s Miles S. Nadal Management Centre, The Miles S. Nadal Institute for Technological Innovation & Entrepreneurship at Tel Aviv University. Miles is also a founder of the Milken Centre for Advancing the American Dream.
Miles has been a contributor to many news organizations including CNBC, MSNBC, Fox News, and Bloomberg News.
Jeff Olin, President and CEO, Portfolio Manager, Vision Capital
Jeffrey Olin is a co-founder, CEO and has been a portfolio manager at Vision for over 16 years. Mr. Olin brings ten years of direct corporate real estate experience and fifteen years of senior level investment banking experience to Vision Capital Corporation.
The Vision Opportunity Funds (the “Funds”) are real estate focused alternative investment funds seeking to outperform in all market environments with low volatility and uncorrelated returns. The Funds seek to buy real estate cheaper in the stock market than one can in the property market and target superior risk-adjusted total returns with a focus on capital preservation as a core component of the Funds’ strategy. The multiple award-winning Vision Funds have delivered a Total Return of 410 %, and a Compound Annual Return of 11.0% since inception in July 2008. The Manager employs a value-based approach in a long-short strategy and selectively utilizes active investing strategies to improve returns. The Vision Funds have benefited from 21 takeovers in its portfolio holdings in the past 16 years.
Between 2003 and 2007, Mr. Olin served as the Managing Partner, Ontario and Head of Investment Banking with Desjardins Securities, a $200 billion financial institution. Mr. Olin was previously a Managing Director with HSBC Securities and a Vice President with Canaccord Capital. As an investment banker, Mr. Olin was the Lead Manager and M&A advisor with direct responsibility for over 70 transactions representing over $5 billion in value. He has served as a key advisor to many of Canada’s leading corporate, institutional, and family-owned real estate enterprises on their global real estate investments.
Prior to his investment banking career, Mr. Olin has ten years of direct real estate industry experience. Between 1985 and 1991, Mr. Olin was Vice President with Bramalea Limited in Dallas, Texas, and Toronto and with Olympia & York Developments Ltd. His experience in real estate includes acquisitions and dispositions, development, financing, leasing, operations, and planning and design.
Jeff has also extensive experience in other industries and in particular as an advisor and early stage investor in the technology arena including with a predecessor company of the United Health Group, PC Docs/Hummingbird/Open Text, Promis Systems, Tucows and Flipp Inc.
Mr. Olin has extensive corporate governance experience and expertise. He has served on the Board of Directors for numerous public companies as well as charitable and community boards. He has also acted as an expert witness on behalf of the Ontario Securities Commission and the Government of Canada Parliamentary Finance Committee. Mr. Olin is a graduate from the Kellogg Graduate School at Northwestern University in Chicago with an MBA. He received his Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Toronto.
Allan Perez, CEO, Co–Founder & Managing Director, CanFirst Capital Management
Allan Perez is a co-founder & Chief Executive Officer of CanFirst Capital Management, a private real estate equity firm. CanFirst invests on behalf of institutional and private high net worth investors and has raised in excess of $1 billion of equity capital since its inception. Allan's real estate career encompasses 40 years of senior executive positions with real estate organizations including The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Canderel Ltd., Dundee Realty Corporation and V&A Properties. His responsibilities included acquisition and disposition, development, marketing, leasing, e-commerce, and asset management.
Allan graduated from McGill University in 1980 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree where he majored in Finance and Marketing.
Felicia Posluns, Managing Partner/Owner, State Building Group
Felica Posluns is a Managing Partner and Owner at State Building Group. The company is involved in land acquisition, development, construction, and property management of all real estate asset classes in the GTA, Southwestern Ontario and the USA. Felicia’s core role is to oversee the property management business. She received her MBA from The Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania. Felicia is married to David, and they have 3 married children and 4 grandchildren. She is a longtime volunteer for UJA and other organizations.
Harry Rosenbaum, Co–Founder & Principal, Great Gulf Group of Companies
Harry Rosenbaum is Co-Founder and Principal of the Great Gulf Group of Companies (Great Gulf Homes, First Gulf Corporation, Ashton Woods Homes, Beacon Residential, Tucker HiRise and H+ME Technology), one of North America’s premier real estate conglomerates. Great Gulf Group covers the entire real estate spectrum across 20 cities in Canada and the United States, constructing over 100,000 homes, 10,000 high-rise units, 15 Million+ Square Feet of developed commercial real estate assets and iconic projects such as: One Bloor East, The Globe and Mail Centre, La Clara, Forma and Quayside. Ashton Woods Homes is the largest privately held home builder in the United States and was named the “2023 Builder of the Year” by Builder Magazine.
Harry is a Director of Northview Residential REIT (NRR.UN), a Trustee of the Starlight U.S. Multi-Family Fund (SURF.A) and was a past Board Member of WPT Industrial Real Estate Investment Trust (WIR-UN.TO). He was Chair of the Real Estate and Properties Committee of UJA of Greater Toronto and was a Member of the Board of Directors of UJA of Greater Toronto. He is the Honourary Canadian Chair of Limmud FSU and was a director of the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation. Harry was the 2023 Tel Aviv University Co-Honouree with his son Shael, recognized for their industry leadership, community work and philanthropy.
Ken Tanenbaum, Founder and Chairman, Kilmer Development
Ken Tanenbaum is the Founder and Chairman of Kilmer Developments, which has had a leading role in the construction and operations of such transformational projects as the ONroute Highway Service Centres, the Pan Am Athletes’ Village, Brightwater at Port Credit, and the West Don Lands Rental Housing program; he is Chairman of Kilmer Brownfield, which is committed to creating value by remediating and repositioning contaminated land; he is the Executive Chairman of Coca-Cola Canada Bottling; and, he also serves as Vice Chairman of Kilmer Van Nostrand, a family holding company with interests in sports & media, private equity and real estate & infrastructure. He has a long history of volunteer leadership with many organizations. Ken is passionate about the promise of Canada and is committed to aligning Kilmer’s business interests with building healthy cities and vibrant communities. He lives in Toronto with his wife, Jennifer, and their four children.
Fred Waks, President and Chief Executive Officer, Trinity Group
Mr. Fred Waks has been with Trinity for the past decade, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a reputation as one of the leading developers in the country. As a third-generation developer, Fred most recently held the position of President and Chief Operating Officer at RioCan, where he gained national recognition for being an integral part of the team who transformed the company into the largest Real Estate Trust in Canada. During his tenure, RioCan grew from $100 million to $15 billion in assets. His profile and expertise have made him a sought-after expert on real estate development with top tier Canadian business media. Previously Fred was Chairman of the European Commercial Real Estate Investment Trust and Vice-Chair of Extendicare.
Fred is an active community leader and is involved with a number of local and national charities; he sits as Chairman on the Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre Board of Directors, he served as Past Chair of the Sunnybrook Hospital Foundation, Chair of Sherman Campus Leadership Committee, Honorary Trustee of the ROM, Past Chair of the Jewish Foundation of Toronto, Negev Honoree 2012, Co-Chair of Israel at 60, Co-Chair of UJA Federation Annual Campaign in 2006 and Ontario Lubavitch 2019 Honoree. Fred is a recipient of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Medal for service to Canada and his community.
Jack Winberg, Chief Executive Officer, Rockport
Jack Winberg, the Group’s C.E.O., trained in business and law, joined Rockport in 1988 following an active law practice as a specialist in land use and development. Jack is a founding director, of ClubLink Corporation, and has extensive experience as a director of both public and private companies. Jack is a member of the board of the Mount Sinai Hospital Foundation. He is also a past President of the Urban Development Institute of Canada and a past Chairman of the Urban Development Institute (Ontario) now BILD. Jack is the Chair of the Toronto Waterfront.
Nelly Zagdanski, Principal & Co-Founder, Madison Group
As a Principal and Co-Founder of Madison Group, Ms. Zagdanski has played a pivotal role in evolving a successful family business into a multi-faceted company that owns, develops, and manages landmark residential and commercial properties throughout the GTA and New York City.
Over the past 28 years, Ms. Zagdanski has spearheaded the strategy and operations for Design, Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service for over 15,000 homes and 2.5 million square feet of commercial property. Of late, she has focused on mentoring within the organization and guiding the next generation at the Madison Group.
Ms. Zagdanski holds a law degree from Osgoode Hall Law School.