Real Estate Finance Association names 2016 board of directors

Natalie Herald, Fidelity Investments

Boston, MA The Real Estate Finance Association has named their board of directors for 2016. Natalie Herald, real estate loan originator, Fidelity Investments will serve as the 2016 president, and Paul Nasser, CFO and COO of Intercontinental Corp., will serve as president-elect.

Herald is a member of Fidelity’s real estate debt group focused on originating high yield subordinate commercial real estate debt across all property types. Herald joined Fidelity in 2010 from KeyBank’s Asset Recovery Group where she spent three years restricting and working out commercial real estate loans.

Prior to KeyBank, Herald spent eight years at Bank of America originating senior debt as well as mezzanine debt for TriSail Capital Corporation, a subsidiary of the bank.  Herald’s lending background includes experience in ground up construction, value-add and cash flowing assets throughout the country.

REFA has also revealed five new members of the board:

• Cristen Conkling, vice president, AEW Capital Management;

• Sam Crossan, associate, CBRE | New England, suburban brokerage;

• Lauren O’Neil, director, HFF

• Billy McArdle, vice president – fund finance group, Capital One Bank; and

• Hayley Suminski, vice president, Hunt Mortgage Group.

The following will continue to serve on the board for 2016:

• Paul Ayoub, Nutter McClennen & Fish;

• Paul Bauer, Bowditch & Dewey LLP;

• Ryan Bradley, Colliers International;

• Robert Brown, Brookline Bank;

• Nilesh Bubna, Longpoint Realty Partners;

• John Conley, Equity Office Properties;

• Travis D’Amato, JLL;

• Tom Goodwin, DebtX;

• Bill Flynn, Net Lease Capital Advisors;

• Michael Hussey, US Bank;

• Paul Jakubowski, WilmerHale;

• Sarah Lagosh, Eastdil Secured;

• Douglas Lanois, Tremont Realty Capital;

• Doug Novitch, Wells Fargo Bank;

• Nicholas K. Moise, Eastern Bank;

• John O’Neill, Holland & Knight;

• Robert Parsekian, Mount Vernon Company;

• Tom Pereira, Boston Capital;

• Andrew Rosen, Bank of America Merrill Lynch;

• Max Ricciuti, Spaulding & Slye Investments; and

• Timothy Schlitzer, MassPRIM.

REFA hopes you can join them in 2016 for some quality networking and educational programs!

Who We Are: Mission: The Real Estate Finance Association (REFA), a division of the Greater Boston Real Estate Board (GBREB), is a commercial real estate business association providing members with high quality networking and educational opportunities. REFA strives to maintain its reputation for excellence by promoting the exchange of information between professionals in the real estate finance community, and fostering a platform for growth and development for its Emerging Leader membership.

What We Do: Real estate professionals from a variety of institutions join REFA to network and exchange ideas through educational programs, networking events and committee participation. From forums featuring senior level executives to the Annual Gala, REFA programs are well attended with leaders from the industry and provide excellent opportunities for industry updates and networking.  Formed in 1988, REFA currently has over 600 members, 80 corporate sponsors, and last year hosted over 30 educational and networking events.  Over the past 11 years, REFA has built a strong Emerging Leaders program with membership of over 250 members.