M&T Realty Capital Names CEO
Michael Edelman has been appointed CEO of M&T Realty Capital Corp., succeeding Michael Berman, who will transition to the role of executive adviser.
Both will continue to report to Tim Gallagher, M&T Bank head of commercial real estate.
Edelman joined M&T in 2016 as M&T RCC agency product manager and has served as president since February 2022. An experienced commercial real estate finance executive with over 25 years of mortgage banking experience, he has been involved in more than $6 billion of transactions throughout his career.
In other moves, Mark Gould and Joe Pizzutelli have been named co-heads of M&T RCC national production. Gould will manage the organization’s relationships with Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, oversee a strategic partnership with Marcus & Millichap, work with M&T Bank institutional client relationships, and spearhead new growth strategies and partnerships.
Pizzutelli will focus on expanding current M&T Bank institutional commercial real estate (ICRE) client relationships, as well as deepening and developing new partnerships within M&T Bank’s ICRE, debt capital markets, and investment banking teams.
Kevin Collins has been named M&T RCC life company platform manager. He will be responsible for overseeing life company production, managing relationships with capital sources, and growing the life company platform.
HIP Announces Leadership Moves
Maryann Dillon, the longtime executive director of the Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP), will retire Jan. 31. She will be succeeded by Stephanie Prange Proestel, the nonprofit’s deputy director.
Dillon joined HIP in October 2012, taking over from the organization’s founder Mosi Harrington.
Under her leadership, HIP has doubled in size to a staff of 30 and has developed 68 single-family for-sale homes and co-developed 366 multifamily rental apartments across Maryland, including in Prince George’s, Anne Arundel, and Cecil counties. HIP’s staff has provided housing counseling services to more than 31,000 individual clients during this time.
Dillon's focus at HIP has been increasing its financial positioning while growing the real estate development portfolio. HIP’s net assets have increased from $880,000 in 2012 to close to $3 million in 2023. The newest housing development is the Residences at Springbrook, a 90-unit affordable community for seniors in Clinton, Maryland, which is scheduled to be completed in February.
Proestel has more than 30 years of community development and housing policy experience and has been an integral member of HIP’s senior management team since she joined as the organization’s third employee.
During her 25-year tenure at HIP, Proestel has been instrumental in growing the organization’s housing development programs, including creating its popular single-family acquisition-rehab program and playing a leadership role with the multifamily development team.
Housing and Homeless Services Expert Joins Volunteers of America–Greater New York
Catherine Trapani, who has more than two decades of experience advocating for and designing programs to serve vulnerable New Yorkers, has been named assistant vice president of public policy at Volunteers of America–Greater New York (VOA–GNY).
She will spearhead the development and implementation of a public policy, community engagement, and thought leadership strategy for VOA–GNY. Leveraging the organization’s reputation for innovative and high-quality services, Trapani’s advocacy will center on improving the services and resources available to individuals and families experiencing homelessness, ensuring that the human services workforce is fairly compensated, and protecting the health and long-term financial sustainability of the sector as a whole.
Trapani most recently served as executive director of Homeless Services United, where she led a coalition of nearly 50 nonprofit homeless services organizations and played a leading role in advocating for critical initiatives, including the preservation and development of supportive housing. She previously worked as HousingLink director at New Destiny Housing,
VOA–GNY is an anti-poverty organization with a rich 125-year history of serving its neighbors in need.
Pinnacle Expands South Florida Operations With VP
Lauren Levrant has been named vice president of affordable development at Pinnacle, a Miami-based development and construction company.
She will be responsible for identifying and evaluating potential affordable housing development opportunities in Miami-Dade County as well as overseeing projects from conception to completion.
Levrant started her career as an intern at Pinnacle and was promoted to development associate. In 2017, she moved to the West Coast and worked across markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. She most recently served as senior originator, affordable housing preservation investments, at PNC Bank.
Her appointment follows the news that Pinnacle’s affordable/workforce housing team hired Grég Gabriel as regional director of acquisition and development with a focus on Broward County, Palm Beach, and Central Florida.
Tiber Hudson Promotes Attorney
Lauren M. Marcus has been named a partner at Tiber Hudson, a Washington, D.C.–based law firm specializing in tax-exempt and taxable debt financing for multifamily housing.
With her practice focused on public finance for affordable housing transactions, Marcus represents institutional lenders, bond underwriters, developers, and municipal issuers in a wide range of tax-exempt and taxable housing transactions around the country, including public offerings of bonds credit-enhanced by the Federal Housing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Marcus was a legal fellow and attorney adviser in the Office of the General Counsel at the District of Columbia Housing Authority.
Cassin & Cassin Announces Promotions
Beth Budnick and Christopher Cosolito have been promoted to partners at Cassin & Cassin, a law firm specializing in real estate, real estate finance, and private-client matters. Both attorneys are based in the firm’s New York City headquarters.
Budnick, who joined Cassin & Cassin in February 2021 from the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, represents institutional lenders in the financing of multifamily properties through the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs, with an emphasis on affordable housing transactions. Recently an associate at the firm, she handles a variety of complex commercial transactions involving tax-exempt bond issuances, low-income housing tax credits, and other affordable housing programs.
Cosolito joined the firm in May 2012 and has been promoted through the ranks. Recently a counsel at Cassin & Cassin, he plays an instrumental role in its non-agency lending group, representing institutional lenders in closing commercial loans intended for securitization. Clients have relied on Cosolito’s expertise in guiding them through the complexities of originating loans intended for sale in the secondary mortgage market.
