2023 Speakers

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Troy Adams is the Vice President of Real Estate at NFI and leads the site selection, leasing, development, and portfolio management of more than 70 million square feet. Troy joined the NFI team in 2013 and works closely with the NFI operating companies, our customers, and third-party brokers to structure creative real estate solutions and customized build-to-suits. Before joining NFI, Troy spent ten years in economic development roles with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority and Select Greater Philadelphia.

Troy serves on the Board of Directors of the St. Joseph’s Carpenter’s Society (SJCS), a community development non-profit located in Camden, NJ. Since its founding over 30 years ago, SJCS has rehabilitated or developed more than 1,027 homes for sale or rent to qualifying families throughout East Camden and the surrounding community.

Troy has an MBA with a finance concentration from Drexel University and a BA in Political Science from James Madison University. He resides with his family in Haddonfield, NJ. 

As PBS Commissioner, she manages the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States and six territories. 

Albert brings 20 years of experience in public real estate disposition, public-private partnership negotiations, economic revitalization, and sustainable development to GSA. Albert most recently served as Vice President of Real Estate and Parking at the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), where she managed a multi-billion dollar real estate portfolio.

While working at the District Department of Environment, Albert led the design and development of a first-of-its-kind $250 million energy efficiency financing program targeting commercial and multi-family property owners. As the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative Manager, she oversaw a $1.3 billion redevelopment project in Washington D.C., including a 2,800-acre waterfront revitalization program.

A military veteran, Albert served as a first lieutenant and Company Executive Officer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps.

Albert holds a Master of Business Administration and Master of City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University.

President of CBRE’s Infrastructure, Defense & Public Enterprise Sector. Provides a full suite of integrated real estate solutions to CBRE public sector, utility, and defense industrial base clients.

Darren brings 27 years of public sector experience, previously serving as the Public Buildings Service’s (PBS) Regional Commissioner for the National Capital Region (NCR). In this role, he oversaw a quarter of the real estate in the US Federal government, which included several nationally iconic properties such as the entire White House campus and several historic Cabinet-level headquarters buildings.

Earlier in his career, Darren served as the Associate Executive Director for Real Property within the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In this role, he was responsible for all land and real property interests. Including, the acquisition of land, major healthcare facility leasing actions/construction standards, property disposal, and establishing an infrastructure for private-public partnerships.

Darren also held several leadership roles for the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Executive Office of the President of the United States. Leveraging his understanding of how the private sector industrial base supports critical government operations, Darren successfully partnered with a number of private providers to establish a network of technical systems and facilities that endure today.

Prior to his civilian career, Darren served on active duty for nine years in the US Army in a variety of infantry, special operations, and intelligence assignments. Today he continues service in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Diane is the North America Real Estate Lead at Vanguard, responsible for the planning, analysis, negotiation, and execution of real estate transactions. Vanguard is one of the world’s largest investment management companies with $7.6 trillion in global assets under management. 

Diane is also an adjunct faculty member at Drexel University, where she teaches the Senior Capstone Course in the Real Estate Management and Development program. Diane also serves on the CoreNet Global Philadelphia Chapter Board of Directors as the University Relations Co-Chair.

Diane graduated from Holy Family University with a B.S. in Business Administration and from Drexel University with an M.S. in Real Estate. She is a licensed real estate broker in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Florida. 

Certifications: Master of Corporate Real Estate MCR®, Certified Property Manager CPM®, LEED AP® Operations + Maintenance, and Facility Management Professional FMP®.

Dean Jordan is the Vice President of University & External Relations for CoreNet Global. In this role, he is responsible for developing and implementing a strategy to raise awareness of corporate real estate and generate a diverse pipeline of talent into the profession by cultivating relationships with faculty, staff, and students in universities around the world. 

Prior to this role, Jordan served as a major gifts officer for several organizations, including The George Washington University, Emory University, and Georgia State University, raising millions of dollars in support of education, medical research, and other philanthropic purposes.  Originally from New York and Cape Cod, he holds an MBA in Finance from George Washington University and BS in Management from Boston University. 

Katty Kay is an award-winning journalist and news anchor who brings an instinctively global perspective to her observations on American politics and global affairs – a result of having grown-up living and traveling all over the Middle East, as well as reporting from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and the U.S. throughout her career. During her nearly 30 years with BBC News, she was a reporter and then news anchor, bringing important news from America and around the world to a huge global audience from her studio in Washington, D.C.

Katty has reported on six U.S. presidential elections, Washington politics, financial crashes, world trouble spots, sex scandals, global affairs, and much more. She is a regular contributor and substitute host of Morning Joe on MSNBC. Katty also writes on the art and science of self-assurance in women and girls. She is co-author, with Claire Shipman, of four New York Times bestselling books: Womenomics, The Confidence Code, The Confidence Code for Girls, and Living the Confidence Code. Katty is an engaging keynote speaker on a wide range of topics as well as a brilliant moderator, interviewer, and host.

After 25 years of federal service in Congress and the executive branch, Dan founded Mathews Associates LLC in 2021 as a strategic consulting and business development firm. He helps his clients navigate the highest levels of Washington and the complex world of federal real estate and government procurements to expand their revenue, identify new partners and enter new markets.

Mathews served as the Head of Federal Sales at WeWork where he led a team of professionals dedicated to bringing the quality and cost savings of flexible workspace solutions to the federal marketplace. He helped secure WeWork a spot on the federal government’s Flexible Coworking Services contract and several other agency acquisitions.

As Commissioner of the U.S. General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service (PBS), he managed the nationwide asset management, design, construction, leasing, building management, and disposal of approximately 371 million square feet of government-owned and leased space across the United States. He led a team of 5,500 employees, over 30,000 contractors, and a budget of $12 billion. In 2017, Mathews launched an aggressive strategy to lower the cost and improve the quality of real estate housing federal agencies through consolidations and strategic investments. During Mathews’s tenure, PBS disposed of 420 government-owned properties with proceeds totaling over $293 million.

David Meade has been inspiring and engaging live and virtual audiences in over 40 countries for more than fifteen years. World-class brands like Apple, PwC, Harvard, and Mercedes Benz share rave reviews on his work and continue to trust David’s electrifying style with their most important events.

On the back of his ground-breaking BBC TV projects, he’s become a household name in his native Ireland. Today he’s developed a global reputation as a Keynote Speaker, Facilitator, Broadcaster, Virtual Event Speaker, and Entertainer, presenting to groups ranging from 6 executives in London to the 22,000-seat Altice arena in Portugal.

David is a first-class honours graduate from Ulster University’s School of International Business. His work as a lecturer and award-winning researcher in business and strategy with one of Ireland's leading Universities has built his reputation as one of Europe’s most sought-after organizational facilitators. David’s personal interests have always focused on aspects of popular psychology, consumer behavior, and choice. By combining his professional background with his personal passions and his love of the performance of mentalism, David has become a sought-after speaker with a reputation for an innovative style that forces audiences to think critically about the challenges around them.  

Having caught the bug for mind-reading and mentalism as a teenager, David has been honing his act for nearly 20 years. He has combined a childhood interest with his academic interests to create the remarkable set of skills that he is famous for today. Drawing inspiration from many sources and day-to-day observations, David's act is always developing and progressing, and he is always learning. David says "In my line of work you have to keep an open mind, so I'm always open to new lessons, new experiences, and new technology. It's the only way you can keep up to date and stop your work from getting stale."

Peter Miscovich leads the JLL Global Future of Work Consulting practice and he is co-author of “The Workplace You Need Now”. 

With more than two decades of executive management consulting experience, Peter has pioneered leading research and consulting engagements focused on the high-performance workplace including the evolutionary forces that are shaping “The Future of Work”. 

Peter is focused on strategy development and execution of global enterprise Future of Work client engagements including Fifty Fortune 100 Corporate Headquarters. Primary areas of expertise include Corporate Real Estate Performance Improvement, Hybrid Workplace Strategies, and Global Real Estate Portfolio Optimization solutions. 

Peter has served in senior executive leadership roles overseeing 1.5 Billion Square Feet of Corporate Real Estate transformation primarily in the Global Financial Services, Life Sciences, Healthcare, and Technology industry sectors.  His academic research affiliations include Columbia University, Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) New York University (NYU), and Stanford University.

Peter serves on the Accenture Technology Vision Board as well as the CERES Presidents Advisory Board. He also serves as a thought leadership advisor and conference speaker with CoreNet Global, WORKTECH, ULI, and the World Economic Forum. https://www.us.jll.com/en/people/peter-miscovich

Bob Peck is a principal at Gensler, co-leading the firm’s Government and Defense industry practice. He leads complex workplace programming, portfolio strategy, interior buildouts, and public-private projects. In the Clinton and Obama Administrations, Bob was Commissioner of Public Buildings at the U.S. General Services Administration, responsible for portfolio and building management, design, construction, leasing, and security of the Federal government's nationwide civilian real estate inventory. At GSA, he launched the Design Excellence program, instituted businesslike real estate metrics, and created a Green Proving Ground sustainability program.

Bob was chief of staff to the late U.S. Senator and public design advocate Daniel Patrick Moynihan and has been a commercial real estate attorney and broker, head of government affairs at the American Institute of Architects, and President of the Greater Washington Board of Trade. He served as a Special Forces officer in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Ms. Shefali Shah is a respected executive in the pharmaceutical industry and a visionary strategist in business transformation. She has 24 years of experience leading strategy and execution to fuel innovation across the globe.

In her current role, she leads Global Real Estate Services, a strategic corporate function that serves the global business by developing and executing cost-effective real estate strategy & workplace solutions.  Shefali also manages real estate divestiture strategies, site acquisition selection, workplace transformation, master planning, occupancy planning, and space utilization.

During her tenure at Merck, she has developed a great reputation with a proven track record of success in various divisions. She has developed expertise in strategy development and execution, marketing, policy, communications, manufacturing, supply chain, quality, lean six sigma, change management, and business transformation.

Shefali holds an MBA with a concentration in Pharmaceutical Business from the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia; a Bachelor of Science in Toxicology from Rutgers University, NJ; and a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology, M. G Science University, India. She is also a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, certified change agent, behavioral coach, and trained Inclusion Change partner. 

Randeep joined Iron Mountain as Vice President, Global Head of Communications and Sustainability in October 2022. He joined following a 17-year career in the asset management industry at M&G Investments, where for the last three years he launched and led its Global Climate Solutions strategy. He helped in framing the process for the impact investing equity fund range and chaired the ESG integration process.

Randeep also led external communications for public markets. He is an author of articles and blogs on investing, sustainability, and impact investing, and has been a regular speaker and writer for worldwide media including Bloomberg, CNBC, BBC, The FT, and The WSJ. Randeep is a CFA charterholder.

Holly Sullivan is the Vice President of World-Wide Economic Development at Amazon.  In addition to spearheading the search for Amazon’s second headquarters in Arlington, VA, and bringing 25,000 jobs to the region, Holly led the development of the new 5,000-employee Amazon Nashville location and the expansion of Amazon’s 18 North American Tech Hubs creating more than 50,000 corporate and tech roles. Holly has also worked with local leaders to foster the growth of the company’s operations and logistics footprint, studio production hubs, and job creation efforts worldwide.

She has more than 20 years of experience in economic development, most recently as President and CEO of the Montgomery Business Development Corporation in Maryland.  She also formerly led economic development organizations in the Nashville region.  Holly received a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Tennessee.  She was recently named one of Washington DC’s Most Powerful Real Estate Players in 2020 by the Commercial Observer, Bethesda Magazine “Women Who Influence” in 2021, Honorable Scout Award in 2021 by the Scouts of America, and among the “Power 100” by the Commercial Observer in 2022. In 2023, Holly was among “Nashville’s Most Powerful People 2023” by the Power Poll.  She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce & Industry, is on the Tennessee Business Leadership Council board, and is an Advisory Board member for the University of Tennessee Haslam School of Business. Holly also serves on Governor Younkin’s GACRE Advisory Board.

Kristin Taylor, CDR is an award-winning recruiter specializing in Commercial Real Estate. Recognized in Crain's New York as a Notable 2022 HR Leader and Winner of the 2021 & 2022 Top Recruiter Award™ (Corporate, U.S.A.) via TopRecruiter.co, Kristin is currently a Partner with Arch Advisory Group, a talent acquisition search and advisory firm servicing a multitude of clients across a diverse array of industries globally.

Prior to Arch, Kristin led the National Talent Acquisition efforts for Broker Sourcing and Engagement in the United States at Collier's. She also served as the Co-Leader and founder of the Employee Resource Group Pillar for the North America Diversity & Inclusion Program. Kristin also managed the recruitment relationship between Colliers and Project REAP, a program with a mission to advance DE&I in the commercial real estate industry through education, mentorship, and partnerships.

Before Colliers, Kristin was with Cushman & Wakefield, where she supported staffing initiatives for some of the firm’s largest blue-chip clients in Occupier Services, Valuation & Advisory Services, and brokerage nationwide.

Robert Valero is the Executive Director of the Center for Real Estate and Urban Analysis at The George Washington University School of Business, a position he has held since November 2010. At GW, Rob runs the university's academic research program, including an undergraduate concentration in real estate that currently numbers more than 100 students. He is responsible for creating student and alumni programming and engagement, providing career counseling and networking opportunities for students and alumni, and working with faculty on the real estate curriculum. Though GW's undergraduate real estate concentration was only launched in 2017, it has already received numerous national rankings.