Anthony Scaramucci, founder of SkyBridge and SALT, reflects on the early lessons in resilience he learned from his parents. They worked as a makeup artist and a laborer and instilled in him a strong work ethic and a love of people.

He shares that his high school guidance counselor had a significant influence on him, too. Without his encouragement, Anthony wouldn’t have gone to Tufts and might not be where he is today.

[00:10:36] “You need people to help you. . . . You gotta go through your rite of passage and you don't have to be embarrassed about it.”

Anthony shares how his career has evolved and how he learned from his failures as well as successes. When COVID lasted longer than expected, Anthony stuck to playing the long game.

[00:16:02] “Everybody's a long-term investor until they have short-term losses. . . . We made a decision, which turned out to be one of the better decisions actually: we pivoted the business into digital assets and started buying bitcoin.”

Anthony is full of knowledge and experience. He speaks about stagflation, the possibility of AI productivity lowering interest rates and the factors at play in foreign investors’ willingness to invest in America.

Links

Anthony Scaramucci | LinkedIn

SkyBridge Capital’s website

SALT’s website

Sonny shares pivotal moments following his 2009 departure from Morgan Stanley that enabled him to build and scale GreenOak.

[00:11:00] “Honestly, my friends and my colleagues from Morgan Stanley rallying to me, my friends and wife came rallying to me . . . that helped out a lot. . . . Resilience is super important.”

He explains how that period reshaped both his leadership approach and investment strategy, driving a focus on simplicity, alignment and long-term relationships. As the industry evolves, Sonny emphasizes that success increasingly depends on execution at the asset level and having the right operating capabilities in place.

[00:31:44] “You got to make money the old fashioned way, which is you got to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work on the asset.”

Sonny’s insights on rethinking platform scale outline how firms can position themselves to compete in a higher-rate, more operationally demanding environment.

Links

Sonny Kalsi | LinkedIn

BGO’s website

SLC Management’s website

Laurent Grill, JLL Spark’s Partner and Managing Member, joins Nancy Lashine to explore how a founder-first mindset is shaping venture capital in real estate technology. 

Laurent is unique in the proptech space. He’s been a founder multiple times — he even did a stint on Shark Tank — and now deploys capital into early-stage proptech companies to transform the way the built environment works.

He explains that in competitive markets, success often comes down to differentiation at the founder level.

[00:32:52] “When you're sitting down in front of a founder, sometimes you just have to ask the question of like, why you? Why you, why your team? What is different about your business and you personally that's actually gonna give you a chance of success in this market?”

That perspective carries into JLL Spark’s venture capital strategy: real-world industry pain points and measurable ROI guide investments. Laurent also reflects on the evolution of proptech, the rise of AI as core infrastructure, and what an “AI-native” building could look like.

[00:55:32] “AI is . . . not a product, it's a core infrastructure. . . . This is now the fundamental infrastructure of what technology looks like.” 

From operational efficiency to construction innovation, Laurent outlines what it means to put people before the product, where technology is reshaping the built environment and where the investment opportunities are.

Links

Laurent Grill | LinkedIn

JLL Spark’s website

Drawing from research on real-time decision making, Moran explains that the brain has no universal formula for optimal performance. Instead, each person operates best under different conditions. The key, he argues, is understanding how decisions actually form in the brain and how leaders can align teams.

[00:15:46] “Stories are the best tool to sync brains.”

Moran reflects on AI and how it’s reshaping work. He warns that relying on AI uncritically or dismissing it entirely can be dangerous.

[00:23:39] “You need to think of AI as a great tool . . . it should be a responder to a question, meaning you ask AI a question, you get an answer, and that is the data you use to make a decision yourself.”

From geopolitics and markets to hiring and training, Moran outlines how leaders can adapt their organizations while preserving the uniquely human judgment that defines sound investment decisions.

Links

Moran Cerf | LinkedIn

R.O. AI’s website

Diego López, Global Sovereign Wealth Fund’s (SFW) Founder and Managing Director, explains how sovereign wealth funds deploy capital and what their strategies signal for real estate investors. With insight into roughly $15 trillion in sovereign assets, Diego shares how these institutions have shifted from passive allocators to sophisticated investors.

Diego is also an author and a world-renowned extreme open water and ice swimmer who has competed in races on all seven continents. He’s found the grit that it takes to be a great swimmer has served him well in his professional life too.

[15:17] “Building on what I've learned from sports and keeping sight on the long-term target, if you stay consistent, if you stay working hard, . . . it's going to pay off at some point.”

Diego describes why real estate remains foundational to sovereign portfolios, even as allocations shift toward sectors like data centers and senior housing. As allocations fluctuate, total exposure still continues to rise as sovereign balance sheets expand.

[20:06] “Real estate has always been a centerpiece in [sovereign wealth funds’] asset allocation.”

Diego explains that sovereign funds are becoming more selective and forward-looking. He emphasizes that sovereigns invest with long horizons and align portfolios with future economic needs.

For investors and operators, Diego provides a clear signal. Sovereign capital is growing, becoming more sophisticated, and continuing to view real estate as a critical component of long-term portfolio strategy.

Links

Diego López | LinkedIn

Global SWF’s website

John Atwater, Prime Finance’s Co-Founder and Managing Partner, shares how he built one of the most established platforms in real estate private credit. 

He explains why real estate debt looks compelling in today’s environment, particularly for institutions seeking stability and cash flow. As rates reset and equity valuations adjust, credit has offered attractive yields with defined risk parameters.

[00:03:50] “Debt in fact has outperformed commercial real estate equity for the last three, five, and 10 year timeframes.”

John highlights that structuring and managing back leverage differentiates credit platforms. He walks through how Prime matches term funding and uses CLOs and note sales to protect spread and liquidity. 

John shares a wealth of wisdom. Exploring AI experimentation, investor demand for yield, and real estate’s evolution, his insights give a roadmap for the future of real estate credit. 

Links

John Atwater | LinkedIn

Prime Finance’s website

Jennifer Wenzel, TRS (Teacher Retirement System) of Texas’ Director, shares how pension investors approach real estate across cycles, geographies, and structures. Texas TRS is one of the largest and most influential pension investors. In the 16 years that Jennifer has been there, she’s fostered Texas TRS’s real estate platform growth from a 3% allocation to roughly 15% of a $230 billion plan.

Jennifer explains why TRS positions real estate as an alpha-generating asset class, leaning more heavily into non-core strategies, co-investments, and programmatic joint ventures. 

She discusses how the “premier list” framework allows the team to go deeper with fewer partners and respond quickly to new opportunities in niche sectors. like industrial outdoor storage and data centers.

[00:18:54] “Getting the fee strategy right is super important. We don’t like to pay catch-ups—ever. That’s kind of been our mantra through the years.”

Jennifer shares how Texas TRS adapts to industry shifts, evaluates partners, and balances fee-discipline with being a partner of choice. She emphasizes that trust, direct communication, and innovation remain non-negotiable, particularly when markets are stressed.

[00:20:48] “There is no perfect partner, but it’s just a feeling of trust that you get—like, how are they answering your questions? I like people who communicate directly.”

Jennifer offers a candid look at how a sophisticated pension investor thinks about risk, resilience, and long-term value creation—a valuable perspective, especially for allocators, managers, and emerging leaders. 

Links

Jennifer Wenzel | LinkedIn

Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ website

Ryan Cotton, Bain Capital’s Partner and Head of Real Estate, shares how a “why-first” mindset can help investors avoid cyclical traps and identify durable real estate themes. 

Ryan shares that his unconventional path to real estate has given him a critical edge. A philosophy major at Princeton, he spent a year working in baseball operations for the Boston Red Sox before joining Bain as a consultant. Following Ryan’s lead, intellectual curiosity and pattern recognition have become key to how Bain deploys capital across alternative real estate sectors.

[00:07:03] “Our job is not to traffic in conventional wisdom. . . . It’s to ask ‘why’. . . . When you get some fundamental insight through that interrogation, . . . then you know what you’re really betting on.”

From senior housing to hyper-infill industrial, Ryan emphasizes that it’s crucial to understand “why” an asset should exist before deciding “how” to own it. That discipline, he argues, creates resilience across cycles and avoids dependence on cap rate compression alone.

Ryan also shares how he thinks about real estate’s role in portfolios, macro risk, and inflation. Drawing on historical parallels, he outlines why real estate can underperform early in inflationary cycles yet recover through income growth when supply tightens. 

[00:22:16] Real estate is a cyclical business . . . and the people who are exceptional at real estate are first and foremost fantastic macro-economists.

For investors and operators alike, Ryan offers actionable steps toward creating portfolio and personnel stability when markets are in flux.

Links

Ryan Cotton | LinkedIn

Bain Capital Real Estate’s website

Park Madison’s executive committee—Rob Kohn, Carrie Coulson Naik, Jack Koch, Brian Di Salvo, and John Sweeney—joins Nancy Lashine to break down the firm’s 2026 Outlook and what it signals for real estate investors navigating a slower, more disciplined market cycle.

The group explores how interest rates are forcing a reset in capital structures. With the return of transaction activity and improving price discovery, the discussion shifts to delving into why recapitalizations, continuation vehicles and secondaries are core features of today’s real estate markets.

[Jack, 00:14:22] “Real estate is cyclical. It goes up, it goes down. [Picture] you're a long-term institutional investor with a 30 to 50-year time horizon. The smoothing effects will take care of the overall long term return.”

The group also examines structural shifts shaping 2026: the barbell effect in fundraising, consolidation among middle-market managers, and growing investment in data centers, industrial outdoor storage and manufactured housing. 

[Rob, 00:20:37] “I think folks are waking up to the fact that one: interest rates are gonna be at the level they're at now for a little bit longer, and your underwriting has to work there. And two: you need to get money back to your investors. . . . Distributions, distributions, distributions.”

Taking a global perspective, they highlight why Asia is attracting incremental attention as U.S. political and economic uncertainty rises.

Grounded in data and firsthand market experience, the episode offers a 1000-foot view of where real estate is normalizing and where opportunity is emerging for patient investors.

Links

Park Madison Partners’ website

2026 Outlook report

Named by PERE as one of the 100 most influential people in private real estate, Drew has advised on many of the industry’s headline deals, including Artemis’ sale to Barings, Blue Owl’s acquisition of Oak Street, and Colliers’ purchase of Harrison Street.

In this conversation, Drew explains how the wave of manager consolidation since 2021 has been less about exit planning and more about scaling for growth. 

He breaks down the evolution of the GP stakes market, the rise of insurance-backed capital, and how private equity’s move into wealth and retail distribution is reshaping access to real estate.

[15:11] “The market is consolidating. If you look across every report out there, [they are] just about the big getting bigger, and the middle market is getting, to a certain extent, pinched by that reality.” 

Drew also shares insights on how culture, trust, and alignment determine success long after a transaction closes. 

[1:06:08] “What we talk about across our firm is [when] providing very close-knit quality and honest advice, that really can't go wrong for you.”

His perspective reveals why today’s most effective advisors think like both dealmakers and therapists—balancing capital, people, and purpose.

Links:

• Drew Murphy | LinkedIn
• Berkshire Global Advisors’ Website

Tom Gilbane, Co-President of Rockpoint, reflects on a career that traces the evolution of modern real estate private equity—from Merrill Lynch and Westbrook Partners to building Rockpoint into one of today’s leading mid-market firms.

Born into a family with deep construction roots, Tom learned early on the difference between a contractor’s 3% fee and a developer’s long-term stake. His career began on Wall Street during the REIT IPO boom of the 1990s before he joined Westbrook and later co-founded Rockpoint in 2003. Along the way, he helped shape a firm known for its focus on “address-level investing” and creating real estate entrepreneurs.

[11:00] “You can’t market time, but you can definitely get things wrong.”

Tom shares candid insights into cycles past and present—from the boom-and-bust of early opportunity funds to Rockpoint’s strategy of combining macro perspective with deeply local, micro-level execution. He reflects on home court advantage, why supply-demand-pricing power is the key to returns, and how operators have become just as important as capital in driving performance.

[27:00] “There might be more equity for office than there is investible office, which sounds counterintuitive, but that’s the reality today.”

From memorable deal stories like 299 Park Avenue to climbing Kilimanjaro with his 80-year-old father-in-law, Tom brings perspective, humor, and hard-earned wisdom about building teams, upholding a handshake culture, and playing the long game in real estate.

Links

• Tom Gilbane | LinkedIn

• Rockpoint Website

• Rockhill Management Website

Darcy Stacom, one of the most recognized names in commercial real estate, shares lessons from her remarkable 40+ year career. Known as New York City’s “Skyscraper Queen,” Darcy has closed over $150 billion in transactions, including the GM Building, the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, and the record-breaking $5.4 billion sale of Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village.

Darcy reflects on her path from starting in the mailroom at Cushman & Wakefield to becoming Chairman of CBRE’s New York Capital Markets Group, where she consistently ranked in the firm’s top 1% of brokers. She discusses the challenges of forging ahead in a male-dominated industry, the importance of mentors, and the power of research and insight as her “secret sauce.”

[09:00] “You need mentors—and you can’t build those relationships on Zoom. It’s the little moments that matter.”

Now, as co-founder of StacomSilverstein, Darcy is charting a new chapter. She shares her perspective on the future of office, the role of conversions, and how capital stacks and buyer pools have shifted in today’s market. Beyond transactions, she speaks candidly about leadership lessons, owning mistakes, and why building authentic relationships is still the most valuable asset of all.

[27:00] “Sometimes the press helps, sometimes it hurts—but in the end, it’s about trust and getting the deal done.”

Whether you’re an investor, broker, or young professional, Darcy’s story is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and redefining success on your own terms.

Links

• Darcy Stacom | LinkedIn

• StacomSilverstein Website

• Darcy Personal Website

Diane Hoskins, Global Co-Chair of global design firm Gensler, shares insights from leading a team of over 6,000 professionals across 53 offices worldwide—and why she believes intentional, collaborative design can be the most powerful tool for shaping a better future.

Diane shares Gensler’s research on how vibrant, adaptable cities can strengthen economic performance, attract investment, and improve quality of life. In her current leadership role at Gensler and her former role leading Urban Land Institute (ULI), Diane emphasizes that excellent urban solutions are never the work of one individual. 

[23:10] “We value collaboration and we call it this “one firm-firm” mindset, which is really the team has to win, not just you. . .   For us, it’s about the team winning, not just the individual. It shows up loudly.”

Diane reflects on how the pandemic accelerated changes already underway in the workplace and urban environments. She explains how forward-thinking companies are reimagining offices not as places of obligation, but as destinations that foster culture, creativity, and human connection.

[01:03:43] “The value [of design] is in creating places where people can connect with each other. . . this idea of single purpose zoning, single purpose buildings, feels less and less like what people are looking for—and value follows people and their experience.”

Whether you’re an investor, developer, or city leader, Diane’s perspective offers a roadmap for building spaces and communities that matter to people and the lives they want to live.

Links

• Diane Hoskins | ⁠LinkedIn⁠

• Gensler ⁠Website⁠

• ⁠Art’s Principles⁠ by Art Gensler

• ⁠Design for a Radically Changing World⁠ by Diane Hoskins and Andy Cohen

• Urban Land Institute’s ⁠Website⁠

In this second season, we're pursuing conversations with and about female leaders and entrepreneurs in the industry. We're also pursuing conversations with people coming from diverse backgrounds, and we're talking to people who are focused on the evolving intersection of real estate, technology and infrastructure. Look for the first episode to drop in early February, and remember to follow us on your favorite podcasting app so you never miss an episode.