Urban Leadership Award Dinner-Chair and Committees

Mitchell E. Rudin, President and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. Commercial Operations, Brookfield Office Properties, provides executive oversight for the day-to-day operations and asset management of Brookfield’s 50 million square feet of premier office space across the company’s seven U.S. markets: New York City, Washington, DC, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Denver, and Boston.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2011, Mr. Rudin was President and CEO of CB Richard Ellis’ New York Tri-State Region, New York’s largest real estate service company, overseeing all of the business and operating functions for CBRE’s nine offices located throughout the Region, and was intimately involved in setting the firm’s strategic direction.

Under Mr. Rudin’s leadership, CBRE significantly expanded its position as the dominant market leader in the New York Tri-State Region, representing more corporations, property owners and tenants than any other real estate services company.

During his career, Mr. Rudin has been involved in some of New York’s largest transactions. He is also generally recognized as a leader in numerous not-for-profit activities.

Prior to joining CBRE, Mr. Rudin was a partner at Tishman Speyer Properties, where he was responsible for leasing a substantial portion of the company's New York area portfolio. He was formerly an attorney with Davis & Gilbert, where he practiced real estate law.

James D. Kuhn joined Newmark Knight Frank as principal and president in 1992 after 15 years in partnership with Bernard Mendik as owner/manager, where he acquired 11 million square feet of office space and 6,000 apartments, and two years with Bear Stearns and Chuck Davidson of Steinhardt Partners, where he purchased distressed assets from the RTC, FDIC and other financial institutions. In addition to his administrative duties at Newmark Knight Frank, Mr. Kuhn chairs the National Capital Markets and Property Management boards.

During the course of his career, Mr. Kuhn has been advisor, broker or principal in over $3 billion in transactions for 25 million square feet of commercial and residential real estate. As an expert in the acquisition, leasing, management, repositioning and liquidation of major investments, Mr. Kuhn is also experienced in joint venture and equity financing. He has acted variously as merchant banker, de facto advisor, partner and co-investor with such firms as Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs & Co. Inc., The Equitable Life Assurance Society, J.E. Robert Companies, Lennar-Morgan Stanley and Steinhardt Partners, among others. Over the past five years, Mr. Kuhn has formed a group specializing in advising hospitals, universities and municipalities in the acquisition and disposition of their real estate assets. Mr. Kuhn's clients include The Mount Sinai Medical Center, Brooklyn Hospital Center, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York University and Hudson Yards Development Corporation, NYC School Construction Authority and CUNY.

Jonathan L. Mechanic is a partner of the Firm and is chairman of Fried Frank's real estate department. He first joined the Firm in 1978. He became a partner in 1987, when he rejoined the Firm after having acted for five years as general counsel and a managing director of Howard Ronson’s HRO International Ltd., a real estate development organization responsible for the development of more than 2.5 million square feet of office space in Manhattan.

Mr. Mechanic routinely counsels developers, owners, investors, REITs and lenders in all aspects of commercial real estate transactions, including the acquisition, disposition and development of office, retail, hotel and mixed-use properties; commercial mortgage, mezzanine and construction financing; acquisition and sale of distressed debt; and joint ventures and restructurings. He also represents both landlords and tenants in commercial leasing and ground lease transactions.

Mr. Mechanic has taught the real estate transactions course at Harvard Law School for the last five years and is doing so again in the spring of 2012. He also lectures regularly for NYU Law School, the Real Estate Board of New York and the Practising Law Institute, and is a co-author of The Commercial Office Lease Handbook published by the American Bar Association.

Fried Frank's real estate department was awarded the Chambers USA Award for Excellence 2009 for Real Estate, an award which honors outstanding lawyers and law firms across the USA. In 2007 Mr. Mechanic was named a "Dealmaker of the Year" by The American Lawyer and in 2006 he was the recipient of the Chambers USA Award for Excellence for Best Real Estate Lawyer. Mr. Mechanic is consistently recognized as a "Star" individual in real estate, a ranking given to attorneys with exceptional recommendations in their field, by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business. He is consistently recognized as a leading lawyer by Legal 500 in Real Estate. He appeared on the cover and was featured in the 2007 edition of New York Super Lawyers. In March 2011, Mr. Mechanic was named one of the "Most Influential Lawyers" by The National Law Journal. He was alsonamed a 2011 "MVP Lawyer of the Year" by Law360, and was included in The New York Observer’s "Power 100" list of the most powerful people in New York real estate for 2011.

In addition, Real Estate Weekly recognized Mr. Mechanic in its 2008 All Stars edition, which honors real estate industry leaders. He was also honored with the Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award at the Real Estate Board of New York's 112th annual banquet and received the National Jewish Health Humanitarian Award in 2009. In December 2011, Mr. Mechanic was awarded the Judge Joseph M. Proskauer Award by UJA-Federation of New York. Over the years, he has also been honored for his philanthropic activities by Israel Bonds, the Modell Foundation, ORT, The Association for the Help of Retarded Children, Albert Einstein Medical College, the Police Athletic League and The Salvadori Center.

Mr. Mechanic is a member of the Executive Committee, Board of Governors for the Real Estate Board of New York; the Board of Trustees of NYU Law School; the American Bar Association; the National Realty Committee; Real Estate Roundtable; American College of Real Estate Lawyers; YMWREA; and the New York City Bar Association. He is also on the advisory board of the NYU Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy and the NYU Schack Institute of Real Estate. He is a board member of The Eldridge Street Synagogue; The Jeffrey Modell Foundation; the Realty Foundation of New York; and National Jewish Hospital.

Mr. Mechanic received his JD from New York University School of Law in 1977, where he served as an editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, and his BA, magna cum laude, from Brandeis University in 1974. He is admitted to practice in New York.

Larry A. Silverstein is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Silverstein Properties, Inc., a Manhattan-based real estate development and investment firm that has developed, owned and managed 35 million square feet of office, residential and retail space. The firm currently has $10 billion worth of development activity in the pipeline.

In July 2001, Mr. Silverstein completed the largest real estate transaction in New York history when he signed a 99-year lease on the 10.6 million square feet World Trade Center for $3.25 billion, only to see it destroyed in terrorist attacks six weeks later on September 11, 2001. He is currently rebuilding the office component of the World Trade Center site, a $7-billion project that will consume the balance of his working life.

In May 2006, Silverstein Properties opened 7 World Trade Center, a 52-story, 1.7 million square foot office tower at 250 Greenwich Street, just north of the World Trade Center site. The building is almost fully leased to an eclectic group of tenants. In September 2006, designs were unveiled for three new office towers on the WTC site – 200, 175 and 150 Greenwich Street – that will be developed by Silverstein Properties.

In 2008, Mr. Silverstein announced an agreement with Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts to operate a hotel and private residences within a new development at 99 Church Street in Downtown Manhattan. The 80-story building was designed by Robert A.M. Stern and at 912 feet, will be the tallest residential tower in New York. Stern joins the roster of world-class architects – Santiago Calatrava, David Childs, Lord Norman Foster, Fumihiko Maki and Lord Richard Rogers – who are working to transform the landscape Downtown.

Mr. Silverstein owns and manages some of the most successful and high-profile commercial properties in New York City, including 120 Broadway, 120 Wall Street, 529 Fifth Avenue and 570 Seventh Avenue. In 2007, Mr. Silverstein purchased two office buildings in partnership with the California State Teachers' Retirement System: 575 Lexington Avenue and 1177 Avenue of the Americas.

In Midtown, Mr. Silverstein recently opened Silver Towers, two 60-story residential towers at 600 West 42nd Street, the companion to I River Place, a 40-story, 921-unit tower which opened in 2000. The square block development houses over 2,200 families.

Mr. Silverstein is a member of the New York Bar and a Governor of the Real Estate Board of New York, having served as its Chairman. He served as Vice Chairman of the New York University Board of Trustees and is the Founder and Chairman emeritus of the New York University Real Estate Institute. As a Professor of Real Estate, his “Silverstein Workshop” became one of the most attended and informative educational sources for learning real estate development and investment analysis.

Larry and Klara Silverstein have been married for fifty four years and have three children, two of whom are executives at Silverstein Properties. Mr. Silverstein contributes his time and resources to organizations that are dedicated to education and medical research, meeting humanitarian needs and supporting the arts. Mr. Silverstein currently serves as a board member of the New York Philharmonic. He is a classical music enthusiast, a passionate yachtsman and a dedicated New Yorker.