Kerri Alessi has more than 20 years of experience in all aspects of transactional real estate, with a primary focus in commercial leasing. Kerri represents landlords and tenants in office and retail leasing transactions both in the New York City metropolitan area and nationwide. In connection with such representation, Kerri counsels her clients on the wide variety of issues that arise in the leasing arena and is well versed on all facets of complex leasing issues. Kerri also has extensive experience in negotiating sublease transactions, brokerage agreements, surrender agreements, telecommunications agreements, access and license agreements, and other transactional real estate matters. In addition, Kerri devotes time to pro bono projects and has been honored for her pro bono legal work by Legal Services for New York City.

Duane J. Desiderio is Senior Vice President and Counsel with The Real Estate Roundtable, the Washington, D.C. advocacy organization which represents the leaders of the nation’s top publicly-held and privately-owned real estate ownership, development, financing, and management firms. He has helped shape major federal laws, regulations, and guidelines at the nexus of commercial real estate, energy, and sustainability policy for the past 15 years. Mr. Desiderio’s issues portfolio emphasizes energy, environmental, immigration, housing, infrastructure, and land use policy. He manages The Roundtable’s advocacy on these matters with The White House, Congress, and executive branch agencies. He is the long-time staff lead for The Roundtable’s Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC), which convenes the executives driving corporate sustainability programs in the U.S. commercial real estate sector. He has testified before Congress and prepared witnesses for numerous Congressional hearings on matters that impact the built environment.

Prior to joining The Real Estate Roundtable, Mr. Desiderio was a vice president at the National Association of Home Builders where he developed and managed its nationwide litigation program. His tenure resulted in over 50 reported opinions in federal and state courts, including a winning decision in NAHB v. Defenders of Wildlife, 551 U.S. 664 (2007). He is formerly associated with the law firm Rogers and Wells (now Clifford Chance) in its New York City and Washington, D.C. offices.

Richard Heller served as senior vice president and general counsel for Legal Sea Foods, a nationally acclaimed seafood and restaurant company, from 2003-2020. Mr. Heller was responsible for employment matters, business planning and commercial real estate (including financing, acquisition, and sale, and commercial leasing). He is currently of counsel at Sherin and Lodgen LLP, a Boston law firm with an extensive real estate and hospitality law practice. He is a co-founder and co-principal of Pineapple Hospitality Consulting Group LLC, a consulting firm which provides consulting services to restaurants and food service businesses. Mr. Heller is admitted to practice in Massachusetts, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Leasing Committee of the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts. He is a also a member of the Board of Trustees of JVS and the Board of Trustees of the New England College of Optometry.  

Ilana Judah serves as ARUP Americas’ Adaptation and Resilience Leader. A senior architect for over 25 years, she is a climate specialist with profound experience throughout the built environment. Ilana oversees sustainability and resilience efforts on public and private sector projects locally, nationally, and globally. She serves as an industry spokesperson and advisor to governments and has forged partnerships to advance climate imperatives. Ilana was previously co-chair of AIANY Committee on the Environment, a member of AIA National’s Resilience and Adaptation Advisory Committee, board member of NY Passive House, and is currently a board member of AIANY.

Lydia Lawless is known for handling high-profile cases in both the trial and appellate courts. She counsels lawyers and law firms in a range of matters and transactions, including compliance with professional responsibility and legal ethics, and risk management including legal malpractice, partnership and corporate structuring, merger transactions and separations, law firm management, fee disputes, conflicts and disqualification issues, confidentiality, and privilege. Lydia also serves as an expert witness and represents lawyers, law firms and other professionals in the defense of professional liability claims.

With extensive experience conducting sensitive investigations involving a variety of subjects and transactions, Lydia represents commercial clients in corporate investigations and high-stakes business disputes. Before joining her firm, Lydia served as Maryland Bar Counsel. She was the youngest person and the first woman to be appointed to the role.

Ben Myers is the Senior Vice President, Sustainability, at BXP, the largest publicly-traded developer, owner and manager of premier workplaces in the United States. He is responsible for sustainability strategy, implementation, reporting and stakeholder engagement. He has a genuine passion for sustainable real estate and is committed to disrupting the status quo as an industry leader on climate action, resilience, green building, renewable energy, healthy workspaces and urban ecosystems. Ben has served as chair of Nareit’s Real Estate Sustainability Council and vice chair of the Real Estate Roundtable Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee. He is a member of the ULI Sustainable Development Product Council, UMass Isenberg Real Estate Advisory Board and Board of Directors for the ULI Lewis Center for Sustainability.

George N. Papageorge is a global real estate executive with a highly successful track record of driving growth in public companies, private equity and creative agencies. An attorney by trade, he has used this background to manage large leasing, design, and legal teams over his 25+ year career. His client work has included luxury hotel operators The Fairmont and Four Seasons. He has held senior roles at Westfield Corporation US and the Queensland Investment Corporation-Australia, QIC, during his career. He currently works with L Catterton, the largest consumer private equity company in the world, a joint venture with LVMH and Group Arnault. As the EVP of L Catterton Real Estate, he oversees the leasing of and curation of their new mixed-use redevelopment in Los Angeles, the South Bay Social District.

Member, Trial Courts Nominating Commission, Montgomery County, 1988-91.

Born in Washington, DC, 1942. Attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School; University of Maryland College Park, B.A., 1964; University of Wisconsin School of Law, J.D., 1967. Law clerk to Judge Thomas Anderson, Court of Special Appeals, 1967. Served in U.S. Army/ Maryland National Guard, 1967-72 (19th special forces group); U.S. Army Reserve, 1972-73 (154th civil affairs regiment). Admitted to Maryland Bar, 1968. Member, American Bar Association; Maryland State Bar Association (board of governors, 1979-81, 1986-88; executive committee, 1979, 1986-88; chair, judicial appointments committee, 1988-90; board of directors, people's pro bono coordinating corp., 1989-91). Member, Montgomery County Bar Association (president, 1985-86; executive committee, 1973-75, 1982-85; chair, constitution revision committee, 1975). Arbitrator, American Arbitration Association, 1984-94. Board of Directors, Maryland Bar Foundation, 2003-05. Member, Montgomery County Bar Foundation. Bencher, Montgomery County Inns of Court. Board of Directors, John Brown Historical Foundation.