Our Team
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John D Lyons
Chief Executive Officer & President
Mr. Lyons founded Granite Partners LLC, predecessor to Savills US, in 1996. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate investment banking, investment sales, and capital market activities. Mr. Lyons has worked nationally throughout his career, concentrating on sales and financing transactions including office, retail, residential, hotel and industrial projects. Mr. Lyons is a former Managing Director of Eastdil Realty where he spent 12 years transacting sales and structurings of real estate, both domestically as well as in the Caribbean basin. To date, Mr. Lyons has been involved in over $12 billion of transactions. Mr. Lyons is admitted to practice law in New York and Florida and holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business and Fordham University School of Law. Mr. Lyons is a frequent guest lecturer on topical issues in real estate as well as on the current state of the capital markets. His affiliations include the Urban Land Institute, International Council of Shopping Centers and the Mortgage Bankers Association.
+1 (1) 212 328 2800
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Gerard V Mason
Executive Managing Director
Mr. Mason co-founded Granite Partners LLC, predecessor to Savills US, with John Lyons in 1996. Throughout his career, Mr. Mason has completed in excess of $11 billion in transactions in office, retail, industrial, multifamily and hotel properties. Mr. Mason represents a blue chip client base of institutional, public and private investors, including CALSTRS, CALPERS, Simon Properties, The Rouse Company, First Industrial REIT, Lend Lease/Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs/Archon, Prudential, Pennsylvania REIT and Ohio State Teachers among others. He also has a special expertise in strategic planning for public companies with significant real estate assets. Prior for forming Granite Partners, Mr. Mason was a Managing Director and senior partner at Eastdil Realty. From 1989 to 1996, Mr. Mason was responsible for the sale and financing of major properties in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston. From 1982 to 1989, Mr. Mason served as vice president at Merrill Lynch Hubbard in the real estate syndication group. Mr. Mason is a graduate of Columbia University and is active in the Urban Land Institute and the International Council of Shopping Centers. He is also a frequent real estate commentator on CNBC's "Wake Up Call."
+1 (1) 212 328 2800
Jeffrey W Baker
Executive Managing Director
Mr. Baker is an Executive Managing Director of Savills US, with 19 years of experience in real estate investment banking, investment sales and capital markets activities. In the past five years, he has been involved in over $4 billion of real estate transactions comprising more than 18 million square feet of commercial and residential property. Mr. Baker is a former Senior Vice President of Eastdil Realty where he was employed for eight years. At Eastdil, Mr. Baker was a member of the organization/structuring team which was responsible for conventional and securitized debt and equity acquisitions and financings, aggregating in excess of $6 billion. Mr. Baker subsequently served as a senior officer of the Real Estate and Commercial Mortgage Division of Nomura Securities International Inc. with responsibility for originating and structuring conventional and securitized debt and equity financing on a principal basis. Mr. Baker was also member of Nomura's REIT underwriting team with responsibility for credit facility and secured/unsecured debt and equity commitments for public and private real estate operating companies. Immediately prior to joining Savills, Mr. Baker was a Senior Managing Director of Secured Capital Corp. and co-head of the firm's New York office. Mr. Baker was also a Senior Director at Cushman & Wakefield where he was responsible for the firm's national real estate investment banking activities. Mr. Baker holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School where he was the recipient of the Andrew Murphy Real Estate Fellowship. He also received Master of Architecture and Master of City Planning degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Environmental Design, magna cum laude, from Miami University Oxford, Ohio. Mr.Baker is a member of the Urban Land Institute and has been a guest lecturer at the Wharton and Columbia University Business Schools.
+1 (1) 212 328 3941
Jeffrey H Cooper
Executive Managing Director
Mr. Cooper is an Executive Managing Director of Savills US, with over 30 years of experience in real estate investment banking, investment management and capital markets activities. In the past five years, he has been involved in over $10 billion of real estate transactions and has been responsible for spearheading the firm's health care real estate practice. Previously, Mr. Cooper was employed for almost 19 years by Eastdil Realty where he was an Executive Vice President and member of the management committee with responsibility for the firm's $4.5 billion investment management activities in the United States and Europe, as well as Eastdil's financing and investment sale activities. Mr. Cooper was also responsible for overseeing Eastdil's ventures with the Nomura Securities Co., Ltd. of Japan and Bayerische Vereinsbank AG of Germany. Immediately prior to joining Granite Partners, Mr. Cooper was a Senior Managing Director of Secured Capital and co-head of that firm's New York office. He also served as a Senior Director of Cushman & Wakefield with responsibility for the firm's national real estate investment banking activities. Mr. Cooper earned an A.B. degree cum laude from Colgate University where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He also holds a J.D. degree from Columbia University School of Law, graduating cum laude and is admitted to practice law in New York. He served to the rank of Captain in the United States Marine Corps Reserve. Mr. Cooper is an active participant in the Urban Land Institute the Zell Lurie Institute of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He is also a member of the American Bar Association.
+1 (1) 212 328 2800
Borja Sierra
Executive Managing Director
Borja Sierra is an Executive Managing Director in charge of cross-border investment sales and acquisitions as well as coordinating the US client base in dealing with Savills offices in Europe Asia and Australia. Since joining Savills in 1998, Mr.Sierra has headed the Spanish office for 10 years where he grew the business extensively, being ultimately responsible for a team of 70 in Madrid and Barcelona. He was part of Savills' European Commercial board until he moved to the US in the Spring of 2008. Mr. Sierra also led the Savills Capital Markets team and was responsible of over $4 .5 Bn in sales or acquisitions for Savills clients in Europe. Significant transactions included the Santander Portfolios, Castelllana 280/278, AXA Spanish HQ, Castellana 10, 35, 79, 330 and the Iberdrola HQ. On the retail front, Mr. Sierra has advised in over $1.4 Bn of shopping center transactions in Europe. Before joining Savills, Mr. Sierra was head of the investment team at WGS in Spain where he became a partner in the leading group that acquired the WGS European Network of offices through a management buyout and subsequently sold the firm to Savills Plc. in 1998 and 2003. Mr. Sierra received a B.A. in Economics a from the Complutense University of Madrid and graduated with honors in International Business Finance from the Groningen Hanzegoelschool in Groningen NL.
+1 (1) 212 328 2800
Dan E Gorczycki
Managing Director
Mr. Gorczycki is a Managing Director of Savills US, with 19 years of experience in real estate and investment banking and a primary focus on equity and debt financing. Mr. Gorczycki is a former Director of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler. During his career, he has worked nationally on a wide variety of sales, financing, debt restructuring and equity placement transactions including office, retail, hotel, residential, industrial and mixed use projects. Mr.Gorczycki previously served at Landauer Associates, Julien J. Studley, Inc., and Legg Mason, where he was involved in over $1 billion of transactions. Mr. Gorczycki further developed an expertise in distressed loans while at the Greater New York Savings Bank where he was responsible for completing workouts on over leveraged assets. Mr. Gorczycki is a graduate of St. John's University with a degree in accounting and received his M.B.A. from New York University in 1988 with a degree in Finance and International Business. He is also a Certified Public Accountant.
+1 (1) 212 328 3942
Arthur M Milston
Managing Director
Mr. Milston is a Managing Director of Savills US, with 20 years of experience in real estate. He has worked nationally throughout his career on numerous and varied sales and financing transactions including retail, office, residential, hotel, industrial and entertainment projects. Mr. Milston is a former Director of Real Estate, East Coast Properties and Acquisitions Manager for Auburndale Properties, a $400 million privately held real estate company, where he spent 7 years acquiring, managing, selling and financing retail and industrial properties. Previously, he was with Cineplex Odeon Corporation in the East Coast Real Estate Department managing, acquiring and developing theatre properties throughout the Eastern United States. Mr. Milston is a graduate of Boston University.
+1 (1) 212 328 2800
John A WIlliams
Managing Director
Mr. Williams is a Managing Director of Savills US, with 17 years of experience in real estate and banking. Prior to joining Granite Partners, Mr. Williams served with the Real Estate Consulting Group of Deloitte & Touche, Auburndale Properties, a $400 million privately held real estate company, and National Westminster Bank. During his career, he has been active in the origination of construction loans and commercial mortgages, the securitization of commercial mortgages, asset management and the acquisition and disposition of real estate assets and distressed loan portfolios. Mr. Williams graduated from Providence College in 1989 with a degree in Finance and received an MBA degree from Rutgers University in 1997 with a concentration in Accounting.
+1 (1) 212 328 3943
Mark De Riemer
Senior Vice President
Mr. De Riemer joined Savills US as a Senior Vice President in 2008 and has 27 years of experience in real estate investment banking, investment sales and commercial real estate lending. Prior to joining Savills, Mr. De Riemer spent 11 years as Managing Director in the New York City office of Jones Lang LaSalle with responsibility for office and retail investment sales and structured financings in the eastern U.S. Clients included Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, GE Real Estate, JP Morgan, Liberty Property Trust, Shorenstein, TA Realty, TlAA, Trizec and UBS. Previous to joining Jones Lang LaSalle, Mr. De Riemer was a Managing Director at CBRE handling investment sales of office, industrial and retail properties in the Northeast and Southeast. Before his brokerage firm roles, Mr. De Riemer worked in the commercial mortgage securities divisions at Salomon Brothers and Merrill Lynch, where he originated, structured and placed several billion dollars of commercial mortgage securities. He began his career in real estate as a loan officer for Chase Manhattan Bank, with responsibility for Southwest-based developers. Mr. De Riemer earned an AB degree with honors from Colgate University. He also holds an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.
+1 (1) 212 328 3969
David Gutstadt
Senior Vice President
Mr. Gutstadt is a Senior Vice President of Savills with responsibility for the hospitality and leisure business. Prior to joining Savills, Mr. Gutstadt spent over ten years with Goldman Sachs. While at Goldman, Mr. Gutstadt was responsible for making hotel, gaming and leisure investments on behalf of the Whitehall Funds, and sourced and executed significant transactions including the acquisition of American Casino & Entertainment Properties, an equity stake in Hilton Hotels and a major timeshare operator. Prior to joining Whitehall, Mr. Gutstadt helped lead the hospitality effort in Goldman's investment banking division. In this capacity, he executed a variety of buy- and sell-side, restructuring and financing assignments for clients such as Global Hyatt, Marriott International, Host Hotels & Resorts, Strategic Hotels & Resorts, KKR and the Marcus Corporation. Mr. Gutstadt graduated cum laude from Princeton University.
+1 (1) 212 328 3967
Philip B Mahler
Senior Vice President
Mr. Mahler is a Senior Vice President with Savills US with over 15 years of real estate investment banking, development, acquisition and disposition experience. Over the last five years, Mr. Mahler has executed or is currently involved in more than $3.5 billion in medical real estate transactions totaling more than 15 million square feet including investment sales, portfolio sales, joint ventures, recapitalizations and development transactions. Prior to joining Savills Granite in 2003, Mr. Mahler was a member of Ernst & Young's Real Estate Capital Markets Group where he focused on asset monetization strategies for owners and investors of commercial office real estate with a deep focus in medical real estate. Additionally, Mr. Mahler advised his clients on individual asset sales, portfolio sales, and sale/leasebacks, as well as equity and debt placements, CMBS loan due diligence transactions and business process improvement projects. While at Ernst & Young, Mr. Mahler was involved in almost 6 million square feet of office transactions with a value in excess of $1 billion. Prior to joining Ernst & Young, Mr. Mahler worked for UBS Realty Investors (formerly Allegis Realty Investors) in their Asset Management Department and Prologis (formerly Security Capital Industrial Trust) where he focused on acquisition, disposition and development transactions. Mr. Mahler graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Finance.
+1 (1) 212 328 3946
David F. Monahan
Senior Vice President
Mr. Monahan is a Senior Vice President of Savills. Prior to Savills, Mr. Monahan was a Managing Director of DTZ Rockwood where he was directly responsible for the execution of approximately $5 billion of equity real estate transactions, specializing in retail and office product. Prior to joining DTZ Rockwood, Mr. Monahan was an associate at Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, and served as a member of its Investment Sales Group where he was responsible for the coordination of disposition efforts on behalf of various Lend Lease advisory clients. During that time, Mr. Monahan participated in over $1.5 billion of asset sales. Prior to joining Lend Lease, Mr. Monahan was a Senior Analyst with COMPASS Management & Leasing at Peachtree Center, a 2.4 million square foot mixed-use complex in downtown Atlanta. Mr. Monahan was named to Real Estate New York's "40 Under 40" List in 2009. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. Mr. Monahan holds a B.S in Finance from Siena College.
+1 (1) 212 328 3951
Meredith Oppenheim
Senior Vice President
Ms. Oppenheim is a Senior Vice President with Savills and a senior housing specialist. Ms. Oppenheim brings senior housing experience that spans the globe, extends across all products, and covers the full life cycle of a deal through disposition. Ms. Oppenheim has worked for leading senior housing owner/operators and developers, including Marriott Senior Living, Sunrise Senior Living and K.Hovnanian. Prior to joining Granite Partners, Ms. Oppenheim ran Oppenheim Real Estate Ventures, LLP where she advised major investment banks, private equity firms and hedge funds on senior housing transactions, as well as completed senior housing consulting engagements in Mexico, India and the Philippines. Ms. Oppenheim earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and graduated with a BA in Social Sciences from Comell University. Ms. Oppenheim is a frequent guest speaker on senior housing trends and opportunities. Her affiliations and activities include Urban Land Institute Senior Housing Council, American Senior Housing Association (ASHA) Chairman's Circle, National Investment Center and Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center.
+1 (1) 212 328 3975
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Kenneth R. Spears
Senior Vice President
Mr. Spears joined Savills in 2009 as a Senior Vice President and has over 20 years of experience in real estate investment banking, performing/distressed debt acquisitions and sales, workouts and capital market activities. To date, Mr. Spears has executed in excess of $6 billion in real estate transactions. Prior to joining Savills, Mr. Spears was a Managing Director at CSV Capital, LLC, a joint venture formed in 2008 with Prudential Real Estate Investments as a mezzanine/preferred equity lending platform and an acquirer of distressed debt in the capital markets. At CSV, Mr. Spears was responsible for originating and executing asset disposition transactions and strategies (distressed debt/ REO assets) on behalf of various institutions. Prior to joining CSV, Mr. Spears spent 22 years in the commercial real estate finance group at Salomon Brothers, Inc., which later became Citi Markets & Banking via merger. At Salomon/Citi, he focused on real estate loan sales, advisory work, workout situations, mergers and acquisitions, and originating and executing large loan financings for CMBS transactions. Mr. Spears was responsible for covering complex client relationships, including multi-billion dollar institutions, opportunity funds, investment partnerships and individual /family ventures. Mr. Spears was also integrally involved in the sale/disposition of several billion dollars in loan assets, including transactions on behalf of the FDIC and the RTC through both bulk sale and CMBS execution. In this capacity, Mr. Spears was a senior member of the team that developed and launched the inaugural multifamily/commercial mortgage securitization effort for the RTC, 1991-M1. He also executed several multifamily (M-series), commercial (C-series) and non-performing (N-series) transactions. Mr. Spears began his career as a construction lender for First National Bank of Chicago and, later, as a real estate work out specialist for Continental Bank. Mr. Spears has a B.A. in Economics from Northwestern University and an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago.
+1 (1) 212 328 3966
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R. John Wilcox II
Senior Vice President
Mr. Wilcox is a Senior Vice President at Savills with responsibility for integrated real estate finance, including restructuring services, note sales, debt and equity raises and cross-border equity raises. Prior to joining Savills, Mr. Wilcox was Senior Vice President in DTZ Rockwood's Capital Markets Group and a Vice President with Ahern & Partners specializing in real estate related restructurings and bankruptcies. Mr. Wilcox has 16 years experience in advising public and private lenders, real estate operating companies and investors on real estate restructurings and bankruptcies, corporate real estate matters, note sales, corporate and property-level debt placement and equity raises in fund and joint venture formats. He has advised debtors and creditors in a number of notable bankruptcies, including Olympia & York (US), Sunterra and Kmart, and served as Chief Financial Officer during the Chapter 11 proceedings of Atlantic Gulf Communities, a publicly traded developer of planned, residential golf-communities in Florida and Colorado. Mr. Wilcox received a B.S. in Information Studies from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from Columbia University's Graduate School of Business. Mr. Wilcox is a Certified Turnaround Professional, and a member of: the Mortgage Bankers Association, the International Council of Shopping Centers, the Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute.
+1 (1) 212 328 3965