Sarah Abrams is Senior Vice President, Global Real Estate at Iron Mountain, a Fortune 1000 company. Sarah leads a global real estate team responsible for real estate strategy, transactions, construction and facility management for a portfolio of 85+ million sf in 53 countries.
Prior to Iron Mountain, Sarah was president of the corporate real estate division of Fidelity Investments, where she led the team responsible for providing all real estate and location strategy services to Fidelity's business units.
Ms. Abrams is the recipient of 7 Luminary Awards for excellence in speaking at CoreNet Global Summits and regularly teaches the Capstone Case as part of CoreNet Global’s MCR designation.
Amy Blankson is the only person to receive a Point of Light from two US Presidents. After graduating from Harvard College and Yale School of Management, she co-founded GoodThink to bring the science of happiness to life for others. Amy has since focused her work on understanding how to cultivate happiness in a digital era. She is a member of the UN Global Happiness Council, a Fellow of the World Innovation Organization, and is working with the IEEE to create standards for well-being in artificial intelligence. Amy is a regular contributor for Forbes and author The Future of Happiness.
Dr. Tracy Brower is a Principal with the Applied Research + Consulting group for Steelcase and the author of Bring Work to Life by Bringing Life to Work: A Guide for Leaders and Organizations. Tracy has worked with many of the Fortune 500, as well as educational and health-care organizations. She is a three-time recipient of the CoreNet Global Luminary Award and recipient of the UofH Real Estate Innovation Award. In addition to her PhD and MM, Tracy holds a Master of Corporate Real Estate. Tracy’s work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CoreNet Global Leader Magazine, Real Estate Review Journal, Fortune.com, Forbes.com, Inc. Magazine, and more.
Martha has been with Microsoft since 1997, leading workplace transformation. Before that she was a commercial interior designer at architecture firms in Seattle. Martha manages design for Microsoft, as well as video and photography production, and the Inclusive Workplace program. She is a writer and photographer. Martha grew up in Portland, Oregon and attended University of Oregon. In 2011, Martha was bestowed with the Business Leaders in Design award from IIDA.
Based in Redmond, Wa. Brian is responsible for Operationalizing Microsoft’s ‘Workplace Advantage’ (WPA) Program; defining and integrating the implementation of WPA across several multidisciplinary CRE groups (including Capital Projects, Occupancy Planning, Change Management and Integrated Facilities Management & Services) in Microsoft’s 14m sqft regional portfolio.
Brian joined Microsoft 1995 as the Facilities Manager for the Dublin campus, and in his previous roles with Microsoft he was responsible for The Global Workplace Strategies Group; defining and driving the ‘Workplace Advantage (WPA)’ program; including Workplace research, knowledge management, change management project consulting across Microsoft’s global portfolio. He was also Area Portfolio Manager for RE&F in Central & Eastern Europe, and Facilities Manager for EMEA (Europe Middle East & Africa) where he coordinated facilities activities over 160 locations in 50+ countries.
Mary Lee Duff is a Principal and Director of Workplace Strategies for IA Interior Architects in San Francisco. Mary Lee has over 25 years of experience working with clients to develop comprehensive workplace solutions that require a sensitivity to each client’s culture, brand, and work processes. Bringing best practices, a proven methodology, and an inquisitive point of view, Mary Lee works with the design team to align the workplace planning and design to support and improve business.
Lauri changes the way organizations think about work and place. She works with executives to “future-cast”, challenging them to redefine the purpose of bringing people together at work.
Lauri advises the world’s most influential industry leaders including, ExxonMobil, Hines, HP, Chevron, and Sonos, developing strategies to break through the Innovation Barrier and position their organizations for the future. Her Business, Workplace, Engagement, and Design Strategies have been transforming business for 30 years.
Lauri believes thoughtful placemaking connects people and inspires organizations to thrive. She is the ultimate optimist about the opportunity of automation to free humans to focus on work that matters.
Gillian Maguire is the CBRE program manager for Microsoft RE&F’s Supported Employment program, bringing experience in management and consultant roles at a statewide disability rights organization. She has worked closely with people with disabilities and disability community organization leaders, as well as legal and professional staff. She has created and managed an advocacy team responsible for provision of high quality services; recruited and trained team members; championed continuous quality improvement; launched a federally-mandated program for people with traumatic brain injuries; and managed content on social media and website platforms.
As Vice President of Design and Construction, Barry leads Capital One’s entire workplace development program including direct oversight of the new headquarters project in Tysons, Va. When completed, the Tysons project will include: two city blocks, the tallest office building in Washington, DC, a premier Performing Arts Center, a Wegmans grocery, restaurants, parks and residential buildings.
Barry is an accomplished real estate executive experienced in all facets of corporate real estate. He has more than 25 years of experience managing major rezoning cases, large-scale construction projects, national facilities management, and corporate security organizations at Fortune 500 companies. He has demonstrated expertise in managing large real estate organizations with a focus on customer service and operational excellence.
Sherri is a partner at Capstan Advisors, a specialized management consulting firm for corporate real estate and facilities management. She brings a strong financial background, objective, unbiased advice, and 30 years of experience to outsourcing engagements, organizational transformations and benchmarking. Her distinguished roster of clients includes corporate real estate and sourcing executives from industry leaders such as American Express, Time Warner, Schlumberger, Morgan Stanley, Kimberly-Clark, Deutsche Bank, S&P, Thomson Reuters, Northern Trust, Duke Energy and Iron Mountain. She is also a Highly-Rated Faculty in CoreNet Global’s MCR program teaching finance courses.
Alex Spilger is Senior Vice President at Cushman & Wakefield where he focuses on the intersection of sustainability, technology and innovation within the Commercial Real Estate sector. He has consulted with technology clients such as Google, Salesforce, Adobe and Genentech among others and was an early adopter of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain technology.
Professor Thurman, a Columbia MBA valedictorian, service award winner, and multiple teaching award recipient, has extensive experience helping a variety of governments and corporations realize value from innovative leadership, operations, and technology strategies. Thurman teaches strategic management and data analysis at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health, in the Department of Health Policy and Management, and has led the department's Non-Degree Executive Education Programs and its Professional Development Program. Previously, he was a Healthcare Research Fellow, Professor, and MBA Director at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, and has held professorships in China, India, Brazil, Greece, Saudi Arabia, England, and Iceland. His recent peer-reviewed research has focused on scientific collaboration and its effect on research quality, and on cancer drug patents, FDA approvals, and market pricing. He received his BS in Mathematics from Stanford University, received his MBA (with highest honors) from Columbia, and completed doctoral (DrPH) coursework in health policy and management at the State University of New York. He is currently pursuing his Doctor of Business Administration degree (DBA) from Ecole des Ponts, in Paris, France.
As the Senior Director of Global Account Operations on the Microsoft account, Holly Warnick is responsible for the management of the operational aspects for the global portfolio including procurement and sourcing, analytics and IT, sustainability and energy, account programs, global facilities service center and the supported employment program. Holly has been involved with the program since its inception. This program works with RE&F vendor partners to provide employment opportunities for individuals with intellectual developmental disabilities.
Ming Ying is an undergrad at Harvard studying Economics, Computer Science, and Statistics. Ming’s interests are in quant finance, private equity, and entrepreneurship. In 2018, Ming had the opportunity to intern for Planon, where he was able to combine his interest in technology with market research. During the summer of 2018, Ming will work as a quantitative analyst for Fidelity Asset Management’s Counterparty Research team.
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