CREC Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Profiles of the Advisory Board Members of CREC Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

Cornell takes 1st place at the 2020 She Has a Deal (SHaD) Hotel Investment Pitch Competition

Our Mission

The mission of CREC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (“CREC DEI”) is to provide educational opportunities and a support network for diverse current students and alumni/ae interested in, working in the field of real estate or who might be interested in the industry but don’t know enough about it to pursue a real estate career. To accomplish our mission, we deliver and participate in programs throughout year that include on campus advisory sessions, events with the traditional HBCUs and High School students and outreach to Cornell students and alumni/ae who are or were not real estate undergraduate or graduate students while at Cornell.

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Advisory Board Members

Stephen Breedon

Stephen Breedon is a MBA candidate at Harvard Business School. Before grad school, he spent three years at Oaktree Capital Management in Los Angeles. At the firm, he underwrote investment opportunities in commercial, corporate, and residential real estate across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico closing over $1.5Bn in transactions. Prior to Oaktree, he worked in the Investment Banking Division at Morgan Stanley on real estate M&A and public offerings. Stephen is a proud graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. While at SHA, he served on the Dean’s Advisory Board, represented the Hotel School on the Student Assembly, was a TA for two Hotel School courses, and held a part-time job in the SHA Office of Student Services. Stephen was born and raised in Teaneck, NJ.

Lera Covington

Lera is a December 2020 degree candidate at Cornell University where she is pursuing a dual Masters of Real Estate and Masters of Regional Planning degree. Lera holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Duke University. During her time at Cornell she worked as a Summer Acquisitions Associate at Lendlease’s New York office and as an Asset Management Intern with the Albanese Organization in New York. She also served as President of the Association of Cornell Women in Real Estate (ACWIRE) and Co-President of the Cornell Associate Real Estate Council (AREC). Prior to Cornell, Lera worked in corporate finance and information technology audit. Lera is passionate about transforming communities through the power of real estate. She is actively recruiting for roles in real estate acquisitions and investments.

Ali Daye

Ali Daye is a 2019 graduate of Cornell’s Baker Program in Real Estate. Prior to Cornell, he received a bachelors in psychology and a masters in construction management, both from North Carolina A&T State University, the largest historically black college and university (HBCU) in the country and spend nearly a decade as a project manager in the construction industry.

While in the Baker Program, Ali concentrated in development and was a Baker Fellowship recipient. He was also a very active student, in and out of the classroom. Ali was a Senior Edition for the Cornell Real Estate Review, an active member of the Associate Real Estate Council (AREC), a board member of the Association of Cornell Women in Real Estate and the founder the Philip Payton Society for Minorities in Real Estate.

Currently, Ali works as a Senior Development Manager for SG Atkins Development Corporation in Winston-Salem, NC.

Lynn Gray

Lynn Zuckerman Gray is the Founder and CEO of Campus Scout, LLC, an innovative provider of strategic campus and recent graduate recruiting services, Career Coaching for young professionals and bespoke training programs for employers, primarily focused on the Millennial and Z generations. Since its inception in mid-2009, Campus Scout has recruited at 101 Graduate and Undergraduate campuses throughout the United States and has successfully assisted in the hiring of recent college and Business/professional School graduates for foreign and domestic clients in the financial services, real estate, technology and hospitality industries.

Lynn has a long history in financial services, the Law and the academic world. Prior to founding Campus Scout, she was a banker and lender focused on the origination of corporate sale/leaseback and commercial real estate transactions in the aggregate of more than $10 billion. From 1997 to 2008 she was with Lehman Brothers/Barclays, where she served as the Real Estate Group’s Global Chief Administrative Officer and as an originator of debt and equity transactions.

A graduate of Tufts University and the Cornell University Law School, Ms. Gray serves on the Advisory Board of the Cornell Baker Graduate Program in Real Estate and is an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University’s Gabelli School of Business where she has taught Leadership and Real Estate Finance. She also is a Certified Facilitator for the SUNY Levin Global Center’s FastTrac New Venture and FastTrac Growth Venture Entrepreneurship training programs. Recently she was named to the 2017 class of WE NYC Mentors sponsored by the New York City Small Business Administration. She has written and been a featured speaker extensively on talent management, entrepreneurship and real estate topics.

Ms. Gray and Campus Scout have been highlighted often in domestic and foreign media (NY Times; Wall Street Journal; The Financial Times; More Magazine; Crain’s New York; Time Out New York; CNBC.com; CNNMoney.com; US News and World Report; Huffington Post; More Magazine; Crain’s New York; TVE Television of Spain; TF1 French Television; CBC Canadian Radio; Japanese Public Television; Dagens Naeringsliv (Norwegian Financial Newspaper); and Sankei Shimbun (Japanese Newspaper)).

Cody Perez

Cody Perez is a second year MBA and Masters of Real Estate dual-degree candidate between the Baker Program in Real Estate and Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University. Prior to Cornell, Cody completed his undergraduate studies at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University, where he double majored in Finance and Economics. He would then go on to work for J.P. Morgan for 3 years, where he was awarded their Launching Leaders diversity scholarship and participated in a number of diversity initiatives including Advancing Black Leaders and Hispanic Leadership Forum, before matriculating to Cornell.

During his time at Cornell, Cody has been an active leader on campus with a particular focus on Diversity & Inclusion. He is a Consortium Fellow, the President of the Phillip Payton Society for Minorities in Real Estate, the treasurer of the Association of Cornell Women in Real Estate, the founder of the Coalition for Affordable & Sustainable Housing, a Graduate Assistant for Career Management in the Hotel School, a Graduate Teaching Research Specialist focused on Urban Expansion, and co-lead of Career Work Groups for Real Estate. In these capacities, Cody helped to organize and facilitate the Phillip Payton Society Case Competition and participated in the REEC CRE Summer Intensive Program as Team Advisor to Cornell’s Team 5 (who came in 1^st place at both the Cornell and National competitions).

Crystal Wilson

Crystal is a dynamic commercial real estate finance professional versed in asset management, leasing, dispositions, acquisitions and ground up development. Her expertise includes value-add and repositioning strategies, distressed and institutional quality multifamily, retail, office and industrial asset classes, negotiations, leasing, business development and deal structuring.

Crystal is currently a Director with New York Life Real Estate Investors in the Atlanta office. In her current role, she has asset management responsibilities for part of the company’s equity portfolio in the Southeast. Before joining New York Life, Crystal served as Vice President of Development for Milhaus overseeing the company’s multifamily development and expansion in Florida . Prior to that, she served as Head of Real Estate for hospitality start-up Sonder in South Florida where she was responsible for expanding the brand’s portfolio footprint. She also spent five years at Starwood Property Trust as a Senior Associate in asset management overseeing portfolios in the Western, Central and Southeast US.

Crystal holds a master’s degree in real estate from The Hotel School at Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree in finance from The Haslam College of Business at The University of Tennessee.

Aaron Hancock

Aaron Hancock is an MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School (HBS). He is also currently the Director of Real Estate Programs at Wall Street Prep where he leads real estate curriculum development and serves as a financial modeling instructor. While taking a gap year due to Covid-19, he worked as the Transactions Lead at JBG SMITH within the company’s Smart Cities practice, focused on digital infrastructure deployments within mixed-use real estate developments.

Prior to HBS, Aaron was a Senior Associate at Artemis Real Estate Partners where he supported the firm’s acquisition and asset management efforts. Aaron started his career as an Analyst in the Real Estate Investment Banking group at Morgan Stanley.

Aaron Hancock holds a B.S. in Applied Economics & Management with concentrations in Finance and Real Estate from Cornell University’s Dyson School of Business. While at Cornell, he was a member of the Varsity Football Team, a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and a leader of the school’s preeminent mentorship program for Black men.