Kathleen McCarthy is the Former Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate. Blackstone is the largest owner of commercial real estate globally with a nearly $600 billion real estate portfolio and $339 billion in investor capital under management (as of March 31, 2024), owning and operating assets across every major geography and sector, including logistics, residential, office, hospitality and retail. Ms. McCarthy focuses on driving performance and growth for Blackstone’s Real Estate business.

Ms. McCarthy previously served as Global Chief Operating Officer of Blackstone Real Estate. Before joining Blackstone in 2010, Ms. McCarthy worked at Goldman Sachs, where she focused on investments for the Real Estate Principal Investment Area. Ms. McCarthy began her career at Goldman Sachs in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group.

Ms. McCarthy received a BA from Yale University. Ms. McCarthy is currently serving a three-year term as Chair of the Real Estate Roundtable, the industry’s top federal advocacy organization. She also serves on the boards of City Harvest and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation, and is the President of the Board of Trustees of The Nightingale-Bamford School.

Jeff DeBoer is the founding President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable. He has been at the forefront of national policy affecting the real estate industry for the past 40 years.

The Real Estate Roundtable represents the leadership of the nation’s top 150 privately owned and publicly-held real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms, as well as the elected leaders of the 18 major national real estate industry trade associations. Roundtable member portfolios contain over 12 billion square feet of office, retail and industrial properties valued at nearly $4 trillion; over 5 million apartment units; and in excess of 6 million hotel rooms. The 18 national trade associations participating with the Roundtable represent more than 3 million people directly employed in the real estate industry.

Mr. DeBoer also chairs the National Real Estate Organizations, a 18 member real estate trade association coalition focused on industry communication, advocacy and diversity efforts as well as the Real Estate Industry Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RE-ISAC), an organization dedicated to enhancing communication between the industry and federal policymakers on terrorism threats, building security, and major incident reporting. He is a founding member of the steering committee of the Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism (CIAT) and for several years he co-chaired the Advisory Board of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Terrorism Risk Management Policy. Mr. DeBoer previously served on the Advisory Board of Washington DC’s Smithsonian National Zoological Park and Conservation Biology Institute.

Mr. DeBoer has discussed real estate and economic policy issues numerous times in Congressional testimony as well as on FOX News, Bloomberg Television, MSNBC and CNBC; and his editorials have been published in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today. In 2010, Globest.com named Mr. DeBoer a “top 10 Industry Newsmaker of the Decade”; in 2013 Commercial Property Executive named him one of the “30 most influential people in real estate”; in 2016 Real Estate Forum honored him as the “Voice of the Industry” and one of the nation’s top CRE bosses; in 2017 Washington Life Magazine included Mr. DeBoer in its “Power 100” list of Washington DC’s most influential unelected, non-governmental people; and since 2017, The Hill has placed Mr. DeBoer on its annual list of the top lobbyists in Washington DC, a list it called: “the players at the top of their game, known for their ability to successfully navigate the byzantine and competitive world of federal policymaking.” In 2024, in recognition of his positive influence on national public policy, Commercial Property Executive presented Mr. DeBoer with its Lifetime Achievement award.

Mr. DeBoer earned degrees from Washington and Lee University School of Law (JD) and Yankton College (BA).

Phillip Swagel is an American economist who is currently the director of the Congressional Budget Office.

Previously, Dr. Swagel was a professor at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise and Milken Institutes, and co-chair of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Financial Regulatory Reform Initiative. He has also taught at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, and Georgetown University. His research and policy work have focused on financial market reform, international trade policy, and China’s role in the global economy

From 2006 to 2009, Dr. Swagel served as Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, where he was responsible for analysis of a wide range of economic issues. During this period, he played a key role in the federal government’s response to the 2008 financial crisis, including work on the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Swagel served as chief of staff and senior economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and as an economist at the Federal Reserve Board and the International Monetary Fund.

(AB, Princeton University, 1987; PhD, Harvard University, 1993)

Representative Mike Lawler is serving his second term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing New York’s 17th Congressional District.
Rep. Lawler serves on the House Financial Services Committee, where he is Vice Chair of Communications, and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where he chairs the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
Additionally, he is an active member of over 50 bipartisan caucuses spanning issues from SALT tax reform and global investment to law enforcement, education innovation, climate solutions, and international partnerships.
Prior to serving in Congress, Rep. Lawler represented New York’s 97th District in the State Assembly, where he served on the Committees on Aging, Banks, Education, Housing, and as Ranking Member on Governmental Operations. In just one term, he passed more bills than any other member of his conference, securing bipartisan victories on public safety funding, middle-class tax relief, and historic increases in school aid.
Earlier in his career, Mike served as Deputy Town Supervisor of Orangetown, Senior Advisor to the Westchester County Executive, and as Executive Director of the New York State Republican Party. He also founded a successful government affairs and public relations firm.
(BS, Manhattan College, 2009)