Annual Meeting 2023

Larisa Ortiz
Managing Director | Public Non-Profit Solutions 

As Managing Director of Public Non-Profit Solutions, Larisa brings over 25 years of experience advising public, private, and non-profit sector clients on retail real estate strategy in urban environments. She has led hundreds of comprehensive retail planning efforts across communities large and small, both nationally and internationally.

Larisa is the author of Improving Tenant Mix, published by the International Council of Shopping Centers, and currently serves as a Mayoral Appointee to the NYC Planning Commission. A Fulbright Scholar and Watson Fellow, Larisa has traveled the world studying successful downtown and mixed-use environments.

She holds an undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and a master’s in city planning with a certificate in urban design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



 

Eric Simonds
Associate Broker | CBRE Upstate NY

Eric Simonds, CCIM started in commercial real estate in 2002 with a strong accounting background. He worked as an asset manager for a commercial real estate developer/landlord. In 2004 Eric transitioned his career to brokerage services and worked for an international tenant representation firm. In this position, Eric represented office, industrial, and retail tenants exclusively. 

Eric joined the Albany office of CBRE Upstate NY in December 2011 and is focused on representing tenants and buyers, as well as providing consulting services to his clients which include law firms, colleges/universities, corporations, hospitals, government and associations. Eric’s extensive experience provides his clients with a distinct advantage through expert tenant advocacy and unparalleled advisory and consulting services. 

Earning his Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in 2006, Eric became a recognized expert in the commercial and investment real estate industry. There are less than 15,000 active CCIM’s worldwide and less than 3% of the professionals in the industry ever attain the CCIM designation.
 

Paul Levy
President & CEO | Center City District

Paul is the founding chief executive of Philadelphia’s Center City District (CCD), serving in that capacity since January 1991. The CCD is a business improvement district with a $30.5 million annual operating budget, which supplements municipal services with programs for security, hospitality, cleaning, place marketing and planning, business retention and attraction for the central business district of Philadelphia (www.centercityphila.org). 

The CCD has also financed and carried out $152 million in streetscape, lighting and façade improvements, including the transformation of four downtown parks that are now managed and programmed by the CCD.  From 2010 to 2020 he chaired the board of the Passyunk Avenue Revitalization Corporation, a neighborhood based non-profit housing and commercial development corporation.

He serves on the board the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau. He also teaches in the graduate City Planning Department of the University of Pennsylvania and holds a Masters. and Ph.D. from Columbia.

Carm Basile
CEO | CDTA