DIANE L. CHAYES
Vice President of Leasing
Mack-Cali Realty Corp.
MINDY LISSNER
Senior Vice President
CB Richard Ellis
Considered a top dealmaker on the owner/landlord
side, Diane Chayes joined Mack-Cali from Bender
& Co. in 2000 and was promoted to her current
position in September 2005. Considered by her
peers as “highly competitive,” and “a results-ori-ented professional,” she’s known for her in-depth
knowledge of many real estate disciplines, her
experience in enhancing market growth, and her strong conceptual,
organizational and leadership skills.
Chayes leads a team of eight salespeople in the leasing of a portfolio
of 12 million sf of office space that has been able to maintain a high level
of occupancy exceeding industry peer groups. Since joining Mack-Cali,
she’s been involved in more than four million sf of transactions with a
value of over $500 million. Major deals have included 186,000 sf with
Daiichi Sankyo; 180,000 sf with U.S. Life; 115,000 sf with HighPoint;
72,000 sf with Cingular and 67,000 sf with Alpharma.
Chayes is also credited with a 58,600-sf lease with Meridian
Healthcare; 57,000 sf with Groundwater Environmental; 55,000 sf
with Novartis; 42,000 with the law firm WolfBlock; and 44,000 sf
with Chelsea Property Co. Also on her resume are two major build-to-suit projects: Wyndham Worldwide, 250,000 sf for a new headquarters; and Verizon for 95,000 sf.
“Diane has been instrumental in Mack-Cali’s success at keeping its
portfolio well-leased and exceeding the overall market’s occupan-cies,” says a colleague.
Other areas of strength include strategic planning, goal setting,
market analysis and marketing development, say teammates.
LISA R. CLARK
Vice President and Market
Officer of Operations/Central NJ
ProLogis
Lisa Clark is responsible for overseeing
management of ProLogis’ 10 million-sf
portfolio located in Central and Southern
New Jersey, including all new business
transactions, leasing activities and property management, as well as the day-to-day operations of the company’s
Cranbury office. She also serves as an
account manager for ProLogis’ Global
Services Department, where she’s
responsible for client relations with several multi-market customers,
including Interline Brands Inc. and Konica/Minolta Corp.
In 2006, Clark was named one of ProLogis’ “Top Performing Market
Officers,” an honor earned on the basis of total sf leased, total rent consideration and the number of transactions completed in 2005. Her work
in 2007 is on track as well—to date she has been involved in deals totaling approximately 3. 7 million sf, including a number of significant transactions, with a year-to-date aggregate value of well over $78 million.
Clark joined ProLogis in 1997 after 11 years with Matrix
Development Group, where she began her real estate career in 1985.
At Matrix, she held several positions, including lease coordinator,
leasing manager and sales executive at the company’s
Commonwealth National Golf Club.
She is currently a member of the board of trustees of NJ-NAIOP, and is
active in IOREBA (Industrial and Office Real Estate Brokers Association.)
With more than 18 years experience in
industrial brokerage, Mindy Lissner has
been with CBRE since 1991. During her
career, she’s been involved in everything
from owner/landlord rep, to buyer/tenant
rep, including W/D facilities, land/devel-opment, manufacturing facilities, redevelopment and more.
Recent disposition assignments have
included 1. 2 million sf for Ford in Edison; 411,000 sf for ProLogis in
Monroe, Twp.; two buildings totaling 283,000 sf for Grief Brothers
and 245,000 sf for Vertis in North Brunswick. Recent acquisition
assignments have included 300,000 sf for Ford in Cranbury; 250,000
sf for Midwest Air Technologies in Edison; and 340,000 sf for Kenco
Group/USG in Avenel. Her industrial team has the leasing exclusive
for Panattoni’s 1. 2 million-sf iPort 12 in Carteret, and she’s currently
marketing the 104-acre former General Motors site in Linden.
Add it all up, and as a top producer in CBRE’s New Jersey offices,
Lissner has completed transactions valued in excess of $518 million.
She’s a member of the firm’s National Industrial Team, Special
Properties Group and Food Facilities Group, and in 2005 received
CBRE’s Merit & Achievement Award.
“She has scaled the ranks at one of the largest real estate services
firms in the world,” says a colleague. “Her frequent appearances
speaking at panels and market forecasts showcases her innate ability
to forecast trends and ideas that keep her ahead of the competition.”
HEATHER SUAREZ
Partner
Walder, Hayden & Brogan
Heather Suarez has been described by
many as “a pioneer in the legal industry.” That traces back to 1978 when she
was part of the third class of women at
Rutgers College in New Brunswick,
moves forward to 1980 when she
became her firm’s first female attorney,
and 1989 when she became the firm’s
first female partner.
Through the years, Suarez has built
a top reputation for herself and a successful niche for the firm, focusing
her practice on real estate, corporate and commercial law. She was, and
continues to be a trusted advisor to a clientele that ranges from North
Fork Bank to the Jersey City Housing Authority. For the latter, she has
been the authority’s only female development counsel, now in her fifth
year, having been selected for that role after an RFP process.
Her forte is complex financing, and her real estate expertise
includes everything from condemnation, to zoning, planning, traffic
and environmental issues. On the commercial and corporate side, her
involvement has included stock or asset acquisitions, corporate dispositions, the formation of LLCs and partnerships, acquisition of partnerships and negotiating building contracts and commercial leases
She has also been responsible for handling state and Federal litigation at both the trial and appellate level. She has litigated in the areas
of contract, insurance, bankruptcy, consumer fraud, real estate, equity, constitutional law and more.
She was elected president of ICREW/NJ in 2003/2004.
