Kathleen McCarthy is the 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).

Representative French Hill is serving his sixth term representing the second district of Arkansas. Rep. Hill is the new Chair of the influential House Financial Services Committee.

He was previously Vice Chair House Committee on Financial Services and the Chair of the Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Inclusion. He also served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Select Committee on Intelligence.

Rep. Hill has advocated for a number of Roundtable priorities, including GSE reform, reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program, and terrorism risk insurance.

Prior to his congressional service, Mr. Hill was actively engaged in the Arkansas business community for two decades as a commercial banker and investment manager. He was also the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Delta Trust & Banking Corp.

Before working in community banking, Mr. Hill served as a senior official in the administration of President George H.W. Bush. From 1989 until 1991, Mr. Hill served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Corporate Finance. One of his key assignments was to represent the U.S. as a negotiator in the historic bilateral talks with Japan, known as the Structural Impediments Initiative (SII). After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Mr. Hill led the design of U.S. technical assistance to the emerging economies of eastern and central Europe in banking and securities. In 1991, President Bush appointed Mr. Hill as Executive Secretary to the President’s Economic Policy Council (EPC), where he coordinated all White House economic policy. For his leadership and service at the Treasury and the White House, U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Nicholas Brady awarded Mr. Hill the Distinguished Service Award in January 1993.

(BS Vanderbilt University, 1979, magna cum laude in Economics)

Rep. Jason Smith is currently serving his seventh term representing the 8th district of Missouri, comprised of 30 counties in southeastern and southern Missouri.
Rep. Smith was elected to become the youngest-ever chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policies affecting commercial real estate. He served as the top Republican on the House Budget Committee in the 117th Congress.

Rep. Smith was a leading supporter of Roundtable-supported legislation introduced in 2021 to make permanent the 20 percent deduction for qualified pass-through business income (Section 199A). The pass-through deduction was enacted on a temporary basis as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) in 2017.

In late 2015, Rep. Smith’s colleagues elected him to serve on the Republican Steering Committee—a group of Republican conference leaders charged with selecting the chairman of every U.S. House committee. In 2016, he was unanimously elected by the U.S. House of Representatives Republican Conference to serve as a member of U.S. House leadership.
Prior to being elected to Congress, Smith served five terms in the Missouri House of Representatives.

(BS University of Missouri, 2001; JD Oklahoma City University, 2004)

Representative Darin LaHood is currently serving his fifth term representing Illinois' 16th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Following redistricting, the 16th District now spans several counties across central and north-central Illinois, serving as home to over 710,000 constituents.

Rep. LaHood continues to serve on the influential House Ways and Means Committee, which is the oldest committee in the House with jurisdiction over taxation, trade and tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures. Within the committee, he is Chairman of Subcommittee on Work and Welfare, and serves on the Subcommittee on Trade.

Recognized for his expertise in international relations, Rep. LaHood co-chairs the bipartisan U.S.-China Working Group and is a member of the U.S.-Cuba Working Group. His leadership focuses on fostering productive trade relationships and addressing global economic challenges.

Before his election to Congress, Rep. LaHood served four years in the Illinois State Senate, starting in 2011. During this time, he earned a reputation as a fiscal conservative and an advocate for government accountability. From 2001-2006, he worked for the U.S. Department of Justice as an Assistant United States Attorney in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rep. LaHood has also served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Cook County and Tazewell County. From 2006 up until his election to the House of Representatives, he practiced with the Peoria law firm of Miller, Hall & Triggs.

(BA Loras Col., 1990; JD John Marshall Law School, 1997)

Representative Tom Suozzi is currently a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, and was recently elected as the Co-Chair for the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus.

Throughout his career, Rep. Suozzi has been known for his bipartisan approach. He has been an advocate for restoring the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, co-chairing the SALT Caucus, and has focused on issues such as environmental conservation and infrastructure improvement.

Rep. Suozzi served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2017-2022 and was a member of the House Committees on Homeland Security, Budget, and Ways and Means Committee, serving on both the Oversight and Tax Policy subcommittees.

Rep. Suozzi previously served as mayor of his hometown, Glen Cove, NY from 1994-2001, and as Nassau County Executive from 2002-2009.
In 2010, Rep. Suozzi returned to the private sector as a senior advisor to investment banking firm Lazard and as of counsel at Harris Beach law firm. Prior to his time in elected office, he worked as a litigator for Shearman & Sterling, law clerk to the Chief Judge of the Eastern District, and an auditor for Arthur Andersen & Co.

(BS, Boston College; JD, Fordham University)

John Sitilides is Principal at Trilogy Advisors LLC in Washington, D.C., specializing in U.S. government relations, geopolitical risk, and international affairs, and is a National Security Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

Under a U.S. government contract under Presidents Biden, Trump, Obama, and Bush, Sitilides was Southern Europe Regional Coordinator at the Foreign Service Institute, the State Department's professional development and diplomacy academy for American foreign policy professionals.

He was Board Chairman of the Woodrow Wilson Center Southeast Europe Project (2005-2011), following seven years as Executive Director of the Western Policy Center, an international relations institute specializing in U.S., NATO & EU interests in Europe and the Middle East until he negotiated its 2004 merger with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

He has testified before Congress and is a frequent national security commentator on U.S. and international media such as Bloomberg News, CNN, FOX News, CNN International, and NewsNation, and has been interviewed or cited in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Washington Times, Politico, National Public Radio, Asia Times, Institutional Investor, and other leading print and digital media.

Sitilides serves on the Executive Committee and Board of Trustees of Leadership 100, a national Orthodox Christian foundation. He is a member of the Association of International Risk Intelligence Professionals, the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, the Columbia University Club of Washington, D.C., the Empire State Forum, and the Association of Former Senate Aides.

(BA, Queens College; MS, Columbia University)

Robert Costa is chief election & campaign correspondent for CBS News, and is an acclaimed political reporter and political analyst, and co-author of Peril with Bob Woodward. Peril documents the national-security emergency and insurrection during President Trump’s final days in office and provides unmatched insights into the dynamics that shaped the elections in 2022 and 2024. Peril is also the first inside look at President Biden’s first year in office.

For more than a decade, Costa has been at the forefront of American politics and journalism. He was a national political reporter for The Washington Post from 2014 until 2021, and was a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC from 2015-2020, where he long served as a contributor.

Costa is well known for his unusually expansive coverage, with deep sourcing inside the White House, on Capitol Hill, and inside the nation’s national-security community, as well as inside the new grassroots movements on the right and left that have upended both major parties in recent years.

Costa’s work with Woodward on Peril was a partnership forged by a shared, vigorous approach to reporting and the pursuit of the truth and can be traced back to their joint coverage of Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, where they interviewed the future president together and pressed him on how he might govern.

Before writing the book, Costa was the moderator and managing editor of Washington Week on PBS from April 2017 through January 2021. The program, one of the longest-running broadcasts on television, has been celebrated for its nonpartisan and smart discussions about the latest reporting and headlines shaping policymakers in Washington. During his tenure, the Associated Press called the show “satisfyingly wonkish and, amid a TV sea of partisan megaphones and questions about journalism’s role, especially important.”

(BA, University of Notre Dame; MS, University of Cambridge)

Rep. Mike Carey represents Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, encompassing all of Madison County and parts of Clark, Fayette, Franklin, Miami and Shelby Counties.

During his first year in office, Rep. Carey distinguished himself as an effective member and was appointed to serve on the prestigious House Committee on Ways and Means as well as the Committee on House Administration. Additionally, Rep. Carey serves as Chairman of the House Communications Standards Commission, Deputy Majority Whip and as Co-Chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

In the 118th Congress, Rep. Carey introduced Roundtable-backed legislation, the Revitalizing Downtowns and Main Streets Act (H.R.9002), which would create a temporary and capped market-based tax incentive to convert older, under-utilized office and other commercial buildings to residential use. Modeled on the historic rehab tax credit, the bill will help revitalize communities, boost local tax revenue, and increase the supply of housing where it is needed most.

(Marion Military Institute (AA); Ohio State University (BA)