The Real Estate Roundtable’s Fall Meeting on Sept. 22 featured top-of-mind issues, including the latest economic and political forecasts; real estate's diversity and inclusion efforts; prospects for pandemic risk insurance; and future economic stimulus initiatives, particularly those related to housing, rent and infrastructure.

Advocacy:  Roundtable Chair Debra Cafaro (Chairman and CEO, Ventas, Inc.) welcomed Roundtable members to the virtual meeting by summarizing The Roundtable's effective, yet remote, advocacy work with industry stakeholders and Washington policymakers on the multi-faceted policy responses to the coronavirus – as well as on issues in the tax, capital and credit, sustainability and homeland security areas. (See for example, The Roundtable’s written statement for the committee and testimony before the Senate Banking Committee regarding the Federal Reserve’ Main Street Loan Facility. (Video of Sept. 9 testimony and Q&A )

Leadership: Cafaro, above left, also announced that The Roundtable’s 24-member Board of Directors has selected John F. Fish, above right, (CEO & Chairman, Suffolk) as the organization’s Chair-Elect; appointed Jodie W. McLean (CEO, Edens) as its Secretary; and named Jeff T. Blau (CEO, Related Companies) as the inaugural Chair of the organization’s newly-established Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) committee. 

Reference: 

• Video on FY 2021 nominations for The Roundtable Board and comments by John Fish 
• Video on The Roundtable’s ED&I committee and comments by Jeff Blau  

Investment Trends: Roundtable Chair Debra Cafaro led a discussion regarding “Emerging Global Real Estate Investment Trends” with Christoph Donner (Chief Executive Officer, Allianz Real Estate of America); Adam Gallistel (Managing Director, GIC Real Estate); Steven Hason (Managing Director, Head of Americas Real Assets, APG Asset Management US Inc.) and Roundtable Board Member Kathleen McCarthy (Global Co-Head of Blackstone Real Estate, Blackstone) – video of panel discussion.

Special Guests: The Roundtable’s Fall Business Meeting included virtual visits from the following guests: 

• Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) – video

• Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) – video

• Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) – video

See below for more details about this discussion regarding pandemic risk insurance. 

Next on The Roundtable's meeting calendar is the all-member January 26-27 State of the Industry Meeting.

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