International TV Host and Journalist
ULI OnPoint Program Host

Ali Aslan is an internationally renowned TV host, moderator and journalist. His international career in broadcast journalism spans more than two decades and three continents and includes work for CNN, ABC News, Channel News Asia and Deutsche Welle TV. Aslan regularly moderates at high-level global conferences and has shared the stage with many world leaders, including Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron, Justin Trudeau and Bill Clinton.

Aslan holds masters degrees in International Affairs and Journalism from Columbia University in New York and a bachelor’s degree in International Politics from Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Hoover Institution
Senior Fellow for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations

Elizabeth Economy is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and a senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her most recent book is The Third Revolution: Xi Jinping and the New Chinese State. She is also the author of the award-winning book The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China’s Future, and By All Means Necessary: How China’s Resource Quest is Changing the World, co-authored with Michael Levi. She has published in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times, among others. In June 2018, Politico Magazine named her one of “10 Names That Matter on China Policy.” She received her BA from Swarthmore College, her AM from Stanford University, and her PhD from the University of Michigan.

Managing Director and CEO
RCLCO

Gadi Kaufmann is Managing Director and CEO of RCLCO. Gadi has over 30 years of experience working with developers, lenders, private and institutional investors, and non-real estate entities, conducting engagements in the U.S. and abroad. Gadi’s areas of expertise include economic consulting for real estate projects and portfolios; corporate strategy planning and management consulting at the enterprise level; transactional and negotiation services; and investment, financing and capital formation strategy formulation and implementation. Gadi is an active board and board committee member of several organizations including the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the UCLA Ziman Center for Real Estate, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Young Presidents’ Organization and World Presidents’ Organization (YPO-WPO), and Pension Real Estate Association (PREA) Board of Directors. Gadi holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from UCLA, and is married to Karen Kaufmann, a Professor of Political Science at UCLA.

Managing Director and Head of Equity Investments
MetLife

Mark Wilsmann is Managing Director and Head of Equity Investments for MetLife Investment Management – Real Estate. Wilsmann is responsible for leading MetLife’s $30 billion direct property investment platform, investing on behalf of the MetLife General Account as well as institutional investors including public and private pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies. In addition, his team manages the $4 billion MetLife Core Property Fund, and $12 billion in core/core-plus managed accounts. Prior to his current role, Wilsmann led MetLife’s commercial mortgage lending business. Under his leadership, MetLife became recognized as the top life company lender, with volume averaging more than $10 billion annually.

Head of Global Investment Research
Heitman

Mary Ludgin is Heitman’s Head of Global Investment Research. She is a partner of the firm and holds a seat on its investment, valuation, and global management committees. She holds an AB from Vassar College and an MA and Ph.D. from Northwestern University.

Mary was a Global Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and she chaired ULI’s Chicago District Council. She sits on the board of ULI’s Center for Sustainability and Economic Performance. She served as Chair of the Pension Real Estate Association, President of the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries, and President of the Real Estate Research Institute. Mary is a fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute for Real Estate Research and a member of LAI, the honorary real estate society.

Mary was the 2019 recipient of the Pension Real Estate Association’s James A. Graaskamp award, which recognizes researchers whose work contributes to the common body of knowledge regarding real estate investment.

Portfolio Creative Executive
Walt Disney Imagineering
The Walt Disney Company

Bhavna has been a leader in the entertainment / hospitality development industry for the last 25 years.  She has led large scale multi-use development projects both nationally and in Asia (Singapore, Tokyo and Hong Kong). 

She joined The Walt Disney Company (TWDC) in 2015 to lead the resort development / expansion in Hong Kong.  In 2016, Bhavna was promoted to Creative Executive of the newly formed Global Resort Studio.  The Studio is responsible for managing the multi-billion dollar reinvention of the Disney Resort projects worldwide, while repositioning existing properties as market leaders in experiential resort design.  In addition to hotel development, Bhavna’s Studio also leads the development of the highly successful membership driven Disney Vacation Clubs. 

Bhavna delights collaborating with extraordinary internal Disney talent as well as world class external design partners.  She pursues her passion for excellence and forward thinking design with a keen sensibility towards enriching the Disney guest experiences with an ever expanding collection of beloved Disney stories and characters in adventurous, fun filled and deeply memorable ways. 

Prior to joining TWDC, Bhavna was an Area Director with Caesars Entertainment and SVP of Design & Concept Development for Pinnacle Entertainment. She served as the principal design leader in the development of the Harrah’s Casino and Hotel in the heart of historic New Orleans. She led several high–profile, multi-billion–dollar development projects in the US and Asia — among them was Caesars Entertainments’ multi-billion dollar bid for the Singapore Sentosa Island Casino and Integrated Resort.   

Born in Mumbai, India, Bhavna moved to New Orleans, LA, where she later earned her Master’s Degree in Architecture from Tulane University.  Bhavna has been an active member of the ULI Entertainment Development Council. 

Founder + CEO, BLVD Hospitality

Blanchard is a proven hospitality pioneer, hotelier, and market visionary with an accomplished track-record of nationally renowned hospitality projects. Jon founded BLVD Hospitality in 2008, and after spearheading downtown Los Angeles’ first adaptive reuse hospitality project with the historic renovation of the United Artists’ Building and Theatre into the award winning Ace Hotel, Jon set his sights on the rekindled LA hospitality development renaissance. BLVD, under the vision of Blanchard, is creating and developing some of the industry’s most anticipated hospitality and real estate projects in Los Angeles and beyond—from DTLA’s newly opened Soho Warehouse and The Hoxton to LA’s first modular construction high-rise for citizenM to BLVD’s recently acquired legacy property – The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica. Jon is inspired by visionaries such as Walt Disney and Howard Hughes, and he has had a lifelong passionate interest in how aviation, locomotion, and hospitality have shaped the world. He is a perfectionist and his attention to detail is one of the driving factors in BLVD’s ongoing success.

Senior Vice President of Research and Strategy
GID

At GID, Suzanne Mulvee is responsible for creating actionable insights into economic drivers, capital market trends, and real estate fundamentals to maximize risk-adjusted returns across real estate cycles. Prior to joining GID, Mulvee was a Director and Real Estate Strategist at CoStar Portfolio Strategy and PPR. There, she was a consultant to some of the largest investment managers, life insurers, pension funds, banks, and private equity funds in the U.S., providing independent expertise in real estate market, portfolio, and mortgage risk analysis.

Editorial Director, German Marshall Fund of the United States

Rachel Tausendfreund is editorial director at GMF, overseeing the organization’s research output and publication planning.

Before joining GMF, Rachel was editorial director at the European Council on Foreign Relations and editor at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP). At the DGAP, she was a member of the editorial team of the bimonthly foreign policy magazine Internationale Politik and ran IP-Journal, an online magazine covering German and European foreign policy. She has researched and published on issues relating to German, American, and transatlantic politics, as well as international trade policy and European foreign policy.

Rachel earned her BA in her native state of Michigan before moving to Germany where she got her MA in European Studies and Politics and then did doctoral research and teaching on European trade policy. She is a native English speaker and speaks fluent German and basic French.