Rod Kritsberg is the co-founder and CIO of KPG. He leads the development of the firm’s investment strategy; sources and structures acquisition and credit-related opportunities; and maintains and develops new client and capital partner relationships.

KPG was founded in 2014 with the goal of melding a quality approach and in-depth analysis typically found at larger companies with the individual attention to transactions and street-level real estate knowledge that characterize boutique firms. To date, Mr. Kritsberg and his partners have established KPG as a competitive real estate firm in New York by leveraging relationships with institutional and private investors, and local brokers, and by generating above-market returns on transactions.

Prior to forming KPG, Mr. Kritsberg was Director of Acquisitions at Midtown Equities, where he focused on urban and high street retail development and acquisitions. Before that, he headed the real estate division of Hays Ventures LLC—Hays Realty Services, where he presided over value-oriented investment sales in different asset classes and regions. Mr. Kritsberg started his career in transactional real estate and capital markets, and operated his own brokerage firm as an investment sales broker

Gregory Kraut is the co-founder and CEO of KPG Funds. Mr. Kraut oversees the strategic direction of the company, fundraising, development, capital administration, asset management and leasing.

Before KPG, Mr. Kraut was the Founding Principal and Managing Director of Avison Young’s New York office. Working with senior management, he established the Canadian-based firm’s local corporate infrastructure and grew its footprint in the Tri-State region through business acquisitions and high-level recruiting. During this time, he was named one of Commercial Observer’s Power 100 in New York City real estate for three consecutive years.

As a senior broker and advisor, Mr. Kraut specialized in tenant and landlord representation including acquisition, disposition and planning strategies for local and multi-market clients. He also evaluated and underwrote office properties for individual and institutional owners.

Prior to Avison Young, Mr. Kraut was a Senior Executive at CBRE, the world’s largest real estate services company. Throughout his 20-year career, he has represented owners and occupiers in transactions totaling more than 10 million square feet.

Gabriel Sasson joined KPG Funds in 2019 as Managing Director, Portfolio Management and Fund Operations.  He is involved in strategic management initiatives, leasing with project teams, financial analysis and projections, portfolio management and reporting and the fund’s day-to-day operations.

Before KPG, Mr. Sasson was a Senior Investment Officer with the United Nations Joint Staff Pension Fund where he was responsible for oversight of approximately $3.0 billion dollars of capital committed to global real estate investments. Prior to the United Nations, Mr. Sasson held Portfolio Manager positions at both APG Asset Management and General Motors Asset Management where he was responsible for real estate investments across North America. Mr. Sasson earned a MBA in Finance and Economics from the NYU Stern Business School.

Strauss Zelnick founded ZMC (originally known as ZelnickMedia) in 2001. Mr. Zelnick is responsible for originating, structuring and monitoring investments. Mr. Zelnick currently represents ZMC as a director of Education Networks of America, Inc. and on the board of Alloy, L.L.C. He serves as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Previously, Mr. Zelnick was on the boards of Cast & Crew Entertainment Services, L.L.C. and Naylor L.L.C. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Columbia Music Entertainment, Chairman of ITN Networks, Chairman of Direct Holdings Worldwide and OTX.

Prior to forming ZMC, Mr. Zelnick was President and Chief Executive Officer of BMG Entertainment, at that time one of the world’s largest music and entertainment companies with more than 200 record labels and operations in 54 countries.

Before joining BMG Entertainment, Mr. Zelnick was President and Chief Executive Officer of Crystal Dynamics, a producer and distributor of interactive entertainment software. Prior to that, he spent four years as President and Chief Operating Officer of 20th Century Fox, where he managed all aspects of Fox Inc.’s worldwide motion picture production and distribution business.

Previously, Mr. Zelnick spent three years at Vestron Inc., two as the company’s President and Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Zelnick also served as Vice President of International Television Sales at Columbia Pictures.

Mr. Zelnick holds a BA from Wesleyan University, as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law School.

Larissa Herczeg is a Managing Partner of Oak Street Real Estate Capital, LLC and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Ms. Herczeg is responsible for all aspects of Oak Street’s Seeding & Strategic Capital business, including investment sourcing, due diligence, selection and portfolio management and reporting.

Ms. Herczeg focuses on sourcing, due diligence, investment monitoring and serving on advisory boards for Oak Street’s SASC business. Select activities include co-founding Women in Real Estate, serving as a Trustee of Roosevelt University and a mentor for the Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leader’s In Real Estate Initiative, a mentor for the Toigo Foundation and has served as a guest speaker at the University of California-Berkeley, Kellogg School of Management and the University of Notre Dame.

Prior to Oak Street, Ms. Herczeg was responsible for global real estate investing at Morgan Creek Capital Management, Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors and the Credit Suisse Customized Fund Investment Group (now known as GCM Grosvenor). Ms. Herczeg received a B.A. with honors in Government and Economics from the University of Notre Dame, a Master’s degree with honors in International Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a Juris Doctor degree with honors from Columbia University Law School.

Robert T. Lapidus, President and Chief Investment Officer, co-founded L&L Holding Company, LLC in June 2000. Mr. Lapidus’ primary areas of expertise include formulating real estate strategy, structuring joint ventures, acquisitions, dispositions, capital formation and financing. Since its inception, Lapidus has led L&L to distribute over $1.1 billion in profits to its investors. Lapidus has arranged joint venture transactions with some of the most respected names in the industry including Prudential Real Estate Investors, The Florida State Board of Administration, Carlyle Realty Partners, General Electric Pension Trust, Allianz Global Investors, Principal Real Estate Advisors, JP Morgan Asset Management, Beacon Capital Partners, Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers, Zurich Insurance, Investcorp, RREEF, Blackrock and Columbia Property Trust. L&L’s current portfolio consists of approximately 6 million square feet, exclusively in Manhattan with a market value in excess of $4 billion.
Mr. Lapidus graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983 and received a Juris Doctor degree from Cardozo Law School (New York, New York), Cum Laude, in 1986.
Mr. Lapidus is a member of the Big Apple Metro Division of the Worldwide Presidents’ Organization (WPO) and a member of the board of directors of the Madison Square Park Conservancy. He also serves as a member of the Advisory Board to the Lehigh University College of Business and Economics as well as a member of Board of Directors of the Catalogue for Giving of New York City. Mr. Lapidus is actively involved in philanthropic endeavors focusing on disadvantaged youth and education

Howard Stern is the founder and principal of Stern & Associates, LLC a full service real estate advisory and consulting firm. Current and past clients include a commercial real estate investment trust (REIT) with a $2.5 billion market capitalization; an ultra-high net worth/family office landlord with real estate holdings in excess of $1 billion and private/institutional real estate owners. Advisory services include all aspects of asset disposition strategy and execution; project redevelopment/repositioning; value enhancement/leasing activities; and media and entertainment production studio and creative office operations. Notable transactions and assignments include a $100+ million, 1 million square foot biomed/office campus and development in Valencia, CA; a $200+ million media & entertainment/creative office campus in Hollywood, CA; a $20 million medical office building/development project in Florida; a 300-acre single-family residential and commercial development in Montana; and a $16 million Class A state-of-the-art biomedical facility in Valencia, CA.

Prior to forming his own firm in July 2014, Mr. Stern served as President and director of Hudson Pacific Properties, a premier California-based office REIT from June 2010 to January 2014. Mr. Stern co-founded the predecessor Company Hudson Capital, LLC in 2006 and successfully took the Company public in 2010. In his role as President and Member of the Board of Directors, Mr. Stern oversaw such aspects as operations, leasing, development and acquisitions; and was instrumental in the Company’s operating and geographic growth which at the time of his departure encompassed approximately 6.5 million square feet in Northern and Southern California as well as the Pacific Northwest. As part of his responsibilities, Mr. Stern also acted as President of the Company’s Sunset Gower and Sunset Bronson media and entertainment properties in Hollywood where he lead the daily operations of 23 production sound stages and over approximately 650,000 square feet of office production and support space catering to media content providers. Mr. Stern can also be credited for the successful consummation of the Company’s key lease transactions such as the 284,000 square foot Riot Games transaction ($370 million) at Element LA as well as the 320,000 square foot and 230,000 square foot Square and Salesforce lease transactions respectively, in San Francisco.

Before joining Hudson Capital, LLC, Mr. Stern served as Chief Investment Officer for Arden Realty, Inc., a twenty million square foot Southern California REIT that was sold to GE Capital in 2006. In the role as CIO, Howard was responsible for all facets of the Company’s acquisition, disposition and structured finance activities. Other roles at Arden Realty included First Vice President of Operations and Leasing and Vice President of Strategic Planning where he was responsible for spearheading all Asset Management functions. Prior to his tenure at Arden Realty, Inc., Mr. Stern spent five years as Vice President of the Archon Group, a subsidiary of Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he was responsible for leading all Western Region mezzanine financing and real estate asset management activities.

Mr. Stern is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Economy and he has a Masters of Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California. Mr. Stern is an active member of the Office Development Council at the Urban Land Institute as well as a regular speaker at numerous real estate industry organizations such as NAIOP, RealShare and Bisnow and Family Office events.

Simon Ziff serves as president of Ackman-Ziff, a position he assumed in 1995. Since joining the firm as an analyst in 1989, Simon has overseen the firms arranging of over $50 billion of debt, mezzanine and equity financings for some of the nation’s foremost real estate developers and owners while solidifying the firm’s relationships with key capital sources. Simon has engineered the firm’s collaborative culture which functions as a magnet for financial talent. He has directed its evolution as an industry thought-leader with over 30 professionals on the team.

Simon received a B.S. in Finance from Pennsylvania State University, and an M.S. in Real Estate Finance from New York University. In May 2002, New York University awarded Simon its second ever distinguished Real Estate Alumni Recognition Award. He has also been recognized on multiple occasions by the Real Estate Board of New York, including as the first recipient of its Most Promising Commercial Salesperson of the Year Award” and six times as the recipient of its “Most Ingenious Deal of the Year award. Simon has also been active in leadership of many not-for-profit organizations.

In January 2012, Simon received the prestigious Louis Smadbeck Broker Recognition Award from the Real Estate Board of New York in recognition of his positive influence on the real estate brokerage industry over the past 17 years.

Eric is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Grandview Partners, LLC. Prior to Grandview, Eric served as a Managing Director in the Acquisitions Group at Greenfield Partners, LLC where he joined in 2004. Eric’s responsibilities included underwriting and analysis of potential real estate investments as well as management of new and existing operating partner relationships. Eric was a member of Greenfield’s investment committee. Prior to joining Greenfield, Eric was an Investment Banking Analyst at Citigroup, Inc. in both the Mergers and Acquisitions and Real Estate and Lodging groups. At Citigroup, Eric’s responsibilities included providing financial advisory and merger analysis for office, industrial, lodging, and multi-family real estate investment trusts (REITs).

Eric earned a B.S. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Robert (“Bob”) Sessa is the Head of Real Estate for the Employees Retirement System of Texas (“ERS”), a $28 billion public pension plan serving over 300,000 state employees. Mr. Sessa is responsible for formulating and directing the investment strategy and portfolio construction of the Trust’s 12% allocation to real estate. In his role, Mr. Sessa oversees all investment selection, due diligence, underwriting, and legal negotiations of the private real estate portfolio. Mr. Sessa is also an active advisory board member on most of the program’s underlying funds. Since the program’s inception in 2005, Mr. Sessa and team have created an internally managed global listed real estate securities portfolio valued at over $750 million and in 2009, began implementing the private real estate global portfolio which now has over $4.0 billion in commitments to over 60 funds/club deals and co-investments with a current value of approximately $2.0 billion.

Mr. Sessa has 17 years of real estate experience and been a true leader and innovator in the institutional real estate community. Bob is an active member of PREA, ULI and NAREIT and sits on the Executive Council of the University of Texas Real Estate Center and the University of Texas REIT advisory board. Bob has co-led PREA’s LP only event and co-chaired PREA’s main conference and has spoken at several conferences both domestically and internationally. Moreover, ERS’ Real Estate program has outperformed its industry benchmark since inception and was recognized in 2014 and 2015 for best Indirect Strategy and in 2016 for the best Listed Strategy and shortlisted in 2015 for the Best Large Institutional Investor categories at the IP Real Estate Global Awards.

Prior to joining ERS in 1999 as an equities analyst, Mr. Sessa spent five years at Coopers & Lybrand (now PriceWaterhouseCoopers) in New York in the personal financial services and business assurance groups. Mr. Sessa received an MBA at the University of Texas at Austin and a B.S. in business administration from Fordham University where he earned a swimming scholarship. Bob is a CFA charter holder and a former CPA.