December 2018 Breakfast Program

David Bitner is Head of Americas Capital Markets Research at Cushman & Wakefield. His research focuses on how macroeconomic trends, real estate fundamentals and dynamics in the broader capital markets interact to shape commercial real estate risks and opportunities for investors. David works closely with Cushman & Wakefield capital markets professionals and clients to further the firm’s goal of promoting thought leadership within the commercial real estate niche. David’s responsibilities include producing capital markets thought leadership content, and directing a program of market presentations, written analysis, surveys, forecasts, and data collection that will support the capital markets business and advance the strategic plan in Americas Research.

Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, David was an investment professional at Makena Capital, a leading endowment-style investment manager located in Palo Alto. At Makena he worked closely with the Global Investment Strategist to develop the fund’s views on macroeconomic and market developments across asset classes and geographies, and subsequently translated these into
investment-worthy strategies. In this role, he researched, developed, and produced a wide range of white papers, presentations and investor letters for internal and external clients, including some of the largest sovereign wealth funds. David began his career as a corporate finance and restructuring investment banker at Bank of America, Merrill Lynch in New York.

Mr. Brett Stuart Messing was formerly Managing Partner of GPS Partners LLC. Prior, he was a Managing Director at Lehman Brothers and its subsidiary, Neuberger Berman. Mr. Messing served on the Investment Committee for the Neuberger Berman Premiere Portfolios. Prior to its acquisition by Neuberger Berman in 2001, he was a Partner and Portfolio Manager at Oscar Capital Management, an investment firm with approximately $900 million in assets in which MSD Capital (Michael Dell’s private investment firm) owned a strategic stake. From 2000 to 2001, Mr. Messing served as interim Chief Executive Officer of two portfolio companies, Interpacket Networks; which was successfully sold to American Tower Corporation and STAR Telecommunications. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked from 1990 to 1997 in several capacities including Co-Head of Restricted Equities Unit and Vice President. Mr. Messing worked at Merrill Lynch as a Senior Vice President from 1997 to 1999. He is the co-author of The Forewarned Investor published by Career Press in 2006 and he is a contributor to Fortune magazine and CNBC. Mr. Messing is a graduate of Harvard Law School as J.D. and Brown University in A.B., Magna Cum Laude.

David is a CPA with 30 years of experience, and has worked with a variety of clients over the years, including high-net-worth individuals and multi-generational families; private foundations and public charities; privately owned businesses ranging from early-stage to mature; and a range of partnerships in real estate, investments, and others.

David is the firm’s leading tax specialist in private foundations and other non-profit organizations, and he holds particular expertise in advising families and individuals with respect to their philanthropic goals.

David is the partner in charge of Business Development and Marketing.  David is also Seiler’s partner-in-charge of coordinating cross-border engagements through our HLB International network, a global independent network of accounting and consulting firms with presence in 130 jurisdictions. In this capacity, he works especially closely with Asia-Pacific, Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, and European engagements.

Steve S. Schilling is a Director in Bernstein’s Wealth Strategies Group and is based in the firm’s San Francisco office. He advises Bernstein’s Bay Area and Pacific Northwest clients regarding complex investment planning issues; his areas of expertise include diversification planning for holders of concentrated portfolios, multigenerational wealth transfer, philanthropy and pre-transaction planning. Steve joined the firm in 2000 and has been a member of the Wealth Strategies Group since 2003, serving as an analyst and senior analyst before becoming a Director in 2009. Steve earned a BA in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is a Chartered Financial Analyst charterholder.

Steve Wilson has 45 years of continuous experience in transactional real estate law. He also has substantial experience in corporate, general business and non-profit law. He has held the esteemed Martindale-Hubbell "AV" (“preeminent”) peer designation for many years. In the superheated West Coast real estate environment, he augments his technical knowledge by providing the business judgment and perspective that a seasoned institutional real estate executive would provide. Much of his current professional focus is on complex, value-added urban mixed-use projects and joint ventures, with recent focus on project planning in Qualified Opportunity Zones. Another and longtime focus assisting nonprofit or charitable organizations (including religious organizations) seeking to monetize their land holdings in a way which incorporates a charitable or public benefit. Steve’s clients routinely comment that he is "their other partner".

Other significant capabilities include real estate tax issues, entity formation/asset management for portfolio owners, restructuring and securitization of holdings, entitlement work, purchases and sales, commercial leasing and title matters. Many clients are offshore investors who benefit greatly from his guidance. In the corporate and general business realm, he has successfully handled numerous mid-market merger and acquisition transactions as well as provided formation and capitalization advice for many start-up and growth stage companies.

Steve has been an expert witness in two recent, significant jury trials involving real estate issues. In the recent past, he advised a major state-controlled Vietnamese bank in  its successful first business venture in the U.S, advised the country’s national airline and advised a PRC state-owned real estate investment entity, Steve has traveled widely on business in Asia, and for 10 years led post-Perestroika humanitarian orphanage support work in the Ryazan region of CIS. His humanitarian endeavors have also included Africa and South America. In 2013, he lectured Chambers of Commerce throughout Indonesia on trade with the US. In 2016, he was a member of the San Francisco Mayor’s economic and trade delegation to Vietnam.