Christopher LaBianca

Biography: Chris LaBianca is a Managing Director and Head of Origination for the Real Estate Finance and Mortgage Backed Securities Group within the Global Bank Division of the UBS Investment Bank. In this role, Mr. LaBianca is responsible for leading a national lending platform which provides commercial real estate debt for execution through the CMBS market as well as traditional balance sheet lending through its proprietary balance sheet and its Bank USA affiliate. Mr. LaBianca has spent nearly 30 years in the real estate debt markets with firms in the commercial banking, investment banking and private equity space. Prior to joining UBS in 2013, Mr. LaBianca spent five years as President of RCG Longview, a real estate private equity platform sponsored by investment manager Ramius Capital Group and The Feil Organization. Prior to joining RCG, he spent nearly eight years at Bank of America, most recently serving as a Managing Director and Co-Head of National Originations in the firm's Real Estate Capital Markets group. Prior to Bank of America, Mr. LaBianca spent eight years at Chemical and Chase Manhattan Bank, predecessors to JPMorgan Chase, holding senior management positions in the Real Estate Finance and US Securities divisions. He began his career as an Analyst with Prudential. Mr. LaBianca is currently serving in several capacities for the Mortgage Bankers Association. These include membership on the MBA Board of Governors as well as Chairman-Elect of its Commercial Mortgage Board of Governors. He currently serves on the Boards Investment Committee and has served as a past Chairman of its Investor Council. He is a past Chairman of the Real Estate Board of NY’s Finance Committee. Mr. LaBianca is also an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council and a past member of the NYC Advisory Board for NAIOP. He has spoken at numerous industry events including MBA, ICSC, NAIOP, CREF-C and REBNY as well as conferences sponsored by Commercial Observer, Crittenden, and BISNOW among many others. Mr. LaBianca received his BS from Rider College and his MBA from the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, where he serves on the Advisory Board for the Kuhn Real Estate Center. Mr. LaBianca has been named one of the 50 Most Important People in Commercial Real Estate Finance by the Commercial Observer for the past 6 consecutive years.