Jean-Michel Wasterlain

Biography: Mitch Wasterlain is the co-Founder and Managing Partner of Next Cities Investments. Next Cities invests in cities that are experiencing re-urbanization, and creates office environments that foster creativity and collaboration. Mr Wasterlain's career has covered all aspects of real estate investment, financing, and development. He has held senior positions in institutional real estate investment businesses, including President and CEO of ORIX Capital Markets, the US real estate and structured finance arm of ORIX Corp, and Chief Investment Officer of NorthStar Realty Finance, a New York based public REIT. With the formation of Next Cities, he intends to bring to life innovative, sustainable, and economically successful projects that draw on his lifelong interest in architecture, design, and urban planning as well as his broad experience in real estate. Mr. Wasterlain has been deeply involved in the creation and growth of several real estate businesses. After beginning his career in Real Estate Investment Banking at Lehman Brothers in 1985, and investing in distressed real estate at ING Barings in the early 1990’s, he joined several former colleagues in 1996 to form CGA Investment Management, a fund manager focused on real estate and structured finance. As the Managing Director responsible for all real estate investments at CGA, he directed the creation of a portfolio of over $2 billion of assets under management until the firm was acquired in 2001. In 2002, he joined NorthStar Capital Investment to create a real estate lending and investment platform, which led to the IPO of NorthStar Realty Finance (NRF), a public REIT, in 2004. As Chief Investment Officer of NRF and President of NS Advisors, and he oversaw the acquisition and management of NRF’s $5 billion portfolio of real estate debt and equity, as well as NRF’s capital markets financing activities. NRF has been one of the largest and most successful REITs in its peer group.