TEAM
Starwood Property Trust is led by seasoned professionals who have successfully navigated all stages of the credit cycle. The Starwood Property Trust team collectively represents exceptional real estate finance talent—and, at all levels of the organization, the company continues to seek out energetic, self-motivated individuals with fresh ideas and the ability to help implement innovative solutions that ultimately benefit investors.
Barry S. Sternlicht
Chairman & CEO
Starwood Capitol Group
& Starwood Property Trust
Executive Team
Barry Sternlicht is Chairman & CEO of Starwood Capital Group, the private alternative investment firm he formed in 1991 that is focused on global real estate. Mr. Sternlicht also serves as Chairman & CEO of Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), a leading diversified finance company.
For the past 31 years, Mr. Sternlicht has structured investments with an asset value of $240B+. Starwood Capital’s investment vehicles have invested in approximately 290,000 residential units, 4,000 hotels, 103M SF of office properties, 75M SF of industrial, 56M SF of retail and 70,000 lots of land in residential subdivisions. The Firm currently manages over $115B of assets on behalf of its high net worth and institutional partners. Starwood Capital, its affiliates and externally managed public companies encompass ~ 5,000 employees. The Firm maintains offices in Arlington, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Greenwich, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and affiliated offices in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Sydney and Tokyo.
From 1995 through early 2005, Mr. Sternlicht was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, a company he founded in 1995. During his tenure, he built Starwood Hotels into one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world, employing more than 120,000 people with 895 properties in 100 countries. Mr. Sternlicht created W Hotels, perhaps the world’s most successful “boutique” brand, and built the St. Regis Hotels brand from a single hotel to a global brand.
In 2008, Mr. Sternlicht founded SH Group, his new hotel management company. SH Group is the owner and manager of Baccarat Hotels & Resorts and 1 Hotels brands.
In 2016, Mr. Sternlicht was the recipient of PERE’s inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015, he was named the Global Industry Figure of the Year by PERE, received the Cornell Icon of the Industry Award and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Hotel Investment Forum. In 2013, Mr. Sternlicht was named the Most Important Person in Commercial Real Estate Finance by The Mortgage Observer. In 2010, Mr. Sternlicht was named Executive of the Year and Investor of the Year by Commercial Property Executive. Mr. Sternlicht was also named America’s Best Lodging CEO by Institutional Investor Magazine. He is a member of the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He has received the Preston Robert Tisch Distinguished Industry Leadership Award from New York University, the CEO Diversity Award from Diversity Best Practices/Business Women’s Network, the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Travel Marketing Executives, the Hospitality Heritage Award from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, and the Marketer of the Year Award from Brandweek. Mr. Sternlicht’s humanitarian efforts have garnered prestigious national honors such as JDRF’s Man of the Year, JDRF’s Living and Giving Award and JDRF’s Chairman’s Award.
Mr. Sternlicht serves on the Board of Directors of The Estée Lauder Companies and the Real Estate Roundtable. Additionally, he formerly served as Chairman of the Board and is currently a Board member of The Robin Hood Foundation, and also serves on the Boards of the Dreamland Film & Performing Arts Center, and the Executive Advisory Board of Americans for the Arts. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation Trustee Council, the World Presidents Organization and the Urban Land Institute.
Barry Sternlicht received his BA, magna cum laude, with honors from Brown University. He later earned an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School.
Jeffery F. DiModica, CFA
President & Managing Director
Starwood Property Trust
Executive Team
Jeffrey F. DiModica, CFA, has been the Company’s President since 2014 and served as an external director of the Company from its inception in 2009 to July 2014. In his current role he leads and serves as a member of the investment committee of each of the Company’s business lines including Large Loan Lending, Residential Lending, Infrastructure Lending, Property Investing and Investing & Serving which have a collective $28 billion of assets under management.
From 1993 to 2014, Mr. DiModica served in various investment banking roles at Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Merrill Lynch. Mr. DiModica began his career in the Merchant and Investment Banking Group of the Commercial Real Estate Department at Chemical Bank from 1989 to 1991.
Mr. DiModica received a B.S./B.A. degree with distinction and a concentration in Finance from Boston University in 1989, an M.B.A. degree from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College in 1993, and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1995. Mr. DiModica is a member of YPO (Young Presidents Organization) and serves on the Miami Advisory Board of the Posse Foundation, an organization that identifies, recruits and trains individuals with extraordinary leadership potential who are awarded full-tuition scholarships. Mr. DiModica was also the founding president of www.Mitoaction.org, a support, education and advocacy group for families affected by Mitochondrial Disease.
Mr. DiModica is honored to be ranked in Commercial Observer’s “The 50 Most Important Figures of Commercial Real Estate Finance” list for the last 8 years, ranking in the top 10 the past 5 years.
Rina Paniry
Chief Financial Officer
Starwood Property Trust
Executive Team
Rina Paniry is Chief Financial Officer of Starwood Property Trust. In this role, she is responsible for all financial and accounting functions for the business. Before being promoted to this role in 2014, Ms. Paniry served as Chief Financial Officer of Starwood Property Trust subsidiary LNR Property LLC, where she led the integration and transition of Starwood Property Trust’s core finance functions—including accounting, treasury, planning and tax—to LNR’s Miami office following Starwood Property Trust’s acquisition of the business in 2013. Ms. Paniry joined LNR in 2006 as Chief Accounting Officer.
Prior to joining LNR, Ms. Paniry spent 11 years at Deloitte & Touche, where she began her career. She worked in numerous roles with increasing responsibility, principally in the real estate industry in the functional areas of audit and mergers & acquisitions.
Ms. Paniry holds a Masters of Accounting from Florida International University and is a Florida CPA.
Dennis Schuh
Chief Originations Officer
Starwood Property Trust
CRE Lending
Dennis Schuh is Chief Originations Officer of Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Schuh is responsible for national originations, including senior debt, mezzanine and preferred equity investments.
Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2016, Mr. Schuh was a Managing Director and head of CMBS Banking/Origination for J.P. Morgan. He was previously head of CMBS Capital Markets where his responsibilities included managing the securitization business and high yield debt distribution. Before joining J.P. Morgan in 1997, Mr. Schuh’s career began at Fitch Ratings where he rated CMBS and REITs. He served on the Board of Governors for the CRE Finance Council from 2006 to 2008 and on its Executive Committee from 2007 to 2008. Mr. Schuh is also a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Mortgage Bankers Association, CRE Finance Counsel and the International Counsel of Shopping Centers.
Mr. Schuh graduated from Georgetown University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a degree in Finance.
Mr. Schuh is honored to be ranked in the top 10 of Commercial Observer’s “The 50 Most Important Figures of Commercial Real Estate Finance” list for the last 5 years.
Mark Cagley
Chief Credit Officer
Starwood Property Trust
CRE Lending
Mark Cagley is the Chief Credit Officer of Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Cagley oversees deal screening, structuring and due diligence, as well as portfolio management for investments made by Starwood Property Trust. He also chairs the Company’s Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2015, Mr. Cagley was employed at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he most recently served as the Commercial Real Estate Credit Products Executive for the Eastern United States. In this role, he was responsible for the underwriting, structuring, closing and management of a $25 billion loan portfolio. During his almost 30 years in the real estate finance industry at Bank of America and Wells Fargo/Wachovia, Mr. Cagley held a number of senior roles in the commercial real estate origination, underwriting and capital markets loan syndication units at both organizations.
Mr. Cagley received a B.S. degree in marketing from Louisiana State University and an MBA from the University of Houston. He is a member of the National Association of Securities Dealers and holds Series 7, 79, 63 and 24 licenses.
Cary Carpenter
Managing Director
Starwood Property Trust
CRE Lending
Cary Carpenter is a Managing Director of commercial real estate, capital markets, trading and syndication at Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Carpenter is responsible for pricing, structuring and capital commitments for the acquisition and sale of CRE debt for Starwood Property Trust. He also manages the financing and sale of whole loans, as well as warehouse lines for the company.
Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2010, Mr. Carpenter was a Partner at Coastal Capital Partners, where he managed the acquisition of performing, sub-performing and non-performing CRE debt. As an Executive Vice President with Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance, Cary was responsible for the pricing, structuring and sale of all fixed and floating rate high-yield commercial real estate debt. Before that, Mr. Carpenter served his initial stint at Coastal Capital Partners, where his responsibilities included client development and capital raising for third parties. Before that, he was a Managing Director for Precept Corp., an online marketplace for CRE financing, with responsibilities including business and product development, and capital raising. Prior to that, he was a Vice President of Structured Finance at Nomura Asset Capital, a Senior Consultant in Deloitte and Touche’s real estate capital markets group, an Assistant Treasurer in Toyo Trust and Bank’s real estate finance group, and a Project Designer for both The SWA Group and Sasaki Associates.
Cary received an M.S. in real estate development and finance from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture from Kansas State University.
Lorcain Egan
Managing Director and
Co-Head of Europe
Starwood Capital Group
CRE Lending
Lorcain Egan is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Europe for Starwood. Mr. Egan is responsible for Starwood’s international lending platform covering Europe and Asia. Since joining Starwood in 2013, Mr. Egan has structured and executed financing transactions and secured financing for Starwood’s equity acquisitions across Europe and Asia.
Prior to joining Starwood Capital, Mr. Egan was a Vice President at Barclays Bank where he worked in their Structured Property, Debt Finance team based in London. In this team, Mr. Egan focused on originating, structuring and executing real estate debt opportunities for Barclays. During his time at Barclays Bank and Allied Irish Bank Mr. Egan has worked across a variety of areas of specialist asset based financing including trade, working capital, M&A, corporate finance and structured real estate financing.
Mr. Egan received a degree in Law & Economics from the University of Ulster.
Adam Behlman
President, Real Estate Investing & Servicing and Starwood Mortgage Capital
Starwood Property Trust
Real Estate Investing and Servicing
Adam Behlman is President of Starwood Property Trust’s Real Estate Investing & Servicing segment as well as President of Starwood Mortgage Capital. In this role, Mr. Behlman is responsible for overseeing Starwood Property Trust’s commercial mortgage-backed securities, its conduit lending and subsequent securitization activities and its real estate investment platform, as well as leading the company’s wholly owned special servicer, LNR Partners. He previously served as Head of Capital Markets and Chief Risk Officer for LNR.
Prior to joining LNR in 2011, Mr. Behlman served as Head of the Real Estate Finance and CMBS division of UBS. In this role, he was responsible for managing and trading UBS’ legacy CMBS and commercial real estate loan book, while also helping return UBS to the origination, trading and underwriting business. Mr. Behlman previously held a variety of capital markets and real estate roles with firms including Deutsche Bank, Prudential Securities and Deloitte.
After serving on the Board for the past 5 years, Adam was the President and Chairman of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council (CREFC) during the 2020-2021 board of directors term, which is the leading trade organization for the commercial real estate finance industry, with over 11,000 members. He is currently serving as the Past Chairman and chairs the compensation and nomination committee’s as well as co-chairs the DEI HBCU and Education sub-committee
Mr. Behlman holds a B.A. degree from Queens College, CUNY, in both accounting and information systems and economics.
Andrew Kail
Chief Originations Officer
Starwood Property Trust
Residential Lending
Andrew Kail, CFA, is a Managing Director in Residential Lending at Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Kail is responsible for residential mortgage debt strategies with a focus on non-agency whole loans.
Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2022, Mr. Kail was employed as a Director at Aspen Capital, working with its mortgage investment and special servicing operating companies. Before that, Mr. Kail served in a variety of structured product and mortgage industry roles as a Managing Director at both New Residential Investment Corp. and Royal Bank of Scotland, and as a Senior Managing Director at Bear Stearns.
Mr. Kail received his BA in Economics and Business/Government and Law (dual major, Honors in Government and Law) from Lafayette College in 1991. He later earned his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1997.
Sean Murdock
President, Starwood Infrastructure Finance
Starwood Property Trust
Starwood Infrastructure Finance
Sean Murdock is President of Starwood Infrastructure Finance (“SIF”). In this role, Mr. Murdock oversees deal screening, structuring and due diligence, as well as portfolio management for investments made by SIF. He is also a member of SIF’s Investment Committee.
Prior to joining Starwood, Mr. Murdock was a Senior Credit Analyst at Panning Capital Management, a distressed credit fund based in New York. Previous to joining Panning, Mr. Murdock served as the head of US Credit Trading at both the Royal Bank of Scotland in Stamford, Connecticut and Merrill Lynch in New York.
Mr. Murdock received a BA in History from Duke University.
Zach Tanenbaum
Managing Director and Head of Investor Strategy
Starwood Property Trust
Investor Relations
Zachary Tanenbaum is a Managing Director and Head of Investor Strategy for Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Mr. Tanenbaum is responsible for cultivating and managing the company’s relationships with the global investment and analyst communities.
Prior to joining Starwood Property Trust in 2014, Mr. Tanenbaum served as a Senior Analyst at Wesley Capital Management, a long/short real estate securities hedge fund. In this role, he generated investment ideas across the REIT, real estate operating company, specialty finance and homebuilding sectors. He previously served in senior sell-side equity research positions at FBR Capital Markets and MLV & Co.
Mr. Tanenbaum received a B.S. degree from Cornell University and an M.S. degree in real estate, with a concentration in finance and investment, from New York University.
Beverly Hernandez
Chief Information Officer
Starwood Property Trust
IT
Beverly Hernandez is Chief Information Officer at Starwood Property Trust. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing the technology infrastructure, implementation and management of all systems and initiatives within the organization.
With over 30 years of experience in the field of information technology, she has a proven track record of leveraging technology to optimize business operations and achieve strategic objectives.
Ms. Hernandez joined LNR Property/Starwood Property Trust in 1999 and has held various positions within the Information Technology department. Prior to joining LNR, she worked as a Junior Analyst at Raymond James & Associates shortly after obtaining her degree.
Ms. Hernandez received a B.A. degree in Marketing from Florida International University and is Project Management Professional certified.
Heather Bennett
General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Starwood Property Trust
Legal
Heather N. Bennett is General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer of Starwood Property Trust. In this role, Ms. Bennett is responsible for the day-to-day legal and compliance operations of the business.
Prior to becoming the General Counsel of Starwood Property Trust, Ms. Bennett served as General Counsel of the Real Estate Investing & Servicing segment of the company. In this role, Ms. Bennett served as chief legal and compliance officer for the company’s wholly-owned special servicer, LNR Partners, and was responsible for legal oversight of Starwood Property Trust’s investment in commercial mortgage-backed securities, its conduit lending and subsequent securitization activities as well as its real estate investment platform. In addition, Ms. Bennett provided legal oversight and litigation support for the Lending and Property segments of the company.
Prior to joining LNR in 2005, Ms. Bennett was in private practice specializing in complex commercial, corporate and real estate litigation.
Ms. Bennett holds a B.A. degree from the University Florida and a J.D. degree from Pepperdine University School of Law.
Lindy Smiley
Head of Human Resources
Operations
Lindy Smiley is a Managing Director and Head of Human Resources at Starwood Property Trust. In this role, she oversees all aspects of Human Resources for the Company including recruitment, talent management, compensation and benefits. In addition, she is the co-chair of the Company’s ESG committee and oversees philanthropic and community involvement initiatives.
Prior to joining Starwood in 2010, Lindy held positions as a Director of Human Resources for Morgan Stanley and an HR Generalist for Moody’s.
Ms. Smiley holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Syracuse University and a MBA from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.