Finance
The CRE Finance Council Announces New Chairs for Industry Forums
New Chairs and Chair-Elects Introduced at Annual June Conference
NEW YORK, June 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) announced today new Chairs for the 2024-2025 industry Forums. The new Forum leadership was introduced at CREFC’s Annual June Conference in New York City.
CREFC’s Forums represent specific market constituencies that drive the U.S. commercial real estate finance industry. Forums include:
- Alternative Lenders and High Yield Investors
- B-Piece Investors
- GSE/Multifamily Lenders
- Investment-Grade Bondholders
- Issuers
- Portfolio Lenders
- Servicers
Each of these Forums interacts and addresses issues critical to their business sector and works to achieve solutions that serve a common purpose. CREFC’s Forums manage disparate and converging market views, advocate a consensus of positions to policymakers and lawmakers, educate members, develop market best practices and standards, and work toward the betterment of the entire commercial real estate finance market.
The Incoming slate of Forum leaders includes:
Alternative Lenders & High Yield Investors. CREFC welcomes Rachel Hunter-Goldman (KKR) as Chair-Elect, Samantha Rotchford (MSD) as Chair, and Samir Tejpaul (Square Mile Capital Investments) as Past Chair.
B-Piece Investors. CREFC welcomes Frank Yin (KKR) as Chair-Elect, Peter Lindner (Rialto) as Chair, and Jason Nick (LNR) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Lyndsay Stephenson (Prime Finance Partners) served as Past Chair.
GSE/Multifamily Lenders. CREFC welcomes David Haynes (CBRE) as Chair-Elect, Ahmed Hasan (Capital One) as Chair, and Kate Whalen (BMO) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, the Past Chair was Emily Schultz (Berkadia Commercial Mortgage). Alonzo White (Fannie Mae) and Jason Griest (Freddie Mac) serve as government-sponsored enterprise representatives.
Investment-Grade Bondholders. CREFC welcomes Adam Smith (DWS) as Chair-Elect, Rajesh Bansal (Quiq Capital) as Chair, and Richard Razza (Webster Bank) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Jane Rivers (T. Rowe Price) served as Past Chair.
Issuers. CREFC welcomes Shaishav Agarwal (Deutsche Bank) as Chair-Elect, Brigid Mattingly (Wells Fargo) as Chair, and Jane Lam (Morgan Stanley) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, David Schell (BMO Capital Markets) served as Past Chair.
Portfolio Lenders – Banks. CREFC welcomes Kristin Khanna (Barclays) as Chair-Elect, Rob Grudzinski (U.S. Bank) as Chair, and Scott Dixon (Truist) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Jonathan Salzinger (Bank of America) served as Past Chair.
Portfolio Lenders – Insurance Company. CREFC welcomes Melissa Farrell (PGIM) as Chair-Elect, Kevin Pivnick (Blackstone) as Chair, and Chris Miculis (Nuveen) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Stefanie Stewart (Voya Investment Management) served as Past Chair.
Servicers – Servicing Administration. CREFC welcomes Dana Jo Martino (Berkadia) as Chair-Elect, Adam Fox (Fitch Ratings) as Chair, and Leslie Hayton (Wells Fargo) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Stacy Ackermann (K&L Gates) served as Past Chair.
Servicers – Special Situations. CREFC welcomes Alex Killick (CWCapital) as Chair-Elect, Pam Dent (Freddie Mac) as Chair, and Tony Yousif (SVN) as Past Chair. In 2023-2024, Andrea Helm (Midland Loan Services) served as Past Chair.
“We want to welcome the new members of our CREFC industry Forums and thank existing and past Forum members for their dedication and excellent work,” said Lisa Pendergast, Executive Director of CREFC.
“For 30 years, CREFC has served as the voice of the now $6 trillion commercial real estate finance industry and CREFC’s industry Forums continue to play a key role in ensuring all industry voices are heard and respected. CREFC’s Forums serve a vital industry function, as they represent key components of the CRE finance markets. A core function of Forum leaders is to work toward consensus among their constituents and then advocate those positions to other market segments and to policy and lawmakers. Forum leaders are also charged with assisting the development of industry best practices and implementing new initiatives critical to their business sectors. I and the entire CREFC community are grateful for our Forum leaders and their contributions and dedication to CRE finance.”
About CREFC
The CRE Finance Council (CREFC) is the trade association for the nearly $6 trillion commercial real estate finance industry with a membership that includes more than 400 companies and 19,000 individuals. Member firms include balance sheet and securitized lenders, loan and bond investors, private equity firms, servicers, rating agencies, and borrowers. For 30 years, CREFC has promoted liquidity, transparency, and efficiency in the commercial real estate finance markets, and acted as a legislative and regulatory advocate for the industry, playing a vital role in setting market standards and best practices, and providing education for market participants.
SOURCE CRE Finance Council
Texas restaurant operators are continuing to face mounting financial pressure as rising food and fuel costs impact businesses across the state, according to the latest quarterly economic report from the Texas Restaurant Association.
The association’s 2026 first-quarter report shows that many restaurant owners are struggling to keep up with increased operating expenses while trying to avoid passing those full costs on to customers.
“You know, what we’re seeing a lot of in Texas from these quarterly economic reports that we do is that food costs continue to rise,” said Texas Restaurant Association Chief Marketing Officer Tony Abroscato. “We all know that it’s up 35% since the pandemic. And so that’s an impact on our restaurant.”
According to the report, 77% of restaurant operators reported increased costs of goods, while 66% said suppliers have added fuel surcharges as gas prices continue to climb.
“We’re seeing that 90% of consumers start to adjust their habits based upon rising gas prices,” said Tony Abroscato. “Then also those gas prices impact the cost of food because everything is trucked and shipped and a variety of different things.”
In addition to rising costs, labor shortages remain a major concern for restaurant owners. More than half of association members reported difficulties finding enough workers.
“You know, immigration is difficult and has had an impact on the restaurant industry, the farming industry, which again, then raises prices along the way,” said Abroscato.
Despite the financial challenges, the Texas Restaurant Association’s 2026 first-quarter report shows that Texas restaurants are only passing a portion of those increased costs on to customers while absorbing the rest through reduced profits.
Some restaurant owners have been making changes to adjust, like limiting menu items or even turning to QR code ordering, Abroscato said.
Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.
Finance
Household savings, income and finances in Spain: how did they fare in 2025 and what can we expect for 2026?
In 2025, GDI grew above the rate of average annual inflation (2.7%) and the growth in the number of households (1.3% according to the LFS), which allowed for a recovery in purchasing power. In this context, real household income has grown by 4.5% since before the pandemic, highlighting that households have continued to gain purchasing power in real terms.
The strong financial position of households is reflected not only in the high savings rate but also in their financial accounts. In this regard, households’ financial wealth continued to increase in 2025: their financial assets amounted to 3.4 trillion euros at the end of the year, versus 3.1 trillion at the end of 2024. This increase of 292 billion euros is broken down into a net acquisition of financial assets amounting to 95 billion, higher than the 21.5-billion average in the period 2015-2019, when interest rates were very low, and a revaluation effect of 194 billion. When breaking down the net acquisition of assets, we note that households invested 42 billion euros in equities and investment funds, just under 9.6 billion less than in deposits, while they disposed of debt securities worth 6 billion following the fall in interest rates.
On the other hand, households continued to deleverage in 2025, and by the end of the year their financial liabilities stood at 46.9% of GDP, compared to 47.8% in 2024, the lowest level since the end of 1998. This decline reflects the fact that, in 2025, households took advantage of the interest rate drop to prudently incur debt: net new borrowing amounted to 35 billion euros, representing an increase of 3.8%, which is lower than the nominal GDP growth of 5.8% and the GDI growth of 5.3%.
As a result of the increase in financial assets and the decrease in liabilities as a percentage of GDP, the net financial wealth of households recorded a notable increase of 7.3 points compared to 2024, reaching 156.8% of GDP.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) — Mayor Jerry Dyer has unveiled his 2026- 2027 budget proposal at Fresno’s City Hall.
The overall budget total is $2.55 billion, with a majority of the funding going to public works, utilities, police and FAX.
The mayor also highlighted several investments, including a 10-year tree trimming cycle, the Homeless Assistance Response Team and an America 250 celebration.
Dyer says that despite some challenging circumstances, the City of Fresno’s long-term financial condition remains healthy.
“We’re pleased to say that based on increasing revenues and sound financial management, as well as a very healthy reserve, the city of Fresno has a strong financial outlook,” he said.
Dyer’s office says the budget is a comprehensive financial plan that reflects the city’s ongoing commitment to the “One Fresno” vision.
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