REBNY honors Dukes, Elghanayan, Saltzberg, Stacom, Pusinelli, Fetner, Levine, Picket and Jackson at annual event

New York, NY The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) will honor nine individuals at its annual awards program. This year, REBNY will host “New York Forever: A Celebration of Our City” on June 23rd.

This year's honorees are:

Hazel Dukes
John E. Zuccotti Public Service Award recognizes a New Yorker who has displayed exceptional accomplishments and service in the public’s interest.

Dr. Hazel Dukes is president of the NAACP New York State Conference, a member of both the NAACP National Board of Directors and NAACP Executive Committee, as well as an active member of various NAACP board sub-committees. Dr. Dukes is a woman of great strength and courage. Her dedication to human rights and equality is exemplified by her role linking business, government and social causes. She is an active and dynamic leader who is known for her unselfish and devoted track record for improving the quality of life in New York State. Dr. Dukes is president of the Hazel N. Dukes & Associates Consultant Firm, specializing in the areas of public policy, health and diversity. Dr. Dukes received a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from Adelphi University in New York and completed her post-graduate work at Queens College. In 1990, she was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the City University of New York Law School at Queens College and in 2009, was conferred the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn, New York. In 2012 she was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine in Harlem. Dr. Dukes has many organizational affiliations and is the recipient of numerous awards for her outstanding leadership activities including the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, YWCA City of New York John La Farge Memorial Award for Interracial Justice, Guy R. Brewer Humanitarian Award, and 2007 The Network Journal’s 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business Award. Dr. Dukes was incorporated in 2007 as a Pi Eta Kappa Fellow and her biography has been selected for publication in many journals and directories including Fisk University Library, Minority Women Contribution, American Biographical Institute Personalities of Northeast, Who’s Who Among American Women, and Who’s Who Among Black Women. 

Dukes said, “I am honored to have been selected as a recipient of the John E. Zuccotti Public Service Award, a great New Yorker, and an exemplary public servant.  I hope that in the positions that I held, I provided quality service for all New Yorkers, ensuring that our beloved city distributed its resources with equity.”

Tom Elghanayan
Bernard H. Mendik Lifetime Leadership in Real Estate Award recognizes REBNY members who have displayed exceptional service to the real estate industry and professional accomplishments over the course of distinguished careers.

Tom Elghanayan is the chairman and co-founder of TF Cornerstone Inc. He oversees a real estate portfolio of more than eight million s/f throughout New York City and Washington, DC. Elghanayan is actively involved in supervising acquisitions, finance, planning, sales, residential marketing and management. He continues the Elghanayan family tradition of developing properties that will stand the test of time. TF Cornerstone has evolved into one of the most respected commercial and residential development firms in New York City. During his five-decades-long career in the real estate industry, Tom has earned a reputation as a forward-thinker who has set the standard for building style and quality while paving the way into New York’s burgeoning new neighborhoods. Prior to TF Cornerstone, Elghanayan and his three brothers created Rockrose Development Corp. in 1970. Elghanayan was born in Iran and moved to Queens with his family as a child. He earned his Master in Business Administration at Harvard University and his Bachelor of Arts at Yale University. In addition to being passionately involved with his company, Tom is also an avid member of the greater real estate community. He is a member of the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of the Real Estate Board of New York, the Executive Committee for the Alliance for Downtown New York, and the Downtown-Lower Manhattan Association.

Elghanayan said, “To be recognized as a REBNY honoree during such a pivotal year in the industry is something I am quite proud of. I am named amongst an incredibly talented group of people, each of whom have helped New York emerge and strengthen through this challenging time. I’ve had an extraordinary career in this industry, and to be recognized by my peers with the Lifetime Leadership Award is truly humbling.”

Sarah Saltzberg
Kenneth R. Gerrety Humanitarian Award recognizes REBNY members’ outstanding service to the community.

Sarah Saltzberg is co-founder and co-owner of Bohemia Realty Group, a boutique and independently owned real estate firm that opened in 2012 and services the NYC area with a special focus on Upper Manhattan. Bohemia Realty Group’s mission aims to improve the quality of life for clients, agents and staff, and the communities that we live in and serve. Over the past 20 years, Saltzberg has been building a career in real estate as well as the arts, with credits including creator/actor in the Tony-winning The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, creator/additional material author in Broadway’s Gettin’ The Band Back Together, creator/actor in off-Broadway’s Don’t Quit Your Night Job and co-author of Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating and Marriage. Along with her partner Jon Goodell, Sarah is a firm believer in the connection between business innovation and creativity. Besides being an active member in several Upper Manhattan business and neighborhood coalitions, she also has long relationships with organizations including The Harlem Children’s Zone, Big Brother Big Sister and The Theater Development Fund’s Wendy Wasserstein Project, which sends underserved NYC school children to Broadway theater. In 2021, Bohemia Realty Group formed Good + Salty Productions, a separate charitable arm committed to using agent talent in collaboration with charitable causes. A member at large on REBNY’s Board of Directors for the past three years, Saltzberg aims to create a more personal and relatable image for the real estate industry and is working to help shape that narrative through action both within her own firm and through her work with REBNY. She is the co-chair of REBNY’s Fair Housing Committee and has set up a department within Bohemia dedicated to navigating the housing voucher system in order to effectively provide permanent housing for some of New York’s most vulnerable citizens. She looks forward to the continued work of providing “real life” experience as a way to engage legislators, and to help effect lasting change that is fair and equitable to our industry.

According to Saltzberg, “I feel incredibly fortunate to be a nominee, and to be recognized in the industry by my peers is among the highest honors I can imagine.  Working in real estate industry in New York is not for the faint of heart, and despite what people see on TV it certainly isn’t all glitz and glamor either.  It’s such hard work, and there is often not a whole lot of recognition.  My colleagues at REBNY inspire me to work smarter, and to think outside the box; but what I am most thankful for is to be part of an organization where we work together, in a collaborative and open-minded way, despite us sometimes being competitors.  To have that support is priceless.”

Darcy Stacom
Louis Smadbeck Memorial Broker Recognition Award: This award recognizes a REBNY broker with personal and professional integrity, long-term leadership and prominence in the brokerage community and participation in REBNY’s committees.

As chairman and head of NYC Capital Markets at CBRE, Darcy Stacom has marketed and sold more marquis capital markets transactions than any other real estate professional in the U.S. With over $145 billion in sales, financings, joint venture, leasehold, and development transactions, she tirelessly drives the business practice along with equal dedication to leadership in campaigns for philanthropy, sustainability, diversity and equity. Stacom leads a team of professionals dominating the world’s most competitive landscape. She has personally ranked in the top 1% of CBRE’s global producers for almost two decades. In her career, Stacom drove many of the nation’s most impactful real estate transactions including the single largest residential transaction in history (the $5.4 billion sale of Peter Cooper Stuyvesant Town) and the single largest office transaction in history (the $2.8 billion sale of GM Building). Stacom is widely recognized for her industry leadership. A governor of REBNY, she is also co-chair of its Diversity Committee; a board member for NYU’s Schack Institute; and co-chair of the annual WIRE conference, the industry’s most prestigious conference for women in commercial real estate. Stacom’s driving desire to contribute to the city extends beyond the world of real estate. She is co-chair of the board of the NYRP, which manages 52 community gardens and more than 80 acres of parkland across all five New York City boroughs. She also serves on the board and Executive Committee for Phipps Houses, the largest NFP owner of affordable housing in NYC.

According to Stacom, “It is an honor to be recognized by REBNY and its members for my career, and specifically the recognition this award signals for the integrity and leadership I bring to my work every day.”

Frank Pusinelli
George M. Brooker Management Executive of the Year Award recognizes accomplished individuals within the management area. who display outstanding professionalism in property management, civic achievement and contribution to the real estate industry.

Frank Pusinelli serves as COO for the operating assets business arm at RXR Realty, where he oversees marketing, leasing and property management. He is responsible for all business planning, budgeting, and operational activities, and oversees physical due diligence, revenue and expense underwriting for potential acquisitions as well as the immediate and long-term capital improvement plans, asset repositioning strategies, and design ideas. He also oversees all tenant improvement and capital construction projects for the company’s commercial and logistics assets. Pusinelli sets policies, procedures and goals within the operating assets division in keeping with the direction of RXR’s Executive Management Team. Pusinelli joined RXR in 1999. During his tenure, he has overseen the execution of well over $1 billion in construction projects, ranging from ground-up development and value creation to customized tenant interiors. Previously, he worked as a project manager and estimator in the construction sector as well as in the architectural and engineering field specializing in municipal architecture and environmental engineering. Pusinelli holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Technology from the New York Institute of Technology, and an MBA in Finance from Fordham University. He is a licensed architect in the State of New York and a member of the American Institute of Architects.

Pusinelli said, “I am thrilled to be an honoree at this year’s REBNY event. I want to congratulate my peers who will also be recognized at this annual gathering which remains a testament to the tight-knit real estate community that we all enjoy in the greatest City on earth. When I look at the list of past honorees who have received the same recognition I am humbled and hope that I can have a similarly positive impact on our assets and the environment, that benefits our customers, the people who live in our communities and those who visit NY.”

Hal Fetner
Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award recognizes REBNY members who have a lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the profession and have made invaluable contributions to New York’s civic welfare.

Hal Fetner is the president and CEO of Fetner Properties. Under Fetner’s direction, Fetner Properties has become one of the most well-respected real estate companies in New York. Always at the forefront of the residential real estate industry, Fetner has earned the reputation as one of the most sustainable builders in the city, with multiple LEED Gold residential buildings to his name. Fetner focuses on affordable and market rate housing and is currently developing three ambitious new projects in New York City. Fetner graduated from the Whitman School of Management and subsequently earned a Juris Doctor from New York Law School. In 1988 Hal took on the role of CEO at Fetner Properties as the third generation to take the helm. Prior to joining the firm, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Joe Hynes, special prosecutor of the State of New York. A proud alumnus of Syracuse University, Fetner serves on the University’s Board of Trustees, is chair of the Facilities Committee at the University, and a member of the University’s Whitman School of Management Advisory Council and the Whitman Real Estate Advisory Board. Dedicated to providing opportunities for future generations of Syracuse students, Fetner established the Fetner Program Fund, a scholarship at the Whitman School for students pursuing sustainability; and created the Fetner Sustainability Series as well as the Fetner Prize in Sustainable Enterprise. Fetner sits on the Board of Governors and the Executive Board of the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and is on the Board of Trustees of the Citizens Budget Commission—a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization pursuing constructive change in the finances and services of New York City and State.

Fetner said, “I am honored to be receiving this award.  When I look at the past honorees, I am humbled, as there are so many I have admired and loved. To be a part of this group means quite a lot to me,  and I am so pleased to share this honor with David Picket and Jeff Levine.”

Jeffrey Levine
Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award recognizes REBNY members who have a lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the profession and have made invaluable contributions to New York’s civic welfare.

Jeffrey Levine is the founding principal and chairman of The Douglaston Companies consisting of Douglaston Development, Levine Builders and Clinton Management. Since 1979, Levine has directed the new construction or rehabilitation of thousands of residential units, including both affordable and luxury housing, student housing, hotels, senior living, healthcare facilities, and millions of square feet of commercial retail, office, and institutional spaces. Levine’s most recent accomplishment is the development of the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn—more than two million s/f of mixed-use residential, spread across six distinct buildings. This includes The Edge, which received the NAHB’s Pillars of Industry Award for best mixed-use community and best high-rise condominium; Edge Community Apartments. located at 1 North 4^th Place; and Level BK at 2 North 6^th Place, with approximately 2,000 residential units and over 60,000 s/f of retail, structured parking, a water taxi pier, and a pedestrian esplanade. Levine is a member of REBNY’s Executive Committee and a founding member of both the NYS Association for Affordable Housing and the Kimmel Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and promoting affordable housing and services for aged, handicapped and other special-needs populations. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, the New York Housing Conference, and the Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens. He also sits on the Advisory Board of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City University of New York and New York University’s Real Estate Institute. Some of Levine’s many professional recognitions include the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, the National Association of Home Builders Affordable Builder of the Year, the Associated Builders and Owners of Greater New York Developer of the Year, and the Phipps Housing Community Builder of the Year. In 2011, he was honored with the Met Council’s Builder of the Year Award. Levine is currently Chairman of the Board of the Jewish National Fund and is a member of the Jewish National Fund’s National Board, which recently honored him with its Tree of Life, a humanitarian award given in recognition of outstanding community involvement. Levine graduated from the City University of New York’s City College School of Architecture.

According to Levine, “I’m honored to be part of an organization that exemplifies the spirit of civic commitment on behalf of all New Yorkers and humbled to receive the Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award alongside Hal Fetner and David Picket.”

David Picket
Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award recognizes REBNY members who have a lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the profession and have made invaluable contributions to New York’s civic welfare.

David Picket is president and CEO of Gotham Organization, a vertically integrated real estate development company providing services throughout concept, financing, design, building, lease-up, and ongoing management phases. Since joining the company in 1991, Picket has led Gotham’s new project development business through a period of unprecedented growth. He became responsible for Gotham’s development and property operations businesses in 1998. Serving as CEO of Gotham Development, he represents the fourth generation of Picket leadership in the organization’s 100-year history, continuing the firm’s dedication to multifamily housing in New York City. Under Picket’s direction, Gotham has developed over 5,000 housing units and over 1.7 million s/f of urban retail. The majority of the firm’s developments have utilized public/private partnerships, combining public funds, tax benefits and/or reduced land prices in exchange for the creation of affordable housing, schools, community facilities, job programs, and other public benefits. Picket was one of the first developers to capitalize on the resurgence of the multifamily housing market in New York in the mid-1990s and to recognize the untapped potential of the Midtown West neighborhood. In addition to Gotham West, which transformed an entire block in Hell’s Kitchen and includes the celebrated Gotham West Market, he is responsible for the development of several award-winning properties including The Nicole, Atlas New York, The Ashland, The Foundry, New Gotham and The Corner. This, in addition to retail projects including Harlem USA and DC USA. Picket holds a law degree from Columbia and a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University. He is a member of or affiliated with a number of boards and organizations including the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Member, Board of Trustees), Breaking Ground (Member, Board of Directors), Cornell University (Member, College of Arts & Sciences Advisory Board), Board of Governors (Member, Executive Committee), Realty Foundation of New York (Member, Board of Directors) and more.

Picket said, “I am truly humbled to not only be included on a list with so many of the giants in the Industry but to share this award with Jeff and Hal, two of my closest friends.  This award recognizes our work as New Yorkers and, in so doing, demonstrates the work of REBNY and the real estate industry as a whole in improving the lives of all New Yorkers.”

Laura Jackson
The Young Real Estate Professional of the Year Award is presented by the Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association each year to a member whose knowledge, skills, integrity, and high degree of ethics have contributed most to his or her profession and the community.

Laura Jackson serves as SVP, tax director for SL Green Realty Corp. Laura recently joined SL Green where her areas of responsibility include tax planning and structuring, investment due diligence, REIT and income tax compliance, and advising the Board of Directors, CEO, president, CFO and management on these matters. Prior to joining SL Green Realty Corp. Jackson was a senior managing director at FTI Consulting leading the firm’s REIT practice with a focus on due diligence, deal structuring, REIT compliance, domestic and international tax compliance, §754 adjustments, creating §704(c) models, tax provisions, IPO readiness, like kind exchanges, and qualified opportunity funds. Prior to FTI Consulting, Jackson worked at Deloitte and Arthur Andersen in the area of taxation for the lodging/gaming, banking and retail industries. She currently serves as vice president on the board of Rebuilding Together NYC, a non-profit organization for safe and healthy housing throughout New York City. She also founded the She Builds initiative, which empowers prominent women in real estate to give back to the communities they serve. In 2018, Jackson won the New Jersey State Governor’s Award for her continued devotion to helping communities in need. Jackson is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in New Jersey and is a member of the AICPA, NAREIT, and Young Men’s/Women’s Real Estate Association. After graduating summa cum laude and first in her Business Law/Accounting class from Monmouth University she went on to earn an M.S. in Taxation from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

According to Jackson, “Receiving REBNY’s Young Real Estate Professional of the Year award is a great honor as it highlights integrity, professionalism, and personal ethics, all of which I value as a foundation for my career. Being recognized for this award also shines a light on my community dedication to She Builds, a committee of leading women in real estate devoting time and resources to repairing homes and rebuilding lives. Also, I wouldn’t be receiving this award without my involvement in YM/WREA, where I served as chairman in 2020 and have developed meaningful relationships over the years.”