Greenworks reinforces its position as industry leader as it expands into new markets and builds out its business development, policy, legal, credit and operations teams.
In the second half of 2020, Greenworks hired twelve talented individuals to add to its team to further its stronghold as market leader within the C-PACE industry and accommodate the rapid growth of the company and industry as a whole – now actively originating in 25 markets.
Julie Sommese – Director, Upper Midwest
The firm has expanded its presence in the Upper Midwest, New York, and Florida with the hiring of three new directors to lead expansion efforts in those regions. To lead its efforts in the Upper Midwest, Greenworks named Julie Sommese as Director for Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Julie comes to Greenworks Lending with over 25 years of CRE experience as a former commercial banker, most recently serving as the Chief Lending Officer for a community bank in the Chicagoland area. Julie has worked with all facets of commercial real estate including multi-family, multi-use, medical, hospitality, retail, student housing and industrial.
Greenworks has extended its footprint in Florida with the hiring of Kyle Orban, as Director for the state, who brings over 10 years of commercial real estate experience. Before coming to Greenworks, Kyle worked at American Real Estate Capital in Miami, FL.
Crystal Smith – Director, New York
With New York State’s Open C-PACE program launching last year, and NYC’s program launch on the horizon, the firm has appointed Crystal Smith as Director for New York – a commercial real estate market which promises to be transformative for the C-PACE industry. Crystal comes to Greenworks with over 15 years of commercial real estate experience. Her most recent roles include originating large construction loans in New York City as a lender with M&T Bank, and later joined a fintech company to help build out its alternative lending platform. Her earlier experiences include asset management at a distressed CRE credit fund as well as managing a large portfolio of office and industrial assets at JLL.
Also focused on the New York City commercial real estate market, Greenworks has brought on Josh Elstein – a ten-year commercial real estate veteran – as Director of Market Activation to support Greenworks’ growing market activation efforts in the New York area.
Heather Crosby – Transaction Manger
Heather Crosby, who recently joined the team as a Transaction Manager, supports Julie and Crystal in managing deal flow and underwriting in the New York and Upper Midwest markets.
Sarth Mehta – Transaction Manger
Also joining the Transaction Management team are Sarth Mehta and Spencer Olson. Sarth serves as a Transaction Manager for the Mid-Atlantic region. Prior to Greenworks Lending, Sarth worked at SunTrust Bank as a CRE Portfolio Manager, underwriting and servicing a portfolio of loans across the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-South markets. Spencer is a recent MBA graduate of The McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and serves as Transaction Manager for the Mountain West region.
Tess Arzu – Clean Energy Program Development Manager
In addition to growing its Business Development team across the country, the firm continues to build out its policy team by bringing Tess Arzu on board as Clean Energy Program Development Manager to expand Greenworks’ footprint in active markets and work to implement C-PACE programs in new states and municipalities. Prior to joining Greenworks, Tess was Development Coordinator for Government Partnerships at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). At EDF, she managed portfolios of international government donors while identifying and evaluating funding opportunities. Tess also served as the Environmental Initiatives Specialist at The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey where she was responsible for the agency’s engagement with offshore wind developers and managed the Clean Vessel Incentive Program.
To help projects get to the finish line more quickly, Greenworks has added to their legal, operations and credit teams with the hiring of Randall Abbott as Associate Transaction Counsel, Linda Baxter as Legal Assistant and Contracts Administrator, and Nancy Montour and Kim McGehee as Associate Director, Loan Servicing, and Senior Credit Manager, respectively.
Greenworks was founded in 2015 to provide building owners and developers attractive financing solutions to reduce their energy consumption while also saving them money. Commercial buildings account for 20% of nationwide greenhouse gas emissions but the vast majority of building owners lack the upfront capital needed for energy efficient upgrades. From day one, Greenworks’ goal has been to solve this problem and that goal has not changed as the company and the C-PACE industry as a whole has continued to grow and evolve. Greenworks is proud to have assembled a team or talented, mission-driven individuals to help achieve that goal and continue to propel the firm forward. 2020, an otherwise challenging year, proved to be one of tremendous growth and success for Greenworks Lending, and 2021, with a larger team of talented, mission-driven individuals, is poised to surpass that.