ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
JOHN SARACENO JR.
Co-Founder and Managing Principal
Onyx Equities
John Saraceno Jr. is co-founder and managing principal of Onyx Equities LLC, one of the most active commercial property investment, management and development firms in the New York metro market. Since founding in 2004 with partner Jonathan Schultz, Onyx has acquired more than $4 billion worth of real estate assets throughout New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania and executed more than $1 billion in asset repositioning projects across all property types including the Gateway in Newark and two ultra-luxury boutique-style residential rental communities in Ridgewood.
Serving as the firm’s chief investment strategist, John directs the firm’s approach to investment and portfolio management, leading its mission to partner with some of the country’s most significant institutional investment firms. In addition, he oversees Onyx’s investment fund arm, which continues to generate its historical fund-level IRRs in excess of 25 percent. The foundation for Onyx’s investment and portfolio management strategies was built upon John’s tenure as founding member and chief investment officer at Ivy Equities, where he was responsible for all acquisition, disposition and finance activities.
John is an alum of Fordham University and holds a juris doctor degree from New York Law School. His passion for children’s health, welfare education and career development are evident in his annual support of the March of Dimes of New Jersey, the United Way of Bergen County, the Ridgewood Education Foundation and the All Stars Program of New Jersey.
He serves on the All Stars Program of New Jersey’s board and is a personal and professional supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of New Jersey’s Big Climb Newark annual fundraising event.
Professionally, he is a spokesperson for the real estate development industry in the tristate region. He is a member of the Meadowlands Chamber of Commerce’s 2040 Foundation and served on New Jersey’s Real Estate Advisory Board under Governor Jon S. Corzine. His trade organization affiliations include NAIOP and IOREBA.
John is also a noted source for strategic comment on real estate development in the tristate region.
FRANCIS J. GIANTOMASI
Member
Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC
Francis J. Giantomasi is a member of the firm’s Real Estate, Development and Land Use Group. He has over four decades of experience in all aspects of real estate acquisitions, sales, development, complex commercial transactions and chancery litigation, and has successfully argued before the New Jersey Appellate Division and the New Jersey Supreme Court.
Frank is recognized as a leader in planning, zoning and development law including tax abatement law for the City of Newark and urban areas. He has served as chief development counsel for some of the region’s major real estate projects, including the planning and development of Prudential Insurance Company’s Newark headquarters.
In 2017, Frank was named to New Jersey Governor-elect Phil Murphy’s Transition Team – Transition Counsel Committee.
Frank received his J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law. He served as a law clerk to Essex County’s Assignment Judge, Arthur J. Blake. Prior to joining the firm, Frank maintained the law firm of Giantomasi & Oliveira for over 20 years and spent four years at Genova Burns Giantomasi & Webster.
He is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.
MARC E. BERSON
Chairman
Fidelco Realty Group
Marc E. Berson is a dedicated and established philanthropist, lawyer and entrepreneur, with a focus in business and real estate. Berson has been chairman of The Fidelco Group since he founded it in 1981.
Through Fidelco’s success in developing distinct properties in overlooked inner-city neighborhoods, Berson has invested in a wide-range of properties in urban areas throughout the country, including in his birthplace and the center of his civic and philanthropic endeavors — Newark, N.J.
Under Berson’s leadership, Fidelco has been an active investor in residential, commercial and industrial properties requiring rehabilitation, repositioning and/or environmental remediation, for the benefit of local communities. Berson oversaw the renovation of the 400,000-square-foot 1 Washington Park office tower and worked hand-in-hand with Rutgers University to build a world-class business school, housed within the high-rise.
Additionally, Fidelco developed award-winning projects like the 494 Broad Street office complex and parking garage anchored by Cablevision in Newark, Audible.com’s Innovation Cathedral headquarters and the state-of-the-art, 140,000-square-foot FreezPak freezer warehouse facility in Elizabeth/Newark. Currently, Berson is leading renovation efforts on the Fidelco-owned 550 Broad Street building in Newark, a historic location that will once again hold a position of prominence in the great city.
SAM CHAPIN
Managing Director
LMXD (L+M Development Partners)
Sam is responsible for sourcing, structuring and managing LMXD mixed-use developments. He has worked to expand LMXD’s footprint as a national mixed-use developer, leading $500 millioni of development projects in Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Connecticut. He also leads the company’s Opportunity Zone equity business, raising over $50 million of managed capital. Sam holds a bachelor of arts from Duke University and an MBA with distinction from Columbia Business School. He lives in New Rochelle, New York, with his wife, two toddlers and two dogs.
CHRISTOPHER A. WATSON
Director of Planning and Development Services
Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP
Christopher A. Watson, M.Sc., Ph.D.[c] serves as the director of planning and development services at Murphy Schiller & Wilkes LLP (MSW). In this role, he leads a team of professionals in actualizing development projects, from conception to certificate of occupancy, in municipalities throughout New Jersey, with a particular focus on projects located in the city of Newark — New Jersey’s largest municipality. Prior to joining MSW, Chris served as city planning officer (director of city planning) for the City of Newark, New Jersey. In that capacity he was able to advance key policy initiatives for the administration of Mayor Ras J. Baraka, including the adoption of the city’s latest 10-year master plan, Newark360, the winner of New Jersey’s American Planning Association 2022 Planning Excellence award for Plan of the Year. Chris is a national subject matter expert in planning and development and uses this acumen to advocate for his clients’ interests through all stages of the development process.
Chris has lived and worked in the city of Newark for nearly two decades. Born in Guyana, South America, he received his undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Guyana. He gained his master’s degree in urban affairs and planning, with honors, from Hunter College, CUNY, and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the joint Urban Systems program at the Hiller College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Rutgers University’s Graduate Center. His research interests coalesce around some of the most enduring themes of urban scholarship: the intersections of poverty, race and class; community economic advancement and the physical and sociopolitical impacts and consequences of gentrification in American cities.
He is the 2018 recipient of the President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching from Queens College, CUNY, where he was an adjunct professor in the Urban Studies department, teaching courses on Urban Poverty and Affluence, Graduate Research Methods, Researching New York City, and Urban Planning and City Government. Chris served as vice president of the board of directors for United Vailsburg Service Organization. Chris is the 2021 American Planning Association, New Jersey chapter’s recipient of the prestigious Stuart Merk Distinguished Service Award, for forwarding planning in the City of Newark that is inclusive of the community’s voice.
Chris is an avid supporter of the arts, an urban gardener and hiker of the many trails of New Jersey.
THOMAS WALSH
Managing Director
Walker & Dunlop
Thomas Walsh works within Walker & Dunlop’s property sales team based in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Bringing 18 years of experience to the team, Mr. Walsh is responsible for originating and executing commercial real estate property sales in the New York metro and tristate areas. Mr. Walsh has closed more than $13 billion of property sales transactions during his career.
Prior to Walker & Dunlop, Mr. Walsh was a managing director at JLL where was responsible for institutional property sales, primarily in New Jersey and the surrounding region.
Mr. Walsh earned his bachelor’s in business management from University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and his MBA in finance from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
