Food For Thought: Lunch and Learns Bring Practitioners to Georgetown

While textbooks lay the foundational theory, what differentiates Georgetown real assets students is a heavy emphasis on the practice. To bridge this gap, the Steers Center brings top industry practitioners directly into the classroom to trade traditional lectures for honest, real-world insights. By connecting students with the professionals actively navigating today’s complex real estate, infrastructure, and energy markets, these mid-day sessions do more than just expand networks. They break down the silos between academic theory and executive execution, cultivating well-rounded, market-ready graduates equipped to lead from day one.

Mastering the Mechanics of Real Estate Finance

To truly understand the modern capital markets, students must look beyond static financial models and examine the live lifecycle of a deal. In a recent session coordinated by Jeff Clark (MBA’26), Steve DeRose, senior vice president at Starwood Mortgage Capital, provided students with an invaluable deep dive into the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market. DeRose walked the room through the entire lifecycle of a CMBS loan, pulling back the curtain on how these vehicles originated, structured, and closed, while explaining the macroeconomic forces that drive the securitization market. By gaining this unfiltered, executive-level perspective on commercial real estate debt, students walked away with the practical market intelligence required to analyze and execute complex financing strategies in their future careers.

Cultivating Persuasion and the Art of the Pitch

A well-rounded real assets professional must also master the human element of the business—a skillset that is vital to the industry yet often sits outside the traditional quantitative curriculum. Recognizing that structured communication is the underlying engine behind every capital raise, investment pitch, and joint venture, the Steers Center hosted Dan Punaro, senior enterprise account executive at ServiceNow, for a “Sales 101” workshop. Drawing on his multi-faceted background as a tech executive, U.S. Army Reserve Officer, and former NCAA athlete, Punaro provided students with a practical framework for relationship building and strategic negotiation. The session drove home a critical real-world truth: in an asset class where trust functions as the primary currency, the ability to confidently persuade and connect is just as essential for long-term success as underwriting a spreadsheet.

Merging Profit with Purpose in Impact Investing

Excellence in the modern real assets landscape also means understanding how market-rate financial success can coexist with meaningful social outcomes. Jonathan Tower (C’96), managing partner of Arctaris Impact Investors, brought this concept to life by sharing his journey from a Georgetown English and Math major and Bloomberg reporter to founding the nation’s largest impact-focused manager of opportunity zone funds. 

Tower detailed how Arctaris collaborates with federal and state governments to channel institutional capital into under-resourced inner cities and rural communities throughout the U.S. By showing how sophisticated investment strategies can simultaneously protect the bottom line and uplift communities, Tower gave students a masterclass in purpose-driven asset management, proving that the next generation of leaders can effectively balance economic returns with a lasting public legacy.

Ultimately, these sessions underscore a simple truth: thriving in today’s real assets industry requires a multi-dimensional toolkit. By blending technical finance, human persuasion, and social impact, the Steers Center ensures Georgetown graduates leave the Hilltop with the holistic, frontline perspective needed to lead from day one.