Rodolpho Amboss ‘97, Managing Director & CFO, Lehman Brothers Private Equity Real Estate Group

Advisory Board Member, Chicago GSB Real Estate Alumni Group

Rodolpho Amboss is a Managing Director of Lehman Brothers and a principal of Lehman Brothers Real Estate Partners, responsible for global financial and risk management. Mr. Amboss joined Lehman Brothers in 1997 and, prior to joining the Real Estate Private Equity Group, was involved in a number of financial advisory assignments, strategic/M&A and capital markets transactions for both private and public clients. Prior to joining Lehman Brothers, Mr. Amboss worked for Gafisa S.A., one of Brazil’s largest residential development and construction companies. He has over 21 years of experience in the acquisition, development, operation, financing and risk management of commercial and residential real estate worldwide.

Mr. Amboss received a B.Sc. in Civil and Construction Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business.

John B. Kessler ‘90, Managing Director and Global COO, Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing

Advisory Board Member, Chicago GSB Real Estate Alumni Group

John Kessler is a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley.  Mr. Kessler joined Morgan Stanley in 1993 and has been exclusively involved in the Firm’s real estate activities since that time.  John is Global Chief Operating Officer of Morgan Stanley Real Estate’s investing business.  Mr. Kessler also serves as Global Head of all of MSREI’s core businesses.  John is an investment committee member for all MSREI funds, and a board member for various fund and investment level entities.  Since 1993, John has been active in a broad spectrum of Morgan Stanley Real Estate’s advisory and capital raising activities, and was one of the original members of Morgan Stanley’s CMBS unit. 

Mr. Kessler is a council member of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Pension Real Estate Association, and the Commercial Mortgage Securities Association.  John received an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, and a BA from Harvard College.

C. Allan Swaringen ‘98, Managing Director of LaSalle Investment Management

Advisory Board Member, Chicago GSB Real Estate Alumni Group

Mr. Swaringen is a Managing Director of LaSalle Investment Management. As the Fund Manager for the Excelsior LaSalle Property Fund, a privately-offered, individual investor focused fund created in partnership with U.S. Trust, he serves as the leader of the investment team, is responsible for all of the fund’s finance functions, along with overseeing its strategic direction. Mr. Swaringen also serves as portfolio manager for the LaSalle Investment Company funds, the firm’s global fund of funds which currently has invested in 25 separate funds or programs around the world. Since joining the company in 1998, his responsibilities have included marketing and client services and structuring, negotiating and closing many of the firm’s most successful real estate investment funds.

Before joining LaSalle, Mr. Swaringen was a partner with Crown Golf Properties, L.P., an investment subsidiary of Henry Crown and Company. Within this organization, he functioned in various capacities including Head of Acquisitions, Director of Business Development and Chief Financial Officer. Prior to this, he was a Vice President with Cohen Financial, a loan officer with Enterprise Savings Bank, and began his more than 20 years in real estate with Trammell Crow Company.

Mr. Swaringen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, a B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign and is a CPA.

Vincent Y. Tan ’73, Executive Vice President, Ayala Land, Inc.

Advisory Board Member, Chicago GSB Real Estate Alumni Group

Vince Tan began his career with Ayala Corporation in 1976, when he joined the Corporate Planning unit of the country’s oldest business house.  In 1988, when Ayala spun off its real estate operations into Ayala Land, Inc., he became one of the founding officers of what is now the Philippines’ largest and only full-line property developer.  Today, he is a member of the Management Committee of Ayala Land, and serves as Executive Vice President of the company, concurrently heading both the Planning Group and Strategic Landbank Management Group. 

Together with the company’s other key officers, Vince sets strategic directions and pursues plans for Ayala Land’s continued expansion.  In recent years, he has played a key leadership role in the company’s thrusts into several new areas, including: industrial park development through Laguna Technopark Inc.; rail infrastructure through an active minority position in the Metro Rail Transit Corporation; development of several prime office buildings including the company’s headquarters in Tower One; acquisition of a controlling interest in, and subsequent achievement of financial stability at, Fort Bonifacio Development Corp.; and the acquisition and impending launch of a large-scale 1,700-hectare mixed-use fully-integrated community in Canlubang, just south of Manila.

He was born in 1950 and studied at De La Salle Grade School and High School, then proceeded to Ateneo de Manila University where he graduated cum laude in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Engineering.  He later completed a Master of Business Administration degree at the University of Chicago in 1973, where he was conferred the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award and elected to the Beta Gamma Sigma national honorary society.  He then worked as an operations research specialist at Montgomery Ward and Company in Chicago, Illinois, before returning to the Philippines in 1976.

Vince is married with three children.  He is a bad golfer and a mediocre musician, and in the latter capacity has played alto saxophone and clarinet with the Executives Band for a number of years. 

Michael A. Herzberg ’80 (Moderator), Co-Chairman and Co-CEO, FPL Advisory Group

Advisory Board Member, Chicago GSB Real Estate Alumni Group

Michael A. Herzberg serves as Co-Chairman and Co-CEO of FPL Advisory Group, a family of companies dedicated to the real estate and related financial services industries.  The firm, which was founded in 1989, is involved in the functions of Senior Level Executive Recruitment (through its Ferguson Partners Ltd. affiliate) Consulting and Compensation services, Financial Advisory and Merchant Banking activities. The firm employs approximately 60 individuals with offices in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and London with additional operations in Hong Kong.  Mr. Herzberg also serves as Chairman and CEO of Roseworth Capital, a merchant bank engaged in a investing in early stage financial services companies and he serves as Senior Managing Principal of FPLC Group, an investment management enterprise.

Prior to co-founding FPL Advisory Group, Mr. Herzberg served as Executive Vice President of JMB Realty Corporation, a real estate investment management and development firm. He is a Cabinet member for the Chicago GSB’s Global Advisory Group (The Americas).  Mr. Herzberg received his BA from Northwestern University and his MBA from the University of Chicago.