Michael Steinberg - Chair

Michael is Senior Director of Real Estate Research & Strategy for MetLife Investment Management (MIM). He is responsible for development and maintenance of the team’s quantitative research models, market forecasting, and communicating the team’s investment strategies and economic outlook. Michael received an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross. 

Chok Lei - Chair

Formally educated and trained in real estate and corporate finance, Chok has over 13 years of experience across roles in real estate development, investment management, mergers & acquisitions and capital markets.

Most recently, Chok was the CIO of a real estate investment and development firm that oversaw over $100 million of projects in Connecticut and New York. His prior professional experience includes serving as a Vice President at Pretium Partners focused on real estate and mortgage acquisitions, and as an investment banking analyst at J.P. Morgan covering real estate, industrial, and energy companies.

Chok received his MS degree in Real Estate Development at Columbia University, where he is an adjunct professor of real estate finance and the current Co-Chair of RENCAA. He also served in the United States Marine Corps prior to receiving his BBA degree in Finance & Investments at Baruch College.

Christopher Munsell - Board Member

Christopher Munsell is the Glascock Associate Professor of Professional Practice of Real Estate Development Finance at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, where he teaches in the M.S. in Real Estate Development program. Chris has been featured for his innovations in the hybrid learning environment and for his research on artificial intelligence. He regularly speaks about capital markets, climate finance, structured finance, and real estate pedagogy.

Chris is also a Principal at APRE Consulting, providing acquisitions, asset management, and capital markets services to APRE’s clients. He has over fifteen years of real estate experience in both the debt and equity sides of the business and holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University.

Donal Warde - Board Member

Donal is a real estate investment executive focused on portfolio management and quantitative analysis in institutional real estate. He currently advises investment firms on portfolio-level strategy, data infrastructure for investment decision-making, and operational intelligence systems.

Most recently, Donal served as Vice President of Portfolio Management at HQ Capital Real Estate (now CP Capital), where he managed $2.4 billion in core-plus and opportunistic multifamily assets across a $11 billion AUM platform. In this role, he was a voting member of the affiliate investment committee, led annual business planning that drove fund returns above projected IRRs, and directed investor reporting for pension funds and endowments. His work spanned portfolio strategy, capital allocation, and building data infrastructure to translate operational metrics into investment signals. Over six years as a Senior Associate, he underwrote and asset-managed 13 acquisitions and developments totaling $1.7 billion in capitalization.

Donal has co-authored research on migration patterns and multifamily market dynamics published in AFIRE Summit Journal (Issues 12, 13, and 19), applying data-driven analysis to real estate investment strategy. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, where he was a Private Equity Fellow and Vice President of the Columbia Student Investment Management Association, and a Master's in Finance from the International University of Monaco. He is fluent in French and Spanish.