Peter Chung
pchung2@wharton.upenn.edu

Co-President

Peter is a second year MBA concentrating in Real Estate and Finance. This summer, Peter interned at Lehman Brothers in their Real Estate Principal Transactions Group. He was responsible for underwriting real estate financing opportunities; including senior loans, mezzanine loans, preferred equity, and JV opportunities for several property types including land deals, condominiums, office, hotel and apartments, for Lehman’s balance sheet. Prior to Wharton, Peter was a middle school math teacher at I.S. 286 in Harlem, trying to improve the educational quality of one of NY’s most impoverished schools, through the Teach for America program. He designed the math curriculum, founded and led the after-school program, and coached the boy’s basketball team to an undefeated season. Previously, he worked for Raymond James & Associates Equity Research division, providing research coverage of equities within the Tech Distribution sector. Peter graduated with High Honors from the University of Florida in 2002 with majors in Finance and Economics.

Laia Massague

eulaliam@wharton.upenn.edu

Co-President

Laia is a second year MBA majoring in Real Estate and Management. Prior to Wharton, Laia spent two years as a management consultant at A.T. Kearney. Laia completed her undergraduate degree at MIT with a double major in architecture and management. While at MIT, Laia interned at a couple small design firms, Bovis Lend Lease and JP Morgan Asset Management Real Estate Acquisitions Group.  This past summer, Laia was an Associate at iStar Financial in New York. Laia is a ULI Kenneth M. Good Graduate Student Fellow and also participated in the ULI Hines Student Urban Design Competition 2007 for which her team received an Honorable Mention. This year, Laia will be a teaching assistant for Real Estate Entrepreneurship (REAL 891), International Real Estate (REAL 890), Marketing (MKTG 621) and Real Estate Finance at the Design School (CPLN 680). Laia is also an active member of the Wharton Crew Team and Wharton Women in Business.

Kelly Meissner
meissner@wharton.upenn.edu

Treasurer

Kelly is a second year MBA majoring in real estate and finance. Kelly spent the summer working for Cherokee Investment Partners, a real estate private equity firm that focuses on brownfield remediation and sustainable redevelopment. Kelly is also serving as a Visiting Board Member for Rebuilding Together Philadelphia through the Wharton Non-Profit Board Leadership Program. Prior to Wharton, Kelly worked in Chicago as a management consultant in the Strategy and Operations group at Deloitte Consulting. Kelly graduated from Northwestern University in 2003 with a majors in Economics and Biology. Kelly enjoys traveling, reading, classical music, water sports and eating chocolate.

Marissa Ballan
ballan@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Career

Marissa is a second year MBA majoring in real estate. Over the past summer, Marissa worked at The KOR Group, a Los Angeles, CA-based real estate development firm, in the Hotel Acquisitions and Development group.  In addition to her role as an officer of the Real Estate Club, Marissa also serves as President of the Travel & Hospitality Club.  Prior to Wharton, Marissa was an associate in High Yield Research at JPMorgan in New York, covering Homebuilding, Gaming and Lodging.  She also spent several years an investment banking analyst in JPMorgan's Syndicated and Leveraged Finance group.  Marissa graduated from Barnard College in 2001 with a B.A. in Economics and holds an M.A. in Economics from New York University.

Laura Kirschbaum
laurakir@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Career

Laura graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2001 with bachelor’s degrees in math and economics.  After college she spent two years as an analyst at Bear Stearns, and then went to work for the City of New York as a project manager, and later a senior project manager, on the redevelopment of the far west side of Manhattan.  Laura spent the summer of 2007 at the Forest City Ratner Companies, and is now a second year MBA student at Wharton.

Megan Thomas
msthomas@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Education

Megan is the Co-VP of Education for Wharton’s Real Estate Club.  Megan is a member of the Wharton Class of 2008 and is pursuing an MBA in addition to an MA in International Studies (focus on Spanish and Latin American Studies).  Before attending Wharton, she worked in the hedge fund industry.  For two years, she worked as an analyst at Cedarview Capital, a start-up long-short high yield hedge fund.  Previously, she completed a management training program at Ivy Asset Management, a $14 billion hedge fund of funds.  Megan is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, where she received a B.A. in Economics and in International Relations in 2002.  For the summer of 2007, Megan worked at Black Creek Capital, a real estate private equity firm based in Denver, and focused on projects in Mexico.

Patricia Werhahn
werhahn@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Education

Patricia was born and raised in Switzerland. After college she spent two years working for Zwilling J.A.  Henckels International in Shanghai, China. Her decision to pursue a career in Real Estate brought her to the Wharton School. Patricia spent the summer with Weingarten Realty in Houston, Texas. Patricia is also one of the 2007 WWIB Conference Co-Chairs and the Venture Fellow for the Sailing Venture.

Scott Baxter
baxterco@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Speaker Series and Product Tours

Scott is a 2008 MBA candidate at The Wharton School.  He spent his summer at Toll Brothers, a luxury residential developer, in the Project Management group.  While working on a 340-unit urban infill project, he gained experience in construction management, sales, and land acquisition.  Prior to Wharton, he worked as an Engagement Manager for The Concord Group, a real estate development consultancy based in Newport Beach, CA.  He also served as Chair of the Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group in Orange County.  Scott graduated from Stanford University in 2003.

Matt Blank
mblank@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Speaker Series and Product Tours

Matt is in his last year of the four year JD/MBA program.  This past summer, Matt worked at Morgan Stanley Real Estate on both investment banking projects and private equity assignments.  During the summer of 2006, Matt worked at Lubert-Adler Partners in Philadelphia.  He is originally from Philadelphia, and attended Penn as an undergraduate student.  Outside of real estate, Matt is an active member of the Rugby team and is in charge of planning a boxing match between Penn Law and Wharton students that will raise money for The Boys and Girls Club of Philadelphia.

Troy Daniel
trdaniel@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Alumni Relations

Troy is a second year MBA majoring in Real Estate and Finance.  Troy spent the summer working for Schnitzer West, a leading commercial real estate investment and development firm in Seattle, Washington.  Prior to Wharton, he spent four years as a project manager for a start-up firm in Austin, Texas, which was recognized as one of ‘INC 500’s Fastest Growing Companies’, and served as Chairman of the Board for Texas 4000 for Cancer.  Troy holds a bachelor’s degree in Management from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

Joyce Chow
laichow@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Faculty Relations

Prior to Wharton, Joyce worked as a Project/Asset Manager for three years at American Communities, LLC, a multi-family real estate developer.  She was involved with valuation and underwriting of potential projects, monitoring of construction budgets and asset management. Before joining American Communities, she was a Senior Consultant at Navigant Consulting, Inc., a business and litigation consulting firm. During the summer of 2007, Joyce held an internship with Morgan Stanley's Real Estate Group in San Francisco where she focused on evaluating principal investment opportunities. Joyce graduated with honors from the University of California, Los Angeles with Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Economics and Psychology.

Brett Hamilton
mbrett@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Social Events

Brett is a second year MBA concentrating in real estate.  Over the past summer, Brett worked at Trammell Crow Company in the Private Equity Funds group where he evaluated potential property acquisitions across asset classes nationwide.  Brett began his career at Navigant Consulting as an economic consultant in corporate litigation. After working on the bankruptcy of an international real estate company, Brett decided to transition to a full-time position in real estate as a consultant at CB Richard Ellis, performing market analysis and feasibility studies and excelling to a Director position.  Brett holds a bachelor’s degree in economics with honors from Pitzer College of the Claremont Colleges.

Laura Grable
grable@wharton.upenn.edu

Vice President - Membership and Marketing

Laura is a second year MBA majoring in Real Estate and Finance.  This past summer Laura worked with Sireo Investment Management in Luxembourg, where she analyzed acquisitions of commercial and logistics assets in France and Spain.  Before Wharton, Laura was National Marketing Director at 3D/I, an architecture and construction management firm headquartered in Houston, Texas.  Laura graduated from Rice University in 2001 with majors in Architectural Studies, Art & Art History.  Laura is a crew member on the historic tall ship Gazela, and is on the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Ship Preservation Guild.