St_Pierre_Suzanne St. Pierre, WX NY's newly elected president, focuses on development and construction as a partner at Venable.

NEW YORK CITY—WX New York Women Executives in Real Estate has revealed its 2016-2017 board of directors. Serving in the lead position, as president, will be Suzanne St. Pierre, partner at Venable, while Beth Zafonte, director of economic development services at Akerman, will serve as VP. The board also welcomes new members, including Ellen Kendall, formerly of PGIM Real Estate, and Laura Rapaport, SVP at L&L Holding Co.

The 2016-2017 board will lead the organization in promoting the advancement of women in commercial real estate, enhancing public perception of the role of women within the industry and promoting the highest standards of professionalism, ethics and integrity in the field.

Returning members of the board include Barbara Flusk, SVP, Clarion Partners; Sonia Bain, partner, Bryan Cave; Maria Kastanis, executive director, JP Morgan Chase; Allyson Martin, SVP, Hub International Northeast; Sara Queen, senior asset manager, Brookfield Office Properties; Hilary Spann, executive director, CPP Investment Board and Elise Wagner, partner, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel.

At Venable, St. Pierre's practice focuses on real estate development and construction, as well as real estate investments. Her clients include US and non-US investors, private developers, non-profit organizations, and governmental and quasi-governmental agencies. She is one of the lead attorneys on two of the largest infrastructure projects currently underway in New York: the Moynihan Station redevelopment project—which involves the creation of a mixed-use condominium—and the construction of the first element of the Gateway Project-a new tunnel right-of-way on the West Side of Manhattan, which is under construction in Hudson Yards and will eventually continue under the Hudson River to New Jersey.

Zafonte has 30 years of experience in securing economic development incentives for projects throughout the United States, representing a broad range of private developers and Fortune 500 corporations on a national basis. She has been involved in projects that have utilized over $3 billion worth of incentives.

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Rayna Katz

Rayna Katz is a seasoned business journalist whose extensive experience includes coverage of the lodging sector, travel and the culinary space. She was most recently content director for a business-to-business publisher, overseeing four publications. While at Meeting News, a travel trade publication, she received a Best Reporting award for a story on meeting cancellations in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.