David Stern, Co-Founder and CEO

In his role as Co-Founder and CEO, David Stern oversees every aspect of the company’s business development and client service activities.

David has considerable experience in the commercial real estate sector, most prominently having served as Vice-President at Blackheath Financial (now Accenture) in the early 2000s. In this role, he helped to expand the firm to include more than 150 employees specializing in commercial real estate due diligence consulting for large investment banks, REITs, hedge funds, and development companies.

When Blackheath merged with the India-based outsourcing firm Zenta in 2007, David led the integration of the company’s large U.S. consulting staff with an equally large team in Chennai. David also has played integral roles in both the acquisition team of a large New York REIT and the actuarial group of Prudential Insurance. David earned his BA from Clark University and his MS from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Craig Lombard, Co-Founder and Managing Director

Co-Founder and Managing Director Craig Lombard specializes in high-end modeling and broad-based data analytics across a broad range of asset classes and scenarios.

Throughout his career, Craig has honed his technology skills in a wide arrange of financial settings. Before founding Townhouse with David, he worked for Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for a broad range of modeling activities. He also spearheaded the replacement of manual analyses with systems-based tools that reduced turnaround times and resulted in more consistent data.

Following this experience, Craig served at Blackheath Financial (now Accenture), where he created and managed underwriting models for complicated healthcare transactions totaling more than $3 billion. He also managed due diligence reviews and product reviews, using his expertise in strategic automation to provide compressive, reliable top-level data more quickly with less staff time. Craig earned his BBA in Business Administration from Hofstra University, with a concentration in Finance, graduating with honors.

David Muringi, Managing Director

Since joining Townhouse in 2010, David Muringi has overseen more than $15 billion in real estate deals, including projects related to hotels, offices, multi-family residences, industrial properties, and self-storage. David plays an integral role in the underwriting and due diligence process at Townhouse. He also developed and leads the company’s analyst training program, which instructs new employees about Townhouse’s processes, client service philosophy, and best practices.

David began his commercial real estate career at Landmark Companies, a Miami-based developer, where he spearheaded numerous condominium conversions. He also successfully developed several low-income housing projects by leveraging the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program. His resume includes past engagements with Bear Stearns, Sovereign Bank, and Blackheath Financial (now Accenture). David earned his BBA degree in International Finance and Marketing from University of Miami School of Business in Florida, as well as an MS in Real Estate Finance from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Arish A. Akanda, Managing Director and Senior Underwriter

Arish Akanda joined Townhouse in 2010 and currently manages the company’s overall operations and processes, as well as credit underwriting practices for clients that range from bulge-bracket firms to boutique lenders. Arish is also experienced in building custom models for client-specific needs. To date, Arish has overseen more than $10 billion in transactions across multiple asset classes for conduits and large loans, as well as stabilized and transitional assets.

Prior to joining Townhouse, Arish worked at Citigroup as part of the portfolio management team and at Credit Suisse underwriting life settlement transactions. Arish met Townhouse co-founders David Stern and Craig Lombard while the three worked at Blackheath Financial (now Accenture).

Arish earned his BA from Indiana University-Bloomington, where he triple-majored in Economics, History, and Philosophy. He also earned his MA in International Affairs from The New School.

Eric Herlands, Managing Director

Eric Herlands oversees Townhouse’s equity investment and loan surveillance practices, as well as leads the company’s training and development initiatives. Eric is a CRE professional with 30+ years of highly diverse experience. He specializes in valuation and underwriting across all asset classes on a local and national basis. Eric also possesses a decade-long transactional record acquiring Class A office properties for a $6 billion New York office REIT.

Eric’s real estate acumen and analytic ability is widely regarded, and he is an acknowledged expert in the industry standard ARGUS software. He developed and currently teaches a graduate-level acquisition course at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate, which prepares the next generation of real estate analysts. Eric earned his BBA from Baruch College, with a focus in Business.

Michael Beckman, Vice President

Michael Beckman handles Townhouse’s overall business development and client relations, as well as equity investment practices, with an expertise in analysis and modeling, project management, and delivery. Michael has more than eight years of commercial real estate and mortgage experience, and a successful track record in sales, fundraising, and project and personnel management.

Before joining Townhouse in 2015, Michael was a founder and partner at Fox Hole Consulting, a mortgage and banking consultancy that advised clients on real estate debt related transactions, technology platforms, and integration. Prior to that, Michael was an Acquisitions and Asset Management Analyst for a real estate private equity fund based out of Scottsdale, AZ. Michael earned his BA from University of Texas-Austin, with a concentration in Economics and Computer Information Systems.

Jonathan Kaufman, Senior Underwriter

Jonathan Kaufman has more than two decades of experience in commercial real estate, including appraisal, property and portfolio management, brokerage, development, and structured finance for major U.S. and international banks.

Jonathan previously worked at Wells Fargo, where he underwrote over $1 billion of CBMS financing, and oversaw regulatory compliance and operational risk assessment for Real Estate Capital Markets. He supervised credit and compliance audits, vendor management, and all compliance monitoring, including testing, training, reporting, notification, education, and records maintenance. Additionally, he also led an effort to revise the credit policy and wrote Basel risk ratings and commercial real estate research resources guides. Jonathan has been involved in underwriting several billions of financing in his career, including large malls, trophy assets, and complex transactions for institutional borrowers on all major asset types. He has in-depth familiarity with all web-based origination and underwriting platforms. Jonathan earned his BA from Drew University and an MS from New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate.

Janine Santoro, Director of Human Resources

Janine Santoro serves as the company’s Director of Human Resources, responsible for all aspects of talent management and personnel administration.

Prior to joining Townhouse, Janine served in Human Resources for the U.S. offices of Purolator International, a leading Canadian shipping company. During her tenure there, Janine facilitated and coordinated recruitment activities and managed all of the employee relations, training, and event planning for this division’s 200+ employees.

Prior to working at Purolator, Janine developed and implemented the recruitment strategy for the Andaz Wall Street/Hyatt International Hotel in New York City. She began her career at Cintas, where she participated in a two-year rotational program where she gained experience in effective recruitment practices, managing employee relations programs, implementing policy, and overseeing compliance.