Marc is a company founder and Chief Executive Officer of Core Spaces (Core).

On a mission to invent the future of living, Marc founded Core in 2010 to develop and manage real estate that redefines the way people live through progressive design and a hospitality-driven resident experience. As CEO, Marc steers company objectives and strategy, and focuses on cultivating a culture of collaboration and innovation.

Prior to starting Core, Marc founded his own real estate development company, LG Development Group (LG), focused on developing residential and commercial properties. Through LG, a student housing-platform evolved, as did segmentation into the hospitality and conventional multi-family markets. These divisions are now known today as Core Spaces. 

In keeping with his entrepreneurial spirit, Marc is involved in multiple nonprofit and leadership organizations. In 2008, he co-founded Camp Out for Kids, a nonprofit organization that provides opportunities for underprivileged youth to attend summer camp. He is also a Board Member of Northwestern Memorial Foundation and Young Presidents Organization (YPO) Chicago. 

Marc attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering and Minor in Business Administration.

Marc Lifshin

Brian is a company founder and Director of Core Spaces. Brian has spent his entire career in real estate and has an abundance of experience in management, investment, financing and development of class A assets. He focuses on corporate strategies that will solidify Core’s position as an industry leader well into the future. He oversees the management of the developments and stabilized assets.

Prior to Core Spaces, Brian was a founding member of a national real estate company that acquired and developed more than 3,500 units. In addition, he managed both new and renovation construction for the firm.

Brian is a University of Illinois graduate, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance.

Brian Neiswender

Barry is a 15-year veteran of the real estate industry and is Chief Sustainability Officer of Core Spaces. Barry focuses on the strategy and implementation of the company's environmental, social, and governance strategy that is integral to developing the company’s financial growth around its sustainability efforts. To compliment his work at Core, Barry is also the founder and co-owner of Herban Produce, a woman, minority social enterprise on Chicago’s West Side. Barry was formally a partner and CFO for LG Construction + Development and has been with Core Spaces since its inception.

Barry graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering. Barry further received a Master in Business Administration in Entrepreneurial and Real Estate Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Barry Howard

As Executive Managing Director — President, Dan leads the company’s strategy and innovation. Prior to Core, Dan was at Blackstone, where he focused on acquisitions, leading the acquisition of a $1.2 billion student housing portfolio, with 10,500 beds across 20 properties, in conjunction with the $4.6 billion take-private of Education Realty Trust. Apart from real estate acquisitions at Blackstone, he was also involved in overseeing its U.S. core-plus real estate platform, which controls over $45 billion of high-quality real estate. Before Blackstone, Dan was at Goldman Sachs for over 10 years, mainly in real estate private equity, where he led over $1 billion of student housing investments.

Dan received his B.S. in neuroscience from Brown University. He serves on the board of Getting Out and Staying Out, a Harlem-based charity that seeks to reduce recidivism rates through job readiness and financial literacy courses.

Daniel Goldberg

Chris Richards is currently the Chief Operating Officer. She also serves as a member of the Advisory board for College House, a student housing market research platform, and holds a seat on the New Memphis Board of Governors, an organization that recruits and retains top talent for the local Memphis, TN community.

Chris co-founded Richards Heating & Air, LLC in 2004 specializing in mechanical contracting services for residential communities.

Christine Richards

Since joining Core in 2013, Chad has been involved in the orchestration, design, development and construction of over 10 million square feet of student housing totaling $3 Billion in project value. As Executive Managing Director — Chief Development Officer, Chad is responsible for overseeing the Student Housing and Build-to-Rent design, development and construction platforms Core’s Ancillary Businesses and ensuring efficient and productive operations of the company’s development and operating platforms while also guiding strategic planning. Chad works with Executive Team and Vertical Presidents to help define Core’s vision and strategy, developing results to execute against and overseeing operations required to achieve those objectives.

Chad graduated from the University of Illinois with a Masters of Architecture with a concentration in Construction Management & Real Estate Finance starting his career in real estate in 2004. Chad has spent time over the past years serving on the Urban Land Institute - Young Leaders Board, the Young Real Estate Professionals Board, the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Associate Board, and the Illinois Real Estate Alumni Forum.

Chad Matesi

John oversees Core Spaces capital raising, financial reporting, and asset management activities as the Executive Managing Director – Chief Investment Officer. He draws from his 20+ years of real estate finance experience to drive portfolio value and manage financial risk across the student housing and build-to-rent platforms.

Prior to joining Core Spaces in 2018, John was a multi-sector real estate investor and investment banker at Citi, Merrill Lynch, Macquarie, and Thomas Properties Group. He has been involved in over $100 billion of private and public market real estate transactions.

John has an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

John Wieker

As Executive Managing Director – Chief Financial Officer, Jen is responsible for leading Core’s financial planning, reporting, tax, and treasury functions. 

Prior to joining Core, Jen was the Chief Accounting Officer of Urban Edge Properties, a publicly traded retail REIT. At Urban Edge, she oversaw all aspects of accounting, forecasting, tax, treasury, and investor relations. Jen began her career in Public Accounting at Deloitte based out of the Chicago, London, and New York offices serving publicly traded and privately held clients in the real estate and financial services industries.

Jen graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and Finance from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Business School. 

Jen Holmes

As Chief Innovation Officer, Mitch is responsible for ensuring new developments and acquisitions adhere to Core's programmatic, qualitative and financial objectives. This includes site identification, market research, feasibility analysis, and underwriting, project programming and design, budgeting and scheduling, as well as project management and delivery.

Mitch graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor's in Economics and Real Estate Finance, as well as an M.B.A. in Real Estate Finance and Investment.

Mitch Dalton

As Chief Capital Officer of Core Spaces, Andrew is responsible for overseeing Core’s debt platform to ensure capital needs are aligned with the goals of the company. His role includes identifying new financial opportunities, analyzing the company’s investment strategy, and managing debt and equity relationships.

Prior to his current role, Andrew served as Chief Acquisitions Officer at Core, responsible for identifying and evaluating new development and acquisition opportunities. Andrew previously spent 13 years sourcing debt and equity for a broad-reaching client base, ranging from small family shops to billion-dollar pension funds. In his mortgage banking role, Andrew arranged more than $3 billion of financing for all property types, including office buildings, shopping centers, student housing developments, single-tenant buildings, hotels, industrial warehouses, and land development.

Andrew graduated from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor’s degree in Finance and a minor in Italian. He enjoys life in the Chicago area with his wife and 3 kids and is Chairman of the Memory Rock Committee benefiting the Alzheimer’s Association.

Andrew Wiedner

Don is the Chief People Officer of Core Spaces, and although he has had a previous stint in Real Estate Development, most of his career has been in upper-upscale and luxury hospitality. Don oversees all facets of Human Resources and the strategic direction of the function for the company. This is not his first rodeo, as he was previously the Chief People Officer for the acclaimed lifestyle hotel group Aparium. His career has taken him around the world, having worked in over 30 countries and living in a dozen of them. Don brings forth 20+ years of experience to our People Operations team with certifications in several AI tools and behavioral assessments. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Nevada Las Vegas in Hotel Administration - an operator at heart.

Don Gillette

Eric is a partner and Chief Construction Officer, Student of Core Spaces. As the CCO, Eric is responsible for implementing the company’s strategic vision of new development assets and value-add acquisitions by providing leadership and expertise to the Development Team. Eric is involved in the development feasibility, financial analysis, due diligence, project design, entitlements, permitting and general contractor procurement of each new development. In addition, Eric serves alongside the company’s COO as the chief liaison between the Development and Management teams. In that role, he is responsible for the seamless transition of each project from the development phase to operations and management.

Eric has been with Core since the company’s inception and has developed over 1.5 million square feet of ground-up, mixed-use developments. Most notably, he was responsible for the development of two of Core’s award-winning communities, including the Hub on Campus located in Tempe, Arizona, as well as the Hub at Madison in Madison, Wisconsin. These two projects are widely considered the most acclaimed and desirable student housing assets in the country.

Eric has a diverse background in the building industry with over a decade of experience in architecture, construction, and development. He has managed all phases of work, from site acquisition through project turnover on over $1 billion in projects. Eric is a University of Illinois graduate with a Master's Degrees in Architecture and Civil Engineering.

Eric Grimm

As Senior Managing Director of Finance — Chief Accounting Officer, Lucero is responsible for direct oversight of the accounting and finance functions, including fund accounting and financial reporting, development and property operational accounting, budget and forecasting, tax and treasury.

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Lucero spent 12 years working in fast-paced environments for a mix of private and public real estate companies such as Jones Lang LaSalle, Equity LifeStyle Properties and more recently, at Global Logistics Properties (leading the finance team through the largest private real estate transaction globally, $19 billion industrial real estate portfolio sold to Blackstone). She was responsible for SEC reporting and compliance, corporate finance and financial reporting and analysis and was the finance lead through various strategic transactions. Prior to that, Lucero spent 8 years in the real estate audit practice at Deloitte, focused on public and private REITs. Lucero holds a B.S. in Accounting and Finance from UVM (Mexico City).

Lucero Castellanos

As Managing Director, Head of FP&A Merritt Is directly responsible for overseeing all aspects of budgeting, forecasting, and valuations for Core Spaces. She plays a key role in enhancing the accuracy of projections, and developing analysis and reporting that enables the Executive Team to make informed decisions which align with the overall vision of Core. 

Merritt is a proven leader bringing over 15 years of diversified real estate experience from companies such as Inventrust Properties, Global Logistics Properties (GLP), Cushman & Wakefield, and Revantage, a Blackstone Portfolio Company. At GLP, she played a pivotal role within the finance team working through the largest private real estate transaction globally of $19B to Blackstone. 

Merritt graduated from William Jewell College with a bachelors in Accounting, Business Administration, and liberal arts. She subsequently received her MBA from Dominican University with an emphasis in Accounting. Merritt also has received her CPA certification.

Merritt Poole

As Managing Director, Property & Development Accounting Megan leads both the student housing and build to rent property operating and development accounting teams. 

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Megan spent nine years working for publicly traded retail REITs. Most recently she served as the Controller for Kite Realty. Prior to that Megan spent six years in the real estate audit practice at Deloitte.

Megan holds a B.S in Accounting and Management from DePaul University.

Megan Sullivan

As Managing Director of People Operations, Melissa manages all aspects of Core Spaces’ people operations and human resource functions. She joined the development team in Chicago in 2016 and prior to turning her focus to people operations, she has held a variety of roles across development accounting, lending/closing transactions, corporate accounting and treasury, office operations/administration, risk management and compliancy.

Prior to Core Spaces, Melissa spent 16+ years working in the architecture/design industry. She started as the Receptionist at local Chicago architecture firm in 1999 and held a variety of operational, accounting, administrative and human resource roles. In 2008 she joined a global architecture firm as Human Resources Business Partner where she administered all human resources functions as well as managed its office operations and administrative functions for its Chicago and New York offices.

Melissa Sheahan

Adam handles all of Core’s legal matters, predominantly focusing on Core’s real estate transactions. His role includes the drafting and negotiation of purchase agreements, operating agreements and financing documents.

Adam practiced law in the real estate departments of various leading national law firms for 15 years prior to joining Core. For the 7 years immediately prior to joining Core, Adam was a partner in the real estate department of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. At Kirkland, Adam represented public and private real estate investors, operators and developers (directly and indirectly through joint ventures) in all aspects of acquisitions, dispositions, operating agreements, mortgage financings, and other structured financing arrangements.

Adam has a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts from Pitzer College (the Claremont Colleges).

Adam Grant

A dynamic and engaged leader with over 16 years of real estate experience, Laura Formica has served the multifamily and student housing industry in several executive leadership roles overseeing operations, acquisitions, asset management, business systems and intelligence, and people operations. 

As Senior Managing Director of Operations at Core Spaces, Laura's role is to lead the property management team, and the operations, training, and engineering support of the company's student housing and build to rent portfolios. 

Laura Formica

Joe is a part of the acquisitions team that is responsible for sourcing development and value-add opportunities of land and underperforming assets. Joe is involved in all aspects of the acquisitions process from site identification and underwriting through due diligence and entitlement.

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Joe gained broad experience as a broker in all aspects of commercial real estate including leasing, investment sales, and land sales. In his career, Joe was involved in over 90 transactions totaling over 1,600,000 SF.

Joe graduated from DePaul University with a Bachelor’s in Real Estate Finance.

Joe Gatto

As Managing Director, Development, Jonathan oversees the Student Housing Development and Entitlement activities for Core Spaces. With extensive experience in all aspects of the real estate development process, Jonathan has overseen multiple projects and building types from land acquisition through stabilization. Jonathan brings a unique skill set to Core Spaces having previously worked as a Project Architect, Construction Manager, and Development Manager.

Before joining Core Spaces, Jonathan led the development and entitlement activities for a national multifamily developer in Chicago.  Jonathan has experience developing and designing projects throughout the country ranging from garden style communities to mixed-use high rises. 

A graduate from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a degree in Architecture and Urban Planning, Jonathan currently serves as Chairman of the Design Commission for the Village of Arlington Heights. 

Jonathan Kubow

As the Managing Director of Asset Management, Jason is responsible for maximizing financial performance of the operating Portfolio. His role includes the management and oversight of budget execution, revenue and leasing strategy, and financing. Additionally, Jason is integral to the investment processes by evaluating potential acquisition, disposition, and development opportunities.

Jason joined Core with 12 years of commercial real estate experience spanning a multitude of key areas including asset management, development, and debt restructuring. Most recently, he led the Asset Management Department at The Scion Group where he was responsible for the $5.0 billion Student Housing portfolio.

Jason earned his MBA from The University of Texas, and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Indiana University.

Jason Keith

Erin serves as the Managing Director, Revenue Optimization. Erin's responsibilities include overseeing business operations, strategic planning, budget analysis, financial reporting, leasing, and facility operations for Core Spaces growing portfolio of new developments and stabilized assets.

Erin started her Student Housing career in 2003 in College Station, Texas. Before joining Core Spaces, she was the Director of Student Housing for a well-known developer of multi-family and student housing properties and was responsible for operating nearly 6000 beds. Throughout her career, she has been a key role player in more than $500M worth of transactions within the student housing industry. Erin has extensive experience in on-site operations, management, new development, renovations, due diligence, dispositions, and turnover processes.

Erin graduated from Texas A&M University with a Bachelor in History and Minor in Psychology.

Erin Perez

As Senior Managing Director — Chief Investment Officer, Brendan is responsible for guiding Core’s investment strategy and coverage of capital partner relationships. Prior to joining Core in 2019, Brendan spent nearly six years at Goldman Sachs focused on real estate private equity and high-yield credit investing. Brendan received his Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration from Cornell University.

Brendan Miller

As Senior Managing Director — Chief Investment Officer, Build-To-Rent, Cliff is responsible for guiding Core’s investment strategy and coverage of capital partner relationships within single family rental.

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Cliff spent approximately thirteen years at Equity International focused on investing in private real estate companies globally. Responsibilities included oversight of the team’s investment origination and execution in certain geographies, and portfolio management of EI portfolio companies. Previously, he worked in New York in Merrill Lynch’s real estate investment banking group where he focused on capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and other advisory engagements.

Cliff graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in business administration from the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. He currently serves on the board of directors of Homie, a residential real estate technology company based in Mexico, and is an active volunteer for Best Buddies Illinois and participant in their Citizens Program.

Cliff Payne

Ben is Managing Director, Strategy and Research. In this role, Ben is responsible for the execution of high-quality data aggregation, analysis, and dissemination that shape the various strategies of the company and its business operations. Ben seeks to foster a collaborative environment for information sharing and communication across the company and external stakeholders.

Ben has been with Core since its inception and has 25 years of student housing experience. Prior to his current position, Ben served as President of Property Management for Core. During his time building and leading the management team, Ben oversaw the daily operations of nearly 20,000 developed and acquired beds.

Before joining the company, Ben held positions with several large owners and operators of student housing, where he was both responsible for and very successful in their portfolio growth and maximization of asset values. Ben started his student housing career while still a student at Pennsylvania State University where he went on to earn a Bachelor of Science in Management. He further received a Master’s degree in Business Administration in Technology Management from the University of Phoenix.

Benjamin Modleski

Anna is Managing Director/Controller of Accounting responsible for direct oversight of financial reporting for development and operating properties, including fund and corporate accounting.

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Anna spent over 15 years working in the real estate industry across various industry sectors. Her previous work history includes Bond Companies where she oversaw the Accounting and Finance Department, led the strategic accounting decisions on complex tax-structured transactions, and maintained financial reporting and tax compliance. While working at Aviv REIT, Anna maintained technical GAAP compliance on significant transactions including business combinations and debt restructuring, maintained the revenue cycle, and assisted in the S-11 filing leading up to Aviv REIT’s IPO. Prior to Aviv REIT, Anna worked in the financial services audit team at PwC focused on real estate clients. Anna graduated from Boston College with an M.S. in Accounting and a B.S. in Management with Concentrations in Accounting and Operations Management.

Anna Plewa

Scott is the Managing Director of Asset Management and manages financial operations, develops & implements financial policies and strategies, analyzes performance and makes decisions about budgeting, investment, and expansion. Additionally, Scott assists in the due diligence processes of new potential developments and acquisitions.
Scott has nearly a decade of experience exclusively in property management and operations. Prior to joining Core Spaces, Scott held management positions with several large national property management companies. He has extensive experience in site accounting, management and training, operational budgeting, due diligence, and financial analysis and modeling.

Scott is a graduate of The University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science in Corporate Communications. He further received a Master in Business Administration in Finance from St. Edward's University.

Scott Stager

As Managing Director of Maintenance Operations Tim has oversight for facilities maintenance, service contracts, capital projects, property turnover, and the transitions from development project to operating property.

Prior to joining Core, Tim has spent most of his career in the Hospitality Industry. He’s worked for Marriott International, Four Seasons, The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company and most recently Hilton Hotels. As the Vice President of Engineering for Ritz-Carlton he opened more the 60 properties worldwide and participated in both Malcom Baldridge National Quality awards the company received. As Vice President of Engineering for Marriott he was responsible for the development and implementation for their global engineering asset management CMMS and guest response systems.

Tim Sylvester

Katy Darnaby is responsible for all storytelling on behalf of Core Spaces. In this role, she ensures that a cohesive, integrated communications strategy is implemented across all of the Core Spaces brands; both internally and externally.

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Katy was a Managing Partner of The Door, a creative relations agency specializing in hospitality, travel, consumer products, home and design. For nearly two decades, she executed impactful communications campaigns focusing on brand positioning, partnership development, social media and crisis management, ultimately creating engaging and memorable moments with iconic restaurants, hotels, personalities and consumer product brands across the country.

She is a forever Jawhawk, loyal to her alma mater, The University of Kansas, and welcomes any conversation to talk about the university’s superior NCAA men’s basketball program.

Katy Darnaby

As Assistant General Counsel, Melissa guides a wide range of Core Space’s legal matters.  In this role, she collaborates with departments across Core Spaces to facilitate real estate transactions, implement leasing and operational initiatives, manage contracts throughout their life cycle, direct dispute resolution, identify and minimize risk, and advise on day-to-day legal matters that arise in an innovative, growing company. 

Prior to joining Core Spaces, Melissa served as counsel for boberdoo.com and was a partner in the real estate department of international law firm Greenberg Traurig, where she focused on various aspects of complex commercial real estate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions, leases, joint ventures, financings, and the redevelopment of retail properties. 

Melissa earned her J.D. from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law and her undergraduate degree from Barnard College.

Melissa Seiler

Heidi Much is a seasoned senior risk management professional with significant experience in real estate, construction, and development companies. Throughout her career, she’s overseen exposure in all areas of risk management and expertise in contractual risk transfer, construction program creation, crisis response, business continuity, property loss prevention, insurance plan design, retention review, claims management, financial planning, and budgeting.

Heidi is actively involved with RIMS at the local level, having served as Past President, Vice President, Treasurer and Chapter Delegate. She also served at the Society level having served on the Member & Chapter Engagement Committee from 2012-2015 and chaired the Student Advisory Council beginning in 2016-2018, as well as a judge for the Spencer-RIMS Risk Management Challenge from 2015-2018.

She is a former member of the Board of Directors - Apartment Building Management Worker’s Compensation Self-Insured Fund, and a frequent speaker and educator for the Detroit Metropolitan Apartment Association. 

Heidi is a graduate of University of San Francisco with a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior. 

Heidi Much

Tom Dine is a Managing Director of Global Wealth Management at Core Spaces.

With over two decades of experience in finance and the private wealth space, Tom brings his expertise and relationship-first approach to Core to launch and lead the company’s wealth management platform alongside his brother and business partner, John Dine. Through the wealth management platform, the partners will distribute Core’s previous and successful institutional strategies to high-net-worth individuals to fuel the growth of Core’s student housing portfolio.

Prior to joining Core, Tom served as a Director at Apollo Global Management Inc., the leading alternative asset management firm where he was responsible for increasing assets under management through all financial intermediaries. Before Apollo, Tom was Senior Vice President at both W.P. Carey Inc. and Griffin Capital Company, LLC where he spent the bulk of his career in alternative investment strategies, with a focus on real estate and private equity. He began his career as a Financial Advisor at UBS/PaineWebber.

Tom Dine

John Dine is a Managing Director of Global Wealth Management at Core Spaces.

John has over 20 years of experience in financial services, helping investors achieve their goals using alternative investment strategies. John brings his extensive industry knowledge and exceptional client service to launch and lead Core’s wealth management platform, alongside his brother and business partner, Tom Dine. Through this wealth platform, the partners will distribute Core’s previous and successful institutional strategies to high-net-worth individuals to fuel the growth of Core’s student housing portfolio.

Before joining Core, John served as Director at Apollo Global Management responsible for increasing assets under management through all financial intermediaries. He previously served as Senior Vice President at Griffin Capital, which was then acquired by Apollo. Prior to his tenure at Griffin Capital, he was a Vice President at W.P. Cary Inc., responsible for increasing AUM in the RIA and independent broker/dealer channel.  Before financial services, John began his career as a senior trader in Chicago focused on energy and yield curve futures.

John Dine

Everyone at Core is empowered to do what 
they think is right for our residents and 
partners. To go after never-been-done ideas, 
big and small. To think up the next great 
innovation that makes our buildings amazing 
places to live. That’s how we revolutionized 
student housing and it’s why there’s no limit 
to what we can do next.

This team makes it possible. We've build everything we've build over the years but the best thing we've built is our culture.  

We’re All
Empowered
to Lead

This team makes it possible.

Marc LifshinFounder & CEO

Brian NeiswenderFounder & Director

Barry HowardFounder & Chief Sustainability Officer

Team

We’re All Empowered to Lead

This team makes it possible.

Team Members

Marc LifshinMarc LifshinFounder & CEO

Brian NeiswenderBrian NeiswenderFounder & Director

Barry HowardBarry HowardFounder & Chief Sustainability Officer

We’re All
Empowered
to Lead

Marc LifshinFounder & CEO

Brian NeiswenderFounder & Director

Barry HowardFounder & Chief Sustainability Officer