GENERAL SESSION: CRE Executive Perspectives

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Walker & Dunlop, LLC

Willy Walker is Chairman and CEO of Walker & Dunlop. Under his leadership, Walker & Dunlop has repeatedly made FORTUNE Magazine’s Fastest-Growing Companies list as it has expanded from a small family-owned company into one of the largest commercial real estate finance companies in the United States and internationally. The firm was also #17 on Fortune’s 2017 list of “Fastest Growing Public Companies” and has been named a Best Workplace for eight of the last eleven years by the Great Place to Work® Institute. Mr. Walker received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2011 and was named “Financier of the Year” in 2017 and 2020 by Commercial Property Executive. Walker serves on the board of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation and Harvard Business School Board of Deans Advisors and previously served on the boards of St. Albans School, the Mortgage Bankers Association, and Children’s National Medical Center. Mr. Walker is also a member of the Real Estate Roundtable.

Head of Commercial Real Estate, JP Morgan Chase

Michelle Herrick is responsible for J.P. Morgan Commercial Banking’s Commercial Real Estate (CRE) portfolio, which is the largest in the U.S. and plays an essential role in developing and strengthening communities. The CRE portfolio consists of four businesses: Agency Lending, Community Development Banking, Commercial Term Lending and Real Estate Banking. Michelle joined J.P. Morgan in 2017 to run the Real Estate Banking Central region. In 2021, she was promoted to head of Real Estate Banking and then head of CRE in 2025. Before joining the firm, she held roles at Bank of America and its predecessor, LaSalle Bank. She earned bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance from Miami University and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Active in her community, Michelle serves as a Global Trustee for the Urban Land Institute and sits on their Global Board of Directors. She serves on the board of directors for The Real Estate Roundtable and Breaking Ground. Additionally, she is a member of the advisory board for the nonprofit One Million Degrees.

President - Debt & Structured Finance, CBRE Capital Markets

James Millon is President & Co-Head of U.S. & Canada Capital Markets at CBRE, where he leads the firm’s capital markets strategy and operations across the region. In this role, he partners with Tommy Lee, leveraging his extensive debt-side experience to complement Tommy's equity background. Previously, James served as President, U.S. Debt & Structured Finance at CBRE, where he led one of the industry’s top financing platforms. This team works closely with developers and commercial property owners, and leverages long-term, established relationships with diverse capital sources, including banks, pension funds, life insurance and credit companies, conduits/CMBS entities, government-sponsored enterprises, and global investors. He was also Co-Head of U.S. Large Loans, focusing on institutional debt advisory. His expertise lies in originating, underwriting, pricing, structuring, negotiating, syndicating, and securitizing large commercial real estate finance transactions. Since joining CBRE in July of 2016, James has arranged more than $45 billion in large fixed- and floating-rate transactions ranging from single assets to large portfolios. To date, he has originated more than $75 billion in commercial real estate loans throughout the United States, spanning all property types. Prior to Deutsche Bank, James was a member of Société Générale’s large loan origination and structuring desk and began his career with MMA Realty Capital’s debt fund.

Chief Executive Officer, Berkadia

Justin Wheeler is Chief Executive Officer and a member of Berkadia's Management Committee. Prior to joining Berkadia, Mr. Wheeler was the Chief Operating Officer of Leucadia National Corporation and was appointed Vice President of Leucadia in 2006. He sat on the boards of a number of Leucadia's operating companies and investments including Conwed Plastics, National Beef Corporation, Americredit and Garcadia. He previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer of American Investment Bank, N.A.