Neidich takes over as chairman of US lobby group

Daniel Neidich has taken over as chairman of the US industry lobby group, the Real Estate Roundtable, the organisation said today.

The co-founder and chief executive officer of Dune Real Estate takes over from Hilton Hotels president and chief executive officer Christopher Nassetta. The position is traditionally held for two years.

The US Real Estate Roundtable represents public and private property chief executives and is currently pressing for government action to help restore liquidity to the credit markets.

The Roundtable’s “five point plan” for action includes the need for temporary changes to tax rules governing real estate mortgage investment conduits (REMICs) and an overhaul of policies governing foreign investment in US real estate.

Neidich said in a statement the industry faced “important policy challenges in the year ahead – the most significant of which is the ongoing liquidity and refinancing crisis that is forcing real estate owners into bankruptcy and pushing up delinquency rates on commercial mortgages”.

Neidich, who founded Dune Capital Management with Steven Mnuchin and Chip Seelig in 2004 and created Dune's real estate arm in 2006, will be joined on the Roundtable’s board by chairman of Global Logistic Properties and ex-Prologis chief Jeffrey Schwartz; Ronald Pressman, president and CEO of GE Capital Real Estate; Richard Saltzman, president of Colony Capital; Doug Shorenstein, founder of Shorenstein Company and Thomas Flexner, global head of Citigroup’s real estate business among others. Jeffrey DeBoer remains president and chief executive officer of the Roundtable.