The Paul Milstein Center for Real Estate is pleased to welcome three new alumni to the Real Estate Circle: Austin Khan ’04 and Richard D. Pretsfelder ’94 as Circle Leaders, and Anand Bhatia ’16 as a Circle Associate. Austin Khan ’04 is Chief Investment Officer at Ethika Investments with over $2 billion of real estate investment experience. Mr. Khan’s extensive experience in the hospitality, office, retail, and multifamily sectors has positioned him as an expert in the commercial real estate arena. He is responsible for strategic planning and acquisition management as well as overseeing new business initiatives. Prior to joining Ethika Investments, Mr. Khan was Vice President of Acquisitions for the primary real estate investment platform for TRT Holdings, a diversified private investment focused on public and private market strategies in hospitality, financial services, and energy. In this role, he led the global sourcing for new investment deals while staying on track with acquisition strategy. His efforts were also utilized in managing capital markets relationships on behalf of the firm. Mr. Khan was a key player in completing such landmark transactions as the acquisition of the real estate assets of the Amelia Island Company, the development of the 1,000-key Omni Dallas Convention Center Hotel, and the recapitalization of the ChampionsGate Resort in Orlando. Prior to that, Mr. Khan was a Real Estate Acquisitions Manager for the Palmetto Hospitality Fund on behalf of its development affiliate, OTO Development, where he focused on acquisitions and ground-up development of midscale and upscale hotels in the Hilton, Marriott, Starwood, and Hyatt families of brands. Mr. Khan started his real estate finance career in investment banking as part of the leisure, lodging and, gaming group at Banc of America Securities and the Real Estate Capital Markets Group of Andersen Corporate Finance, a broker-dealer subsidiary of Arthur Andersen, LLP. Mr. Khan received his MBA with concentrations in Finance and Real Estate from Columbia Business School and a B.S. in Commerce from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He is also a Certified Public Accountant. Richard Pretsfelder ’94 is Partner at Leslie J. Garfield & Company. Mr. Pretsfelder joined Leslie J. Garfield in 2002 as a Managing Director overseeing the firm’s Upper West Side business. In 2005, he was named Partner and his responsibilities expanded to include management of the firm's sales, marketing, and operations. He has overseen expansion of the firm throughout Manhattan and into Brooklyn and is responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of residential, institutional, and commercial real estate sales. Anand Bhatia ’16 is the Vice President of the Bhatia Development Organization. Founded in 1980, the firm has completed or is developing projects in Manhattan in excess of $1 billion in value, comprised of over 2,000 luxury condominiums, co-ops, and rental units. Along with supporting efforts related to ongoing development, leasing, and capital markets activities, Mr. Bhatia focuses on Acquisitions and Business Development for the organization. Prior to earning his MBA at Columbia Business School, Mr. Bhatia worked at Tishman Speyer in New York City for over four years as member of its Leadership Development Program, and most recently as Chief of Staff for the Global Head of Design and Construction.