Marjorie L. Torres is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Concrete Stories (CS), a commercial real estate advisory firm that provides landlords, tenants and investors with strategic advice, brokerage, negotiation and real estate development services. Identifying a gap in the industry for high-quality, cost-effective, personalized service, Ms. Torres created CS to deliver Fortune 100-level advice to middle market business owners.

Marjorie Torres has built the corporate and technical infrastructure that will allow Concrete Stories to become a strong middle market real estate brokerage brand. Ms. Torres started with an idea in late 2000 and successfully raised first round venture capital by 2001. Within a year, 2002, she developed the brokerage product, built the web technology, reengineered the execution platform, hired management, and closed deals. CS is growing. In this quarter, CS will close twice as many deals than it had closed in the prior twelve months.

Ms. Torres is a serial entrepreneur. Ms. Torres is also President of MARTONO Enterprises, which she founded in 1998. At MARTONO, she has managed real estate projects and the turn-around of distressed properties. Previously, she had been a project manager at TOPA International Corporation for three years. In that position, she developed projects in diverse areas within Latin America and oversaw the management of an extensive international client roster. From 1991 to 1994, Ms. Torres was in the Corporate Finance Group at ING Barings (formerly known as NMB Bank) where she managed international accounts. Prior to that appointment, she served as a financial analyst at Baseline Financial Services. In 1990, Ms. Torres was a management/engineering consultant at Merck & Co., Inc. and Flex/MIS Corporation.

A Theresa Ann Yeager scholar and Charles Kandel associate, Ms. Torres graduated from Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science with a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering. Acting on her interest in corporate affairs, Ms. Torres obtained a certification in Corporate Governance from the Harvard Business School.

Diego Recalde is the Executive Managing Director of Concrete Stories (CS), a commercial real estate firm that was funded by CSFB Merchant Capital and has institutions such as Columbia University, Wesleyan University among its investors. Diego brings to CS approximately 20 years of investment banking experience and 15 years of experience in financial sector startups. He helped create and headed various divisions at leading bulge bracket investment banks. Diego has appeared in numerous media outlets, including CNN, Bloomberg, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Emerging Market Investor, Latin Trade and various publications throughout the Americas.

With a mission to "rewrite the rules of the game," Mr. Recalde helped create CS to assist tenants reduce their net office leasing costs. CS advisors assess operational, financial, and qualitative needs, enabling them to find and negotiate the best deal for office space. Mr. Recalde oversees the business strategy and investor relations of the New York City firm. His goal is to deliver Fortune 100-level advice to middle market business owners and create a dominant brokerage brand.

Diego Recalde is a specialist that focuses on start-ups in the financial sector. He began his investment -banking career in 1983 by interning with Kidder, Peabody in Mergers and Acquisitions. He then joined JP Morgan in 1987 and spent the next decade helping to create the Latin American Mergers and Acquisitions Group and the Risk Arbitrage Group. He also traded an equity portfolio that specialized in option strategies in takeover situations. From 1997 to 2001, Mr. Recalde worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, where he was a Managing Director and Head of the Latin American Mergers and Acquisitions Group, which he was hired to develop. He has been involved with a diverse group of industries, including the real estate, energy, power, technology, retail, entertainment, and consumer products sectors.

Mr. Recalde believes that one can be charitable at all stages in life. He is a leader in developing creative strategies for individual philanthropy in communities of color. He spearheaded the creation of a Private Equity Fund, where donors can bequeath private equity investments, restricted stock, options, or establish innovative charitable remainder trusts. Currently, Mr. Recalde is a Board Member of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), an organization that provides talented college students of color with orientation, training, internships, and on-going career and professional development in investment banking, law and philanthropy. He is an active member of SEO's newest initiative, SIRV (Saving, Investing, and Returning Value in Communities of Color). He has served on the Community Assistance Fund, which administers a $500,000 fund created by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and SEO. To date, the Fund has awarded over $400,000 to nonprofit organizations in New York City that address the needs of communities of color affected by September 11.

A Keeney Scholar and a Class of '41 Memorial Leader, Diego Recalde earned a B.A. degree in Physics from Wesleyan University and an Electrical Engineering degree from Columbia University. Mr. Recalde has been active in the Real Estate Board of New York and the Society of Hispanic Engineers. He served on the Board of Sponsors for Educational Opportunity and was Chairman of the New America Alliance Institute, an organization that focuses on education and strategic philanthropy.