Jeffrey Levine is the founding principal and chairman of The Douglaston Companies, consisting of Douglaston Development, Levine Builders, and Clinton Management. Since 1979, Mr. Levine has directed the new construction or rehabilitation of thousands of residential units, including both affordable and market rate housing, student housing, hotels, senior living, healthcare facilities, and millions of square feet of commercial retail, office, and institutional spaces.  

Mr. Levine’s most recent accomplishment is the development of 3Eleven, a 60-story tower adjacent to Hudson Yards, consisting of 938 mixed-income, multi-family units and over 60,000 square feet of amenity space. He is also participating in the rehabilitation of the Linden/Penn-Wortman Houses, a 1,922-unit NYCHA property in East New York, where he lived for a portion of his childhood.  

In recent years, Mr. Levine developed the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn – more than two million square feet of mixed-use residential, spread across six distinct buildings. This includes The Edge condominiums, affordable housing in the Edge Community Apartments, and market rate rental housing at 1 North 4^th Place and Level BK. The property houses approximately 2,000 residential units, over 60,000 square feet of retail, structured parking, a water taxi pier, and a pedestrian esplanade.  

Mr. Levine is a member of REBNY’s Executive Committee and a founding member of both the NYS Association for Affordable Housing and the Kimmel Foundation, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to creating and promoting affordable housing and services for aged, handicapped, and other special-needs populations. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Citizens Housing and Planning Council, the New York Housing Conference, and the Chamber of Commerce of the Borough of Queens. Mr. Levine also sits on the Advisory Board of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City University of New York and New York University’s Real Estate Institute.  

Among Mr. Levine’s many professional recognitions are REBNY’s Harry B. Helmsley Distinguished New Yorker Award, which honors his lifetime of exceptional accomplishment in the industry and invaluable contributions to New York’s civic welfare. He has also been named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, and the National Association of Home Builders Affordable Builder of the Year.  

Mr. Levine currently sits on the Board of Directors at St. Mary’s Hospital for Children. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of the Jewish National Fund and is a member of its National Board, which recently honored him with its Tree of Life, a humanitarian award given in recognition of outstanding community involvement. 

Mr. Levine is a graduate of the City University of New York’s City College School of Architecture, from which he received the Townsend Harris Medal in 2020 for outstanding postgraduate achievement. 

Jed Resnick joined Douglaston Development as Chief Operating Officer in 2018 and assumed the role of CEO in 2020.  He brings 18 years of real estate finance and development experience to the company.  As CEO, Mr. Resnick oversees best-in-class execution across Douglaston’s various development projects, ensuring excellence in project planning, design, finance, and legal structuring.  He also leads site acquisition efforts to strengthen the company’s project pipeline, as well as critical asset management activities and other strategic business development initiatives. 

Prior to joining Douglaston Development, Mr. Resnick was a founding principal at Grafton Street Capital, a boutique real estate firm. He also spent ten years at LeFrak in New York City, serving in numerous roles including Senior Vice President for Real Estate Capital Markets and Acquisitions, and where he focused on project finance, ground-up development, and significant adaptive reuse projects.  

Mr. Resnick holds his B.A. from Harvard University and his M.B.A. from Columbia University. 

Steven Charno has served as President of Douglaston Development since joining the company in 2003. Mr. Charno oversees the company’s market rate residential development projects. During his tenure, he has facilitated the development of more than 2,000 units of residential housing in Manhattan and Brooklyn, including luxury condominium development projects, as well as market rate rental and affordable housing projects.

As a co-leader of the Executive Management team, Mr. Charno shares responsibility in the company’s investment strategy, retail leasing, asset management, personnel evaluation and compensation, and company policies.

Prior to joining the company, Mr. Charno worked at the Related Companies and served as Vice President and General Counsel for the development of the AOL Time Warner Center Project at Columbus Circle. Mr. Charno began his career as a transactional real estate attorney and was a partner and Executive Committee member of the San Francisco-based real estate firm of Landels Ripley and Diamond, LLP. Mr. Charno currently serves on the Housing and Land Use Committees of the Real Estate Board of New York.

Mr. Charno holds his B.A. from Brandeis University and his J.D. from Brooklyn Law School.

Michael Kaye is a consultant to DD Nationwide and former CEO of Douglaston Development. DD Nationwide, launched in 2020, is a strategic move by Douglaston Development to expand its U.S. footprint beyond the New York Metropolitan area and Arizona, where development is currently underway. 

DD Nationwide’s portfolio includes a 47-story residential tower currently in the predevelopment phase in the Belltown neighborhood of Seattle, as well as development projects in Arizona and the greater Southwest, including Vista Winds in Peoria, Arizona. Upon completion, Vista Winds will feature 216 units of senior housing along with a 300-unit multifamily community.

Prior to joining the company, Mr. Kaye worked as an attorney in private practice specializing in transactional real estate. Mr. Kaye previously served as an Assistant Attorney General on the executive staff of New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams.

Mr. Kaye currently serves on the board of directors of the not-for-profit organization Urban Pathways. He is a board member of the New York State Association for Affordable Housing and is also the former Chair of the Brooklyn Real Estate Roundtable.

Mr. Kaye holds his B.A. from the University of Rochester and his J.D. from SUNY Buffalo.

Benjamin Levine is Executive Vice President, Finance & Acquisitions at Douglaston Development. Mr. Levine joined the company in 2008 as a Project Manager, where he oversaw developments throughout the boroughs. He is responsible for all acquisition and development underwriting and feasibility and has secured over $2 billion in project underwriting to date. Most recently, Mr. Levine was part of the team that syndicated the debt and equity capital for 601 West 29^th Street, an over $600 million, 931-unit luxury mixed-use residential development located in the Hudson Yards area. 

Mr. Levine is a sitting board member for Haymakers of Hope as well as a member and former chair of the Jewish National Fund Future in New York. 

Prior to joining Douglaston Development, Mr. Levine worked as an analyst at Credit Suisse in both New York City and London for their real estate finance and securitization group.

Mr. Levine holds his B.A. in Urban Studies with a minor in Urban Real Estate and Development from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Liz Oakley is Executive Vice President, Affordable Development at Douglaston Development.  She leads the firm’s affordable housing development strategy, including strengthening relationships with government agencies and community partners, and fostering seamless coordination between the development team and our construction and management entities.

 Ms. Oakley joined the company in 2022, bringing over 15 years of experience in affordable housing and community development. Previously, she served as Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), leading the development team to exceed annual housing production targets of more than 25,000 affordable units for both the 2020 and 2021 fiscal years, and setting new records for homeless, senior, and new construction production. Ms. Oakley has also previously served as a Special Advisor for NY State Homes and Community Renewal, as Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Community Lending & Investment and in various roles at the NYC Housing Development Corporation and NYC HPD.

 Ms. Oakley has served on numerous non-profit boards, including Neighborhood Restore, NYC Housing Partnership, Broadway Housing Communities, and Women in Housing and Finance.  She currently represents Douglaston on the boards of the NYU Furman Center, NYSAFAH, and the NY Housing Conference.

 Ms. Oakley graduated from St. Joseph’s University with a BS in History, cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. She also holds an MPA from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. 

Jessica Sherman is Senior Vice President, Affordable Development at Douglaston Development. Ms. Sherman joined the company in 2016 as a Project Manager and brings over 5 years of project management experience. 

Prior to joining Douglaston Development, Ms. Sherman worked as a Leadership Fellow at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, focusing on regional infrastructure management and development. She was also previously a Senior Product Manager at Amazon. Ms. Sherman is a member of the Advisory Council for the Fund for Public Housing and serves on the Junior Board of Reclaim Childhood. 

Ms. Sherman holds her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School, an M.Sc. in Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania. 

Adam Ditchfield is the Director of Finance at Douglaston Development. Mr. Ditchfield joined the company as an intern in 2008 and throughout his tenure has seen many projects through their full life cycle, including market rate and affordable projects with various financing scenarios.

In his current role, Mr. Ditchfield is responsible for overseeing financial operations of all development projects from acquisition through stabilization and refinancing. His duties include implementing and maintaining company accounting systems and processes, financial planning, forecasting, and modeling, as well as managing development accounting staff, ensuring audit, tax and reporting compliance with lenders, investors, and agencies.

Mr. Ditchfield holds a B.A. in Accounting & Economics with a minor in mathematics from Queens College.

Graham Christensen is Vice President, Market Rate Development at Douglaston Development. Mr. Christensen is responsible for assisting in all aspects of development projects, including initial underwriting and performance of due diligence for acquisitions, managing ongoing project schedules and financial pro-formas, and assisting in the development of leasing and asset operating strategies. 

Prior to joining Douglaston Development, he worked as a Project Manager at Bavier Design, an architectural and interior design firm specializing in commercial, retail, and corporate interior architecture and design. 

Mr. Christensen holds his M.S. in Real Estate Development from Columbia University, and his B.A. in Economics and Architectural Studies from Connecticut College.

Hank Minskoff is Vice President, Preservation at Douglaston Development. He joined the company in 2020 as a Project Manager after spending 2 years as an Associate Developer at Pennrose, LLC, an affordable housing development company headquartered in Pennsylvania. While at Pennrose, he focused on a large scale 1,300 unit RAD/Section 18 project in the Bushwick Neighborhood in Brooklyn, as well as working on Section 18 projects in Albany and Troy, NY. Mr. Minskoff also worked as a Senior Project Manager in New Construction Finance with the City of New York’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). While at HPD, he closed 10 projects and over 2,000 affordable units, as well as serving in the Storm Recovery Division. 

Mr. Minskoff holds a B.A. in History from Lehigh University and a Masters in Urban Planning, Housing and Economic Development from New York University.

Reia Tong works as a Project Manager with Douglaston Development for its Webster Phase II, 110 East 138th Street, and Kingsboro Psychiatric Center projects.  Ms. Tong is responsible for all aspects of project development including initial underwriting and ongoing financial analysis, project due diligence, and architectural development.   

 Ms. Tong joined Douglaston Development in 2019 as an Analyst, where she evaluated new acquisitions and developed RFP submissions for the company, including the team’s submission for the Kingsboro Psychiatric Center. 

Prior to joining Douglaston Development, Ms. Tong spent two years working with the team at CetraRuddy Architecture and she also completed an internship with L+M Development Partners. Ms. Tong is a volunteer with Big Brothers and Sisters of America as well as a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Advisory Council for the Fund for Public Housing.  

Ms. Tong holds a master’s in real estate development from Columbia University and a B.A. in Architectural Studies from Brown University. 

Michael Kessler is President of The Douglaston Companies. He has been a member of the organization for over 30 years, overseeing and managing the three companies’ financial teams. Mr. Kessler is responsible for securing financing for projects and overseeing the finance and accounting aspects of each project’s full life cycle from inception through disposition.

As a key advisor and member of the Executive Management team, he shares responsibility in supervising the organization’s insurance and risk management departments, as well as Human Resources and Information Technology departments.

Mr. Kessler was an officer of the Queens Bronx Builders Association for many years and more recently served as a director on the New York/New Jersey Commercial Client Advisory Board for Capital One Banking group representing tristate real estate construction companies. Mr. Kessler currently serves in many community roles, including National Vice President of the Jewish National Fund’s Education Centurium, member of the JNF’s Go North and Israel Heritage Task Forces, and a member of the New York Board of the UJA Federation as well as the Executive Committee of UJA Long Island.

Mr. Kessler graduated Cum Laude from SUNY-Albany’s Business School with a B.S. in Accounting. He is a member of the NYS Society of Certified Public Accounts, and American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Olivia Kelly is Chief Administrative Officer at The Douglaston Companies. Ms. Kelly joined The Douglaston Companies in 2018 and brings over 12 years of experience in human resources. She directs the day-to-day operations of the human resources department including human capital management, policy review and implementation, benefits and compensation management, compliance, and professional development. 

Prior to joining The Douglaston Companies, Ms. Kelly oversaw the human resources department of an international law firm. She is a certified HR professional and holds both the SPHR and SHRM-SCP certifications.

Ms. Kelly holds a Bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice from Long Island University and is currently completing her Master’s degree in Human Resources Management and Organizational Effectiveness from Manhattanville College. 

Rizo Ramusevic is Vice President of Risk Management at The Douglaston Companies. Mr. Ramusevic joined The Douglaston Companies in 2006 and brings over 30 years of experience to the organization. Mr. Ramusevic is responsible for developing, overseeing, and implementing the company’s Environmental, Health and Safety programs, and is also responsible for the design, delivery and oversight of the company’s various insurance, surety, and risk management programs by establishing industry best practices. 

Prior to joining the organization, Mr. Ramusevic was a risk management and insurance consultant at Ernst & Young servicing various fortune 1000 companies and also served as the Risk Manager for AMEC Construction Management, Inc. (f/k/a Morse Diesel International). Mr. Ramusevic is an OSHA 500 Authorized Outreach Instructor & Facilitator, and holds various licenses with NYC agencies including General Contractor, Site Safety Manager, and Construction Site Fire Safety Manager and has served in advisory roles on the topic of NYC construction industry safety to both the Real Estate Board Of New York and to the Office of the Manhattan Borough President. 

Mr. Ramusevic holds a Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designation and his B.A. in Accounting with a minor in Economics from Queens College.

Eileen Logan has served as Director of Finance for The Douglaston Companies since joining the organization in 2021. In her role, Ms. Logan is responsible for corporate financial operations including:

Prior to joining The Douglaston Companies, Ms. Logan served as Chief Financial Officer for a boutique real estate investment group, where she oversaw day-to-day accounting functions, represented owners in real estate sales, purchases and refinancing transactions, prepared and submitted construction loan draws for development projects, and worked closely with banks and brokers on financing transactions. She also previously worked as an auditor in public accounting specializing in real estate and low-income housing audits.

Ms. Logan holds a B.S. in Accounting from the State University of New York at Albany and is a Certified Public Accountant

Tim Mahon is Director of Information Technology for The Douglaston Companies. Mr. Mahon joined the organization in 2022 and brings over 16 years of experience to his role. He is responsible for oversight of all technology operations, including the help desk, cyber security, disaster recovery, and vendor management. Mr. Mahon also works with the companies to understand processes and workflows to create operational efficiency tactics leveraging best practices and automation utilizing technology.

Prior to joining The Douglaston Companies, Mr. Mahon was Director of Information Technology at Masterpiece International, where he built out and managed teams supporting all facets of technology, including infrastructure, applications, development, and end user support. Mr. Mahon also led the organization through disaster recovery efforts during Hurricane Sandy, as well as office closure and remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mr. Mahon holds a BBA in Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management from Western Governors University.