According to the New York City Chapter of International Facility Management Association (IFMA NYC), two top real estate executives spoke at the chapter's recent seminar, entitled "The State of the World's Real Estate," which took place on June 18th at Kimball Office. Kenneth McCarthy, chief economist at Cushman & Wakefield, kicked off the program with a keynote speech that examined influencing factors, economic indicators, trends and the impact of global real estate on the U.S. market. McCarthy also spoke about industries that are driving the real estate market, noting that energy and technology have not suffered during post-recession recovery. Following McCarthy's remarks, Raymond Quartararo, vice chairman of New York Operations at Jones Lang LaSalle, spoke about the U.S. real estate market and provided insights on where the market is heading regionally and in New York. In his overview of New York City's contracting workplace, Quartararo said, "Everything we are doing in architecture and furniture is responding to a contracting workplace - smaller square feet per person." He also discussed the implications of downtown Manhattan's resurgence and shifts in transportation trends among the younger generation. McCarthy has been with Cushman & Wakefield since August 2006. As chief economist, he is responsible for preparing C&W's US and global economic analysis, as well as working with the New York City research organization to track and analyze activities in the New York City, Westchester County, Fairfield County, Long Island and New Jersey areas. Prior to joining C&W, McCarthy served as chief economist of The Center for Innovative Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit corporation dedicated to understanding and furthering the impact of innovative entrepreneurs on the US economy. Prior to taking this position McCarthy was chief economist for vFinance, Inc. He oversaw all of the company's economic analysis and research including the vFinance Entrepreneurial Confidence Index, a proprietary research tool for understanding entrepreneurial activity in the US. Quartararo is a vice chairman in Jones Lang LaSalle's New York office. In this role, he uses his local market knowledge and long-standing relationships with area tenants and owners to drive and manage the firm's sales strategy and business development efforts in the Tri-state region. He also serves as the president of Jones Lang LaSalle's regional Project and Development Services group, one of New York's leading project management resources. Quartararo assists in managing the sales efforts of over 150 brokerage, sales and other professionals from Jones Lang LaSalle's regional service lines. He also focuses on growing the firm's national Project & Development Services practice and lends personal expertise and technical capabilities to many of the region's assignments, attending strategic meetings and assisting account teams in negotiating transactions that achieve client goals.