Kirk A. Sykes currently serves on the following boards; The Natixis Loomis Sayles Funds Board of Trustees; The Eastern Bank Board of Trustees & Risk Management Committee; The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston External Diversity Advisory Board; Real Estate Executive Council (Chairman); The City of Boston’s Civic Design Commission; The Urban Land Institute’s New England Advisory Board; and Cornell University’s Baker Program in Real Estate Advisory Board and as Chairman of Real Estate Executive Council.
Previously, Mr. Sykes served on the following Boards: Ares Commercial Real Estate (NYSE: ACRE) Board of Directors and Compensation Committee; The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston Board, 2008-2014 (Chairman 2012-2014, Audit Committee, Business Practices Committee); Capital Crossing Bank Preferred REIT Board of Directors (acquired by Lehman Brothers Bank), 2004-2009; BankBoston & Fleet Community Bank Board of Directors, 1994-2004; and ICON Architects Board of Directors, 2004-2006. Mr. Sykes also served on the Board of Overseers for Beth Israel Hospital, Children’s Hospital, Boston University Medical Center, and Brigham & Women’s Hospital Osher Center.
Mr. Sykes is President of Primary Corporation and Investments, a Boston-based real estate investment and development company. Primary executes large-scale public and private real estate projects with a goal of financial and socially responsible investing success.
Previously, Mr. Sykes was the head of an urban investment, development, and redevelopment commercial real estate equity fund for select institutional investors called Urban Strategy America Fund, L.P. The Fund was a true “triple bottom-line fund” focusing on investment returns, economic development, and environmental sustainability. Mr. Sykes is responsible for the supervision of the partnership equity placement, the identification of investments, and the day-to-day business operations of the USA Fund.
Mr. Sykes combines his professional training and hands-on experience in the areas of finance, investment, development, design, and construction to create customized responses to the complex issues of urban real estate development. His approach is grounded in the bottom-line-driven perspective gained during his tenure as Chairman of The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston as well as other roles including Fleet Bank and BankBoston’s Community Bank Advisory Boards and various other for-profit and nonprofit board affiliations. Mr. Sykes acts as an Advisor to Basis Investment Group, a commercial real estate debt investment platform, where he provides strategic guidance and input on mezzanine debt and preferred equity investments in connection with construction loans.
Mr. Sykes has been a speaker at Harvard University Business School and Kennedy School of Government; University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business; MIT Sloan School of Management and Center for Real Estate; Cornell University Real Estate Program; and The League of Historical Cities of the World Conferences in Japan, Turkey, and Australia.
Mr. Sykes attended the Harvard University Business School, Owners and Presidents Management Program; the MIT Center for Real Estate Development Commercial Development Executive Program; and the L’Ecole Polytechnique in Paris, France. He earned his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University.