From left: Robert Knakal and Jeff Sutton From the December issue: Sometimes, the Penn is mightier than the sword — at least when it comes to New York City’s real estate elite. The roster of “Wharton Mafia” — those who have graduated from the real estate program at the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania — is long and illustrious.
The school — which now has a center named for billionaire investor Sam Zell and his late business partner — has churned out heavyweight grads like Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, William Mack, Richard Mack, Jeff Sutton, Andrew Isikoff, Jeff Blau, Robert Knakal, Andrew Mathias, David Brause and Ara Hovnanian.
The schooling can prove professionally transformative. For every heir like Trump or Mack who gains some polish, there are others with fewer — if any — connections who gain the New York real estate world partly through Wharton. [more]
