Christen Portelli is the co-founder and a managing principal of Highcap Group, a New York City investment-sales brokerage, launched in 2009, just as the Great Recession was starting to wind down.

The firm, which has 16 brokers, works all angles of the investment-sales market, including building and development-site sales as well as 1031 exchanges and financing arrangements such as mezzanine and bridge loans. Almost all of the New York City property deals that Highcap has brokered have been under $10 million, though the firm has been known to do larger ones, including building packages in Manhattan.

The firm has also worked markets outside of the New York metropolitan area, including Pittsburg and upstate New York. Portellis own work tends to involve mid-size and smaller apartment buildings.

A native of Long Island, she earned political science and social work degrees from Syracuse, and had originally intended to go to law school. A job in the commercial real estate division of a law firm, however, led to a career pivot. Portelli worked at commercial brokerage Besen and Associates before helping start Highcap Group.