Officers & Directors
Robert Hekemian
Robert S. Hekemian, Jr. has served as a director since 2007, and he was appointed as Chief Executive Officer of FREIT in April 2018 following the retirement of the late Robert S. Hekemian as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FREIT. Mr. Hekemian was additionally appointed to the office of President of FREIT in February 2019. Mr. Hekemian’s current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2026 Annual Meeting of FREIT’s stockholders and his term as President and Chief Executive Officer will expire at such time as his successor qualifies and is appointed. Mr. Hekemian has been involved in real estate activities for over 40 years, including property management, leasing, mortgage financing, construction and acquisitions of multifamily residential and commercial properties located throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. He has served as Chief Executive Officer of Hekemian & Co. since 2021. From 2004 to 2020, Mr. Hekemian served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Hekemian & Co. From 1983 to 2003, Mr. Hekemian served as Executive Vice President of Hekemian & Co. Mr. Hekemian is principally responsible for identifying real estate acquisitions and evaluating the performance of the real estate properties managed by Hekemian & Co. with a view toward strategic decision making. Mr. Hekemian formerly served on the Board of Oritani Bank and was Chair of the Loan Committee. Mr. Hekemian is a member of the Board of Governors, Hackensack University Medical Center and a former director of the Hackensack University Medical Center Foundation. He formerly served on the Board of the New York Philharmonic and was the former Chairman of the Bergen County Community College Foundation. Mr. Hekemian was appointed Condemnation Commissioner by the State of New Jersey and has served on various corporate and charitable committees. He is a Board Member of the Meridian School of Medicine and Chairs the Student Affairs Committee.
Mr. Hekemian earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from American University and graduated as a MIT Sloan Fellow from the MIT Sloan School with a Master of Science in Management.
Ronald Artinian
Ronald J. Artinian has served as a director since 1992, and he was appointed as Chairman of FREIT in April 2018 following the retirement of the late Robert S. Hekemian as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of FREIT. Mr. Artinian’s current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2025 annual meeting of FREIT’s stockholders and his term as Chairman will expire at such time as his successor is appointed and qualifies.
Mr. Artinian worked in the financial services industry for 26 years, including with Smith Barney, Inc. from 1989 to 1998, where Mr. Artinian held positions as an Executive Vice President, Managing Director and National Sales Manager. Mr. Artinian retired from Smith Barney in January 1998 in order to pursue other business interests as a private investor. Mr. Artinian joined the board of The Reserve, a money market fund, in 2007 and served as lead independent director from March 2009 through December 2016.
Mr. Artinian earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School.
John Aiello
John A. Aiello, Esq. has served as the Secretary of FREIT since 2003 and as a director of the Board since December 2015. His current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2024 annual meeting of FREIT’s stockholders. Mr. Aiello is an officer and shareholder of the law firm of Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, P.C., where he has practiced law for 48 years. He is Chairman of the law firm’s Corporate and Securities practice group and concentrates his practice on corporate and securities law matters, including mergers and acquisitions and various corporate finance transactions.
Mr. Aiello is an emeritus member and former Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Business Law Section of the New Jersey State Bar Association and a former member of the Board of Directors of the New Jersey chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, a non-profit organization of professionals and business leaders in the middle market mergers and acquisitions space. Mr. Aiello is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Leon Hess School of Business of Monmouth University.
Mr. Aiello graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School and earned a Juris Doctor degree from the Georgetown University Law School.
Allan Tubin
Allan Tubin was appointed as Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of FREIT in February 2019. Mr. Tubin is the Chief Financial Officer of Hekemian & Co. As Chief Financial Officer of Hekemian & Co., Mr. Tubin is responsible for corporate and project finance, budgeting and tax planning, accounting, and SEC compliance for FREIT. He is a member of Hekemian & Co.’s Acquisitions and Development Due Diligence Team, where he is responsible for financial forecasting and modeling.
Mr. Tubin has over 25 years’ experience in real estate finance. Prior to joining Hekemian & Co. in 1996, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for the international real estate activities of the investment bank Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, and served as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young.
Mr. Tubin earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from Pace University.
Richard Aslanian
Richard J. Aslanian has served as a director since April 2018. His current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2024 annual meeting of FREIT’s stockholders. Mr. Aslanian is the Co-Founder of Welcome Home Brands, LLC, a distributor of imported paper and plastic bakeware products that services cruise lines, hotels, casinos and food service companies. He co-founded Welcome Home Brands, LLC in 2010.
From 2007 to 2009 Mr. Aslanian was the Chief Executive Officer, sole Managing Member and founder of Blue Ram Capital Management, LLC, which managed an investment partnership of public equities in developed markets. In 2006, Mr. Aslanian retired from Goldman Sachs & Co. as a Managing Director after having been with the firm since 1991, during which time he was co-head of one of the most prominent wealth management teams of the firm. From 1985 to 1991 Mr. Aslanian was an attorney at the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP where he concentrated his practice on corporate and tax matters and public and private mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Aslanian established the Richard J. Aslanian Scholarship Fund, an endowed scholarship, at the University of Pennsylvania, and has served on the boards of several charitable organizations, including the Partnership for Inner-City Education, the Harrison Educational Foundation and the Armenian Church Endowment Fund.
Mr. Aslanian graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and graduated from the Columbia University School of Law with honors as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar in each of the three years of law school.
David Hekemian
David B. Hekemian has served as a director since April 2018. His current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2024 annual meeting of FREIT’s stockholders. Mr. Hekemian has served as a commercial real estate executive at Hekemian & Co. for over 30 years, holding positions of increasing responsibilities throughout his tenure at the company focused on strategic business and investment planning, retail development and leasing, asset profitability management and lender negotiations. He has served as President of Hekemian & Co. since 2021. From 1996 to 2020, Mr. Hekemian served as Principal/Broker-Salesperson, Director of Commercial Brokerage and as a member of Hekemian & Co.’s Executive Committee. From 1988 to 1992 he served as Property Manager, and from 1992 to 1996 he served as Vice President-Salesperson of Hekemian & Co. Mr. Hekemian is a member of the Armenian Missionary Association of America, where he served as Assistant Treasurer and a member of the Budget and Finance Committee from 1998 to 2007 and as Co-Chairman of the Investment Committee from 1996 to 2009, which included oversight and management of a $100 million equity and fixed income portfolio. Mr. Hekemian is also a member of the Council for the Borough of Saddle River, NJ.
Mr. Hekemian earned a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Boston College.
David McBride
David F. McBride, Esq. has served as a Director since 2007. Mr. McBride has over 45 years of diversified real estate experience. He is the Chief Executive Officer of McBride Enterprises, Inc., a family-owned real estate company started in 1898. Mr. McBride was responsible for the development of numerous office and industrial properties, as well as residential projects in Northern New Jersey. He also oversaw the operations of his family’s general construction company, the Alpert P. Schmidt Construction Company, civil engineering firm, Urban Planning and Engineering Company, and commercial brokerage firm, McBride Corporate Real Estate. He was instrumental in forming the Keystone Property Trust (NYSE) in 1998 and served as its Chairman of the Board until its sale to ProLogis (NYSE) in 2004. Mr. McBride has also been a Partner in and is presently Of Counsel to the law firm of Harwood Lloyd, LLC, specializing in real estate matters. Since 1998, Mr. McBride has also served as the Chairman and President of the Mountain Club Inc., t/a The High Mountain Golf Club. Mr. McBride also served on the Advisory Board of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University from 2008 to 2018.
Mr. McBride earned a B.A in Economics from Georgetown University, and his J.D. from Georgetown University Law School.
Justin Meng
Justin F. Meng has served as a director since February 2016. His current term as a member of the Board is scheduled to expire at the 2025 annual meeting of FREIT’s stockholders. Mr. Meng has 20+ years of investment experience across real estate, public markets and alternative asset management. He is currently SVP, Head of Investor Relations at Prologis, Inc. – the global leader in logistics real estate – where he is responsible for managing relationships with buy-side investors and sell-side analysts, leading the company’s quarterly earnings process, and working with senior leadership on investor-focused strategies and communications. Before joining Prologis in 2024, Mr. Meng, was co-founder and managing partner of V3 Capital Management L.P., a boutique investment firm focused on publicly traded REITs, from 2011 to 2023. In that role, Mr. Meng led a team of professionals engaged in raising capital and managing investments for V3 partnerships. Prior to that, he served as partner and head of REIT Research at High Rise Capital Management. Mr. Meng began his career at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, where he worked in the Real Estate and Fixed Income divisions.
Mr. Meng earned a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Brown University and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University. Mr. Meng is a CFA charter-holder.