Geralyn M. Presti
Senior Vice President, General Counsel and 
Secretary, Forest City Enterprises, Inc.

Geralyn (Geri) Presti is presently employed as general counsel, senior vice president and secretary at Forest City Enterprises, Inc., one of the nation’s largest publicly traded real estate companies. Her areas of law practice include real estate development and financing, corporate and securities law. Presti is a frequent speaker on topics related to real estate development and financing, corporate governance, in-house corporate law practice, diversity and community involvement.

Presti received her Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio University, where she majored in Music Therapy. For the next five years, she worked as a registered music therapist at The Cleveland Music School Settlement. Presti left this position to return to graduate school at Case Western Reserve University, where she received the joint Master of Social Science Administration and Juris Doctor (Law Review, Magna Cum Laude and Order of the Coif) program degrees from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences (MSASS) and the School of Law, respectively. While at the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Presti’s graduate studies focused on community organization and planning.

Presti was elected to the Society of Benchers by the Board of Governors of the CWRU Law School. She is among the first Corporate General Counsels, nationally, to receive the Burton, “Legends of the Law” award for legal achievement, and was selected as a 2007 Rainmaker by Northern Ohio Live magazine. Presti has been selected to receive the Centennial Medal award from the CWRU Law School in November, 2008. She is a recipient of the 2008 American ORT Jurisprudence Award, selected by the local ORT America Chapter. She has been chosen by a statewide peer nomination process by Key Professional Media, Inc., as an “Ohio Super Lawyer” for the last four years and is AV-rated by Martindale-Hubbell. In 1996, Presti was awarded the YWCA “Women of Achievement Award for Professional Excellence” recognition.

Present professional affiliations include the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, where she serves on the Board of Trustees of the L.L.M. Program for U.S. Legal Studies, the Strategic Planning Committee and the Dean’s Visiting Committee (Executive Committee); the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland; the Cleveland Music Settlement (former Vice Chairman, Vice President, Treasurer, Chairman of Finance, and Governance Committees, Strategic Planning and Executive Committees); the Greater Cleveland General Counsel Association (Trustee); Business Volunteers Unlimited (Co-Chair Governance Committee, Executive Committee and former Vice Chairman); Chicago Title Insurance Company Advisory Board; and In Counsel With Women.

Presti participates in the regional and national meetings of the International Council of Shopping Centers, as well as the Cleveland Chapter of the Society of Corporate Secretaries. She is a member of the Case Western Reserve University Executive Committee for their capital campaign.

Presti was inducted into the Sovereign Order of St. John and participates in their mission to serve the poor and the sick. She raises funds to benefit various charitable and educational organizations, including the United Way (formerly a member of the Professional Services Cabinet), the Ohio Kidney Foundation and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Presti recently assisted the YWCA in crafting their formal strategic planning process.