Carl Stephen Gaines has spent most of his career at the intersection of commercial real estate, finance, communications, and governance. He has led communications for Capital One’s commercial real estate and community finance businesses and served as head of content and external communications for Lument, a commercial real estate lender with a $50 billion-plus loan portfolio.

His work has included academic partnerships with MIT’s Center for Real Estate and UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation, as well as Public Relations work for RFR Realty, Kushner, Building & Land Technology, CBRE, Mid-Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union, and Hines.

Carl currently serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, a leading LGBTQ+ health center. He served on the search committee that selected Callen-Lorde’s current CEO and has helped guide the organization through COVID, mpox, and significant changes in the healthcare and political landscapes.

He also serves on the advisory board of Cause Strategy Partners and previously served on the New York advocacy board of Sphinx Music, which works to increase diversity among the nation’s professional string players.

At Observer Media, Carl established financial coverage of commercial real estate through a monthly print magazine and a weekly emailed newsletter—breaking news, while also introducing more lifestyle elements.

His writing has appeared in the Observer, The Village Voice, Poz, Crain’s New York, GlobeSt. and Real Estate Forum, and The National Law Journal.