SEE ALSO: Sunday Summary: The Quick and the Fed<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cNearly 50 percent of the locally gathered taxes in New York City come from real estate to pay for essential services,\u201d Espitia said, speaking from her home office on the Upper West Side, a seasonal cold keeping her from REBNY\u2019s headquarters on the concourse and second floor of the General Electric Building at 570 Lexington Avenue. \u201cWe are New York City\u2019s No. 1 civic partner.\u201d<\/p>\n It is Espitia\u2019s mission to do not only the behind-the-scenes work at REBNY to convince New Yorkers that the real estate industry is not the bogeyman, but also to recast the perception of the 130-year-old trade organization itself. As REBNY\u2019s first COO, Espitia, 49, has taken it upon herself to bring its once alarmingly analog operations into the 21st century while reshaping its public perception.\u00a0<\/p>\n Where once REBNY\u2019s reputation was of an antiquated trade group that was out of touch with the needs of all New Yorkers, Espitia\u2019s goal is to recast it as an organization that\u2019s a trusted resource for agents and brokers that also advocates for policy that will meet all city residents\u2019 long-term needs. It\u2019s a tall order. Espitia just might have the chops to see it through.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s warm and welcoming, but she is really so smart and brilliant and can get to the point. Her work ethic is unbelievable,\u201d said John Santora, CEO of WeWork<\/a>, who sat on REBNY\u2019s executive committee while tri-state chairman at Cushman & Wakefield, a position he left in 2024. \u201cShe could stand her ground with the largest of legacy real estate people that are part of REBNY, but she respected the legacy, too. She was and is not a pushover.\u201d<\/p>\n This way to New York<\/p>\n Espitia has always been a go-getter. She grew up in Cali, Colombia, with a five-year stint in Mexico City before moving to the United States 25 years ago. She earned her bachelor\u2019s degree from Texas Christian University in 2004 on a full academic scholarship and quickly moved into a commercial leasing and marketing job in Dallas-Fort Worth for the Legaspi Company, a development and brokerage firm that caters to Latino culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n While she enjoyed the work, Espitia had an itch to get into international economic development and diplomacy and pursued a master\u2019s in international education at the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vt.<\/p>\n From there she jumped into a position with Harvard University\u2019s Graduate School of Education, where she managed a unit that transformed Harvard research into online and in-person professional development programs for educators and leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean.\u00a0<\/p>\n It led to a role at the institution in a different division managing academic and professional programs throughout the Americas, including the Fulbright Program.<\/p>\n Espitia and her then partner, now husband, both felt New York calling and decided to make it their new home in 2012. The chosen upheaval meant that holding a job in Cambridge, Mass., was no longer so feasible. Espitia landed in a new role in January 2013 at the International Council of Shopping Centers (now ICSC), where she served as the managing director of Latin America and the Caribbean before becoming the trade organization\u2019s global vice president just two years later. The work necessitated a lot of travel \u2014 too much travel, she thought, after welcoming her daughter in 2015.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was time to find a job that would allow her to stay in one place.\u00a0<\/p>\n After spotting a listing on LinkedIn, Espitia joined REBNY as a senior vice president in June 2017. Almost immediately, \u201cI started seeing a lot of inefficiencies and a lot of core issues for REBNY to remain relevant,\u201d she said. She realized that talent at the organization had to be overhauled, as did its technology and many of its systems and processes. She organically moved into the role of chief operating officer, and officially assumed the title in February 2020.<\/p>\n She saw to it that the board started hiring experts across fields like policy, government relations and event management. She oversaw the transition of the nonprofit\u2019s database of member information that governs much of the board\u2019s business decision-making, moving from an outdated Oracle system to a continuously updated Salesforce system. She spearheaded the transition of information from a local server to a cloud-based server. She also managed the overhaul of the way REBNY collects dues; where once the board would send out 17,000 mailers to bring in payment, it now accepts Apple Pay.<\/p>\n \t\t\t \u201cSandhya has had a transformative impact on REBNY, modernizing our technology, operating infrastructure and member experience, among many other accomplishments,\u201d REBNY President James Whelan said in a statement to Commercial Observer. \u201cThanks to her hard work and insight, we are a more agile and growing organization that the industry needs to take on the big fights and represent real estate in its most important market.\u201d<\/p>\n Not your traditional COO<\/p>\n Now that the daily processes have been streamlined, the small but mighty 50-person team at REBNY can focus on the policy, advocacy and education work at the core of its mission. Espitia has a hand in all of it.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not your traditional COO. I do all the backbone operations that are invisible and make peoples\u2019 jobs easy\u201d \u2014 like ensuring the office and its systems are running smoothly \u2014 \u201c\u2026and then the other side of it is I\u2019m a very member-facing COO as well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Bess Freedman, CEO of brokerage Brown Harris Stevens<\/a>, said Espitia engages with REBNY members in a way that\u2019s increasingly rare. \u201cShe stops in her tracks and really listens to what people are saying versus how people listen with an intent to just respond,\u201d Freedman said. \u201cShe is quiet, and she takes in what you\u2019re saying \u2026 and she gets back to you with meaningful feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the changes Espitia has helped enact at the organization with relationship building in mind is bringing key members to the table with REBNY leaders to discuss industry issues. A member recently told her that REBNY acts as their professional insurance, keeping them informed on policy issues and fair housing law. It\u2019s that kind of reassurance that fuels Espitia in the role.<\/p>\n There is no normal day in the office, but at this time of year she\u2019s overseeing the yearly membership campaign and conversing with marketing and social media teams. That includes\u00a0 ensuring that the organization is keeping track of cash flow and finalizing details for the REBNY Gala, now called the Annual<\/a>, happening Jan. 22 at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.<\/p>\n \u201cThey used to be dusty galas. They were boring,\u201d said Freedman. \u201cThey were in cold rooms. The food was horrible,\u201d and the vibes were bad. Under Espitia\u2019s leadership, it has been a \u201csea change.\u201d There are celebrity chefs, and even the music is good. \u201cIt made it a fun event where everybody wants to go,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n The funds brought in from the Annual, which Espitia said accounts for about 20 percent of REBNY\u2019s annual revenue, will help it continue its policy and advocacy work as well as its litigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n Right now, the organization is fighting the FARE Act, a law ratified in June 2025 that prohibits brokers representing landlords from charging broker fees. While on the surface it sounds like a positive for New Yorkers, REBNY argues that it\u2019s reducing the number of rentals on the market while driving up prices as landlords bake the fee into rents. REBNY has sued the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection<\/a> and is awaiting a verdict.<\/p>\n![\"Sandhya](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Sandhya-Espitia_0640E_websize.jpg\" "\\"Sandhya")
\n\t\t\tPHOTO: Jena Cumbo\/for Commercial Observer\t\t<\/p>\n