Lecturer Bios
Eric Brecher, Esq.
Eric Brecher is an attorney and holds the designation of Certified Exchange Specialist® (one of approximately 120 in the country.) He is Executive Vice President of Chicago Deferred Exchange Company, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wintrust Financial Corporation. For over 18 years, Mr. Brecher has served as a Qualified Intermediary and Exchange Accommodation Titleholder. He works with attorneys, accountants and realtors, along with their investor clients, to defer federal capital gains, state, depreciation recapture and net investment income taxes using Internal Revenue Code Section 1031. Throughout his career, Mr. Brecher has been involved with thousands of 1031 Exchange transactions including forward-delayed, reverse and improvement/build-to-suit exchanges.
He’s been admitted to the 2nd Appellate Division in New York since 1997. He serves as a co-chair of the Federation of Exchange Accommodator’s annual conference committee and has previously served on its Board of Directors. He is a past recipient of both its President’s and Leadership Awards.
Mr. Brecher is a frequent speaker on Internal Revenue Code Section 1031.
He is an accredited provider of continuing legal education by The New York State Continuing Legal Education Board. He was found qualified by the State of New York’s Division of Licensing Services to instruct real estate qualifying and continuing education courses and holds a CE Instructor license for the State of New Jersey. He also provides continuing professional education to Certified Public Accountants under the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
He received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University’s School of Management and obtained his Juris Doctor degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law.
He resides in Woodbury, NY with his wife and three children.
Mary Cunningham, CES
Mary Cunningham, President and Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Deferred Exchange
Company, is responsible for a staff dedicated to providing trust and consulting services to
attorneys, accountants, real estate and tax professionals nationwide. Ms. Cunningham
brings more than 20 years of exchange expertise in the field of LKE services.
Her experience comes from direct involvement with thousands of tax-deferred exchanges of
diverse assets, including FCC Licenses, Trademarks, Commercial Aircraft, Pipelines,
Automobile Fleets and every type of real property.
Ms. Cunningham is a frequent lecturer
at real estate and tax forums across the country on the topic of tax-deferred exchange
strategies and has represented her industry on various legislative issues with the IRS
National Office, members of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate.
Ms. Cunningham earned her B.S. in Finance from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and is
a 1996 graduate of the American Bankers Association National Graduate Trust School and
holds the Certified Exchange Specialist® designation
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