Lecturer Bios
Eric Brecher, Esq.
Eric Brecher is an attorney and holds the designation of Certified Exchange Specialist® (one of approximately 125 in the country.) He is Executive Vice President of Wintrust Financial Corporation’s 1031 Exchange service – CDEC 1031. For the past 14 years, Mr. Brecher has served as a Qualified Intermediary working with attorneys, accountants and realtors along with their investor clients to defer federal capital gains tax, state income tax, depreciation recapture tax and net investment income tax using Internal Revenue Code Section 1031.
Over the past decade, Mr. Brecher has been involved with thousands of 1031 Exchange transactions including forward-delayed, reverse, improvement and personal property exchanges.
Mr. Brecher has 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.
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
.