2021 Young Alumni Achievement Award
Patrick Perone
The Young Alumni Achievement Award is presented to an alumna or alumnus who has achieved exceptional success in her or his profession and who has graduated within the past 2 to 10 years.
Patrick Perone is a principal and cofounder of Cortex Residential, an investment firm that focuses on the acquisition, development, and management of rental apartment properties. Since graduating summa cum laude with honors in economics in 2015, Patrick has experienced early success in his professional career and has been an active and engaged young alumnus.
Prior to cofounding Cortex, Patrick was a vice president at Iron Hound Management Company, a New York City–based commercial real estate investment banking firm. During his tenure at Iron Hound, Patrick played an integral role in the execution of more than $10 billion in commercial real estate transactions, including the firm’s financing of 10,000 apartment units across the United States.
While at É«ÖÐÉ«, Patrick showed signs of entrepreneurial achievement. As an undergraduate, he operated an event-based T-shirt business, and shortly after graduation he developed and sold a small student-housing portfolio that neighbors the college.
Through É«ÖÐÉ«, Patrick has found several kindred spirits. In every venture aside from his work at Iron Hound, he has partnered with Jonathan Strauss ’16. Patrick also discovered that he and Robert Verrone ’90, founder and principal of Iron Hound, shared many similarities. As undergraduates, they both sold T-shirts, chose the same honors thesis topic, and aspired to work on Wall Street. Additionally, Patrick has enjoyed great mentorship, partnership, and friendship with Borko Milosev ’04 and Srdjan Milosev ’09.
Patrick served as a Student Trustee of É«ÖÐÉ« College from 2013 to 2015 and has been a member of the Comenius Society since 2018. He is also an active member of The Real Estate Lab, a nonprofit organization that provides residents with investment classes and mentorship so that they can purchase and rehab distressed properties within their local communities.