Karim Allana, CEO & Senior Principal, Allana Buick & Bers
Karim P. Allana is CEO and Senior Principal and founder of Allana Buick & Bers (ABBAE), one of the leading Architectural-Engineering firms specializing in Building Performance and Energy Solutions for new and rehabilitation projects. Mr. Allana founded ABBAE 26 years ago which employs about 100 employees in various regions of California, Washington State, Hawaii and Las Vegas. Mr. Allana is the chief engineer of ABBAE specializing in roofing, waterproofing, glazing and exterior façade assemblies. Mr Allana’s experience stems from a broad background which includes working for Turner Construction Company and owning and operating a roofing and waterproofing company. Mr. Allana is also a world renowned construction defect expert and uses his forensic knowledge to reduce risk in new construction by incorporating lessons learned from failures.
Michael Anthony, Principal, MNM Partners
Mr. Anthony is a founding managing member and a principal of MNM Partners LLC since its founding in 2006. Mr. Anthony evaluates all tenants in common offerings and continues to monitor property performance after closing, striving to provide the highest level of performance for every co-owners. He has over 20 years of experience with in excess of $500 million in brokered sales and finance transactions on commercial properties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. He is responsible for acquiring property and arranging financing for all MNM transactions and offerings. He is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), and formed his own real estate brokerage and investment company MJA Equity Investments, Inc. in July of 1995.
Yat-Pang Au, Founder & CEO, Veritas Investments
Yat-Pang Au is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Veritas Investments Inc., one of the largest owner operators of apartments in San Francisco with several thousands of units and approximately $1 billion in assets under management. Prior to founding Veritas in 2007, Mr. Au served as the Chief Executive Officer of AEC Alarms and held various executive positions at technology and services firms. He also has been a longtime private investor in apartment and retail properties located throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Mr. Au is committed to transforming San Francisco’s housing stock and revitalizing neighborhoods by providing innovative amenities and building eco-friendly, vibrant communities. Veritas is a vertically-integrated multifamily investment manager focused exclusively in the City of San Francisco. The firm provides a full-range of operational, management and leasing services through its wholly-owned affiliates GreenTree Property Management and RentSFNow.
Theodore Bayer, Senior Managing Consultant/Principal, Paradigm Tax Group
Mr. Bayer is a Principal in the San Francisco office of Paradigm Tax Group, a leading provider of real and personal property consulting services to U.S. commercial, multi-family, industrial and retail owners and tenants. He is a licensed CA attorney, specializing in transactional real estate and property tax matters, and a co-founder of Pinnacle Law Group LLP, San Francisco. Mr. Bayer also was a founding director, and is the current Board Chair, of the California Alliance of Taxpayer Advocates (CATA), a trade organization representing the interests of property tax consultants throughout CA. He is well-versed in the intricacies of Prop. 13 and the numerous past and current efforts to modify the initiative.
Marshall Boyd, President, Interstate Equities
Mr. Boyd is Co-President of Interstate Equities Corporation (IEC). Founded in 1981, IEC is a fully integrated apartment investment fund based in Los Altos. He leads investments and capital formation. As a member of the Executive Investment Committee, Mr. Boyd is involved in property acquisition, financing, asset management and repositioning. During his tenure at IEC, Mr. Boyd has held the roles of Institutional Investment Manager, Vice President and President. Prior to joining IEC, Mr. Boyd worked on the investment team at TA Associates, a private equity fund with $16 billion under management.
Jon Coupal, President, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
From 1991 to 1998, Jon Coupal served as Director of Legal Affairs for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association (HJTA), overseeing the organization’s litigation and lobbying efforts. He is a recognized expert in California fiscal affairs and has argued numerous tax cases before the courts. Mr. Coupal also successfully defended Proposition 140, the state’s term limit initiative, before the California Supreme Court. In 1995, he won a major ruling before the Supreme Court when it upheld the validity of Proposition 62, an HJTA-sponsored initiative guaranteeing the right to vote on local taxes. He is also the principal drafter of Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, a measure passed by the voters in November 1996.
Todd Darling, Chief Operating Officer, Acacia Capital
Mr. Darling joined Acacia Capital in 2002 and serves as Chief Operating Officer with management responsibilities in its Income Property Division. He is also a member of Acacia’s internal investment committee. Mr. Darling has been actively involved in real estate investment for over 19 years. He has extensive experience in the acquisition, financing, and disposition of income property throughout the United States. Throughout his career, he has been actively involved in over $3 billion in real estate transactions. Prior to joining Acacia, he was responsible for the western region acquisition activity of Lend Lease, a large pension fund advisor. Mr. Darling also oversaw dispositions and financing activity for AEW Capital Management, and was a bank analyst for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Bruce Dorfman, Principal, Thompson Dorfman
Mr. Bruce Dorfman is a co-founder of Thompson | Dorfman Partners, LLC and manages the firm’s development and financing projects. Prior to founding TDP, he was a senior vice president with Irvine Apartment Communities from 1997 through 1999, and directed site acquisition and development activities for the apartment REIT’s California Division, creating a portfolio of 5,000 apartment homes. Previously, he was a co-founder and vice president of Thompson Residential Company in 1996, acquiring sites, obtaining entitlements, and financing projects in Northern California.
S. Osborn “Oz” Erickson, Chairman, Emerald Fund
Oz is the Chairman of Emerald Fund, Inc., a San Francisco development firm that does commercial, retail, and residential projects, among them the 230,000 square foot Potrero Center, the 245-unit Bridgeview development on Rincon Hill, and the 378-unit Oceanview Village development in the Oceanview. Together with their partners, NEBF, Emerald is today converting the CAAA building at 100 Van Ness into 400 housing units. Over the years Emerald has built around 2200 housing units in San Francisco. In 2003, Emerald received the Excellence in Business Award as Community Developer for the Village at Petrini Place in San Francisco.
Lenny Goldberg, Executive Director, California Tax Reform Association
Lenny Goldberg is Executive Director of the California Tax Reform Association and owner of Lenny Goldberg and Associates, a public interest consulting and lobbying firm in Sacramento. He has been involved with major tax legislation and tax initiative campaigns in California for the past 25 years. He is on the board of Citizens for Tax Justice in Washington, D.C. and is on the advisory committee of the Franchise Tax Board. He was a member of the Commission on Tax Policy in the New Economy. He has written for a national tax publication and has written extensively on reforming Proposition 13. He also advocates on energy, consumer, privacy and housing issues for non-profit/public interest groups.
Chris Hudson, Partner, Hudson McDonald
Chris Hudson has been involved in real estate development, construction, and urban planning for more than 25 years. For the past 19 years he has focused in mixed-use infill development in San Francisco’s urban east bay. In 2004 he co-founded Hudson McDonald and since then has focused solely on projects in Berkeley. The principals of Hudson McDonald have developed or renovated more than 800 units of housing and more than 75,000 square feet of commercial space in Berkeley. Hudson McDonald’s recent projects include the New Cal Apartments, The Delaware apartments, and Lions Hall, a private dorm for UC Berkeley students. Prior to forming Hudson McDonald, Chris was the Deputy Director at the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Director of Development at the Spanish Speaking Unity Council. He is a member of ULI and is active in a number of Berkeley community organizations.
William Hughes, SVP & Managing Director, Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation
Bill Hughes is a senior vice president and managing director of Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation (MMCC), which sourced more than $700 million in commercial real estate loans in 2009. He is responsible for MMCC’s daily operations. Mr. Hughes has a diversified background in real estate finance, financial consulting and modeling, project feasibility, leasing, construction management and real estate development. He joined Marcus & Millichap in 1996. Previously, as a senior executive with Lomas & Nettleton Real Estate Investment Banking, principal partner with Mason McDuffie Financial Corp. and a principal partner with Fountainhead Enterprises, Mr. Hughes participated in the development, finance and sale or leasing of more than $2 billion worth of commercial property. Mr. Hughes is a graduate of the University of Southern California. While at USC, his emphasis was in both finance and accounting. He is frequently featured as a guest speaker at industry events and is cited by the national and trade media as an expert commentator.
David Israel, Principal, BAR Architects
A principal with BAR Architects, David brings over 35 years of highly diverse experience in the planning and design of commission throughout the western United States and China. A LEED Accredited Professional and award-winning architect, he plays a pivotal role in positioning the firm as a leader in
the design of mixed-use, hospitality, commercial projects and multi-family projects with sustainable initiatives in mind. David is intricately involved in local design projects in San Francisco and throughout the Bay Area and recently completed construction on a highly-anticipated 81 unit Mixed-Use infill project in the Upper Market area of San Francisco.
Stan Jones, Executive Vice President, Institutional Property Advisors
Stan Jones joined Marcus & Millichap in 1980 and has become one of the top brokers specializing in the multifamily market in the western United States. He was promoted to vice president investments in 1988, and in 2008 to executive vice president investments, a distinction held by only five of 1,200 agents in the firm. He also serves as a senior director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group and executive director of Institutional Property Advisors. During his 32-year career, Mr. Jones has closed more than $5 billion in commercial real estate investments and has been acknowledged almost every year as one of the company’s top agents. He has been recognized as the market leader in Northern California multifamily transactions and he consistently interfaces with the most active institutional and private owners, facilitates unsurpassed insight into current market conditions and demonstrates a strong ability to forecast trends.
David Lee, Manager – Real Estate Investments, Braddock and Logan
Mr. Lee is the Director of Real Estate Investments at Braddock and Logan Services, Inc. where he is responsible for acquisition and disposition activities as well as the company’s property management business for a portfolio of approximately $1B in multi-family, retail, office and industrial property located throughout the nine county Bay Area and Seattle, Washington. Prior to joining Braddock and Logan in 2005, Mr. Lee’s twenty-one year real estate career has included prominent, executive level positions in property and asset management as well as acquisitions and dispositions for The Sobrato Organization, Trammell Crow Residential, and Prudential Real Estate Investors, where he was involved in or responsible for transactions exceeding one billion dollars and the management of thousands of apartment units and some 250 employees.
Stephen Levy, Director & Senior Economist, CCSCE
Stephen Levy is Director and Senior Economist of the Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy (CCSCE) in Palo Alto. Steve has worked extensively on how the state budget and economy are related. He created the California Budget Challenge in partnership with Next Ten. He prepared a paper on Proposition 13 for the Joint Venture Index of Silicon Valley conference in 2012. Steve has also worked with California Forward on linking future economic and demographic trends in California to state budget issues.
Mark Luce, President, Association of Bay Area Governments
Mark was born in Toledo, Ohio on Oct. 12, 1956. He moved to California in 1969 and attended Carlmont High School in Belmont, California. Mark became active in a number of local issues and was elected Chairman of the American Canyon Concerned Citizens in 1983. He was appointed to the Napa County Planning Commission in 1985 and served until 1989. In 1990, Mark won a seat on the Napa City Council where he served his four-year term. Mark was subsequently elected to the Napa County Board of Supervisors in 1996, where he continues to serve. Mark retired from Chevron in 2006 to attend full time to his role as County Supervisor.
Jon Moss, Executive VP & Partner-Development, Prometheus
As the Executive Vice President and Partner at Prometheus Real Estate Group Inc., headquartered in San Mateo, California, Mr. Moss has responsibility for all of the company’s development and construction management operations. He has been with Prometheus since 1998. Prometheus is the largest private owner/manager/developer of multi-family properties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Prometheus has a portfolio of over 17,000 apartmentsin addition to approximately one million square feet of office space. The properties are located primarily in the Silicon Valley but also in Southern California, Oregon, Washington, and Utah.
Kyle Naye, Senior Associate, Clarion Partners
Kyle Naye is a Senior Associate within the acquisitions group at Clarion Partners, a New York-based commercial real estate investment management firm with over $28 billion of assets across the United States, Mexico, and Brazil. In addition to its office, retail, industrial, and hotel holdings, Clarion owns 26,000 apartment units nationwide and 2,000 units on the West Coast. In his current role, Kyle focuses on sourcing and underwriting commercial and multifamily investments in Northern California. Since joining the company in 2011, he has been directly involved in over $440 million in real estate acquisitions. Prior to Clarion Partners, he spent two years as a commercial mortgage banking analyst at Capmark Finance, as well as a short period as a retail investment sales broker at Marcus & Millichap.
Paul Niewiadomski, Partner, Stein & Lubin
Paul J. Niewiadomski is a Partner in Stein & Lubin’s Real Estate and Finance Practice Groups. He has represented clients in hundreds of multi-family acquisitions, dispositions, debt and equity financings, joint ventures and developments. Prior to joining Stein & Lubin, Mr. Niewiadomski practiced with Skjerven Morrill MacPherson LLP in its Silicon Valley and San Francisco offices. Earlier, he was with the County Counsel’s Office in Santa Clara County, where he was responsible for several innovative public-private developments totaling over 1,200 multifamily units.
William Norman, Partner, Cooper White & Cooper
Bill Norman started practicing law in California after extensive trial experience as an officer in the U.S. Army. After serving as a trial partner at Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon, he became the senior trial attorney at Cooper, White & Cooper LLP. He is an experienced business trial lawyer with emphasis in real property, wrongful termination, trade secret, professional liability, partnership/LLC disputes (including minority rights and dissolution), and petroleum pipeline safety issues. He has tried over 65 lawsuits to successful conclusions, the majority of them jury trials, with the result that he has been elected to the American Board of Trial Advocates.
Kirby Sack, President & CEO, Sack Properties
Kirby Sack is President and CEO of Sack Properties, a group of California multifamily real estate companies with approximately $400 million in assets under management. Sack Properties is very hands-on, closely managing their own acquisitions, renovations, operations, financing and dispositions. Sack Properties launched its first fund and its first programmatic joint venture relationship this year and is presently focused on California multifamily value-add acquisitions. Sack Properties recently purchased two properties including a 116 unit community in Sunnyvale and 44 units in Pacifica. Kirby is also currently involved with a number of nonprofit civic and industry organizations and serves on one corporate board. She earned her BA degree at Harvard and her MBA at Yale.
Dan Safier, President, Prado Group
Dan Safier is the President and Founder of Prado Group and is responsible for Prado Group’s overall development and investment management activities. Prior to forming the Prado Group, he was a Principal and the Executive Vice President of Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc. and was responsible for all residential, commercial and mixed-use development activities for the company. Prior to joining Prometheus, Dan was a Portfolio and Asset Manager at AMB Property Company and was responsible for AMB’s International Investment Activities, where he oversaw a portfolio of retail, office, and industrial properties and formed strategic alliances and investment relationships with various Asia-based institutions and investment companies.
John Sebree, National Director – Multifamily, Marcus & Millichap
John Sebree is the director of Marcus & Millichap’s National Multi Housing Group (NMHG). He is based in the Midwest, working from the firm’s Chicago and Indianapolis offices. Mr. Sebree’s extensive background as a major multifamily specialist spans more than 20 years, 17 of which were as a Marcus & Millichap agent. Most recently, Mr. Sebree was a managing director for Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, where he brokered major multifamily properties throughout the Midwest. Prior to this position, Mr. Sebree was an agent with Marcus & Millichap. During his tenure as an agent, he developed a strong brokerage practice in Chicago, opened the Indianapolis office and earned numerous plaque awards, eight National Achievement Award qualifications, and Top 20 and Chairman’s Club designations. Mr. Sebree assumed his current position in 2011.
Darin Schoolmeester, Principal, MVE & Partners
Since he joined MVE in 1994, Mr. Schoolmeester has participated on an extensive variety of architectural projects ranging from luxury resort, single-family housing to condominiums, apartments, senior and affordable housing, and mixed-use/retail and community centers. His experience encompasses the complete design process from conceptual land planning to full building design/development and construction. Mr. Schoolmeester was named a Principal in 2004.
Steven Seligman, Vice President & Regional Manager, Marcus & Millichap
Steven Seligman oversees Marcus & Millichap’s Palo Alto office, one of the largest investment brokerages in the Bay Area. He joined the firm in 1992 as an investment associate. During his tenure as an agent, he received virtually every sales award that Marcus & Millichap bestows upon its sales professionals and earned the prestigious designation senior vice president investments. He was named regional manager in 2003 and was promoted to vice president in 2008. Prior to joining Marcus & Millichap, Mr. Seligman received every national sales award offered by another national commercial real estate firm. He attended UCLA, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics and graduated with honors. Mr. Seligman did post-graduate work at the University of San Francisco School of Law, passed the California Bar examination and earned a Juris Doctorate.
Tod Spieker, President, Spieker Companies
Through more than three decades as an active investor, and a portfolio of approximately 3,250 apartment units,Tod Spieker has maintained a simple philosophy that has kept him consistently successful: Basically, you need to develop a specialty. Know your niche as well as you can know it, and don’t try to diversify into too many geographical areas.Tod was educated at UCLA on a swimming scholarship (being named an All American in 1969), graduating in 1971. His studies were in the area of urban geography, takin particular interest in downtown cores. He earned his real estate broker’s license in 1972. Tod began his first full-time job in real estate in 1972 with Lincoln Property Company (now known as Legacy Partners), which was a big apartment developer at that time.
Meg Spriggs, Managing Director – Multifamily Investments Group, Shorenstein
Meg Spriggs joined Shorenstein in 2013. She is responsible for sourcing, evaluating and overseeing the execution of multifamily housing transactions including financing, acquiring, entitling, developing, managing and divesting of assets. Ms. Spriggs is a member of the Urban Land Institute, Lambda Alpha International, and the San Francisco Urban Planning and Research Association. Ms. Spriggs also serves on the board of directors for the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Prior to joining Shorenstein, Ms. Spriggs was a Vice President of Development for AvalonBay Communities, where she was responsible for land acquisition, design, entitlement, and permitting, as well as oversight of the construction and lease-up of multifamily properties in the San Francisco Bay Area region.
Tim Stanley, Senior Vice President – Development, The Irvine Company
Tim Stanley is Senior Vice President of Development for the Irvine Company Apartment Development division. Since joining the company in 2010, Mr. Stanley has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of apartment development for the Company’s residential projects in Northern California. This includes land acquisitions, entitlements, development, design, construction and delivery of multi-family communities. Mr. Stanley has practiced in the field of residential construction and development for over 25 years. He has represented both public and private developers during that span of time in the creation of single family and multi-family communities all over the Bay Area and in Southern California. In addition, he has extensive experience with mixed-use and transit oriented development projects.
Paul Stein, Managing Partner, SKS Partners
Paul is a founder of SKS and has 30 years of real estate experience in leasing, acquisition, asset management and disposition of commercial properties. Over the course of his career, Paul has managed the negotiation and execution of over 5 million square feet of lease transactions. From 1989 until founding SKS, Paul was V.P. and Director of Marketing for The Shorenstein Company, one of the nation’s largest privately held real estate development and asset management firms specializing in Class A office buildings. From 1980 until 1989, Paul was a Limited Partner and Director of Office Leasing for Damon Raike and Co., a full service commercial real estate brokerage firm whose activities were primarily on the west coast. Paul holds a BA degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Rob Steinberg, FAIA, Steinberg Architects
Rob Steinberg is the second generation leader and president of SteinbergArchitects, an international architectural firm founded by his father in 1953. The firm has offices in San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Shanghai. Rob is recognized as an expert in urban planning and residential architecture, and a design practice innovator in the field of housing and services for the elderly. He has been published in numerous journals, and is a guest lecturer and visiting critic at many universities in the U.S. and China. In addition, Rob is active in a number of organizations including his role as Governor of the ULI Foundation and Board Member at University of California Berkeley Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics Policy Advisory. Rob began his professional career as a filmmaker in New York and Hollywood, garnering international awards for his documentary films.
Kasey Stevens, Vice President, Klingbeil Apartment Communities
Kasey Stevens is head of national acquisitions for Klingbeil Capital Management. During his tenure he has been directly involved in over $1 billion of multifamily acquisitions. His primary responsibilities are to source, negotiate and ultimately secure multifamily investments that align with targeted Fund returns. Paralleling his acquisition efforts, Mr. Stevens also co-leads Fund disposition strategy and execution. In his disposition capacity he has overseen ~$150 million in multifamily sales generating average IRRs in excess of 25%. He is also a significant contributor to the financing strategy on all multifamily assets, including: floating rate debt (ARMS), fixed rate loans, interest rate caps and refinances. Mr. Stevens also plays an active role in operational performance review and preparation of annual budgets for over 6,400 multifamily units nationwide.
Eric Tao, President, AGI Capital Group
Eric Tao is the President of AGI Capital Group, a boutique San Francisco-Bay Area real estate firm actively developing urban infill multifamily housing and mixed use projects. He leads a team of real estate professionals who are passionate about community-focused environmentally conscience multifamily projects with a focus on urban lifestyle. Mr. Tao is also the Managing Principal and Director of development at Avant Housing, a San Francisco-based joint venture between AGI and TMG Partners backed by CalPERS and focused on developing urban-infill, transit-oriented, high-density housing in the San Francisco Bay Area. Over the past 12 years, Mr. Tao has led the acquisition, entitlement, financing and development of over 1,000 multifamily residential units in the San Francisco Bay Area with a focus on transit-oriented urban infill projects.
Greg Vilkin, Managing Principal & President, MacFarlane Partners
As managing principal and president, Greg Vilkin directs MacFarlane Partners’ investments and development groups and is involved in sourcing and negotiating prospective investments as well as in cultivating and maintaining strategic relationships with real estate operating and development companies and other market participants. He serves on the firm’s investment and senior management committees.Greg has more than 30 years of real estate investment, development and management experience, during which he has developed more than 10,000 multifamily residential units, seven million square feet of commercial space, and 10,000 acres of master-planned communities. A nationally recognized authority on affordable housing, he has worked extensively in developing affordable housing and revitalizing urban neighborhoods through public/private partnerships.
Kirstin Weeks, Energy & Building Ecology Specialist, Arup
Kirstin Weeks is an Energy and Building Ecology Specialist at Arup. As team lead for sustainability and LEED on new and existing building projects, she focuses on finding cost-effective green solutions that support her client’s key goals. Kirstin specializes in resource conservation and integration of ecological function in the built environment. She works to make new and existing buildings operate more like ecosystems, eliminating waste and closing energy, water and material loops. As a Green Roof Professional, she works to incorporate functioning ecosystems into buildings via vegetated structures such as living roofs and walls. In addition to design and consulting, Kirstin has conducted high profile studies on green roof performance and value for the US GSA and for Walmart, and is also involved in policy analysis and development.
Paul Zeger, Principal, Polaris Pacific
For over 30 years, Paul Zeger has been the definitive source of information for new construction sales and marketing in the Bay Area. His leadership in identifying and capitalizing on residential development opportunities is unparalleled. Paul’s client relationships include some of the most successful real estate development firms on the west coast – TMG Partners, Emerald Fund, Lennar Urban and Wilson Meany to name a few. Paul believes in making commitments to his clients, and building trust by delivering on his commitments.