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Crittenden National Real Estate Conference
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2020 Speakers

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​​Michael Anderson-Mitterling
Senior Vice President
George Smith Partners
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Mr. Anderson is a member of Team Mozer at George Smith Partners. Since joining Team Mozer in 2013, he has been involved with the closing of $1.5 billion in financings with Team Mozer. Prior to George Smith Partners, Mr. Anderson’s career success began early on, when he was named “Rookie of the Year” for Grubb & Ellis in 2010. Mike takes a hands-on approach to his clients’ current and future needs, and draws upon his in-depth market knowledge to maximize their success.

Michael graduated from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California, earning a Bachelor of Sciences Degree with dual concentrations in Corporate Finance and Commercial Real Estate Finance. Simultaneously, he competed full time on the U.S. National Sailing Team (Alternate to the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games). Mike is also devoted to giving back. Alongside his wife, he volunteers his time and efforts on behalf of the Wendy Walk Foundation, a charitable organization that has raised over $2.5 million to fund international research in an effort to find a cure for sarcoma cancers.


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Mark Bahiri
Managing Partner
Emerald Creek Capital


Mark Bahiri has over 20 years of experience in the commercial real estate finance industry.  He is currently a Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Emerald Creek Capital, an institutional asset management firm and direct portfolio lender.  Mr. Bahiri is in charge of balance sheet management, asset liability management and debt issuance and serves as Co–Chairman of the firm’s investment committee.  

Mr. Bahiri’s investment strategies and conservative approach has yielded positive returns throughout the firms history.  In total, Mr. Bahiri has been directly involved in the structuring, servicing and closing of over $1 billion in alternative debt issuance. Emerald Creek Capital currently manages onshore and offshore discretionary funds and is actively deploying capital from its 4th vintage.  


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Gary Bechtel
President
Money360, Inc.


Gary is the President of Money360 and is responsible for developing and executing Money360’s expansion strategy. Gary also serves on Money360’s Credit Committee and Board of Directors.
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Prior to joining Money360, he was Chief Lending/Originations Officer of CU Business Partners, LLC, the nation’s largest credit union service organization. Previously, Gary held management and production positions at Grubb & Ellis Company, Meridian Capital, Johnson Capital, FINOVA Realty Capital, Pacific Southwest Realty Services and Hometown Commercial Capital. Gary began his career with the Alison Company. Over the past thirty-three years, Gary has served in numerous roles (as a lender or an intermediary) and has been involved in all aspects of the commercial real estate finance industry including the origination, underwriting, structuring, placement and closing of over $10 billion in commercial debt transactions ranging in amounts from $1 million to $150 million. These transactions were placed/funded with a variety of capital sources including life companies, commercial banks, and equity and mezzanine funds, on property types that included office, retail, industrial, multifamily, hospitality, self-storage and manufactured housing. He is a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America, California Mortgage Bankers Association, National Association of Industrial and Office Properties, and International Council of Shopping Centers. Gary has spoken at numerous industry events, written articles and has been quoted in a number of regional and national publications.


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Eli Beracha
Professor and Director of Hollo School of RE
Florida International University, College of Business


Dr. Beracha is the director of the Hollo School of Real Estate at FIU, the associate director of publication for the American Real Estate Society and the co-editor of the Journal of Real Estate Literature. Since he received his doctorate from the University of Kansas in 2007 he has published more than 40 academic papers in leading real estate and finance journals, which were presented in many national and international conferences, won “best paper” awards and are regularly cited by the popular press. Recently, Dr. Beracha was awarded the Kinnard Scholar Award, which recognized him as an outstanding real estate scholar in an early stage of an academic career and was ranked #10 in the world for his real estate academic research productivity. In addition to Dr. Beracha’s scholarly work, he also has over 15 years of practical experience in the area of real estate investments and serves as a consultant for numerous real estate related projects and real estate investment funds.  


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Drew Butler
Managing Director
I(x) Investments


Drew Butler is a Managing Director of i(x) investments. Drew brings his extensive experience as a family office advisor who specializes in real estate and impact investments. In 2012, he formed Butler Global Partners to work directly for select families seeking customized solutions in asset and family management. Prior to that, in London, he served as the Vice President at First Avenue. Previously, Drew worked as an Investment Analyst at New York Life, where he co-managed their $500m Community Investment Program. Earlier, Drew was a Senior Associate at Richman Asset Management in Greenwich and an Associate at Merrill Lynch in New York.
 
He was awarded a BA from Cornell University, a Certificate in Real Estate from NYU and an MSc in Real Estate Development from Columbia University. After Columbia, he attended the London School of Economics, where he was selected to serve as a Researcher for UK Parliament and earned an MSc in Regional & Urban Planning Studies.
 
He has served on committees for the Affordable Housing Investor Council and the Urban Land Institute
and actively supports the Voices Against Brain Cancer charity in New York. As an author, he has contributed to Urban Land and Family Office Real Estate Magazine. 


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Cody Charfauros
Principal/Managing Director
Barry Slatt Morgage


As a Principal at Barry Slatt Mortgage, Mr. Charfauros brings extensive finance experience, adaptive business strategy, capital markets and leadership to his commercial real estate projects. A San Diego native, Mr. Charfauros lived and worked for over 13 years in Los Angeles, San Gabriel Valley, San Fernando Valley and the Temecula Valley and he has intimate knowledge of the greater Southern California market.

Mr. Charfauros is a member of the Structured Finance team at Barry Slatt Mortgage and brings his extensive knowledge of finance and capital markets to his investor/developer clients. He is an expert in financial proforma modelling and analysis and intimately works with his value-add investor and developer clients to structure their transactions most efficiently.
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Additionally, Mr. Charfauros advises on land-use, entitlements and market analysis for multifamily, mixed-use and special-use developments. He is experienced in retail, (medical) office, industrial/flex, multifamily and self-storage, and is active in over 13 states including California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Kansas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Florida.

He is very active with the alumni base at the University of Southern California, and he and his wife have three handsome boys.  


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Michael A. Collier
Chief Executive Officer
Hotel Capital, LLC


Mr. Collier founded Hotel Capital and heads the day-to-day business operations. Over the last decade he has been instrumental in overseeing every advisory transaction and principal investment made. During his career, Mr. Collier has initiated, underwritten, structured and closed on hospitality commercial real estate transactions having an aggregate value over $1 Billion. These transactions included conventional debt placement, equity syndication, bank and borrower advisory, court appointed receivership, installment sales, refinancing transactions, construction loans, SBA 504 loans, mezzanine loans, workouts and discounted first mortgage purchase and sale transactions. Mr. Collier has gained a national reputation among hotel clients for successfully closing transactions others could not and for achieving impressive returns year after year for his investors. The Hotel Capital Private Equity Group was formed by Mr. Collier in 2009 and has invested in over $400 Million worth of assets, with Mr. Collier personally investing his capital alongside the investor base on every transaction.
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Mr. Collier is a Certified Commercial Investment Member ("CCIM") and was recognized as one of the nation's "Top Hotel Investment Brokers" by Hotel Business Magazine. Prior to starting his hospitality investment services focus in 2003, Mr. Collier’s experience in the hospitality industry stems from multiple operations and executive positions with the most recent being former Director of Operations for a 22 hotel portfolio in the Midwest. Mr. Collier graduated from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in 1999 (ranked 5th in the US at the time) with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (Finance and Marketing). He was also the IU Athlete of the Year in 1999, 4 Time U.S. National Team Champion & Captain, U.S. National Champion, and 4 Time Big Ten Champion in Platform and Springboard Diving. He and his wife Meegan have four children and live in Southern California.  


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Mark Corlew
Principal
Grover Corlew Realty Investors



Mark Corlew is a partner in Grover Corlew, the Florida-based real estate investment group focused on acquiring, developing and operating office, retail and multi-family properties across the Southeastern U.S. Mark is a seasoned real estate veteran with more than 25 years of experience in acquisitions, development and management. He began his career in Atlanta as an appraiser and consultant focused on RTC assignments and later joined CBRE where he specialized in multi-family housing. In 1997, Mark joined Stiles Corporation in South Florida where he focused on development, asset management, acquisitions and financing completing more than $1 billion in transactions. During his tenure at Stiles, Mark co-founded an institutionally-backed, $650 million co-investment fund focused on properties throughout the Southeastern U.S.  


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Rickman Davis
Vice President - Head of Hotels
Live Oak Bank​



Rickman is Vice President and Head of Hotel Lending at Live Oak Bank, located in Wilmington, North Carolina. In this role, he manages the hotel lending team and is the lead originator of new hotel loans at the bank with a focus on select-service, franchised properties on a nationwide footprint. Rickman joined Live Oak Bank shortly after graduating summa cum laude from Wofford College with a dual BA in Finance and Government. He began his banking career as a Relationship Manager working in the bank’s Business Aanalyst Group. Following his time as an RM, he worked as a credit underwriter, and then as a lender, specializing in hotels. Rickman was named Head of Hotel Lending at Live Oak in November 2019. Since inception in 2014, Live Oak has originated over $400 million in hotel loans nationwide utilizing SBA, USDA, and conventional lending products.
 
Rickman was a varsity football player at Wofford and graduated as a member of the national honors fraternity, Phi Beta Kappa. He also graduated with honors from the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington, Seattle in September 2019. 


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Gary Duff
Executive Director
Morgan Stanley​


Please check back for bio. 


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John Espey
Board Member
Lobby CRE

 
John has been involved in the creation, capital raising, expansion, and sale of multiple companies including Amentra, Nexgrid, Reward Summit, Levvel, and most recently LobbyCRE, where John serves as CEO.  Levvel recently was recognized by Inc as a top 6% fastest growing company on the Inc 5000 list, having grown to over 200 people in five years.   He also has invested in multiple early stage companies.  John hosts the Defiance Ventures podcast in which he interviews company founders and investors: http://bit.ly/2UT81Hu.
 
Levvel is an industry leading digital transformation consultancy based in Charlotte.  Its clients include 9 of the top 15 banks, all of the major credit card networks, AIG, American Airlines, Delta Airlines, CNN, Lineage Logistics, Dentsply Sirona, NBA.com, Siemens, and many other Fortune 500 clients.
 
LobbyCRE is a data management platform for Commercial Real Estate owners and investors.  It allows them to easily and securely access all of their data through a simple cloud based architecture to maximize the value of their data and make better and faster decisions.


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Mark Fluent
Head of West Coast Real Estate
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.


Please check back for bio. 


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Ian M. Gill
Managing Partner
Silvergate Development, LLC

 
Ian Gill has over 45 years of experience in real estate development, homebuilding and general contracting. His diverse background encompasses residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and mixed use projects with an emphasis on urban and redevelopment projects in the United States and Great Britain.
 
He is a Managing Partner of Silvergate Development, LLC. a residential, multi family development and investment company based in San Diego and operating throughout the Western United States. As a founding principal of Silvergate, he has guided the strategic direction of the firm and while the company focuses on a variety of value add real estate investment opportunities, one of its successful product lines is a three story, walk-up apartment which can be built, incorporating sustainable and green design principles, at a density approaching 40 units per acre. The design of this apartment type is exceptionally efficient, with high ceilings and state of the art, energy efficient fixtures and high quality, durable cabinetry and finishes. This building type has been specifically designed to be flexible, in terms of unit mix, and replicable with architectural variations for reuse on multiple sites to maximize cost efficiency. Silvergate has developed or is currently developing over 900 units of this product type in several locations where its projects range in size from 29 to over 150 units. These projects are strategically located in supply constrained infill locations, within jurisdictions that are pro-business and support quality workforce housing.
 
Prior to the formation of Silvergate Ian was a senior executive with the fifth largest homebuilder in England establishing and managing a regional division of this public company based in London and Birmingham, ultimately building over 300 hundred single family and duplex homes a year in the Southwest of England. Subsequently, as the first British homebuilder to arrive in California he established a US subsidiary and developed and built several single family and condominium projects in and around San Diego County.​


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David Girty
Partner
Aspect Real Estate Partners

 
David is someone that makes things happen, including meeting and exceeding your commercial real estate goals. With many trusted and established industry relationships, he is an expert in office leasing transactions with over 30+ years of experience. David’s ability to focus on the details has paid dividends to his clients over the years, and his efforts have resulted in long-term trust and continued service. Whether he’s consulting a small business to negotiate a lease their first location, or leading a large team in a complex transaction, David is attentive to every step of the process.


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Pasha Johnson
Vice President
PSRS

Pasha Johnson focuses on the origination, analysis, and closing of commercial real estate financing transactions. He is active in the capitalization of all asset classes and deal types including construction, acquisitions, and refinances.
 
Pasha enjoys leveraging PSRS's relationships with various lending institutions including the 25 life insurance companies that the firm corresponds with and services for in order to place low rate, non-recourse debt. The remainder of the projects that Pasha works on are financed through debt funds, banks, credit unions, CMBS, GSEs, or other specialty lenders.
 
To supplement his Bachelors in International Business, Finance from San Diego State University, Mr. Johnson earned his certificate in Real Estate Finance, Investments, and Development from the University of San Diego. While at PSRS, Pasha has been responsible for the origination and placement of over $100MM in debt and equity. His experience spans construction, bridge, and permanent financing. Pasha currently sits on the ULI San Diego Board, the San Diego State Real Estate Alumni Board, and is involved with NAIOP as well as other industry-specific organizations. Mr. Johnson is a licensed real estate broker through the California Department of Real Estate.​


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Jeff Katofsky
Managing Member
Inconthievable, LLC​


Graduating with highest honors from the University of California Los Angeles and then a Juris Doctorate degree in 1988 from Boalt Hall School of Law (UC Berkeley), Jeff Katofsky began his career and became a top civil trial litigator and business attorney for over the past thirty years.
 
While practicing law Jeff began acquiring, developing, operating and managing commercial real estate over twenty years ago. After several years of building a personal real estate portfolio, Jeff began a partnership with a well-known southern California real estate company and together built one of Los Angeles’s premier commercial real estate groups operating dozens of prime retail and office properties in Westwood, Brentwood, Santa Monica and similar A+ locations throughout Los Angeles.
 
In 2004, Jeff decided to end his relationship with his partner and began to use his real estate company, JD Market Acquisitions, founded by Jeff in 1992, to operate and manage his personal portfolio of properties. Jeff’s website at JDMarket.com provides a comprehensive list of past and current projects.
 
Jeff is the managing member of dozens of entities and businesses. Several hotels, retail businesses, commercial real estate, sports and restaurants are part of his portfolio.
 
Jeff also pursued his passion for organized sports by acquiring the Orem Owlz in 2004, a minor league farm team for the Los Angeles Angels. Jeff and his Owlz have achieved great success as part of the Angels organization winning their minor league Championship in 2004, 2005, 2007, 2009 & 2016 as well as reaching the championship 6 other times.
 
Jeff continues to act as the senior partner for his law firm as well as operate his baseball enterprise, retail operations and hospitality related projects. Currently, Jeff has completed and has under development multiple projects in the state of Michigan as well as upcoming projects slated for development in Colorado and Pasadena, California.
 
Jeff resides with his wife in Sherman Oaks, California and they have two adult sons working in film and sports, respectively. 


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Sean Kelly-Rand
Managing Partner
RD Advisors
 
Sean Kelly-Rand is Managing Partner of RD Advisors and is responsible for sourcing and analyzing investment opportunities, as well as structuring transactions.  Mr. Kelly-Rand is also responsible for managing the Firm’s institutional relationships.  He co-founded RD Advisors after spending his career structuring multi-billion dollar senior loan, mezzanine, preferred equity, and  joint  venture  investments as a key member of the investment teams at major institutional real estate firms and/or groups.  Before founding RD Advisors, Mr. Kelly-Rand was a Director at Real Estate Capital Partners. Prior to that,  Mr. Kelly-Rand was Senior VP at Monday Capital Partners, where he developed an urban multifamily investment strategy and sourced and underwrote transactions across the U.S. Before joining Monday Capital Partners, Mr. Kelly-Rand was a Director at Madison International Realty, where he opened and operated their London office. Prior to that, he was a Vice President at Bell Capital Partners, a debt structuring advisory firm. Previously, while at Lehman Brothers, he analyzed, underwrote, and structured principal equity, bridge equity, mezzanine, and senior debt transactions across Europe. There he was responsible for the underwriting and syndication of over $3 billion worth of real estate debt and bridge equity positions. Mr. Kelly-Rand holds an MBA in Real Estate and Finance from Columbia University and an MA and BA in Economics from Boston University.


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Charles Krawitz
Vice President, Head of Commercial Lending
Alliant Credit Union
 
Mr. Krawitz’s commercial real estate financing career commenced in 1987 and includes positions with highly regarded intermediaries and banks. Of particular note is his leadership of LaSalle Bank’s small balance commercial real estate lending operation, LaSalle Select.  In January of 2017, Mr. Krawitz joined Alliant Credit Union as the head of commercial lending.  Alliant is one of the nation’s largest credit unions and lends on stabilized commercial real estate across the country. 
Mr. Krawitz has served on the editorial boards of multiple trade publications and has held leadership positions with a number of charitable organizations.  He speaks frequently on commercial financing at trade conferences, and has authored numerous articles in this regard.  
Mr. Krawitz earned a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and a Master of Science in regional and urban planning from the London School of Economics.


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Gregory Lloyd
Senior Director, Financial Services
Levvel


Please check back for bio. 


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Gary H. London
Senior Principal
London Moeder Advisors​

 
Gary London is President of The London Group Realty Advisors, a diversified real estate strategic advisory, development management, investment, capital access and analysis firm whose clients include investors, developers, lenders and public agencies.

In practice as an analyst and strategic advisor for five decades, Mr. London is well known throughout the U.S. as a counsel to many of the nations largest investors, lenders and practitioners. He is generally regarded as the most experienced practitioner in his field in undertaking complex real estate analysis. He has a reputation as a prescient, forward thinker who translates opportunities (or problems) into profits.

Mr. London is an Instructor at The Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate, University of San Diego. Formerly, he was an adjunct Professor at Arizona State University’s graduate program in real estate development (MRED). He had taught at the University of California, San Diego Extension for 24 years. Previously, he was West Region Director of Real Estate Consulting for Price Waterhouse and Executive Director of The Goodkin Group. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and received his Master's degree from San Diego State University.

A "Distinguished Toastmaster" in Toastmasters International, Mr. London speaks regularly to industry and business organizations, frequently writes and is often quoted in the media. He is featured in the San Diego UnionTribune’s weekly “EconoMeter” sharing his views on the great economic issues of our time.


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Aaron Metaj
Vice President of Commercial Lending
Northwind International


Aaron Metaj is the VP of Commercial Lending for Northwind International, located in Grand Rapids Michigan. Northwind International is a direct commercial lender that specializes in creative financing for borrowers in need of funding for a variety of commercial real estate assets.  Aaron is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University where he received a BS in Chemical Engineering with a specialty in Polymers and Coatings.
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After graduation, Aaron launched his career with PPG Industries located in Troy, Michigan where he began his specialization in Account Management overseeing the major automotive manufacturers. After eight years significantly growing his territory for PPG, Aaron decided to start his own company. In 2000 Aaron started The Home Loan Center, an internet residential mortgage lender. After the financial crash Aaron started Sterling Preservation Services and Sterling Realty. Both companies were structured to work with the banks to revitalize the housing market. This was done though remodeling the homes and tough negotiating to maximize the sale price in order to halt depreciation in the housing market. In addition to working with the banks, Sterling Realty focused on the high-end residential homes ensuring the maximum return on their sale. While running both companies Aaron also coaches both youth football and lacrosse in the Forest Hills Central School District.


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Jim Neil
Executive Vice President, Partner
Kidder Mathews


Jim Neil has been active in the multi-housing industry for over 20 years. Since 2003, he has been principally involved in the sale of more than $1.4 billion in multifamily transactions throughout San Diego County and Southern California.
 
Prior to joining Kidder Mathews, Jim Neil was with CBRE for 15 years and was consistently a top preforming broker. Mr. Neil also spent 5 years as the Chief Financial Officer for Southwest Affordable Housing where he was responsible for the acquisition, financing renovations and operations of numerous conventional and low-income multi-housing properties in San Diego and San Bernardino Counties.
 
Mr. Neil also served as Chief Financial Officer for 21st Century Oil, Inc. where he was responsible for planning and negotiating the acquisition and financing of gas stations and convenience stores throughout Southern California.
 
Mr. Neil focuses on representing sellers for apartment properties ranging from 10 to 200 units throughout San Diego County. He adds value for his clients by maximizing the operations of their buildings, irrespective of whether they are planning to buy or sell. Mr. Neil accomplishes transactions to meet clients’ tax and cash-return requirements.
 
Additionally, Mr. Neil and the San Diego Apartment Group specialize in helping owners add value by navigating the land entitlement process on their behalf. Their relationships with City Staff and Government Officials, as well as engineers, architects and consultants, ensures that projects are given efficient and thoughtful consideration.
 
Education
  • San Diego State University, BA in Real Estate
  • University of Southern California, Master of Business Administrations


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Randy C. Norton
Managing Partner, Global Head of Real Estate and Alternative Investments
Green Mesa Capital, LLC


Mr. Norton is a Managing Partner, the Global Head of Real Estate and Alternative Investments at Green Mesa Capital (GMC), a single-family office based in Henderson, Nevada. Mr. Norton is a Member of the Investment Committee, currently serves as a Director of VeriComply, Inc., a FinTech start-up, serves as a Trustee for the City of Henderson Nevada Public Improvement Trust, and is an Advisory Council Member at the UNLV Lee Business School-Lied Institute for Real Estate.

Mr. Norton is a member of the Alternative Investment Management Association, CAIA Association, CCIM Institute, CFA Institute, Construction Financial Management Association, Institute of Real Estate Management, and is actively involved with NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association, Pension Real Estate Association, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, The Counselors of Real Estate, Urban Land Institute, and U.S. Green Building Council. 

After graduating with University Honors in Korean and Business from Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management, Mr. Norton completed executive programs at the Harvard Business School-Graduate School of Design, and Columbia Business School-Heilbrunn Center for Graham & Dodd Investing. Mr. Norton was previously published in the Real Estate Finance Journal, Forbes, GuruFocus, and is Author of the pending book: "Applied Value Investing in Real Estate." In 2018, Mr. Norton became an annual ULI PwC Emerging Trends in Real Estate Interviewee.

Specialties: Private Debt Real Estate, Private Equity Real Estate, Equity and Mortgage REITs, FinTech/RealTech SaaS Ventures, Real Estate Development and Construction, Building Information Modeling (BIM), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Smartgrid Cogeneration and Renewable Energy, Intelligent Building IoT.


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Kevin O'Dell
Defiance Company
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Please check back for bio.


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Sanat Patel
Managing Partner/Chief Sales Officer
AVANA Capital

 
Sanat Patel is co-founder and Chief Sales Officer for AVANA Capital, a commercial real estate debt fund. He has been in the commercial banking industry for over two decades and currently leads the sales team at AVANA Capital. Sanat enjoys meeting business owners and bringing them solutions to grow their business. With over 26 years of experience, Sanat's strength is in being adaptive and driven in all aspects of his work. His sense of reward is in contributing to the success of his team and his clients. He has been instrumental in driving AVANA’s loan volume to over $1.3 bn, including more than $150MM in ground-up hospitality financing over the past two years and a forecast based on pipeline worth $200MM for 2019.


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Dilip Petigara
Chief Executive Officer
Access Point Financial, LLC​


Dilip Petigara serves as chief executive officer. He has more than 23 years of experience in both the hospitality and finance industries. Petigara joined Access Point Financial from a real estate and capital advisory service firm which focused on hospitality. Prior to his advisory role, he served as senior vice president of Specialty Finance Group (SFG). His responsibilities included management of loan operations, internal credit approval, closing/funding and asset management with specific focus on support to participations, syndications and reporting to warehouse lenders. Prior to SFG, Petigara served as assistant vice president and senior underwriter at GMAC Commercial Mortgage – Asset Backed Lending Division.
 
Petigara has a Bachelor of Business Administration in Marketing and a Masters of Business Administration in Finance from Temple University, a Juris Doctor degree from Widener University School of Law and a Master of Laws degree in Taxation from the University of Miami – School of Law.


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Kyle Prawdzik
Vice President, Investment Properties
CBRE | Capital Markets
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Kyle Prawdzik is a First Vice President with the CBRE Investment Properties in Pittsburgh.  During Mr. Prawdzik’s career, he has been involved in the marketing and sale of multiple transactions comprising over $2 billion of investment real estate and has experience in receiverships, asset disposition for real estate lenders, corporate sale-leasebacks and 1031 exchange transactions.  Mr. Prawdzik specializes in advising institutional and private clients in the disposition and acquisition of income-producing office, retail, multi-housing, industrial and net-leased properties.  Mr. Prawdzik is responsible for developing business relationships, marketing the team’s assignments, strategy and positioning of offerings, as well as managing the financial underwriting and due diligence processes.


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Jake Reynolds
Assistant Project Manager
Silvergate Development, LLC

 
Jake Reynolds joined the company in 2016. Mr. Reynolds serves as an Assistant Project Manager supporting the development team completing various operational functions such as community engagement, market research, and acquisition analysis. Prior to joining Silvergate Mr. Reynolds served as a team leader for his collegiate sailing team, and also competed with the first ever Red Bull Youth America’s Cup team for the U.S.
 
Mr. Reynolds graduated from the College of Charleston, in May 2016, with a degree in Communication.


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Bradley Ross
Vice President
Madison Realty Capital​


Prior to launching the Los Angeles office for Madison Realty Capital, Bradley Ross was a senior originator at Calmwater Capital, a real estate debt fund managing over $630MM of equity capital. Mr. Ross joined Calmwater after three years at its parent company Karlin Real Estate, an opportunistic investment firm operating on behalf of a high net worth family office. Prior to joining Karlin, he was a top producing broker with Major Properties Real Estate, a Los Angeles based commercial brokerage, where he won such awards as Rookie of the Year and later Salesman of the Year. Mr. Ross sits on the Board of the UCLA Real Estate Alumni Group and the Los Angeles Mortgage Association, was elected as one of Southern California’s “Tomorrow’s Leaders” by Real Estate Forum Magazine, is a frequent panelist and moderator, and his articles have been featured in various real estate publications. Mr. Ross is a graduate of the University of Michigan (B.A.), the UCLA Anderson School of Management (M.B.A.), and is a licensed California real estate broker. He is married with two children, two dogs, and lives in Sherman Oaks, CA.


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James B. Salter
President & Chief Executive Officer
CM&D International

 
Mr. Salter’s career in the real estate construction and development industry spans over four decades. He is presently a building and development consultant for numerous developers, family offices, redevelopment agencies, and capital markets. Through CM&D, Mr. Salter provides exclusive construction and development project management to developers, architects, engineers, municipalities and capital markets on projects.   Geographically these projects have been located in North America, Central America, The Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia. Over his career he has been responsible for some of the premier  commercial, mixed use, residential and hospitality projects built. In 1995 Mr. Salter was the Project Manager of Country Club Village, a six-tower high rise development which received The International Public Engineers Grand Award as the project of the year.  Mr. Salter sits on major institution boards as well as investment committees, primarily advising in real estate development advisory.  Because of his 40+ years working with developers, family offices, and capital markets he has become a major asset for developers in seeking out and negotiating on all elements of project financing, inclusive of bridge loans, construction loans, mezzanine loans, equity raise, and long-term take-out loans.
 
Over the years, Mr. Salter has been involved in all phases of the building/development process incorporating all building types (Office, Hospitality, Residential, Industrial).   His expertise includes planning, site acquisition, pre-design budgeting, design, procurement, underground construction and utility installation, site work, and field construction.
With over forty years as a commercial Project/Construction/Development Manager for some of the most prominent projects in the world, Mr. Salter has developed an appreciation for the value of teamwork and functions as a resource to engineers, architects, financial institutions, developers and owners. 
 
Education:
University of California – San Diego
California State Polytechnic University at Pomona


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Michael L. Sanchez
Senior Investment Director
Kairos Investment Management Company

 
Michael Sanchez has an extensive career in debt and equity investments as well as asset management and loan workouts. Mr. Sanchez joined Kairos Investment Management Company in 2019 as Senior Investment Director of Credit where he is focused on the firm’s debt financing platform.
 
Immediately prior to joining the firm, Mr. Sanchez was a Managing Director for RealtyMogul where he was responsible for the origination of senior and subordinated debt investments for its public, non-traded REIT. Mr. Sanchez was previously at Colony Capital, Inc. where he helped launch a senior debt platform in 2013 and where he served most recently as Senior Vice President. He joined Colony as a Portfolio Manager and was responsible for managing large distressed and performing commercial real estate debt portfolios.
 
He has held previous positions at Hanover Financial Company, Acacia Capital and Highridge Partners. Mr. Sanchez began his career in commercial real estate financing at GE Capital. Mr. Sanchez is a graduate of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona from which he received a Bachelor of Science in Finance, Real Estate and Law.​


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George Scopetta
Commercial Real Estate Developer, Entrepreneur and Real Estate Investor​

 
George Scopetta is currently the founder and Managing Partner of Medicus Property Group which owns 104,000 of commercial medical office space in southern California. Prior to forming Medicus Property Group, he was Senior Vice President of Tax of a multinational financial institution traded on the New York Stock Exchange. With both a legal and accounting background, he has acted as a trusted advisor and consultant advising management and the various business units in the US, South America, Europe and Asia regarding the potential tax implications of various financing transactions and mergers and acquisitions transactions. Mr. Scopetta also has had significant experience in domestic and international tax planning with various Fortune 500 corporations. He has worked as a Manager in the International Tax Planning Group at various Big 4 tax firms (Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers), and was previously the Vice President of Tax Planning for a Fortune 500 financial institution. Mr. Scopetta has his law degree from Villanova Law School, a Masters in Accounting from Villanova Graduate Business School and his Bachelors of Science Degree from Villanova University and is an active member of the Pennsylvania Bar.


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Rahul V. Shah, CPA
Managing Principal
Sherpa Capital Group, LLC​


Rahul Shah is Co-Founder and Managing Principal of Sherpa Capital Group, LLC (Sherpa).  Sherpa Capital Group LLC ("Sherpa") manages a private capital fund that specializes in originating bridge and hard money loans secured by commercial and non-owner occupied real estate.  Sherpa also makes direct equity investments in real estate transactions.  Sherpa was founded in 2010 to take advantage of the lack of credit in the real estate industry.  Sherpa was founded by Principals with over 35 years of experience in the real estate lending industry.  The firm was founded on the basis of providing innovative lending solutions, structured and transparent product offerings, exceptional service and true direct lending capability.  It is the mission of Sherpa to be a trusted direct lender, offering defined and concise funding parameters you can rely on for your real estate funding needs.  

Sherpa Capital Group LLC is not a broker, rather a direct lender with it's own proprietary capital.  All credit decisions and servicing administrations are performed in house by the firm's principals.  We utilize an entrepreneurial approach coupled with an emphasis on execution.

Rahul is a seasoned entrepreneur with a range of business experience encompassing real estate finance, corporate finance, consulting and e-commerce strategy.  He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1996) with a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy with Concentration in Finance.  After graduating, he joined the Specialty Consulting Practice of Arthur Andersen. He also holds his CPA designation. While at Arthur Andersen, he worked in the Transaction Advisory Group consulting with financial institutions, private equity firms and mid-sized corporations in performing due diligence on corporate finance transactions.  Over 4 years, He consulted on more than 50 transactions in various industries with deal sizes ranging from $50M to $1B.  After building a diverse understanding of corporate finance and business strategy, Rahul was ready for entrepreneurship and built a residential and commercial mortgage company from the ground up.  His company originated more than $500M in residential and small balance commercial loans.  Rahul currently resides in the Northern Suburbs of Chicago with his wife and 3 kids.


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William Shopoff
President & CEO
Shopoff Realty Investments, L.P.
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Mr. Shopoff has more than 37 years of real estate and investment experience. His expertise includes the acquisition, development, and sale of new and redeveloped residential and commercial properties throughout the United States, as well as partnership structure, debt placement, venture capital and investment underwriting. Mr. Shopoff has acquired over 1,000 properties on behalf of his various entities, including the acquisition of over 6,000 apartment units (fee or mortgage loans) and the entitlement of over 7,000 lots/units of land suitable for single-family or multi-family development.

Since 1992, Mr. Shopoff has served as either Principal or as President of the Asset Recovery Fund, and since August 1999, as the President of Eastbridge Partners, L.P. Upon acquiring the assets of Eastbridge Partners, L.P. in April 2004, Mr. Shopoff created the manager, Shopoff Realty Investments, L.P., and has served as its President since that time.
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Involved in a number of industry associations, Mr. Shopoff is currently a member of Commercial Investment Real Estate (CIRE) and is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM). He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Building Industry Association (BIA) as well as Lambda Alpha International (LAI), a global land economics society.


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Marc Stephen Shuster
Partner/Owner
Berger Singerman LLP

 
Marc Stephen Shuster, based in Miami, is a Partner and serves as the Co-Head of the Family Office Practice. Formerly, he served as Team Manager for the Business, Finance and Tax Team and Hiring Partner of the Firm.

His main practice focuses on representing family offices (international and domestic), HNP, private equity funds and syndicators in commercial real estate, and corporate joint venture work relating to the structuring of business transactions. Marc also has substantial experience in cross-border transactions, including marina development and hotels. Marc routinely assists his clients with sourcing and managing capital and deal flow..
Marc also represents tech start-ups and internet companies.

Chambers & Partners USA: America’s Leading Lawyers has consistently recognized Marc as “a great deal lawyer”, "dynamic", and a “problem solver” who “really understands (his clients’) business”, and “how to structure deals”, noting he has a “real gift of viewing the transaction and potential litigation through the lens of a businessperson.” One client even noted: “The relationship with the client is everything to him, so he’s available 24 hours a day and he always reaches out to make sure we’re okay. He sees us as a business partner, which we really appreciate.”

Education
J.D., with honors, University of Florida Frederic G. Levin College of Law B.A., summa cum laude, George Washington University


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Mitch Siegler
Senior Managing Director
Pathfinder Partners

 
Mitch Siegler co-founded Pathfinder, a leading real estate private equity fund manager, in 2006. Pathfinder, headquartered in San Diego, CA, has acquired or sold more than $1 billion in properties since inception. The firm’s funds focus on value-add and core-plus multifamily properties in the western U.S.
 
Prior to co-founding Pathfinder, Mitch founded and was CEO of several businesses. He was previously a partner with a national management consulting firm and a partner with an investment banking and venture capital firm where he concluded more than 40 mergers, acquisitions and financings with privately-held and publicly-traded companies and was involved in numerous financial restructurings. He also participated in scores of private financings totaling more than $1 billion.
 
Mitch holds a B.S. in Business Administration, with honors, majoring in Finance and Economics from the University of Missouri, Columbia and an M.B.A., with the highest honors, from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. He was a finalist in EY’s San Diego Entrepreneur of the Year® competition in 2015 and previously held FNRA Series 7 and 63 licenses.


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Bob Sonnenblick
Chairman
Sonnenblick Development LLC

 
Mr. Robert Sonnenblick, Principal of Sonnenblick Development, LLC, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania with more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of real estate development and real estate finance. From 1981 to 1991, Mr. Sonnenblick was the driving force and power behind Sonnenblick-Goldman Corporation of California. Mr. Sonnenblick completed over $1.5 Billion of commercial real estate transactions on the West Coast, and as a result is regarded as one of the West Coast's leaders in the field of commercial real estate finance. Among the more notable projects for which Mr. Sonnenblick personally structured the financing for are The Beaudry Center, Los Angeles, California ($197 million), the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Pasadena, California ($97 million), One Waterfront Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii ($100 million), and the Los Angeles World Trade Center, Los Angeles, California ($55 million).
 
In 1991 Mr. Sonnenblick was appointed Director of Development for the New Jersey and L.A. MetroMalls, with the responsibility for oversight and direction of the design, financing, and leasing programs for two proposed $250 million enclosed regional malls totalling 1.2 million square feet each. Mr. Sonnenblick personally oversaw more than 1 million square feet of leases in connection with this position as well as arranging the necessary debt and equity financing. The New Jersey project opened to one of the strongest starts in the history of the United States mall industry. It is now re-named Jersey Gardens Outlet Mall.
 
In addition, Mr. Sonnenblick was an original development partner of The Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, a luxury beachfront resort hotel. This 360-room, $90 million hotel was later sold for $125 million.
 
Prior to forming Sonnenblick Development LLC, Mr. Sonnenblick was the senior partner in a Los Angeles-based real estate development firm (Sonnenblick Del Rio Development) which specialized in P-3 public-private partnerships; specifically the development of four government-leased office buildings across the Los Angeles basin. During his tenure there as Chairman, Mr. Sonnenblick successfully developed nearly 1 million square feet of government-leased buildings, occupied by such tenants as U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services, The Small Business Administration (SBA), the LA County Mental Health Dept, The Social Security Administration, and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Sonnenblick entities still own and operate this 99%-leased portfolio of premier L.A. office buildings.


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Matt Stevens
Managing Director
Greystone

 
Matt has 15 years of commercial lending and banking experience and serves as Director in Greystone’s new San Diego office. Matt specializes in origination for debt-financing solutions across Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS, as well as Greystone’s proprietary lending platforms. 

Previously, Matt was with Alliant/ACRE Capital where he focused on loan originations in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Oregon, Arizona, Missouri, New Mexico and Texas. Matt has also served as a mortgage broker at Churchill Mortgage Capital where he represented leading life insurance companies. At Churchill, Matt specialized in office, retail and self-storage, and originated loans with leading CMBS lenders and regional banks in the area. 

In 2012, Matt was the leading producer for Alliant/ACRE in Small Loan originations and the only producer to originate loans across a combination of the Fannie Mae, FHA and CMBS platforms. For the past 18 years, Matt has also served as an award-winning radio color analyst for UCLA Football.


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CJ Stos
Founder & Managing Partner
Stos Partners

 
A seasoned and strategic real estate investor and operator, CJ has been integral in the acquisition, entitlement, development and disposition of more than $1 billion in commercial real estate throughout his career.
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Specializing in the vision and strategy necessary to build value in commercial investments, CJ leverages his vast knowledge of acquisitions, development and brokerage to drive tremendous value for his capital partners.
 
CJ launched his career with CB Richard Ellis where he brokered more than 350 lease and sale transactions, was recognized as one of the top office brokers in the firm’s Anaheim, California office and was elected as the youngest member of the firm’s Orange County Advisory Board.

Later, he served as a Vice President with Master Development Corporation, a regional development company in JV partnership with GE Pension, where his responsibilities included everything from acquisitions to development and management of the firm’s assets in the San Diego region. In this role, CJ gained large-scale development experience as he oversaw the ground-up development of approximately 450,000 square feet of commercial assets.

He holds a Master’s degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California, and earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance and Marketing from the University of San Diego. He is a licensed real estate broker.


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Martha L. Theus, CPA
Chief Financial Officer
Clement Capital LLC

 
Please check back for bio.


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Brett Turner
Managing Director
BKM Capital Partners​

 
As the Director of Acquisitions, Brett Turner oversees the sourcing and underwriting of potential commercial real estate acquisitions, as well as asset-level financing and dispositions. As a member of both the investment and operation committee, Turner holds an essential vote over all major investment decisions. Turner entered commercial real estate while still in his teens, which allowed for a broad range of experience, including acquisitions, dispositions, finance, development, asset management, environmental remediation, and leasing. Turner has executed transactions of 75 properties valued at over $1.7 billion across the Southwest region.


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Thomas Whitesell
Executive Vice President, Group Head of Real Estate
Pacific Western Bank


 
As the Head of the Pacific Western Bank's Real Estate group, Mr. Whitesell is responsible for expanding the firm’s work with established commercial real estate developers and investors seeking real estate bridge and construction loans nationwide. An industry veteran of 30 years, Mr. Whitesell's experience includes bridge and construction financing as a senior and also mezzanine lender. He has deep experience in preferred equity transactions as well as debt restructurings as a lender and attorney. 


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Robert Younkin
Principal
PGIM

 
Please check back for bio.

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