Atlanta State of Healthcare

Thomas “Tommy” W. Tift, III became an Executive Vice President at Lincoln Harris CSG after the acquisition of HealthAmerica Realty Group in 2019. He was previously President, CEO, and Founder of HealthAmerica Realty Group, a 25-year-old, Atlanta-based real estate company that specialized solely in medical office buildings and clinic facilities. His clients include healthcare REITs, hospital/health systems, physicians, institutional, and individual investors who own medical office buildings. Tommy has over 37 years’ experience in the medical office building/healthcare real estate industry encompassing the development, investment brokerage sales, leasing, financing and repositioning/workouts of medical office buildings and healthcare facilities throughout the United States. Tommy began his medical office career with Hardwick and Associates, a Los Angeles-based medical real estate company, in 1982 where he served for seven years as a full-time real estate consultant/broker to the real estate development division of America Medical International, Inc. (AMI). AMI was located in Beverly Hills, California and was the second largest owner of hospitals in the world with 225. From 1989 until forming HealthAmerica Realty Group in 1994, Tommy brokered and developed medical office buildings with different individual partners through his company, The Medical Property Company, Inc. based in Atlanta, Georgia. Tommy is a native of Atlanta and is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, Georgia Hospital Association, Board of Directors of Piedmont Cotton Mills, Inc., Board of Advisors of Healthcare Real Estate Insights, and former Advisory Board of the Medical Office Building Division of BOMA.

Shawn has nearly 25 years dedicated to healthcare finance, working directly with healthcare providers of all sizes, helping them overcome the financial hurdles to their continuing success, expansion and improved efficiencies. With a focus on owner-occupied healthcare real estate, McBride has financed nearly $1 billion in his career. A Senior Vice President with First Citizens Bank, in their commercial banking unit, McBride works with physicians, large practices, general contractors and project management firms to structure financing to meet their needs ranging from new construction to medical office expansion or refinancing current assets to lock in long term rates and maximize cash flow to the principals. Formerly the head of the Wells Fargo Business Banking Healthcare team, out of Atlanta, Shawn is the Outreach Committee Chair for GAHFMA, on the Healthcare Advisory Board for Georgia State University in their Center for Health IT and on the program committees of GAHE, GAHIMSS and TAG Health, helping to shape and deliver the critical education our healthcare leadership needs to adapt and succeed in today’s changing marketplace. https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnjmcbride

John Barnes is the President of BDR, one of the Southeast’s most well-respected consulting and program management firms. He works with top-ranked healthcare institutions in the planning and execution of their strategic facility capital projects. With over 25 years of experience in design, build, and planning support of complex healthcare programs, John brings a unique insight into how various systems operate and is equipped to help healthcare leaders transform facility challenges into valuable, long-term solutions. John’s extraordinary leadership, collaborative philosophy, and forward-thinking approach have contributed to ten years of success at BDR. John is gifted in communicating complicated, confusing processes in a way that provides clarity and understanding. Owners and clients regard John as an excellent communicator and leader, and as someone who provides innovative, high-return services. Health systems that have benefited from Atlanta-based BDR’s unique expertise include Emory Healthcare, Emory University Hospital, Beaumont Health, Piedmont Healthcare, WellStar Health Systems, and Northeast Georgia Health System. A former Naval Officer, John holds his Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Georgia State University. He began his career with Beers Corporate Services and The Satulah Group and also worked as a project manager for Jones Lang LaSalle and The Staubach Company. He is currently a member of Georgia Hospital Association and has been awarded s guest teacher at Georgia Tech.

Kris Miller, Ackerman & Co.’s President since 1998, sets the strategic direction for the firm’s investment, management and leasing initiatives. Under his leadership, the company has experienced consistent growth and diversified earnings, solidifying its standing as one of the leading full-service commercial real estate firms in the Southeast. To date, Ackerman & Co. has developed and acquired nearly 35 million square feet of office, medical, industrial, retail and mixed-use space; maintains an investment portfolio valued at $1 billion; and has 8 million square feet under management. Miller is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson in the State of Georgia. He serves on the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts Board, the Real Estate Investment Advisory Council (REIAC) and the Carter Center Board of Councilors. He is a Forum Leader of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO), past Program Chair of the Harvard University Real Estate Academic Initiative and President of the Silver Lake Association, an 80-acre, old-growth urban forest dedicated to green space preservation. He is also an active member of NAIOP and ICSC. A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard University with an A.B. in Economics, he also attended the London School of Economics & Political Science and Citicorp’s Institute of Global Finance and Management Program for MBA’s focusing on corporate finance, capital structuring risk management, and public and private capital markets.

CHRISTINE GORHAM is the Director of Development for Caddis®. Caddis is a national development, investment and management firm focused exclusively on healthcare and seniors housing properties that started as a physician group and culturally remains extremely provider-centric. Christine oversees business development and executive project strategy in the Southeast. Her focus is on growing Caddis’ development, acquisition and property management portfolios. Christine brings with her a wealth of experience having spent 29 years in medical operations, with over 18 of those years focused in the healthcare real estate sector. She was CEO and Partner of Eastwood Real Estate Services, LLC, National Director of Asset Management for SRS Investments, LLC and spent a decade at Northside Hospital System in Atlanta, making her a uniquely qualified healthcare real estate professional. Christine serves as the Chair of CREW Network Foundation, is a Director on the Board for the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors and is the Chair for their Diversity Committee’s Mentor Program. She is on the Advisory Council for the Atlanta Women’s Foundation and is the Co-Chair of Membership for the Young Men’s Service League where she volunteers with one of her sons. She served as a Director on the international CREW Network Board and is a past President of CREW Atlanta. She was honored with the 2015 Shining Light Award by CREW Atlanta, was named one of Atlanta’s Top 40 Most Powerful Women in Commercial Real Estate by BISNOW and Top 100 Influential Leaders in Commercial Real Estate by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Christine holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance from Slippery Rock University and is a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designee. She resides in Atlanta and enjoys traveling, boating and sports (especially her son’s baseball and Clemson football) with her husband. Together they love time spent with their three sons, extended family and friends.

Lee Asher is a Vice Chairman of the Investment Properties division and co-leads the CBRE Healthcare Capital Markets Group with his business partner Chris Bodnar. Mr. Asher is responsible for execution of the team’s medical office and healthcare sale-leaseback assignments, strategy and positioning of offerings, coordination of the financial and underwriting processes, and oversight of the due diligence process. Since joining CBRE, Mr. Asher has been an integral part in the sale of more than 50 million square feet of office properties valued at more than $12.0 billion. Mr. Asher has the unique ability to combine his sophisticated financial engineering techniques and review-based intimacy of due diligence materials into the overall marketing process. Mr. Asher has assisted on transactions involving all investment property classes, ranging from $1.0 billion portfolios to $1.0 million single-property assets. Before joining the Healthcare Capital Markets Group, he was a member of the Atlanta Institutional Group – Office Properties and the former Managing Director of the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions for CBRE’s Financial Consulting Group (FCG), a team that provides financial and analytical consulting to the firm’s capital markets teams and clients. Prior to joining CBRE, Asher was co-founder and COO of iTendant, Inc., a provider of service request and maintenance software to commercial building owners and operators.