The Rise of Charlotte's Suburbs

As Senior Project Manager, Steven seeks to attract new capital and investment through participation in domestic and international business development missions and works directly with site selection decision makers to represent Charlotte USA as the premier location for business. Throughout the project management process Steven coordinates resources in response to client's needs from initial request to successful location. Additionally, he leverages the collaborative strengths of regional economic development stakeholders to proactively enhance the client experience. Steven joined the Partnership in 2015 as Director of Research before becoming Project Manager in July 2016. Prior, Steven served as Director of Marketing & Communications with the NCEast Alliance where he assisted in representing the diverse economic interests of 26 counties in eastern NC. He has worked on the community college level as a WorkKeys administrator, responsible for developing the program’s use for the business community and the public. Steven holds a Master of Business Administration and bachelor’s in Marketing from East Carolina University.

Dan Stone is responsible for providing strong global leadership and operational excellence to advance CompuCom’s mission and strategy. Dan shapes and executes the strategy that enables CompuCom to deliver "best-in-breed" IT services and solutions to its clients – harnessing the Company’s people, culture, capabilities and portfolio to pursue market opportunities that drive growth. Prior to his appointment as CEO in November 2016, Stone served for two years as EVP and president, End-User Enablement (EUE), a core strength in CompuCom’s market-leading portfolio that helps IT executives manage the convergence of social interaction, mobility, Big Data and cloud – empowering end users as they interact with each other and their information. Dan accelerated EUE’s growth by enhancing CompuCom’s penetration in the growing end-user computing market, where the Company has deep expertise. Before joining CompuCom, Dan served as President and General Manager of Lenovo Latin America, a $3B business division, where he led 7,000 employees across 15 countries and two continents, and operated six vertically integrated manufacturing sites. Previously, Dan was the Chief Strategy Officer at Lenovo, leading the development and implementation of global corporate strategy technology investments, strategic partnerships/alliances, as well as post-merger management activities across the globe. He also held roles at McKinsey & Company and served as a Team Commander in the Israeli Defense Forces. Dan holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Business Administration from Hebrew University.

With a career in commercial real estate and accounting spanning nearly 40 years, Curran oversees strategy and daily operations of Northwood Office. Previously, he was President & CEO of The Bissell Companies. Before joining Bissell, Curran worked at McDevitt Street Bovis (MSB) as Vice President – Taxes. In this position, he coordinated oversight of the company’s substantial real estate portfolio of office, retail and multi-family properties. Before working at MSB, Curran began his professional career as a CPA with Ernst & Young, where he served as Director of Tax for the Charlotte office. Curran serves on the boards of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Charlotte Executive Leadership Council, ARIC and Street Management Company and is the past chair of the North Carolina Board of Transportation, the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the United Way of Central Carolinas.

Nishith G. Patel is the senior partner and President of Beacon Investment Management Group, a hotel management company with seven (7) properties currently under management. His responsibilities include managing Beacon IMG’s daily financial operations in addition to overseeing vendor relationships, researching business expansion opportunities and increasing the company’s attention to quality and environmental responsibility. Mr. Patel began his career with Barclay’s Commercial Corporation in Charlotte, North Carolina as an assistant credit analyst and an equipment leasing assistant. His primary responsibilities were to prepare various credit related summaries for the British based financial institution. In addition, he worked on various special projects to identify and resolve discrepancies in escrow accounts and book new leases. Mr. Patel originally joined Global Building Company in 1994, a business that built a wide variety of commercial properties throughout the Southeastern United States, and rose to become a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. His duties with the company included establishing a pension and profit sharing plan for employees, maintaining all applicable accounting records and building relationships with key clients, vendors and lenders. In 1997, Mr. Patel co-founded Beacon IMG (initially known as GNP Management), with the goal of actively managing commercial real estate (primarily hotels) for investors. He has been extremely successful in this venture because of his company’s focus on strategically locating the properties they manage, running an extremely efficient operations team and ensuring the highest levels of quality within the organization. Because of these attributes, Beacon IMG has been able to maintain above average returns for its investors with below average commensurate levels of risk. Currently, Mr. Patel’s main focus at Beacon IMG is on finding strategic opportunities to grow the number of hotels under management and building out the company’s financial platform to continue to operate efficiently. Mr. Patel holds a BS degree in Financial Management from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte along with several hotel management certifications. He sits on the Board of Directors of the North Carolina Restaurant & Lodging Association (NCRLA) and is a member of the American Hospitality & Lodging Association (AH&LA). Previously, he was the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Greater Charlotte Hospitality & Tourism Association (HTA). Mr. Patel is proficient in Gujarati (an Indian dialect).

Mathew leads Stonehill Strategic Capital’s efforts in sourcing and underwriting new credit opportunities, while continuing to build and maintain existing relationships with investors and borrowers. Prior to heading Stonehill Strategic Capital, Mathew was responsible for sourcing, negotiating and financing hotel investment opportunities for Peachtree Hotel Group. He served as a liaison for debt relationships across all types of financial and equity market participants. Since joining Peachtree Hotel Group, he has sourced, arranged and placed over $600 million in deals. Mathew began his career with Greystone Financial in their CMBS Group consulting with B-Piece Investors to securitize their multi-billion dollar portfolios. He later went on to join Specialty Finance Group (“SFG”) where he enhanced his knowledge of the hospitality industry by underwriting complex hospitality construction and takeout loans ranging in size from $5 to $75 million. At the end of his tenure with SFG, Mathew asset managed a $1.8 billion portfolio. Mathew earned his business administration degree in real estate finance from the University of Georgia.

Marc Robinson joined the Cushman & Wakefield Multifamily Advisory Group as a Vice Chair when C&W acquired Multi Housing Advisors (MHA) in 2016. Marc co-founded MHA in 2002 and was instrumental in developing the firm in to a strong regional brokerage firm with over $6 Billion in sales volume, representing more than 140,000 units and 850 transactions. Mr. Robinson currently serves as co-head of Cushman & Wakefield’s National Multi-Family practice group. In that role he serves as the national spokesperson for C&W’s apartment brokerage service line while continuing to serve multifamily clients throughout the Southeast region. Marc is actively involved with the National Multi Housing Council (NMHC), serving as a Board of Directors member and PAC contributor. Marc also active with numerous local and regional non-profit organizations, including the Regional Advisory Council for Apartment Life, Sheltors to Shutters, and Brookstone School. Marc holds a BS in Resource Management from Virginia Tech.

Jaime focuses on alignment of clients, real estate, and strategic goals. She prides herself on collaborating with her clients to truly understand their business drivers. Jaime consults corporate service clients in lease negotiations for renewals, expansions, relocations, and dispositions throughout the Carolinas. Jaime has over a decade of extensive design, construction, and project management experience. Her background brings a unique perspective to helping clients see how their vision can become a reality. Prior to joining the Tenant Representation Team, Jaime was a Senior Project Manager with JLL’s Project and Development Services group in the Carolinas. In this role she was responsible for business development, client relationship management and project delivery. She focused on interior build-outs, campus and building renovations, workplace strategy, relocation management and capital improvements for numerous JLL clients. Before joining JLL, Jaime was a Project Manager in Washington, DC, delivering multiple renovation and master planning projects for a large agency within the intelligence community. Prior to that work, Jaime managed a $55 million phased furniture and equipment installation project for over 6,600 employees. The project encompassed 1.8 million square feet for 27 agencies within the Department of Defense. Jaime began her career as Project Architect and Sustainability Specialist for an architecture and design firm in Washington, DC. Jaime holds a Bachelor of Science degree in interior design from Virginia Tech. In addition, she completed her graduate certificate in project management from Boston University. Jaime has her Project Management Professional (PMP) designation from the Project Management Institute, is a licensed real estate broker in North and South Carolina, as well as a member of the Charlotte Regional Commercial Board of Realtors (CRCBR).