Charlotte State of the Market

Mary Ellen Player currently serves as the Business Operations Lead for Google Fiber Charlotte where she is responsible for managing day-to-day operations of the local fiber team including business strategy, local relationship management and customer acquisition. Prior to joining the Fiber team, Mary Ellen served as chief of special projects for Motorola Mobility’s CFO (a former Google acquisition). While at Motorola, she specialized in process improvement, cost reduction and change management initiatives across the company. Mary Ellen began her Google career in financial services marketing in New York. Mary Ellen began her career as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton where she supported both the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisitions, Logistics and Technology as well as the Army’s Chief Marketing Officer. She is a native of Lake City, SC, where she attended Lake City public schools and graduated from the Governor’s School for Science in Mathematics in Hartsville, SC. She also is a graduate, magna cum laude, of Harvard College and a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business’s MBA program where she attended as a Google Fellow.

Brian Leary joined Crescent Communities as president of its commercial / mixed use business unit in 2014. In this role, he directs the company’s office, industrial and retail developments and property management across the country. With 17 years of experience in commercial real estate and development, he specializes in large and small-scale, mixed use holdings. Prior to joining Crescent, Brian held senior management and executive positions with Jacoby Development, Inc., Atlanta Beltline, Inc., AIG Global Real Estate, Atlantic Station, LLC and Central Atlanta Progress. While at Jacoby Development, a national developer of corporate, mixed-use and retail projects, he was the driving force behind ONE Daytona, a 4.5-million square foot joint venture with International Speedway Corp. As vice president of AIG Global Real Estate, he oversaw the design and development of Atlantic Station, a 13.5-million square foot joint venture that, at the time, represented the largest urban brownfield redevelopment in the United States. Previously Brian served as president and CEO of Atlanta Beltline, Inc., the organization planning and executing the implements of the BeltLine, one of the country’s largest, most wide-ranging urban redevelopment projects. Active in the industry and his community, Brian served on the Board of Trustees of Leadership Atlanta and the Urban Land Institute’s Livable Communities Coalition Council as well as the Governing Board of Atlanta Medical Center. He is a national author and speaker on topics including real estate trends, sustainability and transportation for the Urban Land Institute, United States Congress, Harvard University and others. Brian graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a bachelor of science in architecture and a master’s degree in city and regional planning.

Jim Merrifield has directed the commercial development of 4,000 acres of land and 3.5 million square feet of buildings during his career. In addition to Crown Point, NorthCross, and Whitehall, Jim’s projects include Charlotte International Trade Center, Mooresville Gateway, Poplar Point Business Park, University East Business Park, and Waterford Center. With over 30 years of real estate experience, Jim has overall responsibility for MPV Properties. He is involved in financial planning, securing debt and equity, personnel management, project design and construction, site acquisition, development and zoning, leasing and site sales. After he served with Spaulding & Slye from 1980 to 1985 in Boston, Oklahoma City and Charlotte, he joined Crosland in 1985 and purchased a majority interest in its Commercial Division in 1997. In 2004 he purchased the remaining interests in Crosland Commercial and changed the organization’s name to Merrifield Partners. Jim received a B.A. in mathematics and economics from Colgate University in 1975 and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1980.

Mr. Teague is a Principal and a Founding Partner for Selwyn Property Group, Inc. He was formerly the National Team Leader for Lauth Property Group's Retail Development program and Senior Managing Director for Faison Associates and Trammell Crow Company. A resident of Charlotte, North Carolina, Mr. Teague has more than 25 years experience in commercial real estate, and has developed over 8 million square feet of commercial properties. He is a member of the ICSC, CCIM, and Charlotte Board of Commercial Realtors, and is past Board Chair for Charlotte Preschool Partnership, the Central Avenue Bilingual School, and JDRF. He is on the Board of Directors of Burroughs and Chapin Company, Thompson Child and Family Focus, and Thomas Jefferson’s Poplar Forest. Mr. Teague received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics, cum laude from Washington & Lee University, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Cristi Lewis is an audit partner based in CohnReznick’s Charlotte office. She is a member of the firm’s Construction Industry Practice. Cristi has more than 15 years of public accounting experience encompassing financial statement audits, accounting, business consulting, agreed upon procedures engagements, regulatory compliance and benefit plan audits. Her industry experience includes construction contractors, commercial real estate, residential multi-family housing, and governmental agencies (including PHAs). She has also worked with many small business clients. Throughout her career, Cristi has been tasked with planning and performing audit, tax, and agreed upon procedures engagements while also providing training, supervision and work reviews for audit associates. She has extensive experience planning and executing audits in compliance with GAGAS, HUD audit guidelines, and OMB A-133. Her real estate and construction industry experience includes commercial and multi-family residential, land development, specialty contractors and property management. She has also worked extensively on due diligence engagements for an SEC client relative to the acquisition of contractors across the country. Education: B.S., Accounting – University of North Carolina at Charlotte.