CRE & UrbanTech Summit: Chicago

Drew McKenna

COO
Pressbox - A Procter & Gamble Tide Spin Company

Cheryl Gray

EVP, Enterprise Innovation
QuadReal Property Group

Cheryl Gray joined QuadReal in January, 2017 as Executive Vice President leading the Enterprise Innovation Team, providing expertise to the Canadian real estate portfolio in sustainability, environmental health and safety, national contracts and property management best practices. She recently launched QuadReal’s Digital Innovation initiative that will encourage, support and implement innovative technology in QuadReal’s Canadian portfolio to create and sustain long term value. Prior to joining QuadReal, Cheryl held several leadership positions in Bentall Kennedy, most recently having launched their Canadian residential property management business platform.  Prior to Bentall Kennedy, she worked at several major Canadian real estate firms in senior management roles where she was responsible for office, industrial, retail and residential portfolios. Cheryl holds a B.A. of Economics from the University of Waterloo, and has a Certified Property Manager ® designation from the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM).  She serves as an officer IREM’s Executive Committee as the 2018 Secretary Treasurer, the first international member to be nominated to an officer role with IREM.

Steve Sise

Senior Vice President
Golub & Company

Steve Sise oversees the operations of properties within Golub’s commercial and residential portfolio with an intense focus on financial and operating performance. He ensures that the property management teams collaborate with leasing, acquisitions, development and accounting groups, as well as with Golub’s capital partners, to create and execute successful business plans. Steve leverages his diverse background in asset management, acquisitions and dispositions along with a keen sense of real estate to further the strong performance of the company’s portfolio. He earned a BA degree from John Carroll University, and is a Board Member for BOMA Chicago, the Chicagoland Apartment Association and Magnificent Mile Association. Steve is a licensed real estate broker with the State of Illinois. He joined Golub & Company in 2008.

Scott Willis

President & CEO
DartPoints

Scott Willis serves as DartPoints President and Chief Executive Officer and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Willis is a recognized global technology leader in the communications industry with a demonstrated track record of building successful businesses for both large and small organizations to significant scale. He has extensive leadership experience transforming organizations, setting strategic direction, overseeing complex operations and confecting corporate alliances while delivering growth and profitability to the business. Scott has the right balance of strategic leadership, vision, enthusiasm and operational and technical expertise for building sustainable customer relationships to elevate DartPoints to be a leader in the edge data center market. Mr. Willis brings over 30 years of experience in the technology industry with a history of proven success. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Zinwave, a leading global provider of in-building wireless products and solutions. He successfully transformed the organization, reset the global strategy, led the charge to innovate new products and solutions which primed the company to achieve aggressive growth. Through his leadership, he positioned Zinwave as a global leader of in-building wireless solutions. Over the course of his career, Scott has served in executive leadership roles at respected technology companies including Ericsson, Nokia, BellSouth and Sprint. Before Zinwave, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Executive for Goodman Networks, a privately held leader in the design, engineering, deployment and integration of wireless communications networks. In his role, he was responsible for all commercial strategy, sales and marketing and grew revenue from $400 million to $1.2 billion annually. Prior to Goodman Networks, Scott was Executive Vice President and General Manager at Ericsson, where he oversaw more than 6,500 personnel across the U.S. and Latin America growing the business from $5 million in revenue annually to more than $3.5 billion in over 5 years. Previously, Scott served as Vice President and General Manager at Nokia Networks, where he led the growth of a new business to $1.5 billion in annual revenue in 3 years and established Nokia Networks as a market leader in North America. Mr. Willis holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management. He also holds continuing executive education certificates from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Prasan Kale

Co-Founder
Rise Buildings

Prasan Kale is the co-founder and CEO of Rise Buildings, a real estate SaaS platform designed to address major pain points for owners, property managers, and tenants in commercial and residential buildings. Prasan has more than 15 years of experience in the real estate industry overseeing asset portfolios and developments totaling over $10 billion dollars with Golub & Company, CMK Companies, Teng and Turner, among others. Prior to founding Rise, Prasan led high profile projects for stalwart real estate developers ranging from the 97-story Waterview Tower, to Riverline, a master planned 3600 unit community in Chicago, to an out-island resort development in the Caribbean and other notable residential and commercial real estate projects. Before that, he spent several years operating an asset portfolio of 7M+ sf of residential and commercial properties. Prasan holds degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Windsor, and is an avid technologist and thought leader in the proptech space.

Kurt Karnatz

President
ESD

For more than 30 years at ESD, Kurt Karnatz has provided leadership in guiding the company in becoming a world-recognized consulting practice. As a strategic leader, consultant and engineer, he has developed long-term relationships with corporate real estate clients in finance, high-tech, medical, energy and beyond, while establishing ESD’s expertise in building sciences, intelligent buildings and smart cities. As President, he works to foster global thinkers who are admired for their innovative approach in creating sustainable solutions. ESD’s teams of professionals focus on solutions that maximize efficiency, reliability, flexibility, longevity and marketability – resulting in competitive advantage and enterprise value for its clients.

Jeff Morrison

VP of Sales & Business Development
STRATIS

A veteran entrepreneurial multifamily sales leader with 20 years of experience leading innovative organizations to success and profitability, Jeff Morrison joined STRATIS after a career of innovating Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystems specifically for MultiFamily and Student Housing. Morrison experienced the pain points of multifamily owners and managers and chose a platform that represents the needs of the market. Jeff has represented a diverse list of real estate products and services including financial transaction processing solutions, SaaS, electric utility infrastructure and metering technology, energy management, and online marketing/advertising. His extensive experience working with all levels and facets of multifamily operations and property management brings added value to STRATIS clients implementing smart-home technology. Morrison is a staunch advocate for the (literal) underdog - fundraising, transporting and fostering for local canine rescue groups MCPRescue.org, K94Keeps/CBBR.org, Second Chance Rescue NYC, Safe Humane Chicago - and an advocate in equal measure for the ocean’s underrepresented at SharkStewards.org - Earth Island Institute, a 501c3 non-profit ocean conservation group. where he works as an Advisory Board Member.

Betsy Ziegler

CEO
1871

Elizabeth “Betsy” Ziegler is the first female CEO of 1871, now the Number 1 ranked tech incubator in the world. Previous to 1871, Betsy was the Chief Innovation Officer at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, responsible for portfolio innovation as well as integrating technology into the Kellogg educational experience. From 2011 through September 2015, she served as associate dean of degree programs and dean of students. Prior to Kellogg, she served as a principal in McKinsey & Company’s Chicago office where she led the firm’s Life Insurance Operations and Technology practice and co-led its Financial Institutions Operations and Technology practice. Ziegler holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and received a B.A. in economics from The Ohio State University, where she graduated with distinction.

Tim Swanson

Chief Design Officer
Skender

im leads Skender’s team of architects and designers—bringing his passion for integrating the design and construction process to the firm’s clients. In his former position of Chicago office director at CannonDesign, he was the youngest office leader in the history of the century-old firm. Throughout his decade there, Tim oversaw a team of more than 200 architecture, engineering, and planning experts. He also led its City Design practice, a national group focused on helping cities around the world grow and prosper. Having lived in Abu Dhabi, rural India and major American cities like New York and Chicago, Tim brings a unique, global perspective to his design work. He is an advocate for smart growth and sustainable development, working with leaders at the intersection of urban planning, public health, and education. Tim earned a Master of Architecture with a specialization in urban development and infill from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and undergraduate degrees in fine arts and economics from Colgate University.

Danielle Dy Buncio

Founder & CEO
VIATechnik, LLC

Danielle Dy Buncio is the Co-Founder and CEO of VIATechnik, a construction and engineering services firm transforming the construction industry. Through virtual design and construction VT blends global human capital with cutting-edge construction technologies. Danielle leads the company’s strategic growth efforts and builds and manages client relationships with some of the largest AEC firms around the country. Under Danielle’s leadership, the firm’s innovative and landmark projects have included everything from a point cloud BIM of one of the world’s largest breweries to the creation of a virtual “gaming” environment of a nuclear power plant. Danielle and the VIATechnik team are spearheading advancement of BIM, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence in the industry. Prior to founding VIATechnik, Danielle worked for general contractors in Silicon Valley, Sydney, and Chicago. As a Civil Engineer and a LEED Accredited Professional, she has extensive commercial building, heavy civil, and marine construction experience. She holds a BS in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Danielle is a recognized industry thought leader and has spoken at industry events including ENR Groundbreaking Women in Construction, ENR FutureTech, AGC BIMForum, CSI Master Specifiers Retreat, Dodge Annual Construction Outlook, and Autodesk University. Danielle was the closing keynote at the Builtworlds CEO Tech Forum in 2016. She was recently invited to China to speak to key government officials and industry leaders on global trends in BIM and construction technology. Danielle was named one of the top “Women to Watch in Virtual Reality” and she received the 2017 Women in Construction Award by Constructech Magazine. She is also on the Advisory Board of Flux.io, a technology start-up born out of GoogleX, tacking the issue of big data for construction.

Marc Rutzen

Co-Founder & CEO
Enodo

Marc Rutzen is the CoFounder and CEO of Enodo, an automated underwriting platform for multifamily real estate. Enodo helps users analyze more deals in less time and make better investment decisions backed by data science. Utilizing machine learning, the platform collects, cleans and analyzes real-time multifamily rent and availability data from over two million properties nationwide. Marc oversees Enodo’s data science, engineering and business teams to continually develop and release industry changing features. Marc is a Licensed Managing Broker in the State of Illinois and earned his Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Columbia University.