Denver Industrial:
Investment & Development Conference

Marshall Burton serves as president and chief executive officer of Confluent Development and, in partnership with the Board, is responsible for the success of the organization. Burton assures the accomplishment of Confluent Development’s mission and vision, its relevance to the community, and the accountability of the organization to its diverse constituents. Specifically, Burton ensures Confluent Development’s fiscal, operations, marketing, human resources, technology and programmatic strategies are effectively implemented across all segments of the organization. Marshall Burton has more than 20 years in development experience across all major product types throughout the United States. He co-founded Confluent Development with Celeste Tanner in 2014, with the organization providing ground-up development services on a build-to- suit and speculative basis. Prior to establishing Confluent Development, Marshall served as executive vice president for Opus Development Company, where he led the company’s operations in the western region and oversaw the growth of the company’s Denver office. While at Opus, he also oversaw the regional organization with offices in Washington, D.C., Boston and Philadelphia. Burton is a board member of Industrial Property Trust, a leading industrial REIT with more than 20 million square feet owned throughout the United States.  He also served as a board member of Industrial Income Trust, which successfully completed its sale to Global Logistic Properties in 2015.

John is the President and Managing Partner of Comunale Properties and its affiliated companies. John is responsible for strategic planning, capital structuring, business development and all property and asset management operations for Comunale. He is also the founder and Managing Partner of the company’s investment affiliate, The J.Red Group, and serves as the Manager of all new investment partnerships. Under John’s leadership, Comunale has become a fully integrated multi-market real estate platform with more than 30 owned and managed assets.

Jeremy Ballenger is a top-performing industrial specialist in Denver, Colorado. Since joining CBRE in 2012, Jeremy has participated in transactions in excess of 5.4 million square feet, totaling more than $271,000,000. Together with his partner, Tyler Carner, Jeremy provides leadership for CBRE's Capital Markets, Industrial Investment Properties, the industry leader in the acquisition and disposition of income producing properties in Colorado. As a trusted advisor to owners, buyers, landlords and tenants, he specializes in commercial property acquisitions, asset management, loan workouts, capital-raising, and mezzanine debt placement. Jeremy's transaction acumen spans disposition and acquisition of stabilized income-producing industrial properties, development opportunities, and user acquisitions and dispositions.

Katie Murtaugh is a Research Analyst with CBRE in Denver, Colorado, and co-author of CBRE’s 2015 Viewpoint report “Marijuana Real Estate in Denver: The Early Years." She applies her expertise in business economics when providing analysis, market insight and economic vision for all asset classes. Previously, Katie was a CBRE researcher specializing in retail, land and multifamily real estate. She also has experience in property management with CBRE’s Asset Services. Prior to joining CBRE, Katie gained experience in the single family home construction industry. She received her Bachelor of Arts in economics from Miami University and a double Master of Arts in international economics from University College London and Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

Andy Williams is the President and CEO of Medicine Man in Colorado. He is a veteran of the US Army, and served three years as a Cavalry Scout in the 3 rd Infantry Division. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Southern Colorado in Pueblo, CO. Andy has worked in a wide range of manufacturing industries as an industrial engineer, and in leadershippositions. He is a lifelong entrepreneur. In 2009 the Ogden letter was published stating the Department of Justice would not utilize their resources to prosecute those individuals following state marijuana laws. That was the call to a new opportunity in the marijuana industry for Andy and his brother Pete. In December of 2009 they launched Medicine Man with the concept of being the Costco of marijuana. Six years later Medicine Man is now a $17 million a year corporation and has branched out to assist start up marijuana companies and grow facilities across the country with their consulting company, Medicine Man Technologies. They are known as industry leaders throughout the United States.

Christian Hageseth is the Founder & President of Inspiro, and the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Green Man Cannabis. He has worked in the cannabis industry full­ time since July 2009 when he founded his first cultivation business. He has since served as a partner at five dispensaries and six cultivation operations. Currently he is a partner at two dispensaries and two cultivation operations. He is also the visionary behind Inspiro's development project, the Colorado Cannabis Ranch. His industry expertise has made him a valuable source for top media outlets in both the United States and around the world, garnering interviews with The New York Times, Yahoo! Finance, CNNMoney, Business Insider, MarketWatch, NPR, The London SundayTimes, and more. He has been a long time advocate for the liberalization and legalization of marijuana, pushing for heightened public education and awareness of the industry and its realities. Hageseth currently lives in Denver, CO.

Julie Berliner is the Founder and CEO of Sweet Grass Kitchen, a Denver-based commercial cannabis edibles manufacturer founded in 2009. Sweet Grass Kitchen specializes in cannabutter-based edibles, and distributes to nearly 500 locations throughout Colorado. In addition to her role at Sweet Grass Kitchen, she is also a founding member and former chair of the Cannabis Business Alliance Edibles Council and a founding member of Women Grow. Julie has represented the edibles industry as a panelist on workgroups organized by the Marijuana Enforcement Division to develop policies on infused product serving size and potency levels. Julie graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a degree in education and psychology in 2008. When a friend asked that her popular chocolate chip cookie recipe be infused with cannabis for sale at his dispensary, she decided to take a left turn and launched Sweet Grass Kitchen.

With 20 years of experience in consumer marketing tactics and a cross-functional approach to brand leadership, Joe has a broad skill set across media relations, channel strategy, branding, marketing, advertising, social media, investor relations, crisis communications, events development and community relations. And one day he decided that it might be fun to put those skills to use in helping to build the future of cannabis with Dixie Brands as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). As CMO, in addition to fielding thousands of pot jokes and requests for volunteer “tasters,” he heads up an organization of professionals who are helping to define what adult use marketing of marijuana can and should be. Before his adventures on the green side, Joe served as a partner and Executive Vice President of Channel Management at Vladimir Jones (VJ), one of the largest and oldest independently held advertising agencies in Colorado. While at VJ, Joe managed a team of 20 paid, owned and earned media experts that brought brands to life for clients in market segments such as energy, healthcare, tourism and retail with cumulative budgets in excess of $20 million. Prior to joining VJ, Joe served as VP, communications for private equity firm Consumer Capital Partners (CCP), where he oversaw communications for emerging brands like Smashburger, as well as established names like Quiznos. Joe honed his PR chops as senior director of corporate communications for Frontier Airlines. As Frontier’s primary spokesperson, he was the public face for the airline, coordinating all of Frontier’s unpaid or “earned” media efforts. In addition, he oversaw Frontier’s internal communications, investor relations, government relations and community relations efforts.

Paul N. Isenbergh, SIOR joins Dunton Commercial with over 30 years of experience in the national commercial real estate market. He specializes in the representation of property owners, buyers/tenants and corporate clients in their real estate matters. Paul has worked on dispositions, acquisitions, direct leases, subleases, build-to-suits, speculative development, national/corporate real estate and real estate counseling. Paul has recently developed a Cannabis Business Brokerage and Consulting Firm, PNI Management, LLC.

Chris Shopneck is a managing and founding member of the Headgate Companies. Chris attended Colorado College in Colorado Springs, and after receiving his B.A. in political science and economics he moved back to Denver to pursue a career in real estate and commercial lending. As the recreational marijuana industry began to mature in Colorado Chris saw a void in the market of leasable pre-built marijuana space, so starting in 2013 Chris began acquiring, reconstructing, and leasing out warehouse space in the Denver Metro area. In addition to overseeing all aspects of acquisition and construction, Chris has also been responsible for the management of these facilities as well. Since 2013 the Headgate Companies have acquired, built out, and leased over 200,000 sq feet of cultivation space.