Denver Office of the Future

Susan Powers is President of Urban Ventures, LLC, a Denver real estate development company that has built multiple mixed income and mixed-use projects in and around downtown Denver over the past 24 years. The focus is to build communities which provide opportunities for residents and commercial tenants to live and work in a healthy environment. Urban Ventures has led the redevelopment of a 17 acre former convent in northwest Denver into a model mixed income, neighborhood called Aria Denver that will include 540 residential units and commercial space. She is also leading STEAM On The Platte, an adaptive reuse of a former industrial property on the Platte River south of Mile High Stadium. It includes the renovation of a 100 year old warehouse into office space for creative businesses and a separate building that was renovated for the city’s first Latino owned and operated craft brewery, Raices Brewing. Urban Ventures is currently involved in various roles with 4 affordable housing developments in Colorado. Prior to creating Urban Ventures, she was Executive Director of DURA (Denver Urban Renewal Authority) for 11 years (late 80’s and 90’s) and participated in the redevelopment of downtown Denver. She is a member of the board of directors of the Elevation Community Land Trust and Denver Health Foundation and participates in many community initiatives regarding equity and affordable housing.

Grant Barnhill has been thoughtfully managing, developing and investing in central Denver real estate for nearly 30 years. At the forefront of Denver’s urban revitalization, Mr. Barnhill has built his career on transforming buildings and neighborhoods in ways that positively impact both the community and residents’ lives. Inspired by extensive foreign travel, each of his projects has honored the local flavor of Denver while weaving in elements of international art, architecture and culture. His current venture, Shift Workspaces, is a shared workspace community that offers members personalized concierge-level service in a warm, unique environment. Shift is also committed to social stewardship, sustainability and an integrated view of commerce. “After you see how much of the world lives, it’s difficult not to have a holistic approach to life and business. Company owners have a unique opportunity to redefine success-we can use the power of business to solve social and environmental problems by balancing the interests of our community, our environment and investors.”

Austin Kane is Vice President, Regional Director working out of Denver, Colorado. He oversees Unico’s real estate investments in Colorado and Texas. Austin co-directs and executes asset strategies on more than 3.6M rentable square feet of class A office and retail space and is Unico’s point of contact for new business opportunities in his region. Prior to joining Unico in 2013, Austin was a broker with the Frederick Ross Company for more than 10 years. In this role, he worked with institutional landlords from across the country. During his tenure with Frederick Ross, Austin completed more than 250 lease transactions. He also worked closely with management to mentor young brokers and connect with the larger Denver community. While with Unico, Austin has overseen multiple successful leasing efforts on repositioned properties, setting a bar within individual competitive sets in multiple markets and submarkets. Additionally, Austin has identified multiple off-market office investment opportunities that have closed as well as a significant off-market development play that is currently in progress. Austin was elected President of the Denver Metro Commercial Association of Realtors in 2013, and was the recipient of Allen P. Hackstaff Award for outstanding community involvement. Austin serves on the Downtown Denver Partnership Business Improvement District as Secretary and is a member of the Executive Committee for the 5280/Downtown Loop. Austin also is a member of ULI. Austin believes that real estate is a service business, and he excels at creating positive, lasting relationships.

Jayne Rothman currently serves as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Vertafore, Inc. Ms. Rothman manages general matters including mergers & acquisitions, corporate governance, commercial transactions, litigation, dispute resolution, settlements, employment, real property, data privacy, governance, risk and compliance (GRC), insurance, intellectual property, and management of inside and outside counsel, among others. Ms. Rothman joined Vertafore in 2016. Before joining Vertafore, Ms. Rothman was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary at Epiq Systems, Inc., where she served for eleven years before the company went private in late 2016. Prior to Epiq, Ms. Rothman worked with Hon. Lisa Hill Fenning (Ret.) at Dewey LeBoeuf LLP in Los Angeles, representing creditors in the Worldcom Chapter 11 case, five aircraft lessors and two real property lessors holding filed claims of nearly $1 billion in the United Air Lines Chapter 11 case. Ms. Rothman also represented ABC/ESPN in the restructuring of its contracts with Adelphia Communications and the resolution of existing contract issues and claims in the Adelphia Chapter 11 case, among others. Prior to that, Ms. Rothman practiced corporate M&A and business financial & restructuring law at Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP in New York, representing corporate clients including Enron Corp. for over two years in its Chapter 11 restructuring; Hughes Electronics Corp. in the sale of its satellite business and broadband communications division to The Boeing Company for $3.75 billion; Old Mutual Plc. in its acquisition including a tender offer of United Asset Management Corp. for $1.46 billion; Six Flags, Inc. in its acquisition of a 230-acre marine wildlife park (Sea World); Urban Box Office.com in multiple rounds of private equity financing; and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. in its purchase of the Hungry Minds, Inc. franchise (the “For Dummies” series) for $300 million through a merger and tender offer. Ms. Rothman also served as Law Clerk for two years to Chief Judge Mark W. Vaughn of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire, who also served as a Bankruptcy Appellate Judge for the First Circuit. As Law Clerk, Ms. Rothman authored over 60 opinions for the Bankruptcy Court and Bankruptcy Appellate Court, one of which, Young v. United States, was affirmed by the First Circuit and unanimously affirmed (Scalia, J.) by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2002. Ms. Rothman frequently writes and speaks at industry events. Her LinkedIn profile can be found at www.linkedin.com/jaynesouth.

Genevieve is a senior executive with Greenworks Lending and leads new markets and partnerships for the firm. Prior to her role at Greenworks, she spearheaded the design and implementation of Connecticut’s newly created C-PACE program at the Connecticut Green Bank from 2012 -2014 and was its Director from 2015-2016. Genevieve drove the growth of the program from 6 to over 115 communities, directly originated and facilitated over $100 million in financing, and designed Connecticut’s open-market platform for private lenders. She holds a Master of City Planning and Certificate in Environmental Policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a BA in Urban Studies from Columbia University.

Adam’s 16 years of experience have seen him managing complex projects for demanding clients across the nation. As a Senior Project Manager with the global design firm DLR Group, Adam has his finger on the pulse of client’s needs from an operational standpoint. He effectively bridges those needs with the design team’s ideas, identifying creative solutions that satisfy both. Adam is an active member of the American Institute of Architects as an associate member, the Mile High Chapter of the Project Management Institute, and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce Infrastructure Committee. Having managed projects for top 10 Fortune 500 companies, and national and international finance and technology firms, Adam’s philosophy centers around understanding a client’s culture and needs to define and deliver on their version of success.

Matt Joblon is a founding partner and serves as Chief Executive Officer for BMC Investments. Since 2010, BMC has acquired and managed over 8,000 multifamily units in metro Denver comprising an asset value just over $1 billion. Also in that time span BMC has developed or is in the process of developing over $500 million in projects, all in Cherry Creek. Some of the projects include market leaders such as the Steele Creek luxury apartment project and the new Halcyon Hotel. Through those projects, BMC has been instrumental in bringing world class retail and restaurant concepts to Cherry Creek including Matsuhisa, Quality Italian, Le Bilboquet, Soul Cycle, CB2 and Departure. BMC currently has over 200 employees and is growing at a fast pace. Lastly, BMC has another $500 million in development projects in the pipeline in Cherry Creek, Boulder and the Fitzsimmons Medical Campus, and is in the process of sourcing thousands of multifamily units outside of Denver. Mr. Joblon received a B.B.A. in Entrepreneurship and Real Estate Finance from Babson College and is on the Board of the Blue Sky Fund.

Tribe was founded out of a desire to be and do better. Not being limited to real estate development, but as thought leaders, stewards of the built environment and as fellow tribe members. My native American roots have shown me that being part of a team, a Tribe, generates stronger results, better ideas and problem solving, and it is far more fun than trying to work alone. The foundation of my career was built in the design world as a landscape architect, focused on luxury resort projects. It is here that I learned from the best, about the importance of delivering positive and memorable customer experiences to stand out from the competition and drive loyalty. For over a decade now, I have been focused on exceeding customers’ expectations in commercial development, what we now refer to as experiential development. Though these projects were rewarding, both personally and financially, I was very aware of an underserved, yet powerful, stakeholder --- the employee-- the very people who can make a brand come alive for your customers. I started asking- How do we create exceptional experiences for not only customers or visitors, but also the employees, perhaps the most critical constituency? I believe that the brand of a company or project is not separate from the culture, and that brand should drive every decision from design and development to recruiting and onboarding. Employee engagement, recruiting and retention are issues for every business regardless of industry. Creating brand loyalty starts from within. If you have passionate, engaged and loyal Tribe members the likelihood of success on any real estate development project is exponentially greater. The mission for Tribe is to create compelling spaces not just for visitors, but for everyone the space touches. The goal is that everyone becomes a brand ambassador, or better yet, a member of the Tribe!

Jon Buerge is the President and Partner at Urban Villages, Inc. In this capacity, Jon is responsible for operations, real estate development, and strategic positioning for all real estate assets. He also manages the research and analysis of new company acquisitions and corporate growth strategies. Jon currently serves as the Chair of the Denver Business Improvement District and is on the Board of Directors for the LoDo District. He is also a member of Denver’s Public Realm Committee and 16th Street Mall Redevelopment Steering Committee.

Lisa’s greatest strength is her ability to think things through, making sense of conceptual and schematic designs by pulling them part, understanding the core concepts, and then re-assembling to predict how a project will evolve. Her expertise in effective communication with all levels of staff and teams through the entire project life cycle fosters a collaborative, interactive approach to task completion and problem resolution. As a Senior Preconstruction Manager for Swinerton’s Colorado office, she is the day-to-day preconstruction contact, responsible for understanding conceptual and schematic designs and systems, and then applying costs to these elements, either detailed or not to develop achievable strategies for project success.

Cities exist for people to exchange goods, services, and ideas. Larry works on the ideas. How to best serve a client’s needs or how to design a place—a master plan, a resort, a sports arena, an airport—where people can enjoy the time they spend there. To that end, Larry’s job is to present audacious concepts in a compelling fashion, winning new clients and inspiring existing clients to take exceptional action. Larry works at the intersection of design and developing new business, ensuring that his group has a steady flow of new, culturally relevant projects, but also maintaining his edge as an established senior architectural designer in his own right. He’s received many design awards from organizations around the US, and he has extensive national and international experience in architectural, interior, and environmental design. Larry focuses on fostering meaningful, memorable user experiences in the public realm by harmonizing his team’s design disciplines from architecture to interiors, landscape, and branding. For example, when Western Union wanted to update their global headquarters to improve retention and recruitment, Larry and his team tapped into Western Union’s history, global presence, and innovation. After using interior-design storytelling to connect the dots between an employee’s everyday work and a life-saving money transfer for a client, Larry and his team also improved office connectivity by working on collaboration and social zones within the headquarters. To secure the resiliency and longevity of his clients’ work, Larry looks to experiential design. He’s always asking how a space can improve a user’s interactions, experiences, and memories. “Humans are creatures of the edge,” says Larry. “We love the unexpected. We love discovery.”