Los Angeles Life Sciences Commercial Real Estate Summit

Kent Handleman oversees all leasing activity for LPC West Los Angeles. With over 28 years of transactional experience encompassing over 10 million square feet of space, he manages a portfolio with 4+ million square feet of office projects, and represents ownerships that include LPC West partnerships, associated capital partners, and third-party owners throughout the South Bay, Playa Vista, Culver City, Santa Monica, downtown Los Angeles, Tri-Cities, and the San Fernando Valley. Prior to joining LPC West, Kent led leasing efforts for Thomas Properties Group in Southern California. This included City National Plaza, a 2.6-million square foot premier office complex in downtown Los Angeles, where he successfully leased approximately 2 million square feet as the project was repositioned in the market. Prior to this, Kent worked at CBRE where he represented tenants and landlords in the leasing, disposition and/or marketing of commercial office property. Kent’s tenure in the industry began in real estate acquisitions and financial analysis for a pension fund advisor. After completing his MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business, he joined MetLife Real Estate Investments and, in addition to hotel and multi-family projects, he oversaw leasing and asset management for a 3.5-million square foot office building portfolio, with 2.5 million square feet in downtown Los Angeles. In his capacity as an asset manager, Kent also directed property management, and was responsible for business/investment decisions regarding these office, hotel, and multi-family projects as owner’s representative.

Stephanie Hsieh was recently appointed as interim CEO of Bioscience Los Angeles County, Inc., a public/private partnership founded by Los Angeles County with the purpose of promoting regional economic development through the life science industry. In addition, Stephanie serves as an independent director on the boards of public and private corporations with her board experience spanning biotech, fintech and banking. Previously, Stephanie was executive director of Biocom California’s Los Angeles office, having served on its LA advisory board. The regional bioscience ecosystem development work that she is now immersed in is the culmination of over 30 years in and servicing the biotech/biopharma industries; combining her operational knowledge of drug development and experience as a former patent attorney, angel investor, and entrepreneur/biopharma executive with economic development and advocacy work on behalf of the industry. Stephanie graduated magna cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi from Wellesley College, where she majored in Biological Chemistry. She then received a JD from Columbia Law School, as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, she was recognized by the LA Business Journal as one of the “most influential leaders and impactful executives in Los Angeles.”

Nancy Moses serves as Principal with Trammell Crow Company, where she leads project execution within the Los Angeles business unit. Specializing in client management, Nancy helps occupiers identify and implement real estate solutions, and is sought after by clients for her ability to drive decision-making consensus and then convert that shared vision into a turnkey delivery. In her tenure at TCC, Nancy has successfully delivered over 1.7 million square feet of office and healthcare developments within the greater Los Angeles area, with more than 750,000 square feet anticipated to commence construction in 2023. Nancy was recognized as Commercial Property Executive’s Stars to Watch in 2020, and one of Real Estate Forum’s 2022 Women of Influence. Recent projects include the Vermont Corridor County Administration building, MLK Medical Office Building, Engemann Student Health Center on the USC Campus, and the USC Keck School of Medicine Soto Health Science Building.

Tom Lam is a Principal of Luminous Capital Management, a life science real estate investment management firm based in Irvine, CA. Tom’s primary responsibilities include acquisitions, due diligence, and capital raising. Over his 17-year career in commercial real estate, he has invested over $1 billion across multiple asset types and major Western markets on behalf of institutional and high net worth investors. Prior to Luminous, Tom has worked at firms such as Boardwalk Investments Group, Buchanan Street Partners, and Emmes Group. Mr. Lam graduated with an MBA and a Master of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California in 2014. He is an active member of NAIOP.

Melissa has more than 15 years of construction experience, with a focus on the pharmaceutical and life science industry. Currently, she is the preconstruction manager for Turner’s life sciences projects throughout California. Starting her career as an on-site project engineer and project manager, Melissa uses her operational background to inform the preconstruction process and provide clients with a comprehensive plan from conceptual design through field mobilization. She is passionate about the life-saving contributions of the facilities she builds and implementing innovative construction technologies to help advance the industry.

A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times. A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School. In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration. One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.

Fred Farina is Caltech’s Chief Innovation and Corporate Partnerships Officer. His responsibilities include commercializing inventions made at Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL/NASA) through the creation of new startup ventures and partnerships with established companies. His office is responsible for evaluating inventions, supervising patent prosecution and portfolio management, negotiating licensing deals with industry, assisting Caltech/JPL entrepreneurs with the creation of new startup companies and establishing research collaborations with industry. Prior to joining the office, Frederic worked as a research engineer in the GPS field at JPL and the University of Miami. He subsequently joined a law firm where he prosecuted patent applications on various technologies before the U.S. and European patent offices. Fred holds a “Diplôme d’Ingénieur” in Electrical Engineering from the Institut National des Sciences Appliquees, Lyon, France, and is a graduate of Caltech from which he received a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering in 1992. He is a registered patent agent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

David Oh is a highly experienced leader in lab planning and design with over three decades of experience in various markets, including semiconductors, advanced technology, biotech, biomedical, telecommunications, aerospace, and mission-critical facilities. He has extensive knowledge in the STEM field and the science and pharmaceutical industry, and has worked on diverse projects such as workplace, industrial, institutional, education, public, commercial, and healthcare. David received his Bachelor of Architecture from Southern California Institute of Architecture and has held various positions such as Designer, Studio Leader, Project Executive, Project Designer, Project Manager, Managing Principal, and Principal-in-Charge. He has provided design, planning, project management and leadership, construction management, and quality control and assurance services for projects in the United States and internationally.

For well over 20 years, Tad has designed leading science and technology facilities that allow researchers and scientists to develop cutting edge technologies. With an experimentalist spirit, his curiosity and ability to develop ‘what if’ scenarios for the most complex environments, encourage his passion for shaping more resilient and equitable experiences for everyone. He has designed and managed over 3 million square feet of space throughout the world. In addition to being an architect, he is also an inventor with two US Patent applications.

Mr. Gilbert is a Principal and Partner at GMC Commissioning, Inc. His industry experience includes over 25 years in the commercial building design and construction industry, specializing in life sciences, cGMP/Pharma manufacturing, OSHPD/HCAI, and higher education projects, with a focus on commissioning. Mr. Gilbert has a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Virginia Tech, is a licensed mechanical engineer in the state of California, is a LEED AP, and has also been a guest speaker on sustainable building design, Title-24, and energy modeling. Mr. Gilbert has provided commissioning solutions in HVAC, emergency power systems, process systems with an emphasis in reliability, maintainability, optimum system operation, and energy and water efficiency. Leading edge technologies and systems applied to high-performance buildings are some of his favorite challenges.

Mark Schwettmann is a nimble problem-solver who thrives on multidimensional challenges. His international portfolio spans a wide range of building types including civic, commercial office, and life sciences, with a particular focus on the development of efficient and sustainable high density multi-family residential. Driven to create inspiring spaces and to improve urban life, he is known for delivering impactful projects that overcome stringent economic, regulatory, and functional constraints. A lifelong resident of the Bay Area with extensive ties throughout the West Coast, Mark draws inspiration from the energy of our cities and their unique relationships to the surrounding natural landscape. His recent projects in San Francisco are a testament to his urbanist sensibilities. At One Steuart Lane and 1550 Mission, Mark actualized an enlivening vision for high-density residential design rooted in qualities of place. The Moscone Center Expansion transformed a black box into a civically engaging landmark and through comprehensive sustainability measures, became the nation’s first LEED Platinum-certified convention center. 49 South Van Ness, also LEED Platinum, brought the City of San Francisco’s departments of buildings, planning, and public works into a single streamlined facility. Current work on the boards includes multiple residential towers in San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego. Outside of the studio, Mark is also SOM's firmwide practice leader for the multifamily residential practice, coordinating and facilitating the design of thousands of units across the globe. He is also an active member of many organizations committed to sustainability and equity in our environment, a photographer, a cyclist, and a father.

Howard Kozloff is the Founder & CEO at Noblespace, a real estate development platform serving emerging science and technology businesses with flexible work and lab facilities. Noblespace offers customizable spaces that complement and enhance surrounding business, research and educational institutions. Especially for sectors with unique infrastructure or compliance requirements, the platform helps companies optimize costs while maintaining agility to scale when ready. Kozloff is also co-founder of HATCHspaces, and lives in Los Angeles where he is active with a number of youth recreation and education programs.

Melanie manages and implements Biocom California’s regional policy agendas in San Diego, Los Angeles, and the Bay Area. She proactively lobbies public officials to advance the interests of our members and ensure consideration for the life science industry in new and existing regulations. Prior to Biocom California, Melanie managed government-community relations for San Diego nonprofits and worked in the local office of a State Assembly Member from 2005 until 2009. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, with minors in Art History and Sociology, from the University of California, San Diego.

Julie Kilpatrick is a Senior Managing Director for CBRE’s Project Management Advisory team for the West Region, overseeing operations and teams in Southern California, Arizona and Hawaii. Ms. Kilpatrick brings over 25 years of expertise to CBRE, with experience in leading, managing and delivering complex real estate projects. Her expertise encompasses a diverse range of specialties, including leading acquisitions, valuations, appraisals, entitlements, zoning changes, space lease and ground lease negotiations, design management, construction management and administration, budgeting/financing, asset management, and capital program & portfolio facilities management for both large global Fortune 500 companies all the way down to start-up’s and privately held growing companies across a diverse sector of asset classes including ground up, redevelopment, major infrastructure, office, life science/research, labs, academic buildings, retail, hospitality, industrial, performance venues, medical office buildings including OSPHD/HCAI, and multi-family. Prior to joining CBRE, Ms. Kilpatrick served as the Director of Real Estate, Acquisitions & Public-Private Partnerships (P3) for the University of California San Diego. In this role, she was responsible for managing over $5 billion in P3 development over a 10 year capital plan including overseeing the University's new investment portfolio of off-campus properties totaling 600,000SF and collaborating closely with prominent UC San Diego institutions such as the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Natural Reserves System and UC San Diego Health. Ms. Kilpatrick led large-scale real estate projects that played a vital role in UC San Diego Health's ambitious $4 billion redevelopment of the Hillcrest Campus and the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley. Her contributions significantly improved access to faculty, visitors students and quality patient care for residents throughout the region. Ms. Kilpatrick began her career, and spent nearly two decades, at JLL’s Project Development Services group and was a Senior Vice President leading the Southwest Region, based in San Diego. Ms. Kilpatrick was named a Top Performer at JLL every year since 2003, excelling at client service and operational excellence. She received the company's coveted DaVinci Award—the highest honor awarded to professionals in Project and Development Services—for being instrumental in the development and execution of a single currency procurement program for the firm's multi-national global clients located across 5 continents.

Marcella Ayala is a seasoned business development executive with 20 years of experience across the public and private sectors in the built environment. Her career spans a broad spectrum of roles, from financial analysis of real estate projects to driving economic development initiatives under Los Angeles Mayor Villaraigosa, and leading business development in the construction sector. Marcella has partnered with a wide array of clients, including civic agencies, municipalities, academic institutions, developers, and life sciences firms. As the National Director of Life Sciences at Swinerton, she is at the forefront of shaping and implementing the company’s growth strategy in life sciences construction. Outside her professional life, she is passionate about adventure travel and loves hiking big mountains. Marcella holds an MBA from Cornell University and a BA in International Business from San Diego State University.

An associate partner with Syska Hennessy Group, Robert manages staff and projects across the multi-discipline MEP services. Robert has extensive experience with laboratory and life sciences projects including spaces for ISO cleanroom pharma manufacturing, electron microscopy, mass spectroscopy, BSL-3 containment, NMR environments, neuropharmacology and electrophysiology. He’s worked on projects with The Scripps Research Institute, Takeda Pharmaceuticals, The Burnham Institute, Pfizer and Genentech. Robert’s depth of experience in both design and project management enhances collaboration with owners, architects, and contractors.