Los Angeles Prefabrication, Modular & Mass Timber Conference

Brad Wagstaff, with 20 years’ experience in real estate development, finance, investment, and acquisition, is the managing partner and owner of the hospitality-focused real estate development company, Mogul Capital. Prior to forming Mogul Capital, Mr. Wagstaff worked for seven years as Investment Analyst and Manager for Intel Capital, Intel Corporation’s venture capital investment fund. Mr. Wagstaff holds a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from Brigham Young University and a Master’s of Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2005, Mr. Wagstaff formed Mogul Capital, a specialty real estate development company focused on opportunistic development and investment transactions. Since 2005, Mogul Capital has acquired, developed, and invested in over $325 million of real estate projects, including a $200M hotel development portfolio across five Marriott and Hilton brands, $60M of single tenant retail developments, $40M of multi-family apartment complexes, and a $20M car wash portfolio. In 2018, Mogul Capital opened a 354-key dual-branded Courtyard and TownePlace Suites in Hawthorne, CA. This project was Marriott’s first dual-branded modular project and Marriott’s largest modular project to date. Mogul Capital has over $350 million in assets under management and has over $300 million in modular hospitality and condo projects at various stages of development and construction in the Western US.

As Chief Executive Officer of Decro and its affiliated entities, Mr. Handel is responsible for the strategic direction and overall management of the company, pursuit of new housing opportunities, and oversight of a portfolio with 28 developments and over 1,500 housing units in California and Florida. Prior to joining Decro, Mr. Handel had more than 25 years of experience in developing, financing, syndicating, operating, constructing and managing affordable housing developments. Mr. Handel represented nonprofits and National Equity Fund (NEF) as counsel in affordable housing transactions, formed California nonprofit public benefit corporations, and advised nonprofit Board of Directors on legal compliance issues. At NEF, he closed 57 development deals representing a gross equity investment by this low-income housing tax credit syndicator of $315 million. Mr. Handel is President of The Carter House, Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates a HUD Section 811 housing development in South Los Angeles, and serves on the Board of the Hockey Equipment Lending Program, Inc., a nonprofit that supports disadvantaged youth playing that sport. He is the former Chair of Los Angeles Lawyer, a Los Angeles County Bar Association publication, and has been published in that magazine and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Mr. Handel has been a speaker at the National Association of Housing and Rehabilitation Officers Summer Conference and conferences of Housing California and the Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing. He is admitted to practice law in California and received a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Southern California.

Muhammad A. Nadhiri is the oldest of three children and was raised in Central Florida, in a household rich with educational, artistic, and social justice history. Muhammad’s father, retired from a lifelong career in education, is a poet. Muhammad’s mother, also a former educator, is the Executive Director of the Zora Neale Hurston Museum in Eatonville, Florida, the oldest incorporated African-American town in the United States. Muhammad’s family has numerous ties to the arts, politics, and the struggle for equality; these basic principles, which formed the foundation of Muhammad’s childhood, continue to drive his philosophy as a developer, businessman, and volunteer. Muhammad lives in San Francisco, with his wife, Rochelle, and daughter, Zahra. Muhammad is the Co-Founding Managing Partner of Axis Development Group; he brings deep experience developing residential/retail/commercial mixed-use projects in the San Francisco Bay Area and select urban markets nationally. Axis is a privately-owned San Francisco and Los Angeles based real estate development firm that specializes in the creation and execution of highly-serviced, uniquely-stylized urban-infill and mixed-use projects. Axis’ Principals bring over 40 years of acquisition, structuring, entitlement, construction, marketing, and sale/lease-up experience to the projects the firm pursues. Axis’ core strategy is to take the experience of its Principals and leverage that knowledge into projects that respond to the complex urban environments in which the firm operates. Prior to forming Axis with Theo F. Oliphant, Muhammad was a Co-Founding Partner at UrbanCore Development and the Founding Managing Partner at M.A.N. Associates, both of which are San Francisco Bay Area-based real estate development firms; Muhammad served as the Principal-in Charge for each firm's development activities. Previously, Muhammad was a Senior Project Manager at AF Evans Development in Oakland, where he was responsible for the development of two downtown-revitalization residential/retail mixed-use projects, totaling 433 for-sale units and 70,000 square feet of retail over five city blocks. Muhammad began his real estate career as an Associate at Wilson Meany in San Francisco, where he co-managed the development of rental and for-sale residential/retail mixed-use projects in San Francisco and the Bay Area; one of which was as a member of the project team for the redevelopment of the historic Ferry Building. Prior to beginning his career in real estate development, Muhammad was an investment banker; he was an Analyst at Nationsbanc Securities and an Associate at RBC Dominion Securities, in New York City. Muhammad holds a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Corporate Finance from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Muhammad is a Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, a Member of the Board of Directors for the 100 Black Men of America, and a Member of the Board of Trustees for Katherine Delmar Burke School. Muhammad is also a Member of Urban Land Institute, San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, and San Francisco Housing Action Coalition.

Ken Lowney is the Founder and President of Lowney Architecture, a multidisciplinary practice offering architectural, interior, and master planning services. With locations in Oakland and Honolulu, the firm focuses its practice on residential, mixed-use, hospitality and retail projects. In his hometown of Oakland, Ken leads discussions about community development, affordable housing and off-site construction design methods while serving in leadership roles for the Modular Building Institute, SPUR, the Oakland Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, and the Oakland Land Use Committee. Lowney Architecture first made its mark with expertise in urban retail, specifically grocery store design. The firm is now also synonymous with the design and delivery of innovative, prefabricated projects, having designed over 6,000 modular units.

Vincent Polhemus is Senior Business Development Manager at Clark Pacific, a leading design- manufacturer-builder of prefabricated building systems. Vincent’s experience in prefabricated building systems spans 20 years in Southern California and includes unitized curtainwalls, window walls, aluminum panels systems, architectural precast concrete, thin-shell concrete and GFRC. Starting as a project manager for a glazing contractor, Vincent moved to Preconstruction in 2016, and has worked on award winning projects throughout California, including the California New Natural Resources Building in Sacramento, 510 S Vermont in Los Angeles and One Westside in Los Angeles.

Danny Haber is the co-founder of oWOW, a B2B and B2C real estate company. An innovative entrepreneur, with a flair for providing workable solutions to the burgeoning housing crisis in California, Haber has been labelled the ‘Oracle of Oakland’ with visionary solutions to the housing crisis. His company, oWOW develops, designs, and constructs net new housing units for consumers and also builds modular units for resale to developers. As a vertically integrated corporation, oWOW operations are geared towards cost-cutting measures, and luxury living courtesy of adaptable units.

Paul Cho joined LifeArk as the Chief Financial Officer after serving as the COO/CFO and Co-Founder of The Illumination Foundation for 13 years. Paul established Illumination Housing LLC, a social impact investment fund for the purpose of acquiring and developing properties to provide housing for the homeless. Prior to his nonprofit work, he was an investment banker with Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch for 16 years executing corporate finance, mergers & acquisitions, and private equity transactions in New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul.

Van Schaik is founder and principal of Los Angeles–based SuperLA, a unique turnkey development firm that designs, constructs, owns, and operates rental properties. His firm is on a mission to make apartment construction more cost-effective using prefabricated mass timber and light-frame wood construction. In the long term, Van Schaik plans to use those savings to provide sustainable, biophilic features such as exposed wood, filtered air and water, and large operable windows at affordable rates. “Homes need not be white boxes with small windows and cold finishes,” van Schaik says. “We believe homes can be beautiful, high quality, environmentally sustainable, healthy and attainable, but it requires us to completely rethink the design and development process.” That reinvention means investing in multifamily housing solutions as products, not one-off projects. It also means finding greater efficiencies in every phase, from pre-design and construction to operation and maintenance.

With over 24 years of construction and manufacturing leadership experience, Scott Brown is the National Mass Timber Specialist at DPR Construction. Scott has developed deep expertise in vertically integrated volumetric modular technology, the integration and utilization of prefab components, and profound knowledge of design for manufacturing and assembly processes in both prefabrication and mass timber. Scott’s passion is evident in his work. His unique perspective, drawn from jobsite and manufacturing facilities management experience, enables him to drive the evolution of integrating manufactured components into construction processes. Scott is dedicated to advancing DPR’s national mass timber strategy, taking DPR’s “ever forward” approach to prefabrication and industrialized construction to the next level, transitioning from traditional field construction to offsite manufacturing and field assembly.

Devin has worked in the offsite construction industry for over a decade. He has continuously helped designers, owners, developers, general contactors, and subcontractors navigate the procurement process by understanding and creating an execution plan to complete the final project. He brings a broad understanding in construction and how to properly integrate prefabricated elements through preconstruction, planning, contract, financing and scheduling, under a variety of project delivery methods. His passion is for helping teams come together and collaborate to clarify roles and responsibilities, to create the best possible outcomes.

David has been leading efforts to provide housing and supportive services for thousands of housing-challenged families and individuals since 1989. He is an expert in affordable housing development and operations.

With over 30 years of experience in the construction industry, Heith Bibby is the proud owner and founder of Mandeville Modular. Throughout his career, he has spent 20 years as a general contractor, honing his skills and expertise. What sets him apart is his impressive 14 years of specialized experience in modular construction. Mr. Bibby’s background in both business and engineering has laid a solid foundation for the success of Mandeville Modular. This unique combination of knowledge allows him to approach projects with a comprehensive understanding of both the technical and logistical aspects. Mr. Bibby takes immense pride in the various modular housing projects he has had the privilege of working on in the vibrant City of Los Angeles. These opportunities have allowed him to showcase his expertise and contribute to the development of innovative and sustainable housing solutions. At Mandeville Modular, we are committed to delivering exceptional quality and craftsmanship. With our extensive experience, we are confident in our ability to exceed your expectations and create spaces that are not only functional but also esthetically pleasing.

Michael Mathews is the Founder and CEO of Assemblage Works, Inc. (AWI), a multi-disciplinary, vertically integrated architecture, construction management and development company that operates throughout the nation. We specialize in the creation, management and execution of sustainable urban infill multi-family, hospitality and commercial projects across the western United States. Mathews’ expertise as a senior development, design and construction executive spans all facets of complex and large-scale ($500MM+) real estate projects for a variety of prominent design, development and construction organizations nationwide, including executive roles with KB Urban, Forest City and Davis Reed Construction, among others. In these roles, he has delivered over 6,000 units to the markets in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Southern California, Texas, Seattle and Denver metropolitan areas. Mathews, a licensed Architect, is also an expert in off-site construction methodologies, including prefab, volumetric, panelized and mass timber construction. He has national experience in project due diligence, entitlement, design, finance, construction and construction management. Through the formation of AWI, Mathews has created a collective of experienced and dedicated design, construction and development professionals that believe in the use of modern methods of construction and progressive delivery techniques to provide clear and predictable outcomes to their clients and investors. AWI was created to understand the needs of development, investigate emerging technologies and collaborate with our construction partners, pushing the practice of architecture and development into the future. We eliminate unnecessary time designing systems that can be repeated, leaving more time to solve the unique design challenges of our clients, the environment and the places we design for.

Justin Stewart is the CEO and Owner of 8-time National Excellence in Construction Award winning Synergy, Inc, and industry disrupting Synergy Modular. Synergy has built over 10,000 units and countless commercial projects as a GC over the last three decades in the Pacific Northwest. In 2017, in response to a demand for predictability, Justin founded Synergy Modular, building projects at a fixed cost, in 30-50% less time.

Konstantin Daskalov is an accomplished Senior Executive of Development & Construction with 16 years of diverse experience in all phases of the development process, leading professional teams through entitlements, design development, GC selection, budgeting, scheduling and construction execution of large ground-up, multifamily, affordable, mixed-use, hospitality and healthcare projects with full P&L responsibility. As the Vice President, US Operations, Konstantin is spearheading all the firm's Operations in the US, and Directing: Marketing; Sales; Business Development; Architecture / Developer / Construction Partners & Lenders; Project Entitlements & Approvals; Project Delivery; Product Erection & Assembly and Business Plan Execution. Previously, as Founder & President of Daskoney Properties, Konstantin led all operations for the firm, overseeing acquisitions, development and construction management staff with full P&L responsibility for multi-family projects, while he was also an Executive Consultant for SOLA Impact on their large multifamily and affordable housing efforts. Prior to that, as VP of Development & Construction with a major real estate investment & development company, Konstantin has directed all development and construction operations for a large portfolio of hotels and office assets across the US with annual development budget of over $75M. Previously, as VP of Development for a national condominium developer, Konstantin has directed and successfully completed several ground-up multifamily, high-rise projects in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago with average construction cost of $200M each and delivered great investment returns expediting construction and unit sales. Konstantin started his career as a Project Manager for a General Contractor and later as Director of Construction successfully completed the construction of large multifamily projects in Chicago directing PMs, and Contractors. Konstantin Daskalov holds a M.S./MBA degree from Northwestern University, as well as, a BS in Civil Engineering and a BA in Business Management degrees from Calvin University. He is a proud member of Urban Land Institute (ULI), Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) and variety of other professional organizations in Real Estate and Construction Management, and is a speaker and participant for numerous professional panels.

Brian Kang, Chair of Greenberg Glusker’s Real Estate Group, has experience in a wide range of real estate transactions, including the acquisition, disposition, financing, and leasing of commercial, retail, multifamily, and industrial properties. Brian’s clients include real estate investors, developers, financial institutions, national universities, and REITS. Brian is also active within the Los Angeles community. He currently represents the Korean American National Museum on a pro bono basis as the museum’s real estate counsel. Brian has also been on the Board of Governors for the Korean American Bar Association of Southern California since 2013 and served as President of KABA-SoCal in 2018. Recognized for his work in Real Estate Law, Brian has been recognized in the Best Lawyers in America list since 2018 and in Southern California Super Lawyers since 2013. In 2021, Brian was also selected to Los Angeles Times’ Commercial Real Estate Visionaries List: Professional Service Advisors.