Los Angeles Multifamily and Mixed-Use Forum

Mr. Witte is Chairman and CEO of Related California, one of the largest developers of urban and multifamily housing in the state, overseeing both the affordable and market rate divisions. For the past 33 years, and since the founding of Related California, he has been responsible for the strategic direction of the company, overall management of the firm, pursuit of new development opportunities and oversight of planning, financing and construction of a development portfolio of over 18,000 residential units completed or under construction totaling more than $8.3 billion in assets, and over 5,200 affordable and 7,600 market rate units in pre-development. Prior to founding Related California in 1989, Mr. Witte served as Deputy Mayor for Housing and Neighborhoods under Mayor Art Agnos where he oversaw all housing, development and redevelopment activities for the City of San Francisco. He was Director of Housing and Economic Development under Mayor Dianne Feinstein and served as an appointed Commissioner of the San Francisco Housing Authority. Mr. Witte previously served as Executive Assistant to Assistant Secretary for Housing/Federal Housing Commissioner Lawrence B. Simons at HUD in Washington, as Legislative Director for the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials and with the Philadelphia Office of Housing and Community Development. Mr. Witte graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree in Urban Studies and a Master in City Planning. He is Chairman of the Lusk Center for Real Estate Advisory Board at University of Southern California and was a nine year member of the Board of Overseers of the Graduate School of Design at University of Pennsylvania. Mr. Witte serves on the Advisory Boards of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics Policy at the Haas School of Business at University of California at Berkeley and the Orange County Human Relations Community Partners. In addition, Mr. Witte sits on the board of the Shelter Partnership in Los Angeles.

As Founder and Chief Executive Office, Michael Sorochinsky is the visionary of CEI and the driving force behind the company's 3.5 Billion Real Estate portfolio. Michael's investment strategies, business philosophy, and transaction execution diligence has brought about substantial annualized returns to equity. From 2001 through 2005 Michael focused CEI's investments in the Value Add Multi-family space, purchasing 70 properties comprising 3500 apartments. In late 2006, Michael began to notice significant stress on the credit markets and by 2007 advised his partners to start selling properties. Under Michaels leadership, CEI successfully sold approximately 80% of its portfolio for significant gains prior to the crash of 2008. In 2008 through 2010, Michael focused CEI's investments on purchasing blocks of single family homes in some of the hardest hit areas in the country as well as investing in real estate related operating companies. In 2010, before large numbers of developers jumped into the multi-family development game, Michael saw an opportunity to build Class A apartments in Los Angeles and other top cities around the country and led CEI to amass a development pipeline of over 5100 luxury apartments with projected value in excess of 3.5 billion.

As President of Benedict Canyon Equities, Inc. (“BCE”), Ryan Somers oversees all aspects of the company. He has over 20 years of real estate acquisition experience, and has completed over $1.6 billion in multifamily transactions during his career. Since joining BCE in 2009, he has directed the acquisitions of 83 properties consisting of over 8,080 units valued at $1.1 billion. Under his tenure, Ryan has grown the company’s portfolio to $1.3 billion. During the recent economic downturn, his investment expertise created a multitude of opportunistic ventures: buying out distressed partnerships, recapitalizing underperforming properties, and acquiring distressed assets which since have become some of BCE’s top performing properties. Ryan was integral in the genesis of BCE Opportunity Fund I and BCE Opportunity Fund II, raising $11.2MM and $26MM of equity, respectively. Both are highly successful private equity funds with 27 properties currently under management. Both funds are fully invested and current on an 8% preferred return to the investors. In addition, Fund I has distributed $11MM to its investors. Given current asset performance, the projected return to the Fund I and Fund II investors will be between 2 and 2.5 times original equity. In March of 2015, Ryan led BCE in the launch of Multifamily Opportunity Fund III. By August 1st, 2015 the firm had raised $47 million of general partner equity to invest in Fund III assets, and the fund has acquired its first asset and has two more assets under contract. Prior to joining BCE, he served as Vice President of multifamily sales and acquisitions at RK Properties, a private equity firm in Long Beach, CA. He facilitated the closings of over $500MM in multifamily assets in Southern California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah. Ryan began his career in real estate in 1994 at the San Diego office of Marcus & Millichap. Ryan received a B.S. in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate from San Diego State University

Tony Cardoza is responsible for Cityview’s acquisition activities throughout the West Coast. He has 21 years of experience in real estate investment and management. Previously, Tony ran the investment group for Real Estate Capital Partners in the Western U.S., which developed and acquired over 5,000 multifamily units. Prior to that, he worked for Prometheus Real Estate Group in a land and multifamily acquisitions role on the West Coast. Tony holds a B.A. in Economics from Middlebury College and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley

Bryan Green is a wellness industry entrepreneur and fitness facility design expert. Bryan has overseen the development of facilities for Fortune 100 companies, global hospitality flags, health clubs, specialty studios, universities, and residential amenities for countless multi-family developments. He founded Advantage Fitness Products in 1997 to meet the growing demand for consultative support of non-traditional wellness facilities beyond the larger health club chains. The company’s FitnessDesignGroup™ division serves as a specialized consultancy for early stage planning and design. Green spearheads AFP’s commitment to improving communities through health and fitness. Green and AFP are designated partners of the California Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness & Sports. He is a frequent industry and public speaker on the subject of functional fitness facility design and operational strategies. Additionally, Green serves as an editorial advisor for numerous publications including Hotel Executive, Fitness Management, Resort & Recreation, and Shape Magazines. Green is a Director of The California State University, Northridge Foundation Board as well as a distinguished Board Member of Junior Achievement of Southern California. He is also an active member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

For over 30 years, Paul Zeger has been the definitive source of information for new construction sales and marketing in the Bay Area. His leadership in identifying and capitalizing on residential development opportunities is unparalleled. Paul’s client relationships include some of the most successful real estate development firms on the west coast – TMG Partners, Emerald Fund, Lennar Urban and Wilson Meany to name a few. Paul believes in making commitments to his clients, and building trust by delivering on his commitments. Paul earned a bachelor’s degree in Economics at Colgate University and a Masters in Business Administration from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Leading multi-family acquisitions and development in the Greater Los Angeles Market for Fairfield Residential. In its 30 year history, Fairfield has acquired and developed over $23 Billion of multi-family properties. The national platform is vertically integrated including design and construction capabilities and a property management company which currently manages 65,000 units. The majority owners include Brookfield Properties (NYSE: BPY) which has $121 Billion under management and California Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS), the largest educator-only pension fund in the world and the second largest pension fund in the US.

Sal LaViña heads the Real Estate and Corporate Departments at Enenstein Ribakoff LaViña & Pham, APC. He has over 27 years' experience closing complex deals and providing strategic advice to his many successful clients. Since 2007, Sal has closed or supervised over $5 billion of transactions, including over $2B in the past two years. His areas of expertise include the following: Real estate deals, especially complex acquisitions and sales, multifamily, 1031 exchanges and TICs, JVs, real estate funds, and multi-state matters Corporate transactions, especially mid-market M&A, stock and asset deals, fund formation, syndication, private placements, outside general counsel for family offices, and representation of early stage company entrepreneurs and investors Strategic advising and business litigation, including complex workouts, crisis management, investor and LLC disputes, construction defect matters Sal started his career at O’Melveny & Myers after graduating from Columbia Law, and since then he has served in leadership positions, including as a department chair, managing partner of a business law firm, general counsel and a partner in a development company.

Bob Champion is the Founder, CEO and Managing Partner of Champion Real Estate Company, a family office that specializes in real estate investment with multiple business strategies currently being executed via the company’s platform. Under Bob’s leadership, the Champion platform has generated in excess of a 20 annual return (XIRR) to its investors over the past 20-years. Bob has a Master's of Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California where he also taught real estate investment, development, and urban planning for over 16 years. He has also taught at the graduate level at UCLA, ICSC University, and the CRA University. He is an expert in shopping centers, multifamily, ertical retailing, public-private partnerships and mixed-use development with retail, residential, office, and entertainment components. Bob is a nationally recognized speaker at real estate industry events and has published numerous articles on real estate, the economy, and public policy. He has developed and invested in all of the major real estate product types and has completed over $1 billion in transactions. Moderating/Speaking Engagements:  RealShare Apartments – The Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles: Oct 20, 2016  15th Global Real Estate Private Equity Summit – Sofitel Beverly Hills: Sept 15, 2016  Multifamily Annual Conference West – Omni Downtown, Los Angeles: July 20, 2016  Greater Los Angeles Development Summit – DoubleTree by The Hilton: June 21, 2016  Marcus and Millichap/IPA Multifamily Forum – The Westin Bonaventure, Los Angeles: June 2, 2016  RealShare Los Angeles – LA’s Emerging Neighborhoods – The Beverly Wilshire: March 24, 2016  Bisnow Annual Multifamily/Mixed-Use Event – Montage Beverly Hills: February 24, 201  Lido Wealth Management Event – Intercontinental Hotel, Century City: November 19, 2015  Bisnow’s BMAX West- A Developer’s Outlook on California’s Booming Multifamily Industry – JW Marriot, Los Angeles: July 28, 2015  Bisnow The Future of Hollywood Event – The W Hotel, Los Angeles: April 29, 2015  2nd Annual Multifamily Forum Socal – California Market Center: June 5, 2014.

With over 28 years of real estate and business operations experience, Scott serves as CityLift’s Chief Executive Officer. Prior to creating CityLift, Scott served as Chief Operating Officer for Starwood Waypoint Residential Trust where he played a key role in establishing the single family rental industry as an institutional asset class—eventually taking the company public in 2014. Previous to this, Mr. Gable was with Wells Fargo Bank where he helped create the home equity lending business and ultimately served as its EVP of Operations across the United States. Scott began his career with Booz Allen & Hamilton where he consulted on operations and strategy for consumer products, entertainment, and retail companies—eventually becoming a principal. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and an AB in International Relations from Stanford University.