Nashville Multifamily Forum

Ralph Schulz was named president and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce by the Chamber’s board of directors in November 2006, following a 30‐year career in nonprofit management, marketing and fundraising. In taking the position, he accepted a leadership role at one of Middle Tennessee’s oldest and largest business federations, an organization dating back to its founding in 1847. During his tenure, the Chamber has played a key role in helping the region emerge from the 2007 recession to a period of unprecedented growth with a business relocation and expansion strategy known as Partnership 2020. Additionally, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce was the lead organization in the creation of the nationally recognized Nashville Entrepreneur Center and the passage of a public referendum supporting construction of the Music City Center convention facility. Since Schulz has taken on the role of president and CEO, the Chamber has also led the movement to improve public school performance through the creation of the Academies of Nashville and developed into a respected publisher of data on the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area with the annual publication of the Vital Signs report. In 2009, the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce was named “Chamber of the Year” by the American Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE), recognizing the Nashville Chamber’s organizational excellence, service to members, development of leaders and volunteers and its impact on key community priorities. The ACCE award referenced the Nashville Chamber’s role in the creation of Nashville for All of Us, a campaign made up of community leaders aligned to defeat a 2009 charter referendum which would have prohibited Nashville city government from conducting business in a language other than English. The Chamber was also praised for its creation of A Leading Edge, a broad range of programs aimed at helping Chamber members navigate the turbulent waters of the recession. Before joining the Nashville Chamber, Schulz spent six years as CEO of the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, focusing the team on turning around an aging, science‐based nonprofit for children into a leading destination for young people, with growing attendance, revamped exhibits, successful capital campaigns and stronger community support. In 2001, the Science Center was recognized with the Marvin Runyon Leadership Award by the Center for Nonprofit Management for its turnaround efforts. Schulz’s career in nonprofit management began when he joined the staff of Junior Achievement of Nashville in 1974, eventually spending 20 years with JA, leading chapters in Jackson, Miss.; Dallas, Texas; and New York, N.Y. In 1990, he was named national executive vice president for JA, working from the organization’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo. He returned to Nashville in 1996 to take on a similar national role with the National Federation of Independent Business. Schulz is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. He resides in Nashville with his wife, Leeanne, their four children and six grandchildren. He currently serves on numerous civic and nonprofit boards, including the Center for Nonprofit Management, the Nashville Health Care Council, Alignment Nashville, the Tennessee Business Roundtable and the Board of Trustees of Father Ryan High School. He has been involved with the Transit Alliance of Middle Tennessee, served on the Citizens Advisory Committee for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and currently serves on MTA Strategic Plan Advisory Committee. He also served on the NashvilleNEXT Steering Committee.

Steve Gorning is Vice President of Development at Lennar Multifamily Communities (LMC). Based in the company’s Atlanta office, he is responsible for the acquisition, permitting, design and execution of ground-up Class A multi-family development throughout the southeast United States. An accomplished real estate development professional, Gorning has more than 15 years of experience in accounting, finance, project management and development. Prior to joining LMC, he served as Vice President of Development at Novare Group, also in Atlanta, where he was responsible for multifamily high-rise developments in Atlanta and Dallas. Gorning was previously a Development Manager with AvalonBay Communities based in the company’s northeast region office. Over the course his real estate career, he has been directly responsible for the development of over 3,500 apartment homes, with a total capitalization of over $850 million. His projects and experience has included the development of mixed-use high-rise, mid-rise and garden multifamily communities in greater Boston, Atlanta, Nashville and Dallas. Gorning received his Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from Michigan State University.

Alysha is a Senior Associate in Cooper Carry’s Mixed-Use and Residential studios. After receiving her Masters degree in Architecture from Georgia Tech, Alysha founded a design firm in Atlanta, specializing in single family residences and renovation/ adaptive re-use of historic structures. Since joining Cooper Carry in 2010, Alysha has gained expertise in a variety of project types, including master plans, high-rise apartments, and mixed use environments. Alysha is a member of several organizations, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU), and the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. She is also involved with the Atlanta chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), as a member of the Young Leaders Committee and the Womens Leadership Initiative. She is registered to practice architecture in the state of Georgia.

Vincent Lefler is a Senior Vice President in JLL's Southeast Multi-Family Capital Markets Group. He recently established the Nashville office where he is responsible for advising institutional and private clients in the disposition of multi-family assets across the Southeast. He primarily focuses on covering secondary and tertiary markets in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia. Prior to joining JLL, Vincent was a Vice President with Apartment Realty Advisors (ARA), a leading National multifamily brokerage firm. During his tenure with ARA, he helped close roughly $1 Billion in multifamily transactions and over 10,000 units in various Southeast markets, including: Nashville, Memphis, Birmingham, Savannah, Macon, Augusta, Columbia, and Charleston. Prior to ARA, Vincent worked in sales at IBM.

Tarek El Gammal is a principal with Southeast Venture focused on brokerage and development services. Mr. El Gammal has represented clients in a brokerage capacity on approximately $250 million in transaction value and has overseen the activities on approximately $70 million of development activity. Prior to joining Southeast Venture, Mr. El Gammal held various positions with publically-traded REITs as well as a pension fund advisor that managed multiple closed end funds and various separate account relationships. In those roles, Mr. El Gammal was directly involved in over $1 billion of transactions in various capacities from acquisitions to operations and asset management. Mr. El Gammal graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a Bachelor of Arts in History and English and obtained his Masters in Business Administration from University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business with concentrations in Finance, Accounting, and Entrepreneurship. Mr. El Gammal lives in Nashville with his wife and three children.

Dan is presently the President of Elmington Property Management, LLC overseeing various apartment, office and retail assets throughout the portfolio. The company was started in 2012 and has increased from 720 units to more than 24,000 units under management. Dan was previously with Freeman Webb Inc. which he joined in 2000 as the Director of Property Management. During his 13 year tenure there, the number of properties under management increased from 36 to 100 properties with more than 15,000 apartment units and 1 million square feet of office and retail space. He was also responsible for all operations, accounting and risk management efforts for the company. Prior to joining Freeman Webb, he served as Director of Property Management with Cornerstone Realty Income Trust, a real estate investment trust based in Richmond, Virginia. In this capacity, he managed 14,000 apartments in 58 communities with 400 employees in 16 different markets throughout the southeast. He began his real estate career as President of the Southeast division of Trammell Crow Residential, one of the country’s largest apartment developers and managers. In his role with Trammell Crow he managed several thousand apartments throughout the southeast including over 25 new construction lease-up properties. Dan is a 13-year veteran of the commercial banking industry, serving as a commercial lender with Bank One and First Union. He also worked in the consumer bank division managing a portfolio of branch offices. He spearheaded First Union’s Community Reinvestment Act efforts for several years and led a number of the outreach efforts on their behalf. Dan graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a Bachelor of Science degree in business administration in 1980. He has also been a speaker at the Multi-family Executive’s Annual Conference and the National Apartment Association’s annual meeting as well as at other industry conferences. Dan and his wife Kathy live in Nashville and have two sons and a daughter.

Shelley is the President and founder of High 5 Realty Advisors, LLC where she is actively leveraging her 25+years commercial real estate experience to assist clients increase the value of their real estate investments. Prior to launching High 5, Shelley served as Senior Director of Real Estate for Greystar where she was responsible for leadership of portfolio operations in Tennessee, Alabama and Kentucky totaling more than 7K multifamily units. She is an accomplished property management executive who has worked in the industry since 1989 and holds extensive experience on both the owner and fee-managed aspects of the business. Her passion is encouraging and training teams to excellence and responsibilities include inspiring innovation, monitoring property performance and developing specific strategies to ensure owner goals and objectives are achieved. Shelley is widely regarded as an expert on lease of mid-rise and garden style developments and has overseen or consulted on 29 new construction communities throughout her career. She has also successfully led the renovation and reposition of 10 value add communities. A member of Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM®) and a Certified Property Manager CPM®, Shelley has also earned her CAPS® and CAM® designations through the National Apartment Association. She has served on the Board of Directors for both the Chattanooga and Greater Nashville Apartment Associations over an 18 year period and is a Past Chairman of the Greater Nashville Apartment Association. Shelley is currently serving GNAA as Chair of the Multi-Family Executive Council and is President Elect of the Tennessee Apartment Association. Shelley attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and holds a real estate license in her home state of Tennessee. Shelley and her husband, Steve reside in the Nashville area, have 3 grown children and were blessed to become grandparents this year.