Orange County Construction & Development

Chris Marsh is President of Irvine Company Apartment Development division. Mr. Marsh is responsible for leading the company’s apartment development growth plan, including land acquisitions, due diligence, entitlements, product development, design, construction and delivery. Since joining the company in 2003, Mr. Marsh over time has been responsible for overseeing all aspects of development for commercial and residential projects for the company, including office, resort, retail and apartment properties. His achievements include the Resort at Pelican Hill, where he acted as Project Executive in delivering the world-class resort. Mr. Marsh has practiced in the field of commercial and multifamily real estate development for 25 years and has represented developers in the United States, United Kingdom and Spain. In a consultancy capacity, he also acted as third party adviser to several blue chip and institutional investors, including Société Générale, Scottish Widows and Pearl Assurance. He received a bachelor’s degree with first-class honors in quantity surveying from the University of Central England, Birmingham, UK, and earned a master’s degree in construction management from the University of Reading, UK.

Throughout his commercial real estate career, Dan Almquist has developed numerous successful and innovative commercial projects. Mr. Almquist formed Frontier Real Estate Investments (FREI) with Robert Jonas to focus specifically on retail development in the Western United States. FREI currently has over half a million square feet of commercial space under development and has established itself as an industry leader. Mr. Almquist is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers and the Urban Land Institute. He currently serves as the Board Chair of FosterAll, which helps find foster and adoptive homes for foster youth. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego and Master’s degree in Business Administration and Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California.

Mr. Check oversees Raintree Partners’ land acquisition, development and construction activity, which includes more than $500 million in multifamily projects throughout Northern and Southern California. As managing director of development, Mr. Check plays a key role in establishing and maintaining Raintree’s construction and development processes. Prior to joining Raintree in 2008, Mr. Check served as senior development and acquisitions manager at The Picerne Group, where he oversaw the company’s multifamily acquisition and development efforts. Prior to that, he worked as project engineer for Langan Engineering, specializing in residential high-rise and mixed-use projects in Manhattan and Queens. Mr. Check holds a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering as well as Master of Science in civil and environmental engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology. He is a member of Urban Land Institute, where he serves on the Small-Scale Development Product Council (SSDC). He is also a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and is LEED certified.

James Awford is a Principal at BNBuilders and oversees our Southern California operations including offices in San Diego and Newport Beach. He has over 25 years of experience in the Southern California construction market and has worked on a wide range of projects including life science, corporate office, technology, higher education, and multi-family residential. James is also currently on the board of the Design-Build Institute of America Western Pacific Region (DBIA-WPR).

Mr. Robert Sonnenblick, Principal of Sonnenblick, LLC, is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania with more than 30 years of experience in various aspects of real estate and real estate finance. From 1981 to 1991 Mr. Sonnenblick was the driving force and power behind Sonnenblick-Goldman Corporation of California. Mr. Sonnenblick completed over $1.5 Billion of commercial real estate transactions on the West Coast and as a result is regarded as one of the West Coast’s leaders in the field of commercial real estate. Among the more notable projects for which Mr. Sonnenblick personally structured the financing for are The Beaudry Center, Los Angeles, California ($197 million), the Ritz Carlton Hotel, Pasadena, California ($97 million), One Waterfront Plaza, Honolulu, Hawaii ($100 million), and the Los Angeles World Trade Center, Los Angeles, California ($55 million). In 1991 Mr. Sonnenblick was appointed Director of Development for the New Jersey and L.A. MetroMalls, with the responsibility for oversight and direction of the design, financing and leasing programs for two proposed $250 million enclosed regional malls totaling 1.2 million Sq. Ft. each. Mr. Sonnenblick personally oversaw more than 1 million Sq. Ft. of leases in connection with this position as well as arranging the necessary debt and equity financing. The New Jersey project opened to one of the strongest starts in the history of the United States mall industry. In addition, Mr. Sonnenblick was an original development partner of the Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel. This 360-room, $90 million hotel was recently sold for $125 million. Prior to forming Sonnenblick Development, LLC, Mr. Sonnenblick was the senior partner in a Los Angeles-based real estate development firm (Sonnenblick Del Rio Development) which specialized in public-private partnerships, specifically the development of four major government-leased office buildings throughout the Los Angeles basin. During this tenure, Mr. Sonnenblick successfully developed nearly 1 million square feet of government leased buildings, occupied by such tenants as U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services and Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services. Mr. Sonnenblick is a frequent speaker at various real estate-related functions, such as those hosted by Deloitte Touche, ICSC, Value Retail News, Crittenden, USC, UCLA Real Estate Program, IMN Real Estate Conferences and the Institute for International Research, The Opal Group, iGlobal Forum Group, Globe Street/Realshare Conferences and Bloomberg Conferences. Mr. Sonnenblick is a member of the Advisory Board of the Golf Development Institute, a member of the Board of Real Estate Council of the Century City Chamber of Commerce and is a published author on subjects ranging from architecture to general real estate market conditions. In addition to Mr. Sonnenblick’s expertise in development, finance, joint ventures and equity structuring, Mr. Sonnenblick has also been certified as an expert in the area of real estate bankruptcy/foreclosure. Mr. Sonnenblick is a qualified expert witness in the area of Commercial Real Estate Finance and Interest Rates for the United States Federal Court System in numerous jurisdictions.

Erika oversees all aspects of the company’s finances including accounting and reporting, forecasting, budgeting, banking, surety, risk management, and information systems. She is a prominent member of the company’s strategic business planning team, where she continuously promotes industry best practices to enhance efficiency and profitability. Rising through the ranks of R.D. Olson, Erika has been an integral part of our team for over 23 years. She is a past National Chairman of the Construction Financial Management Association and past President of its Orange County chapter. She has conducted CCIFP (Certified Construction Industry Financial Professional) overview seminars on accounting and reporting for candidates interested in sitting for the exam.

David Kersh is the Executive Director of the Carpenters/Contractors Cooperation Committee (C/CCC), a non-profit organization comprised of signatory contractors and the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters. For over 19 years, Mr. Kersh has been at the forefront of regional efforts to promote the creation of good paying jobs, fair competition and high quality construction industry standards. He is actively engaged in the areas of land use entitlement, labor compliance, economic development, transportation and contracting policies, where he has focused on ensuring that construction projects are built by top-quality contractors who generate good paying middle class jobs and rewarding training opportunities. Mr. Kersh graduated with a degree in History from UC Santa Barbara and completed additional studies in Madrid, Spain. Born in Lima, Peru, he lives in Culver City with his wife Pilar and his teenage children.

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.