Future of U.S./Mexico Real Estate

Partner with leading employers, industry associations, business groups, educational institutions and the City and County of San Diego to spearhead regional efforts to grow and expand our region's diverse, vibrant and world-class economy.

Arquitect with over 25 years of experience , received her bachelor´s degree from Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. In 1991 she joined Hermosillo y Arquitectos Asociados S.C. where Cristina became the first woman on the board of this prestigious Arquitecture firm. In 2012 she graduated from San diego University obtaining a M.S. in Real Estate, after receiving her California´s real estate agent license in 2008. Her extensive professional background and business expertise include business development, construction project control, industrial building design, and real estate development. She has participated in projects with multinational corporations like FORD in Hermosillo, Sonora; and also played a leading role in sales during her administration of El Sahuaro Industrial park in Mexicali, Baja California. She has also led business and community organizations including appointments as a President of Tijuana´s Integral Family Development Agency, and currently the Tijuana EDC, where Cristina serves as President of the Board leading the organization´s efforts to attract foreign trade investment to the CaliBaja Mega-Region.

Tania Ortiz Mena is Chief Development Officer for IEnova. In her current role, she is responsible for the company’s commercial, business development and regulatory affairs areas. Tania joined IEnova in 2000. She has held the positions of Manager, Project Director, Director for Government and Regulatory Affairs, Vice President of External Affairs and Vice President for Business Development and External Affairs. From 1994 to 1999 Tania worked for PMI, Pemex’s international trading subsidiary, where she was responsible for the residual oil products international trading area. Tania holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Boston University and a Bachelor’s Degree from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City. Tania is President of the Mexican Natural Gas Association, Board Member of the World Energy Council, Mexico Chapter and member of the Mexican Council for International Relations. IEnova, a Sempra Energy Company, develops, builds and operates energy infrastructure in Mexico. As of 2014, it has investments worth approximately $3.5 billion dollars in natural gas distribution, transportation and storage and electricity generation infrastructure. IEnova is the first energy infrastructure company to be listed in the Mexican Stock Exchange.

David Hester is the President of Kyocera Mexicana S.A. de C.V. which is a Kyocera International, Inc. company. Prior to taking this position in April of 2011, Mr. Hester was the Vice President of Quality and Supply Management for Kyocera America, Inc., San Diego from December 2007 until March 2011. Mr. Hester joined Kyocera in January 2000 as the General Manager of the Low Temperature Co-fired Ceramics business and has more than 20 years of experience in electronics manufacturing, holding executive positions in VisPro Corporation, Portland, OR and Alcoa Electronic Packaging, Inc. in San Diego, CA. Prior to his electronics industry experiences, Mr. Hester managed several new business start-ups for Alcoa. Mr. Hester holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University and also earned his Lean Six Sigma "Black Belt" from San Diego State University.

Paul began his career at Hunter Industries in 1999 as Molding and Facilities Manager. In addition to directing the Injection Molding Department, Paul managed the construction of our Mexico Facility and LEED Certified Sales, Marketing and Distribution Center. He was promoted to Vice President of Manufacturing in 2010, and continues to provide leadership for our molding, tooling, and facilities operations in San Marcos and daily operations and expansion of our manufacturing capacity in Mexico. Paul spends most of his time off work surfing, sailing and relaxing at local beaches with his family.

Stath Karras is the executive director of the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate (BMC) in the School of Business Administration at the University of San Diego. In this role, Karras is responsible for establishing and leveraging strategic priorities and initiatives for the Center to advance and align its mission and vision with those of the School of Business and the University. He is responsible for working with the faculty and BMC professionals in creating a meaningful learning experience for the real estate students and working with them to enhance their career opportunities. In addition, he is responsible for cultivating relationships with key stakeholders to create fundraising strategies, activities and programs to sustain BMC operations and works closely with the Policy Advisory Board (PAB) committees to set the strategic direction of the Center. Karras is also responsible for creating scholarships, which provide supplemental support for the real estate academic programs.

Over the past twenty five years, Mr. Chesnut has successfully acquired, repositioned and/or built numerous properties totaling over 1,250,000 square feet representing complex high performance life-science buildings, large-scale corporate buildings, landmark above Class “A” buildings and industry leading sustainable projects. Today, Chesnut Properties is strategically positioned to bring to various communities its passionate approach to delivering complex and impactful real estate projects; with projects under way that represent over 60 acres of land and entitlements that total over 3,000,000 square feet. The Company utilizes multiple relationship and financial structures in order to execute this scale of development including: Private pursuits, Long-Term Ground Leases, Customized Structured Debt strategies, and P3 relationships (Public/Private/Partnerships).

Ricardo Jinich is a co-founder of Paragon. Since the Company's inception in 1998, Ricardo has played a key role in the acquisition and management of Paragon's real estate investments. His expertise includes sourcing, analyzing, structuring and managing investment opportunities for Paragon. His experience in real estate transactions includes multifamily, retail and industrial properties, as well as commercial and residential development. He currently oversees the asset management of Paragon's retail, mixed use, office and industrial holdings, and manages the acquisition and disposition of all of Paragon's investments. Ricardo received his BS in Civil Engineering from Tufts University and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Ricardo is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).

Steve Williams, Principal, co-founded SENTRE in 1989. Steve focuses on new clients, new concepts and new ideas. He developed a relationship with GE Pension Trust, which together with SENTRE became a major stakeholder in downtown San Diego. Steve also co-founded Vesta with Lorenzo Berho. Incorporated in 1997, Vesta is a Mexican industrial real estate fund, with approximately 20 million square feet of leased industrial properties located throughout Mexico. Steve is a co-founder of Bandwidth Now which transforms commercial buildings into “next gen” environments, treating bandwidth as a utility and Wi-Fi as an amenity using its patent pending Building Optical Network (BON). Bandwidth Now and SENTRE were nominated by Intel for the Computerworld Honors Program’s 21st Century Achievement Award. Steve was formerly a partner with Trammell Crow Company, where he was responsible for the San Diego division. Prior to that, he was an investment salesman for Coldwell Banker in their Santa Ana office. Steve began his career as a certified public accountant with Arthur Young and Co. in San Francisco. Steve is a grandson of Arthur Banker, co-founder of Coldwell Banker (now CB Richard Ellis, or CBRE). He is a past recipient of the Alonzo Horton Founder’s Award, downtown San Diego’s most prestigious honor. For more than ten years, Steve taught a one-hour class for Junior Achievement at an inner-city high school, and was named Consultant of the Year in 2000. Steve graduated from UCLA in 1972 and received an MBA from USC in 1974. He is a licensed CPA and licensed real estate salesman. He is active in ULI and was a former national board member of NAIOP. He is active in the community and currently serves on the boards of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation and CONNECT. He is currently the Co-Chair of the Southern California Leadership Council along with Former Governor, Pete Wilson. He has previously served as Chair of LEAD San Diego. He has also previously served on the boards of the San Diego Chamber of Commerce, the Burnham Institute and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. Steve and his wife, Stephanie, have two grown children.

Mr. Gaul is a former vice president of Verde Realty, a former senior vice president for acquisitions at Corporate Properties of the Americas and a former director at GE Capital Real Estate Mexico. Mr. Gaul has a B.A. in History from Wesleyan University and an MBA in Finance from NYU Stern Business School.

Jose Larroque chairs the Firm’s Global Real Estate Practice Group. He has over 20 years of experience practicing in his field and is ranked by Chambers Latin America for his industry expertise, citing that “he is an experienced figure in this space and well versed in cross-border real estate transactions, particularly those relating to the USA”. Mr. Larroque speaks regularly on topics related to his area of practice, has authored a number of articles for various publications, including the Firm’s Global Corporate Real Estate Guide and Global Real Estate Taxation Guide. He is highly participative in various civic associations -- as the founder and board member of Fundación Internacional de la Comunidad in Baja California, member of the Scripps Mercy Hospital Foundation Board in San Diego and the co-chair of the Smart Border Coalition (Tijuana-San Diego), among others.

Juan Carlos Rodriguez is Senior Vice President, with NAI Mexico. Based in Tijuana, Juan Carlos manages the Corporate Solutions group within NAI Mexico’s 10 offices in Mexico, and coordinates projects in Mexico and Latin America. He interacts daily with management teams based in North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to rejoining NAI, Mr. Rodriguez managed several regions in Mexico, for Verde Realty (now IDI Gazeley, a Brookfield Logistics Company). He was a key member of the team that acquired and developed the globally recognized Verde real estate portfolios in Mexico and US. He served as Regional Vice President and Market Officer for the Tijuana, Cd. Juarez and Chihuahua markets in Mexico, and the Northern California market in the US. Throughout his career with NAI and with Verde, Juan Carlos has been recognized as one of the top industrial real estate professionals in Mexico; his career spans more than 17 year performing management roles in corporate solutions, brokerage and real estate development.

John Galaxidas serves as Managing Principal of Synergy Real Estate Group and specializes in directing the activities of the company. John's extensive background includes all facets of corporate and commercial real estate acquisition, disposition, leasing, permitting, negotiation of utility, tax and economic development incentives, capital budgeting, merger & acquisitions portfolio management, construction management oversight and developing creative financing and occupancy structures on behalf of corporate clients.