San Diego Future of Real Estate

Founder of Realcomm Conference Group, an education organization that produces Realcomm, IBcon and CoRE Tech, the world’s leading conferences on technology, automated business solutions, intelligent buildings and energy efficiency for the commercial and corporate real estate industry. Interacts with some of the largest companies globally pertaining to some of the most advanced and progressive next generation real estate projects under development.

Jim is Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Cleantech San Diego. He previously worked for Mayor Jerry Sanders and the City of San Diego as deputy Chief Operating Officer for Land Use and Economic Development. He is chair of the Port of San Diego’s Committee on Energy Supply. Jim has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the San Diego Housing Commission and the State of California transportation Commission. He was a practicing attorney for over 20 years with an emphasis in taxation and transaction negotiations. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Southern California, a law degree from University of San Diego, and a master’s degree in peace and justice studies from University of San Diego.

As the senior vice president for technology, Rick Gehringer oversees provision and use of technology at Caruso Affiliated. Gehringer joined the company in late 2013. Prior to joining the company, Gehringer led the Building Owners business unit at Trimble Navigation based in Sunnyvale, Calif., where he was responsible to supply commercial and government customers with technology automating components of the development, design, construction and operations building lifecycle. Customers served include the General Services Administration’s Public Building Service, AT&T, CBRE, AECOM, Disney Imagineering and Real Estate, Simon and General Growth Properties. Prior to his tenure at Trimble, Gehringer served as the chief information officer at the Brookings Institution, a non-partisan public policy thinktank based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Brookings, Gehringer held the position of global chief information officer for the Westfield Group, a Sydney Australia-based global retail real estate developer and owner. During his 17 years at Westfield, Gehringer was responsible for the automation of building lifecycle processes for a portfolio that eventually grew to 168 regional and super-regional shopping centers located in four countries. Gehringer began his career as a consultant for a public audit firm focused on clients representing the brokerage industry. Gehringer earned an MS in technology for business from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, and received a bachelor of science in Finance from California State University, Long Beach. He also was awarded professional certificates from Cornell University and the MIT Sloan School of Business. His technical management credentials include: CGEIT; CRISC; and, COBIT certifications. Gehringer has participated on various academic research steering committees and non-profit boards.

Robert Davis (VP, Business Development) Mr. Davis has 30 years of experience of increasing responsibility within the Energy / Engineering / Utilities arena in which he has delivered a wide variety of projects to both private- and public-sector clients. Mr. Davis has extensive P&L responsibility experience having owned and operated multiple successful start-up companies. Prior to that, he served in various sales management roles at the regional and national levels for GE, Enron Energy Services and Enron Facility Services. Mr. Davis holds a BS in Business Administration from Central Methodist College and an MS in Environmental Management from the University of Alabama Birmingham. He is also a certified Six Sigma Green Belt and a Certified Energy Manager.

Jim Chatfield fulfills two significant roles for the company: Managing Director of the San Diego office and Vice President of Construction, responsible for planning, design and construction activities. Chatfield is currently overseeing several active JMI Realty Projects including the master planning of Ballpark Village, a 3.2-million-square-foot development effort; master planning of the 35-acre Fullerton Transportation Center in Fullerton, California, that involves a mix of transit-oriented residential, office, retail and hospitality projects; and Hotel Van Zandt, a 322-room Kimpton managed hotel in Austin, Texas. Chatfield played a key role in the transformation of the Ballpark District surround PETCO Park, including the construction of the Omni San Diego Hotel, The Metropolitan Condominiums, East Village District Plant, and the retrofit of the Candy Factory and Schiefer & Sons historic buildings, both Orchid Award recipients. He also was responsible for the development of Paseo del Mar, a 232,000-square-foot, Class A office campus in Del Mar heights, and the acquisition and repositioning of the Phoenix Inns and Suites Hotels, a limited service hotel portfolio with 10 locations in the Oregon area. Prior to joining JMI Realty, Chatfield worked for five years with the United States Navy’s Civil Engineering Corps (CEC). While in the CEC, he specialized in government construction contracting, facilities planning and maintenance, and base realignment and closure actions. Chatfield served as staff civil engineer, and later as a project manager for over $300 million of construction at NAS/MCAS Miramar. His experience with the Navy varied from residential development on remote islands, to piers, refueling facilities and high-tech aircraft simulator construction.

Stacey Lankford Pennington has been involved in planning, design, community engagement and development in Downtown San Diego for fourteen years (since 1999). Initially working with Lankford + Associates, she was very involved in Broadway 655 + Smart Corner. After a few years in the industry, she pursued a Master in Urban Planning at Harvard University Graduate School of Design, graduating in 2005. She was awarded the Harvard University Frederick Sheldon Traveling Fellowship to research sustainable innovative housing delivery systems in urban environments in Europe. Stacey created SLP Urban Planning, an Urban Planning and Design firm focused on integrating best practices in sustainability and community engagement in 2006. While she spent several years balancing a broad spectrum of clients and projects, her current work is focused entirely on the planning, design and implementation of Makers Quarter, San Diego’s next urban neighborhood. Stacey is a member of the Downtown San Diego Partnership Board of Directors and Move San Diego Board of Directors. She is heavily involved in the Downtown Vision Plan as a member of its Urban Design Steering Committee. She also serves on the East Village Association Design Committee.

Star Hughes-Gorup is a director at Hughes Marino, San Diego’s leading commercial real estate firm that exclusively represents tenants and buyers. As a key member of Hughes Marino’s brokerage team, Star has created a niche for herself working alongside her father, Jason Hughes, where the two are in active negotiations for over 1,200,000 million square feet of leases at any given time in the premier commercial markets in the county. To date, Star has been instrumental in facilitating transactions for more than 1,000,000 square feet of commercial space. A proud member of the millennial generation, Star regularly writes and speaks about her experience as a young, professional woman in a competitive, male-dominated industry. She has appeared in national, regional and local publications as well as on local TV news programs as a millennial voice on a variety of topics including business, technology, and education. Star earned her Masters of Business Administration at University of San Diego, completing the two-year program in one year at the age of twenty-one. Star graduated at the age of nineteen from University of San Diego with her Bachelor of Business Administration, after completing her undergraduate degree in two years. In addition to graduating summa cum laude with a 4.0 overall GPA, Star served as the president of Mortar Board, a national collegiate senior honor society. Star worked throughout her undergraduate degree as the marketing director at Hughes Marino. While attending the MBA full-time, Star worked at one of San Diego’s leading financial institutions, RA Capital Advisors, and as a management consultant for Van der Horst Energy Limited in Singapore. When she’s not at work, Star enjoys traveling with her husband, decorating, and writing for her blog at www.starhughesgorup.com.