Future of San Diego Suburbs 2018

John Kratzer is the CEO of JMI Realty, a private real estate investment and development company with offices in San Diego, California and Austin, Texas. JMI Realty was organized in 1992 as the real estate subsidiary of JMI Services, the investment management company of the John Moores Family. Mr. Kratzer is responsible for JMI Realty’s overall strategic direction and provides oversight for all of JMI Realty’s development, construction, financing, acquisition and disposition activities. Under Mr. Kratzer’s leadership, JMI Realty acted as the Master Developer for the $1.4 billion development of downtown San Diego’s Ballpark District including: Petco Park Omni San Diego Hotel Metropolitan Condominiums East Village Square Hotel Solamar In addition, JMI Realty has developed many other projects including the San Diego Marriott Del Mar, Paseo del Mar office campus, Casoleil apartment homes and the 322-room Hotel Van Zandt in Downtown Austin, Texas. Recent acquisitions include the Sheraton Hotel at the Capitol in Austin, Texas; Snow King Resort in Jackson, Wyoming; The Inn at Rancho Santa Fe in Rancho Santa Fe, California and The Marquette in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. JMI Realty’s portfolio of hotel assets is valued at approximately $750 million. Prior to JMI Realty, Mr. Kratzer was a co-founder of Homegate Hospitality, Inc., where he directed the company’s operations, including the development and construction of over 3,000 hotel rooms with a value in excess of $200 million. Under Mr. Kratzer’s leadership, the company grew from a private start-up to a publicly-traded company (NASDQ: HMGT), and ultimately merged with Prime Hospitality (NYSE: PDQ). Prior to Homegate, Mr. Kratzer was an investment officer with Trammell Crow Realty Advisors, an institutional investment advisor that managed a $541 million discretionary fund and the Crow Investment Trust. Kratzer graduated Magna Cum Laude from Southern Methodist University and holds a Master of Management degree from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. He has served on the board of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, Phoenix Footwear Group (AMEX: PXG) and Lambda Alpha . He is an active member of the Rock Church, Urban Land Institute and University of San Diego’s Policy Advisory Board.

Lorne Polger is the Co-Founder and Senior Managing Director of Pathfinder Partners, LLC. Pathfinder is a real estate private equity firm based in San Diego, California with a billion dollar portfolio of real estate investments primarily in the western United States. Lorne focuses on acquisitions, dispositions, business and legal strategies. He practiced real estate law for more than 20 years and prior to co-founding Pathfinder in 2006, was the head of the Real Estate, Environmental and Land Use team at Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch, LLP, San Diego’s largest law firm. Mr. Polger is recognized for his multi-family expertise, having directly participated in the acquisition, disposition, financing and development of apartment, condominium and condominium conversion transactions exceeding $6 billion in value. His law practice included acquisitions, dispositions, developments, financings, foreclosures, reorganizations and workouts, syndications, and leasing, along with residential, office and industrial condominium conversion and construction. Mr. Polger graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Colorado College, Cum Laude, in 1984 and earned his law degree from UCLA in 1988. Mr. Polger was a finalist in the 2015 EY San Diego Entrepreneur of the Year Awards. He has been a member of Vistage, the international CEO organization, since 2013. His community activities include serving as a national commissioner and chair of the Regional Advisory Board of the Anti Defamation League, as a board member at the Burnham Moores Centre at the University of San Diego, as a board member of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and as a Director of the San Diego Chapter of the CCIM Institute. He also currently serves on the Campaign for Cardiovascular Care at Scripps Health in San Diego.

Mr. Grossman is a Senior Managing Director at Meridian Capital Group. He opened the firm’s San Diego office in May 2011 charged with expanding the company’s presence throughout the western and southwestern states. In his 10+ years leading the west coast for Meridian, Mr. Grossman has built a team that has originated and closed more than $12 billion of debt and equity transactions spanning more than 600 loans across primary and esoteric asset types. Prior to opening Meridian’s San Diego office, Mr. Grossman was a Structured Finance Analyst Fitch Ratings, a Principal at Mission Peak Capital, and worked in Meridian’s New York City office where he closed in excess of $3 billion. Mr. Grossman attended NYU, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Management. Industry Recognition: 2013: Named to Commercial Observer’s national list of “Top 20 Commercial Mortgage Brokers under 35” 2015: Named to Commercial Property Executive’s list of 17 national “Stars to Watch” in the real estate industry 2015: Named by Real Estate Forum as one of 20 “Tomorrow’s leaders of Southern California”

Matthew Benbassat is an Executive Vice President at Regent Properties. Matthew manages the acquisitions and development arms of Regent Properties. While at Regent, Matthew has been involved with the acquisition, financing, development and management of over 6 million square feet of office, retail and mixed use properties. Prior to joining Regent, Matthew began his career as a strategy consultant at L.E.K. Consulting. He then worked as an attorney specializing in real estate transactions in the Los Angeles offices of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP and O’Melveny & Myers LLP. While at O’Melveny, Matthew also practiced in the fund formation group. Matthew currently serves as trustee and board member of VBS Harold M. Schulweis Day School, and previously served as a board member and treasurer of Birmingham Community Charter High School. Matthew graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and he received his JD from UCLA.

With more than 20 years of experience creating and leading technology businesses, Alex is Openpath’s CEO. Prior to creating Openpath, Alex co-founded EdgeCast Networks, a global content delivery network that sold to Verizon for $400M. After the sale of EdgeCast, Alex spent two years shaping the strategy of Verizon Digital Media Services. Alex also co-founded KnowledgeBase and HostPro, which were both acquired. Alex has received several awards during his career, including E&Y's Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2014. Alex is an active investor in several venture capital funds and has served on boards of universities and private and public companies. He graduated from Tufts University and lives in Santa Monica with his wife and children.