Bisnow Multifamily Annual Conference NorCal

Bruce Dorfman

Principal
Trammell Crow Residential

Noah Hochman

Co-CIO & Head of Capital Markets
TruAmerica Multifamily

Mr. Noah Hochman is the Senior Managing Director of Capital Markets for TruAmerica Multifamily and brings 18 years of real estate investment and private equity experience to his role. Mr. Hochman is responsible for sourcing equity capital, investor relations and debt strategy across the portfolio and oversees joint venture structuring and partnerships. Mr. Hochman is also a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining TruAmerica Multifamily, Mr. Hochman served as Vice President of Acquisitions and Dispositions at Triumph Management Company. Prior to joining Triumph, Mr. Hochman served as Vice President of Acquisitions for Granite Peak Partners. Mr. Hochman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from UCLA and is a graduate of the Anderson Graduate School of Management Mergers & Acquisitions Program at UCLA.

JJ Abraham

President
The Abraham Companies

J.J. has 30 years of experience in the real estate industry, developing mixed-use, multifamily, and resort communities throughout the United States and Los Cabos, Mexico. J.J. has worked for such nationally and internationally recognized companies as Lennar Multifamily Communities, Shea Properties, Del Mar Development, Legacy Partners, JPI, and Goldman Sachs Realty Management. He has sourced, entitled, renovated and developed over $6 billion of real estate and over 12,000 multifamily units throughout his career. In September 2020, building on an almost three-decade-long career as an executive with institutional development firms, J.J. founded The Abraham Companies (“TAC”), an “institutional boutique” multifamily development firm. TAC is a developer of luxury multifamily and mixed-use properties in the West and Southwest that achieve superior investment returns on behalf of select capital partners. TAC’s principals have sourced, entitled, renovated, developed, and financed over $12 billion of real estate throughout the United States and Mexico, including over 12,000 multifamily units. TAC’s professionals have decades of experience in real estate acquisitions, finance, development, and asset management with leading national institutions, yet the firm operates with efficiency and the flexibility of a boutique developer. Prior to forming TAC, in August 2012, J.J. launched Lennar Corporation’s (NYSE: LEN) start-up apartment development platform in California. As the first Division President on the west coast, J.J. grew the division into a $4 billion portfolio (26 communities/7,500 units), ranging from suburban apartment developments to luxury high-rises in downtown San Diego and the Bay Area. Prior to joining LMC, J.J. was the Senior Vice President of Development and Acquisitions for Shea Properties, where he successfully rebuilt the west coast apartment platform and development operations with more than 2,800 units. Prior to Shea, J.J. ran the development operations of Del Mar Development, the leading developer of luxury resort communities headquartered Los Cabos, Mexico. This included overseeing the development of three residential master-planned communities within the world-famous Palmilla resort. In 1994 J.J. received his BBA from Southern Methodist University in Finance, Real Estate, and International Business. J.J. is a member of the ULI Multifamily Platinum Council, he served the past five years as Co-Chairman of the NAHB National Leadership Council, and currently serves on the Board of Trustees at St. Mary’s, an IB private school located in Aliso Viejo, California.

Donald Falk

CEO
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development

As Chief Executive Officer of Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC), Donald S. Falk leads the community-based, nonprofit housing development, management and social services agency in San Francisco with nearly 325 employees and 33 properties containing about 3000 homes housing nearly 3600 people, nearly 25% of whom came to the organization out of homelessness. From 1982-1994, Falk held a variety of positions with Jubilee West, a neighborhood based nonprofit that provides services and housing in West Oakland. He chairs the Community Leadership Council and serves on the Boards of Directors of Enterprise Community Partners and the Corporation for Supportive Housing. He serves on advisory boards of NeighborWorks America, St. Francis Memorial Hospital Foundation, and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco. He is the past president of the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, on whose board he served for seven years. Falk has a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree with honors in Economics and Urban Studies from Oberlin College.

Eric Tao

Managing Executive Principal
AGI Avant

Eric Tao is tthe Managing Executive Principal of AGI. He has 20-years of experience in the real estate industry and has led the acquisition, entitlement, financing, development and disposition of over 1,500 multifamily residential units in the San Francisco Bay Area with a focus on transit oriented urban infill projects. AGI, LLC was formed in 2006 to manage multifamily development investments for CalPERS. At AGI, Tao has guided the development of nearly 700 new units and secured the pipeline of an additional 450+ new apartment units in the emerging San Francisco SoMa, Dogpatch and Mid-Market districts. Boards and Activities Boards: Urban Land Institute San Francisco, SPUR, Housing Action Coalition, Hawaii Chamber of Commerce of Northern California, Art Care SF Appointments: San Francisco Mayor's Housing Trust Fund Working Group, San Francisco Inclusionary Housing Technical Advisory Committee Associations: LAI San Francisco Education Eric is a graduate of Pomona College in Claremont, CA and received his Juris Doctorate from UC Hastings College of Law.

Danny Haber

CEO
oWow

Danny Haber is the co-founder of oWOW, a B2B and B2C real estate company. An innovative entrepreneur, with a flair for providing workable solutions to the burgeoning housing crisis in California, Haber has been labelled the ‘Oracle of Oakland’ with visionary solutions to the housing crisis. His company, oWOW develops, designs, and constructs net new housing units for consumers and also builds modular units for resale to developers. As a vertically integrated corporation, oWOW operations are geared towards cost-cutting measures, and luxury living courtesy of adaptable units.

Jaja Jackson

Director, Global Multifamily Housing Partnerships
Airbnb

Jaja has over 12 years of experience in multifamily real estate development and property management, most recently as the President of Emerald Property Management, a division of Emerald Fund, Inc. Throughout his career, Jaja has managed thousands of luxury apartment and condominium units in the San Francisco Bay Area. Equally important is Jaja’s background in technology: He co-founded Mascot Network, a $23 million dollar “Facebook for Colleges” after graduating from Harvard Business School in 1999, and was named one of the 25 most influential African Americans in technology in 2001 by Black Enterprise Magazine. Jaja’s depth of experience in asset management and internet technology lead him to Airbnb in 2015, where he now leads Airbnb’s global landlord partnership strategy. Jaja holds a BA in Government from Harvard College, and a MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jon Dishotsky

CEO
Starcity

Jon Dishotsky is the co-founder and CEO of Starcity, a startup building a new category of real estate called co-living. Designed to help make cities accessible to anyone, Starcity offers its residents a comfortable living experience with a private, fully furnished bedroom complemented by warm, inviting shared kitchens and living spaces. Prior to co-founding Starcity in 2016, Jon spent more than ten years in commercial real estate based in San Francisco, helping companies expand their headcount globally. Jon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Managerial Economics from UC Davis and is based in San Francisco, CA.

Larry Florin

CEO
Burbank Housing

Larry brings over thirty years experience in real estate, community and economic development in both the public and private sector to Burbank Housing. Most recently Larry served as the Director of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs for Napa County. He managed Napa County’s affordable housing programs as well as the county’s Housing Authority and community and economic development activities. Prior to joining Napa County Larry spent over ten years in the private sector, co founding a development company specializing in adaptive reuse of underutilized industrial property and overseeing some of the company’s largest development projects in the San Francisco Bay Area including the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Treasure Island. While in the Northeast Mr. Florin oversaw a 2,000 unit urban mixed use development project along the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan. He has over 15 years experience working in senior management positions in San Francisco including executive level positions in the Mayor’s Office, Redevelopment Authority and Port. He also served as the first Executive Director of the Treasure Island Development Authority. Throughout the years Larry has served on the Executive Board of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Governors Task Force on Military Base Conversion, the State of California Housing Element Working Group and California Forward’s One Million Homes Initiative. He has received the San Francisco Business Times Real Estate Transaction of the Year Award and the San Francisco Mayors Manager of the Year. Larry has a Master in Urban Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Purchase State College.

V. Fei Tsen

President
Windflower Properties

As a developer and public official with experience in the nonprofit, public and private spheres, Ms. Tsen has more than 30 years of experience in building housing at all levels of affordability, civic projects, and large scale, mixed use developments. She is the President and CEO of Windflower Properties, a multi-family residential development company and President of Tsen & Associates, a real estate advisory firm. She was the Director of Real Estate for the Port of San Francisco, the Director of Redevelopment for the City of Emeryville, and a Commissioner of the former San Francisco Redevelopment Agency. She is currently President of the Treasure Island Development Authority that oversees the design and construction of infrastructure, streetscape, parks and open space for the former naval military base. Her expertise and leadership were critical in finalizing the design and financing for Yerba Buena Gardens and re-envisioning the San Francisco waterfront after the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway. She has served on numerous Boards for arts, education and nonprofit community development organizations. Ms. Tsen was a recipient of the prestigious Loeb Fellowship, which the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University awards to outstanding designers and leaders who make our cities and natural environments more vigorous and sustainable.

Patrick Kennedy

Owner
Panoramic Interests

Patrick Kennedy is the owner of Panoramic Interests, a development firm that has been building housing, live-work space, and commercial property in the Bay Area since 1990. The firm has focused on dense, mixed-use, mixed-income, infill developments, typically financed with private funds. All of the multi-family housing projects include below market rate units. The firm’s projects incorporate the Smart Growth principles designed to discourage auto use, mitigate sprawl, encourage local business, and enhance the pedestrian streetscape. Mr. Kennedy grew up in the East Bay, and attended Claremont McKenna College, majoring in Economics and English. He is a former member of the Carpenters Union and Steelworkers Union, and the California Bar. After college, he worked as a contractor, and then attended Harvard Law School and MIT, graduating with a J.D. and a Masters in Real Estate Development. Early development work included building his own house, and renovating several small commercial properties. His hobbies include open water swimming and ultra-light backpacking, both of which have furnished surprising insights into his work in development.

Alex Kolovyansky

Director of Investment Sales
Vanguard Properties

Alexander Kolovyansky is the Director of Investment sales at Vanguard Properties and one of San Francisco’s top brokers. Alexander has been investing and brokering real estate for over 19 years and has been recognized as one of “The Leading 100” by Real Trends. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Alexander, earned his degree in Economics from Princeton University where he was a two time Track & Field All-American. He worked at a fast paced hedge fund and as a marketing manager/negotiator at Intel Corporation working with senior executives brings a unique insight to the real estate industry. He has a California Real Estate Broker’s License, is a member of The Urban Land Institute, the San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association (SPUR), Belden Club, the San Francisco Association of Realtors, and an MBA from the University of Arizona.

Sankarshan Murthy

Co-Founder & CEO
Bumblebee Spaces

Sankarshan Murthy is an engineer, entrepreneur, fire-fighter and a dad. He has spent over a decade working on high impact products that have created categories in their own right - Apple Watch, DeWalt Cordless tools, Tesla and now, leads the team at Bumblebee Spaces. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of Business and University of Maryland. Bumblebee Spaces is creating a new way to live by unlocking the third dimension. Using smart robots and an AI stack, we increase usable space and reduce your footprint by storing, managing, and retrieving objects on-demand in your ceiling. Bumblebee Spaces safely and intelligently simplifies your life, making space for what matters.

Bill Strang

President - Operations
TOTO USA

Bill Strang serves as President of the Americas’ Operations for TOTO USA and Chairman of TOTO Mexico. In these capacities, he is responsible for all of TOTO’s North American operations, including supply chain, design and development engineering, quality, ISO, environmental resource management, and management of TOTO’s five North American plants with 1.8 million sf under roof. Under Bill’s leadership, TOTO has received numerous awards and recognitions for its leadership in environmental resource conservation, including the U.S. EPA’s Water Efficiency Leadership award (TOTO is the only plumbing manufacturer so honored); former Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue’s Water Conservation Leadership award; the South face Sustainable Homebuilders’ Argon* award; the City of Atlanta’s Phoenix Award, and the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper’s River Sustainability award. Recently, the Brookings Institution distinguished TOTO for its leadership in Clean Economy jobs creation.

Rob Zirkle

Founder & CEO
brick.

Rob Zirkle is the founding principal of brick. Under his guidance the brick team brings a rigorous, value driven design process to a wide variety of project types in architecture, interiors and urban design. Rob leads the firm’s initiatives in design, client satisfaction, new project acquisition and company culture. Channeling Rob’s entrepreneurial approach, brick has grown into a thriving 25 person team with $450m of current projects under construction ranging from commercial office, life science, housing and higher education.

Brian Murphy

Managing Director of Multifamily
CIVIC Private Lending

Jose Belman

CEO & President
Capital Homes Investments

Jose Belman is a real estate entrepreneur, founder of Capital Homes Investments LLC, who focus on real estate investments in the Multi-Family Apartment Sector and Single-Family Homes. He also holds a Real Estate Brokers License and owns a Brokerage Office: Priority Real Estate Inc. Jose is a speaker who has been helping people understand the world of real estate for over two decades. With an extensive 22+ year background as a real estate entrepreneur, he purchased and sold 300+ Real Estate Assets with a Value of over $60 Million. Jose is a San Jose State University Graduate with a Degree in Finance and Economics and he got accepted to Harvard Business School for the Year 2024. Jose hosted a Faith Driven Entrepreneurship conference in June 2022 to help people who are still wondering what they want in life and live their lives with purpose. World renowned leadership speakers like John C. Maxwell, Tresa Todd, Rob Rowsell were some of the speakers who spoke at the event and shared how they found their purpose and led their businesses.

Brendan Dunnigan

SVP
HKS

Anthony Cataldo

COO
Lowney Architecture

Anthony Cataldo brings over 15 years’ experience in commercial architecture including retail, office, medical, and industrial projects to Lowney Architecture. He is a Licensed Architect in the State of California as well as a LEED AP, and has been actively involved with the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and was President of the East Bay Chapter in 2012. Building Design and Construction magazine named Anthony one of the top 40 under 40 in 2014. Anthony understands, and is perfectly aligned with, Lowney Architecture's culture of design excellence, professional collaboration and community engagement

Smitha Seshadri

EVP
BRIDGE Housing

Smitha Seshadri is Executive Vice President of Development at BRIDGE Housing Corporation and leads the organization’s real estate development activities in Northern California. Smitha brings 20+ years of experience with a strong background in architecture, community development and real estate finance. She has successfully structured several complex multi-family affordable housing developments and is responsible for overseeing the execution of several mixed-use/mixed-income developments for BRIDGE in Northern California, including new construction and acquisition-rehab over the past 5.5 years. Earlier this year, BRIDGE was honored with the “Nonprofit Developer of the Year Award” from the San Francisco Business Times for delivering approximately 1,000 new and rehabbed affordable housing units in the Bay Area over the past 2 years. Her team is currently working on 7 construction projects with a total of 735 affordable housing units and several new construction projects in predevelopment. Prior to BRIDGE, Smitha served as Vice President of Real Estate at Habitat for Humanity, San Francisco and Director of Development for the Santa Clara Housing Authority. Ms. Seshadri holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, Booth School of Business. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California and Satellite Affordable Housing Associates.

Wally Naylor

Project Executive
Pankow

Wally is an industry leader for complex ground up, seismic, tenant improvement and building renovations in office, retail, civic, hospitality and commercial buildings, many in occupied spaces. Wally is the primary client representative for his projects, ensuring that the project gets the resources and commitments it needs to guarantee a successful outcome. His responsibilities include client communication, design consultation, budget and cost estimating review and coordination of construction operations. Wally provides direct leadership to project management staff, performs executive-level project management functions, and executes business development efforts for the region. He is accountable for understanding the client’s project objectives and ensuring Pankow’s solutions meet or exceed the Client’s needs.

Jason Kamen

Director – Real Estate & Partnerships
WhyHotel

Jason Kamen leads the West Coast for WhyHotel as the Director of Real Estate & Partnerships. Based in San Francisco, Jason has been working in real estate development and operations since 2002. Most recently, Jason led the West Coast Ops division of Crescent Heights, a national developer and owner of properties across all asset types. Jason ran all of Crescent Heights’ West Coast development and operations with a team of over 150 personnel, focusing on ultra-luxury apartment rentals, including NEMA in San Francisco – a 754-unit project that leased up in 6 months under Jason’s stewardship and has maintained a 95%+ occupancy since stabilizing in 2013; as well as Ten Thousand in Beverly Hills with rents topping $70,000 per month. Jason was recognized as the California Apartment Association’s Director of the Year in 2014 and San Francisco’s Apartment Association’s Director of the Year in 2015. Prior to Crescent Heights, Jason held a leadership position with Atlantic Realty Development Corporation. The executive team tasked Jason with restructuring operations and growing the profitability of a struggling multifamily portfolio. Jason took responsibility for the 72-property, 36,000 unit, portfolio and rebuilt the division from the ground up leading to a significant growth in profitability.

Arthur Chang

Senior Director of Expansion
Sonder

Arthur (SHA '07) is a hotel ops guy turned startup generalist and entrepreneur. After launching Sonder in Vancouver, Arthur now leads Sonder's global expansion team in creating beautiful spaces built for travel and life all over the world. Sonder is a Silicon Valley-based hospitality company at the crossroads of tech and real estate. The company manages over $1.6 billion of outstanding real estate across 24 markets, focusing on commercially-zoned buildings or blocks of floors. Sonder fully designs and outfits these spaces to host guests for monthly or nightly stays. Sonder is backed by over $200 million of venture and debt financing from top investors, among them Greenoaks, Greylock, Spark, Valor, and HarbourVest. Prior to Sonder, Arthur invented and co-founded Soarigami, dubbed the "most innovative travel product in the world” by numerous media outlets. Before his startup career, Arthur was a VP at Coyle Hospitality, overseeing business development, operations, and client care. He has personally helped hundreds of major hotel, restaurant, and travel brands improve their guest experience. While pursuing his B.Sc. at Cornell's School of Hotel Administration, Arthur managed the Statler Hotel, served as the Dean's Assistant, and led Hotel Ezra Cornell 82 as the Managing Director. Arthur was born in Hong Kong; grew up in Vancouver; worked/lived in Chicago, Dallas, and New York; and is now based in San Francisco with his wife Grace, newborn baby Bruce, and two dogs. He is a connoisseur of the violin, Wing Chun Kung Fu, and rocambolesque adventures.

John Paul Peterson

Director
Hanover Financial, LLC

Mr. Peterson serves as a Director at Hanover Financial, LLC. He is responsible for identifying and evaluating co-investment partnership opportunities with multi-family development sponsors and evaluating investment opportunities. Mr. Peterson previously spent ten years as a management/engineering consultant leading a team in the design, financial modeling and performance management of commercial, residential and institutional real estate assets throughout the United States and Mainland China. Mr. Peterson holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Messiah University and a Master of Business Administration from University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business.