Northern California Multifamily Annual Conference

Laura Hall has been with EAH Housing since 2008, and became president and CEO in 2019. As president and CEO, she is responsible for the operations, real estate development, real estate management and services for over 25,000 residents and over 700 employees. Ms. Hall has more than 25 years of leadership experience, including real estate development – new construction and acquisition/rehabilitation, facilities management and client services. Prior to her tenure at EAH Housing, Ms. Hall was responsible for strategic planning, operations management, and regulatory compliance of a corporation providing community-based programs, totaling nearly 1,000 employees and $70 million in revenue. She managed projects spanning from site acquisition and response to Requests for Proposals (RFP), to supervising the transition from business development to operations. She possesses substantial expertise in the areas of contract negotiations, customer development and retention. In addition, she worked to raise awareness within the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the government regarding the need for community services. She has a California Broker License and graduated with high honors from the University of California at Berkeley with a B.A. in Political Science. She received a Master’s in Business Administration, Strategic Leadership, from Dominican University in San Rafael.

Linda Mandolini has served as the Chief Executive of Eden Housing since 2001. Eden Housing (www.edenhousing.org) is one of California's oldest and most successful non-profit housing developers and owners. Linda oversees affordable housing production, resident support services, and property management components of the organization, and a staff of more than 400 employees. She is guided in her work by Eden's active volunteer board of directors, and together they just completed an ambitious 5-year strategic plan to build or preserve 10,000 affordable homes in California over the next ten years. Under Linda’s leadership, Eden Housing has become one of the most productive and successful nonprofit affordable housing developers and owners in California and is nationally recognized for its work. To date, Eden has developed or acquired approximately 11,000 affordable rental apartments in communities throughout California, providing homes for more than 22,000 low-income residents from all cultures and backgrounds. Eden currently has an additional 4,000 units in its pipeline. The organization has received numerous awards including being named as one of the Best Places to Work 2015-2017, and one of the Healthiest Employers in the Bay Area by the San Francisco Business Journal for the past nine consecutive years (2012-2020). Annually since 2006, Affordable Housing Finance Magazine has named Eden Housing as one of the Top 50 owners or developers of affordable housing nationally. Linda joined Eden in 1996 as a Project Developer and was promoted to Associate Director of Real Estate Development. In 1999 and 2000, she worked with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group as Director of Transportation and Housing Policy. She then rejoined Eden to serve as Director of Real Estate Development and was named President in 2001. Linda has received a number of awards including being named the Housing Champion by the Housing Trust of Silicon Valley in 2020, inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017; named to the San Francisco Business Times' Forever Influential Honor Roll in 2016; Bay Area's Most Influential Women in Business in 2011, 2014, and 2015, Northern California's Real Estate Women of Influence in 2011; and awarded the Affordable Housing Management Association's (AHMA) Pioneer in Affordable Housing in 2011. She was also honored by the East Bay Business Times as a Woman of Distinction in 2008. Under Linda's leadership, Eden Housing has completed three portfolio mergers and acquisitions, and has launched a number of initiatives to increase affordable housing preservation and to promote sustainable practices. Eden was among the first of its peers to implement a portfolio-wide green retrofitting and resident conservation program. Linda is often called upon to share Eden's best practices at regional, statewide, and national forums. In 2018, Eden Housing celebrated its 50 year anniversary with a 50 Years/50 Stories Campaign with video, podcast and photo-stories; an ambitious effort spearheaded by Linda to demonstrate the positive impact affordable housing has on people and communities. Linda is known as a leader in housing policy on the local, state and national level. She serves or has served on and held leadership positions on the following boards: The California Housing Consortium (CHC), where she currently chairs the Policy Committee, the National Housing Conference, the Housing Partnership Network, the Housing Partnership Equity Trust, the ULI Terwilliger Center for Affordable Housing, the UC Berkeley Terner Center Advisory Board, The Factory OS and Catalyst, Advisory Boards, the Housing Trust of Silicon Valley, Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California (NPH), Enterprise Communities' Community Leadership Council, and the International Housing Partnership Exchange. Linda was one of the affordable housing leaders who worked tirelessly for the passage of Proposition 46, Proposition 1C, and Propositions 1 and 2, three California Housing bonds that collectively generated $10 billion for housing. She has also helped lead local housing initiatives, including most recently the Measures A and A1 Housing bonds in Santa Clara and Alameda Counties respectively, that generated $1.5 billion in local funding for affordable housing. In early 2020, she helped lead the passage of a local sales tax in San Jose to support affordable housing. Prior to relocating to California in 1996, Linda held various community development positions in Boston. Linda received her AB degree from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and earned an MBA from Boston University, with a concentration in public and non-profit management. She also completed the Harvard Kennedy School/NeighborhorWorks, Achieving Excellence in Community Development program. In her free time, Linda is an avid bicyclist and frequently rides for charitable causes including the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Team in Training Program, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and the Michael J. Fox Foundation in support of research for cures for Parkinson's disease.

As the President for CORE Builders, Chrissie Davis oversees all projects currently under construction and works closely with clients in preconstruction. She prides herself in leading the CORE team to provide quality products and services to all clients. Chrissie has helped grow CORE Builders into a company with $100M annual revenue, building projects for third party clients and in-house. Chrissie Davis has been building in Southern and Northern California since 2000. She has a Civil Engineering Degree from Loyola Marymount University and a Master’s Degree in Construction Engineering Management from Stanford. She started her career working for commercial builders, but found a home in multi-family construction mostly in the South Bay. Chrissie is a LEED AP and has a passion for giving back to the community. She spent a year dedicating herself to community service in AmeriCorps*NCCC stationed in Washington D.C.

A Principal at AC Martin, Inc., Gilbert brings nearly 30 years of experience working on a rich array of project types, including civic, higher education, and multi-family. His award-winning multi-family experience ranges from 60-unit housing for homeless veterans to 2400 units distributed over more than 40 acres, as well as luxury urban high-rises. In addition, he has worked closely with community groups and stakeholders to ensure that the needs and expectations of the larger community are heard and addressed throughout all phases of projects. Gilbert is known for bringing simple, effective solutions to complex projects while building strong relationships.

Ms. Collins serves as a Senior Director of Development at AvalonBay. Since joining the company in 2017 she has led a number of projects, from entitlement through lease up around the Bay Area. She has worked extensively on mixed-use, mixed-income master planned communities and is currently leading a 1,100 unit Master Planned Project with Bridge Housing in the city of San Francisco. Prior to joining AvalonBay, she worked in retail and mixed-use development for EDENS, a retail REIT based in Washington DC, where she was responsible for placemaking and lease-up of a 2-million-square-foot TOD. Nora is on the Executive Committee for the Housing Action Coalition, on the steering committee for the Urban Land Institute, and a member of SPUR and the UCLA Anderson Real Estate Association. She received a Master’s in Business University of California Los Angeles and a Bachelor’s Degree from Bates College.

A graduate of Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, David formed McCullough Landscape Architecture as a sole proprietorship in 1999 while consulting for another firm. After wife and partner, Catherine joined the business in 2001 and became Chief Executive Officer and President in 2002; the firm became a woman-owned corporation and a certified Small Business by the State of California. With offices in San Diego and the Bay Area, McCullough creates spaces for hospitality, retail, mixed-use and institutional properties around the world. As principal landscape architect, David oversees all aspects of the design and production of firm projects at McCullough. He serves as head designer on all projects and maintains quality control on all work completed. Previous projects have earned awards and recognition in several national publications. David finds time in his schedule to take leadership in creative organizations such as the the San Diego Architecture Foundation (SDAF) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) local Urban Design Committee. He currently serves as Chair of the Pecha Kucha Night program, which is on its sixth successful year. He finds it inspiring to take part in such a diverse mix of creative minds while bringing them together to share with the public their wild ideas. In addition, recently David was appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to serve on the Historical Resources Board as Chair, which governs the identification, protection, retention and preservation of historical sites in San Diego. Concurrently, he has been invited to serve on the city’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT). David’s design philosophy is centered around merging context and creative passion with grit, soul, and style. The firm takes every project with a uniquely creative approach that centers around diversity, discovery and conservation. David feels it’s important to engage the human spirit with nature, while expressing empathy. Recent projects include a large waterfront development in Shanghai, China, Seaport San Diego redevelopment, several multifamily projects in Calgary and Vancouver, along with other notable hospitality, entertainment, and mixed-use collaborations in the Western US and Canada.

As Chargie’s Vice President of Business Development, David is responsible for driving growth of the company’s EV charging network through the leadership and mentorship of a national sales team. He also oversees long-term partnerships with some of the largest multifamily and commercial real estate developers in the country. David brings nearly 20 years of experience in operations and management. Before joining Chargie, David led business development efforts at PCS Energy, the largest installer of commercial solar systems in Los Angeles. He also served as a founding partner of Nexcut, a leading provider of document destruction and recycling services. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Western Washington University.

Micah Solit is a Project Director with Project Management Advisors, Inc. with over seven years of experience in real estate development, finance, and construction across sectors including high-rise residential, corporate office, retail, and life sciences. As the residential sector leader for the San Francisco office, Micah collaborates with multi-disciplinary teams on complex mixed-use developments for institutional and private equity clients. He is currently focused on overseeing, managing, and supporting all of our local residential projects consisting of over 700 multi-family units in active construction and over 2,000 residential units in the entitlement and planning stages. Prior to PMA, Micah worked for a real estate consulting firm and was responsible for analyzing project pro-forma and market data for several development projects. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Public Policy and Development, with an emphasis in Real Estate Development from the University of Southern California and currently serves as a Board Member for the USC Alumni Real Estate Network. Micah is heavily involved in the industry as a committee member for Urban Land Institute’s Young Leaders Group Steering and is also an active member of NAIOP San Francisco and SPUR.

As a licensed and practicing architect, Jason serves as MBH Architect’s Chief Operating Officer. His built work spans eight countries across Asia, Central America and North America. He has delivered successful hospitality projects for such brands as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Montage, Hyatt, Hilton and Marriott. Jason is a member of the American Institute of Architects and the Urban Land Institute and serves as an Advisory Board member for UC Berkeley’s Berkeley Real Estate Alumni Association (BREAA).

Farhan Mahmood is a Partner heading up West Coast Acquisitions at Trion Properties and is responsible for sourcing, structuring, and financing Trion Properties investment opportunities. Farhan has more than 17 years of real estate experience, including over 10 years at Trion Properties. During his time at Trion, Farhan has sourced and acquired over $1 Billion in real estate with an average IRR of over 30% at his time at Trion. Prior to working at Trion Properties, Farhan was involved in distressed debt note sales through the global financial crisis, having sold over $500MM in non-performing debt. Farhan began his career in the real estate consulting practice at Duff & Phelps. A native of Southern California, Farhan graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Real Estate Development, Real Estate Finance and Marketing. Farhan is based out of the West Hollywood office.

Erik Murray is the Chairman and Managing Partner of Lafayette, CA based Oak Funds and Oak Impact Group, among California’s leading cannabis real estate developers, owners, and managers. With a keen understanding of social equity and a focus on operating at the intersection of prime commercial real estate and positive social impact, since 2016, Murray and his team at Oak have successfully acquired and developed over a dozen cannabis properties valued at nearly $200M. Every project in Oak’s portfolio has a social equity ownership and/or incubation component, and Murray is proud to be at the forefront of impact investing in cannabis by proving that outsized returns for investors and positive impacts to communities harmed by the war on drugs are not mutually exclusive. The first exits from the portfolio already delivered a 2.5x multiple and a 140% IRR to investors, and Oak is excited to continue expanding the platform in 2022. Murray volunteers on the Boards of the Last Prisoner Project and Union Square Alliance, and is a member of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors (SIOR), a Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM), a Senior Alpine Instructor in the National Ski Patrol, and resides in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Oz Erickson founded Emerald Fund in 1979 and has been actively developing projects in the Bay Area since that time. Oz identifies new projects and is involved with the entitlements, financing, project design and sales and marketing. Oz has been recognized with many industry honors including the San Francisco Business Times’ Lifetime Achievement Award for Most Admired CEO in 2013. Oz received a BA degree from Harvard University and a MBA from Stanford University

Maxim Shapiro started Novateur in 2018 after moving to California for love. And building Novateur has been a labor of love. Currently based in Dublin, CA, Maxim’s goal is to grow Novateur to have multiple locations throughout the state of California and perhaps beyond. Prior to starting Novateur, Maxim worked as a lender doing new originations and distressed workouts. Maxim was also a member of a private equity firm that invested in retail assets throughout Europe before the Great Recession of 2008-2010. That is where Maxim got his start in commercial real estate and learned to underwrite and value assets. Maxim was born in the Soviet Union and speaks fluent Russian. Having grown up in the Boston area and spent many years there, he now lives in the Bay Area. Maxim spends most of his free time with his partner, Katya, and with his dog, Jim.

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.

Chek F. Tang, AIA, NCARB, is a veteran architect and urban designer with a passion for and commitment to building livable communities that reflect the fundamental values of smart growth and sustainability, collaboration and community. He has led significant urban design projects both internationally and throughout the Bay Area, including community planning, transit-oriented development and mixed-use buildings. He believes in a strong collaborative relationship between the client, community, and a multi-disciplinary design team. He also has a deep appreciation for the challenges facing both the private and public sectors, and so embraces a balanced approach in addressing pressing global challenges. Chek received a Master of Architecture, Cum Laude, from the Ohio State University, is actively involved in several professional organizations including the American Institute of Architects and the Urban Land Institute, and has been the recipient of numerous design and development awards.

Nicholas loves to commercialize technology that creates new ways for people to contribute to living carbon-neutral lives without compromising or making life worse. Before starting Orange, he built a company that created A.I. traffic management and transit software to optimize traffic signals to reduce congestion. He first started his career in EVs working as an electrical design engineer at Tesla, bringing the Model 3 thermal designs to market. Orange was founded after speaking with Sven and Marc (now investors) about the challenges for multi-unit dwellings looking to offer electric vehicle charging. Today Orange has created a solution that offers property owners an affordable charging platform generating a true return on investment while providing electric vehicle drivers convenient, affordable energy.

Phillip Forrester has been working at the intersection of multifamily and sustainability for his entire career. While at Thomas Safran & Associates, a leading affordable housing developer in Los Angeles, Phillip closed on $350M+ of tax equity, conventional debt, and municipal bonds and grew the firm's managed portfolio by over 15%. He worked in corporate strategy at Edison International, developing an understanding of the energy landscape and multifamily's important role in decarbonizing the built space. At PearlX Infrastructure, he leads Sales, and has been instrumental in crafting the firm's Virtual Power Plant that has seen deployment across multiple states, energy markets and portfolios. He received his MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and his BA from Pomona College.

Anthony is a partner in the San Francisco office and a member of the Real Estate group. His practice involves the full spectrum of transactional real estate, including leasing, financing, acquisitions, and dispositions. Anthony's leasing practice includes drafting and negotiating office, retail, and industrial leases for institutional and other regional landlords. He has also represented tenants in retail and office lease transactions throughout the West Coast. His finance practice includes the representation of lenders and borrowers in loan originations, loan assumptions, enforcing defaulted loans, and the California foreclosure process. He has represented developers with CC&Rs and various easement and license agreements. Anthony has also advised court appointed receivers on property management, tenant related issues and receivership sales.

Riaz Taplin has been thinking about workforce housing for most of his professional life. Growing up in a real estate family, Riaz detoured early in his career from the family business to develop his own style by founding a design/build firm and developing over 50 ultra-luxury residences in the Bay Area. Completing his last project just before the great recession, Riaz refocused his vision to workforce housing in Oakland. Over the next decade, Riaz built a portfolio of over 1,300 units in the workforce housing category. In the process, Riaz consistently worked to innovate market-rate approaches to workforce housing, also known as naturally-occurring affordable housing. In successive projects and ventures, Riaz explored co-living, adaptive reuse micro-units, student housing, and traditional ground-up construction – all of which led to the firm’s custom workforce housing solution – the ABD Studio. Today, Riaz leads Riaz Capital, a vertically integrated workforce housing developer and institutional-grade sponsor with a core team of over fifty professionals managing a portfolio of over 1,300 units, and with over 1,000 residences in the pipeline. Riaz is a board member of the Oakland Promise, the urban planning think tank SPUR, and co-chair of the American India Foundation SF Bay Area board. He earned a B.A. in Economic History from the London School of Economics.

Elaine Breeze leads all community development activities for SummerHill Apartment Communities in the Bay Area. As Senior Vice President of Development, she oversees new community development, including land planning, land acquisition due diligence, architecture and design, budgeting, community engagement, and securing all necessary entitlement approvals. Ms. Breeze has been affiliated with the Marcus & Millichap companies since 1988, starting as a research analyst with Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Brokerage. With affiliate SummerHill Homes until 2008, as Senior Vice President and Managing Director, she oversaw the development of award- winning single family and multifamily for-sale projects throughout the Bay Area. From 1989 to 1990, she was an analyst and project coordinator for Essex Property Company specializing in multi-family investment real estate and retail shopping center joint ventures. Ms. Breeze graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History. She completed post-graduate studies in Real Estate and Architecture at U.C. Berkeley and in Construction Practices at San Jose State University. She is a current member of the SAMCEDA Executive Board and the Home for All San Mateo County Task Force and serves as a stakeholder representing the residential development community on numerous city-led planning initiatives in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

Aaron Thomas is the Senior Managing Director at Standard Communities, a national affordable housing developer. At Standard, Aaron assists the founders in their leadership of the firm while working with cities around the country on affordable housing solutions. Prior to joining Standard, Aaron was the President and CEO of Accelerator for America, a national nonprofit focused on capital solutions to economic insecurity. He is a graduate of Harvard College and received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Buddy Williams is a Senior Project Architect and Director of Studio KDA’s multifamily housing studio. His eight-year history at the firm and focus on multifamily housing have been instrumental in addressing the housing crisis through innovative design solutions. As Housing Director, Buddy leads teams to produce award-winning projects in the areas of student housing, mixed-use housing, micro-units, co-housing, Group Living Accommodations (GLAs), market rate apartments and luxury condominiums. He is highly adept at working with cities, community members, neighbors, and local businesses to build consensus and get projects entitled and built efficiently. As a Senior Project Architect, Buddy provides design solutions that are consistently inspired, practical and informed by principles of sustainability. He has a Master of Architecture from University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Texas A&M University.

As founding principal of Levy Design Partners in 1979, Toby Levy brings years of highly-engaged leadership in the design profession and community. She oversees and participates in all aspects of the firm’s work from programming to design, design production, and construction. Her work has been widely recognized, and the American Institute of Architects honored her with the title of Fellow (FAIA) in recognition of her contribution to advancing the standards of architectural practice, education and training. Throughout her years of professional practice, she has regularly taught architecture at institutions including the UC Berkeley, Columbia University and California College of the Arts. As a result of her participation on the University of California at Berkeley Design Review Team and the AIA Design Review Committee, she has developed a broad perspective on the successful resolution of design problems.

Hamid grew up in the construction industry by learning the trade in his family’s real estate development business and has pursued a technology-oriented education and professional life in the past 20 years. Prior to founding Zebel in 2019, Hamid led the preconstruction data analytics at Western National Group, a large multifamily development/construction/property management firm, based in Southern California. He now works with large multifamily developers and GC's, such as Irvine Company, Ryan Companies, and Legacy Partners, who share their historical construction cost data anonymously through Zebel, the "Switzerland of Construction Cost Data". Hamid received a Master of Business Administration from Wharton School of University of Pennsylvania, earned a Master of Science in Construction Management and an Engineer degree in Construction Information Technology both from University of Southern California.