San Francisco 2025 CEO Market Kickoff

Chris Meany is the managing partner of Wilson Meany, where he strives to develop real places that offer the kind of life we all aspire to, where we get to engage with one another in an authentic community. Communities under construction that Chris and his team are actively shaping include Treasure Island, Yerba Buena Island, Hollywood Park, and Bay Meadows. Notable completed projects include the Ferry Building, the Flood Building and 140 New Montgomery. Chris is a California native and a graduate of Georgetown University. He currently splits his time between San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Connor Kidd is President and CEO of The Swig Company and has over a decade of institutional commercial real estate experience. Connor joined The Swig Company in 2009 with the Investments Team and led the Asset Management team since from January 2019 until September 2023. Throughout his career, Connor has participated as a principal in transactions of over $5 billion in value, comprising over 6 million square feet and over 500 multifamily units. Before joining The Swig Company, Connor held real estate positions at Hunter Properties, AMB Properties (now Prologis), and North Star Realty Finance. Connor has a Bachelor of Science and an MBA from Stanford University. He is an active member of the San Francisco NAIOP chapter and a member of the Stanford Alumni Real Estate Counsel (SREC).

Brian Hecktman is the Founding Principal and Chief Executive Officer of Graymark Capital. He has over 25 years of direct experience investing as a principal and working with institutional partners. Mr. Hecktman has completed over $3 billion of acquisitions in the life sciences, R&D, office, industrial and multifamily sectors. Since 2012, Mr. Hecktman has led Graymark Capital’s growth into a $2 billion real estate investment company with over 30 properties and 4 million square feet in major markets in the western United States. The company has focused on institutional quality life sciences, creative office and R&D projects appealing to today’s modern tenants. Major holdings are in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Portland and Austin. Prior to Graymark Capital, Mr. Hecktman served as the Senior Vice President of the Commercial Division for Fowler Property Acquisitions. Mr. Hecktman started the commercial division, building it into a 25-property, $400 million commercial portfolio in the western United States. Mr. Hecktman has a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in accountancy and finance from the University of Illinois. He is an active member of ULI and NAIOP and has served a number of community organizations, including Hands On San Francisco, Project Homeless Connect and SF Moderates.

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.

Daryl J. Carter is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Avanath Capital Management, LLC, a California-based investment firm that acquires, renovates, and operates apartment properties, with an emphasis on affordable and workforce communities. Mr. Carter directs the overall strategy and operations of the Company. Since its formation in 2008, Avanath has acquired $2.5 billion of properties in 13 states in the U.S., comprising 12,000 apartment units. Avanath is vertically integrated and is an SEC registered investment advisor and an institutional fund manager, with capabilities that include acquisition sourcing and underwriting, construction, asset management, and on-site property management. Mr. Carter has 40 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Previously, he was an Executive Managing Director of Centerline Capital Group. Mr. Carter became part of the Centerline team when his company, Capri Capital Finance, was acquired by Centerline in 2005. Mr. Carter co-founded and served as Co-Chairman of the Capri Capital family of companies. He was instrumental in building Capri to a diversified real estate investment firm with $8 billion in real estate equity and debt investments under management. Prior to Capri, Mr. Carter was Regional Vice President at Westinghouse Credit Corporation and a Second Vice President at Continental Bank. Mr. Carter holds a Master’s in Architecture and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Mr. Carter serves on the Visiting Committee of the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 2015, Mr. Carter received the MIT Sloan School Distinguished Alumni Award and served as the 2015 commencement speaker for the Sloan School MBA graduation. Mr. Carter is a Past Chairman of the National Multifamily Housing Council. Previously, Mr. Carter served as an independent director on the boards of the following companies: Catellus Development Corporation (CDX), Silver Bay Realty Trust (SBY), and Whitestone REIT (WSR).

Brent Saldaña is a partner and practice group leader in the real estate practice at Farella Braun + Martel. He represents owners, operators, developers, lenders, investors, tenants, and others in a variety of real estate transactions and projects, including acquisitions and sales, development, leasing, financing, management, and ownership and investment transactions. He particularly enjoys complex projects where protecting his clients requires negotiating mutually beneficial solutions among many stakeholders, thoughtful consideration of interrelated agreements, superb project management skills, and a continuing appreciation of the big picture. Brent also has a soft spot for ground-up development work and major renovation projects. Whether he is structuring real estate investment vehicles, negotiating build-to-suit leases, reviewing construction documents, or closing a financing, Brent strives to continue Farella’s legacy of delivering practical, smart guidance in a package of outstanding client service. Recent real estate projects include:  Negotiating financing for the developer of a mixed-use project in India Basin.  Assisting an East Bay developer to acquire the site for a 220,000-square-foot office building for a life sciences company and to negotiate joint venture agreements with limited partners, a build-to- suit lease with the tenant, construction agreements with the contractor, and other project documents.  Strategizing with landlords to respond to COVID-related tenant issues.  Counseling a real estate investor in the sales and acquisitions of fee and ground lease interests in South Bay/Peninsula properties. Brent earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law in 2010, where he was a contributing editor and served on the Submissions Review Board for the Texas International Law Journal, and was a member of the Chicano/Hispanic Law Students’ Association. Before joining a law firm, Brent worked in development and marketing at The San Francisco Foundation and as in-house counsel for a nonprofit lender for businesses in disaster recovery zones. He received his B.A. with honors from Tufts University in 2003. He is admitted to practice in California and New York.