Seattle's Emerging Markets

Ralph Graves is the Senior Director of Capital Development at the Port of Seattle, where he oversees design and construction supporting the maritime and aviation businesses of the Port. He served 29 years as an officer in the U.S. Army, including duty with Corps of Engineers Districts in Baltimore, Honolulu and Seattle. Prior to joining the Port in August 2008, he worked on the Alaskan Way Viaduct project with the Seattle office of Parsons Brinckerhoff. Ralph graduated from West Point and earned advanced degrees from U.C. Berkeley, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and Stevens Institute.

Previously Vice President and Director of US operations for Plenary Group. Plenary Group is an independent long-term investor, developer and manager of public infrastructure. As an international public-private partnership (PPP or P3) specialist, Plenary has a PPP portfolio of 42 projects worth more than A$30 billion across Australia, Canada and the US. Marv Hounjet started with Plenary in 2011 with responsibility to lead Plenary’s business development activities as it entered the US market. Marv continues to live in Bellevue and remains involved in the PPP industry. He is currently a Board member and senior advisor for the Performance Based Building Coalition. The Performance Based Building Coalition is the nation’s only non-profit industry coalition exclusively dedicated to developing the market for social infrastructure PPP projects in the United States. The PBBC’s mission is to pass federal tax legislation that will create a new category of exempt facility bonds for government owned buildings, while simultaneously educating the public sector on all aspects of executing a P3 project.

Gary Chubb is a Project Executive for Swinerton in Seattle, where he is responsible for overseeing the rollout of the Sustainable Living Innovations (SLI) Program, an innovative solution that encompasses high-rise apartments, office projects, and alternative delivery methods including design-build and public-private partnerships for the agency and municipal work. Gary has over 27 years of experience in managing design and construction, and he is responsible for the entire project development process to ensure success during all phases of design and construction. Executive management is focused on feasibility, site logistics, financial planning, contracts, design team interface, subcontractor performance, budget compliance, quality control, timely completion and close-out of projects. Gary’s professional background combines both general contracting and owner representation which affords a complete perspective on total project success and client satisfaction.

Aaron Toppston is a Senior Development Manager at Walsh Investors, an affiliate of The Walsh Group, one of the largest contractors in the United States. Aaron is a P3 executive with a decade of experience in the industry. In his role as Senior Development Manager of Walsh Investors, Aaron manages the pursuit of and investment in P3s in civil and social infrastructure across North America. Aaron coordinates all aspects of project pursuit and financing, including debt sourcing, rating agency review, financial analysis, technical review, RFQ/RFP response, and equity investment strategy. This includes working with US government financing programs, such as TIFIA and PABs. Aaron’s experience includes bid director roles on PA Bridges, Portsmouth Bypass, Highway 427, Harbor Bridge Replacement, Indianapolis Justice Center, Mt. Sinai Hospital, Michael Garron Hospital, KU Central District Development, and many other P3 projects. Aaron earned a BS in Business from Miami University in Oxford, OH and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL.

After serving the University of California as Vice Chancellor of Planning and Budget at the Merced campus, Dan joined KPMG to lead the firm’s national higher education sector and western region government infrastructure practice. At UC Merced, Dan led the Merced 2020 Project, a $1.3 billion public-private partnership. The project was named the Project Finance International Americas P3 Deal of the Year and the North American Social Infrastructure Deal of the Year by IJGlobal. With thirteen years of investment banking experience, Dan has helped raise debt capital for governments in taxable and tax-exempt capital markets.

Mr. Lynch represents and advises property and project owners, general contractors, trade contractors/subcontractors, and design professionals on a variety of matters, including contracts and claims, litigation and arbitration, alternative dispute resolution, risk evaluation and management, real estate transactions and disputes, procurement, bid protests, and insurance coverage matters. He additionally provides general outside counsel to several closely-held Pacific Northwest companies. Since joining Ahlers & Cressman in 2011, Mr. Lynch has recovered millions of dollars for clients on construction and real estate claims, and successfully defended his contractor and developer clients from millions more in potential liability. Example matters he has recently litigated and resolved include recovering a multimillion dollar settlement of claims for a general contractor and subcontractors on a major Washington school project, successfully defending and favorably settling (with insurance funding) claims against a subcontractor on an Alaska utility installation project, defending a major international contractor against defect claims by an Oregon airport district, litigating and favorably resolving a multimillion dollar dispute between a leading Northwest mechanical contractor and a public body regarding a multi-facility energy performance contract, defending and securing the sole ownership rights of a prominent Pierce County developer in a corporate dissolution dispute implicating dozens of multi-million dollar real estate development transactions and entities, and recovering a six-figure settlement for a golf course builder following termination of its contract by a course owner. Mr. Lynch also routinely negotiates, drafts, and reviews numerous private and public construction contracts and subcontracts ranging from $100,000 to over $10,000,000, including design-build, design-bid-build, negotiated procurement, and energy performance contracting methodologies, as well as supply contracts, purchase orders, and various master agreements. In real estate matters, Mr. Lynch has negotiated and facilitated closing of multiple commercial and warehouse property sales, restructured and resolved substantial real-estate debts, and represented owners and tenants entering commercial leases. He has also successfully resolved boundary disputes, environmental issues, title matters, and lease matters. As general counsel, Mr. Lynch provides business-oriented advice and representation including business entity selection and formation, risk identification and management, contracting, insurance coverage, and related issues arising in his clients’ day-to-day business. In his years of practice prior to joining Ahlers & Cressman, Mr. Lynch was primarily a litigator, serving large and small companies, government agencies, and insurers. He successfully resolved numerous construction disputes, product liability claims, workplace injury matters, insurance coverage claims, class actions (primarily involving title and escrow matters), municipal liability suits, and catastrophic injury and property damage claims in state and federal court.

Rick Parks started leasing and selling commercial real estate in 1987 at CB Commercial and then Grubb & Ellis. He joined Pulsair Systems, Inc. as sales manager in 1997 where he trained and developed the company’s independent distributorships. He also coded the company’s inventory and implemented a purchase order system that streamlined the development of new business and production. Joining TRF in 2000, Rick is responsible for leasing and marketing all of TRF’s owned and managed properties. He oversees 60 lease transactions annually, has developed a strong business network and market knowledge. He brings this experience and builds leasing strategies to retain tenants, backfill vacancy and launch new retail developments. He ensures that TRF tenants, landowners and investors have the right information and strategies for making business decisions that drive asset value and long term wealth. Rick is a licensed Washington real estate broker, graduated from Washington State University and past ICSC Alaska/Washington State Director. He is married with three kids and loves family time at Hood Canal and on the water. In his spare time, he reads books and trades stock options. Sometimes the stars align and he takes in a salmon trip or gets to chase a monster elk in the Idaho back country.

Suzanne Dale Estey is a Partner with Gallatin Public Affairs where she provides strategic communications, government relations and economic development services to some of the region’s leading businesses and organizations. A Seattle native with more than 25 years’ experience delivering results in economic development, intergovernmental relations and nonprofit leadership, Suzanne has a unique public-private understanding of policy making. Most recently, Suzanne served as the President & CEO of the Economic Development Council of Seattle & King County (EDC). At the EDC, Suzanne fostered partnerships to protect and create more than 6,500 King County jobs at 75 companies, and generate over $750 million in new investment, helping drop countywide unemployment to historic lows. Suzanne previously served as Economic Development Director for the City of Renton; Vice President of Government & Industry Relations for Washington Mutual; State & Federal Government Relations Manager for the King County Executive; State Lobbyist for the City of Seattle; Federal Legislative Analyst for the Governor of Washington; Associate Director of Intergovernmental Affairs at The White House; Pacific Northwest & Texas Program Director for Junior Statesmen, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, civics education program for high school student leaders, and she also ran a consulting firm. Suzanne serves as a board member of the Washington Economic Development Association, The Junior Statesmen Foundation, Renton Technical College and the Seattle Colleges Advisory Councils, CCER/Road Map Project, and she is President of the University of Washington (UW) Alumni Association board. A K-12 graduate of Seattle Public Schools, Suzanne received a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Politics from Whitman College and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Daniel J. Evans School at the University of Washington. She and her husband, Mike, have two active school-age sons.