Seattle State of the Market

In 1996, Henry Liebman founded American Life, Inc. and has since served as our Chief Executive Officer. As CEO, he oversees all daily company operations and strategic planning. Henry has more than 20 years of experience in real estate law and immigration law and more than 30 years experience in commercial real estate management and investment. He has served as Managing Partner of Coe Nordwall Liebman, LLC. Henry also founded Northwest International Bank and served as its first board chairman. Among these distinctions, Henry is frequently invited to speak on business and immigration topics at organizations throughout the Northwest and abroad. He is quoted frequently and has written several articles on a variety of subjects. Additionally, he authored The Immigration Handbook, which has been published in the U.S., Spain, and the United Kingdom. Henry earned his Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Washington in 1973 and received his Juris Doctor degree from The University of Puget Sound in 1980. His experience in immigration law, finance, and real estate is both extensive and eclectic and provides particular value to American Life, Inc. and its investors.

Liz hails from Canada but has lived in Seattle for most of the past 30 years. Early in her career, she worked in a variety of software engineering and product development roles at Microsoft and then as a consultant to several software and media clients, before starting Dunn & Hobbes LLC in 1997. Liz oversees acquisition, design, development and leasing for Dunn & Hobbes' properties and oversees its affiliated operating companies. In addition to its real estate activities, Dunn & Hobbes advises on policy initiatives that incorporate reuse of existing buildings and neighborhood fabric into cities' larger sustainability objectives - ranging from environmental performance to economic resiliency and cultural diversity. From 2009 through 2012, Liz started and led the Preservation Green Lab, a think tank of the National Trust for Preservation. Liz currently participates on the board of directors of the Downtown Seattle Association, the Pike-Pine Urban Neighborhood Coalition, and Lid I-5. She has previously served on the boards of Capitol Hill Housing, Powerful Voices, the Seattle Architectural Foundation, On The Boards and ARCADE Magazine. In 2007 she was made an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects. She is an affiliate fellow to the University of Washington's Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies and guest lecturer in the real estate program at UW’s Foster School of Business. Liz holds a BMath in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo, an MBA from INSEAD, and an MSc in City Design from the London School of Economics.

As the president and founder of SolTerra, I work to bring elements from nature into our built environment. It is my goal to demonstrate through designing, constructing and maintaining environmental technology that there is a massive payback in financial, cultural, human health, and environmental terms.

Todd has over 30 years’ of experience in the building industry. Todd is a ‘native’ Seattleite as he moved to Seattle back in 1972 as the billboard, ‘The last one to leave Seattle turn off the lights?’ was situated along I-5. Todd graduated with a B.S. in Construction Management from the University of Washington in 1989 and joined Sellen Construction as a Project Engineer. Over a 28-year career at Sellen, he oversaw many iconic projects in the Northwest including Swedish Issaquah, a 600K SF downtown highrise, UW Foster School of Business, Paccar Business School, and UW Medicine South Lake Union. Todd moved on from Sellen in 2017 and joined Urban Visions where he spent five-years and was an Executive Vice President overseeing a $2.0B portfolio of commercial real estate developments in Seattle. Most recently, Todd has joined McKinstry as a Senior Director of Operations. As a longtime Seattle area resident, Todd enjoys many Northwest activities such as skiing, golf, fly fishing, and hiking. He spends a lot of time at his home in Suncadia with his wife and two children. And, of course, his best friends, Georgie and Wally (4-year and 2-year old Bernese Mountain dogs).

With more than 20 years of industry experience, Ash is responsible for McKinstry’s market development strategy and provides leadership for the sales and business development efforts of all lines of business. His extensive knowledge in the industry includes systems engineering, evaluation of sustainable ideas, development of alternative-financing solutions, and optimizing and securing utility incentives and grants. Ash has served the community in a variety of industry and philanthropic roles. Currently he serves as Board President of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Council; additionally he sits on the boards for the Pacific Science Center and Climate Solutions. Ash earned his Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Massachusetts and a Master’s Degree from the University of Washington. Ash is a registered professional engineer. He serves as President for McKinstry Essention, LLC.

Russ focuses on assisting privately held businesses and entrepreneurs with their business and transactional needs, including advising on real estate acquisitions, dispositions, and financings; mergers and acquisitions; and a wide range of commercial agreements and strategic partnerships. Russ also assists his clients with entity structuring, organizational planning, and debt and equity financing transactions. Prior to re-joining Schwabe, Russ served as General Counsel to a private equity firm investing in, and developing, single, multi-family, and commercial real estate projects in Puget Sound and Portland regions.

Ernest Lee is Managing Director of Development & Investments for citizenM Hotels in North America. In this capacity, Ernest is responsible for leading new development efforts, managing the company's principal investments as well as implementing strategic initiatives within that region.  Prior to joining citizenM, Ernest was a Senior Director within Cushman & Wakefield's global lodging and leisure group (formerly Sonnenblick-Goldman), where he provided capital markets advisory for hotel owners and was involved in over $3 billion of asset sale, finance, and equity capitalization transactions​. Ernest is a graduate of New York University.

Since joining the Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen team, Pamela Hinckley has fostered a strong company structure and positive morale during major periods of change not only within the Seattle Kitchen restaurant group, but also within the restaurant industry itself. Hinckley’s expertise, collaborative personality and constant quest for positive employee and guest experiences have created an undeniable bond between the corporate office, culinary teams and customers in one of the nation’s leading privately owned restaurant groups. Her career started in the 1970s when Pamela discovered her true passion for the food and beverage industry while creating a farmer’s market for Americorps. That experience led her to change career paths from psychology to marketing, and in 1997, Hinckley became Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Redhook Brewery in Woodinville, Washington. Her 15 years there helped to hone her executive leadership skills and in 2002, Hinckley moved on to establish her own marketing consulting company. One of her greatest success stories was managing the launch of award-winning brand Theo Chocolate, which was ultimately included in Seattle Magazine’s “Best in Seattle” list in 2006. Hinckley’s reputation grew as a visionary in the Seattle food scene, so it came as no surprise when her long-time friend and Seattle restaurateur, Tom Douglas, approached her to join his team in 2009. Pamela’s cautious and strong-willed business style paired with Tom’s visionary ideals has ushered Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen into the successful restaurant group it is today. Her degree in psychology has been an asset as an executive leader, allowing her to work harmoniously with Tom, the managerial team and each individual staff member. Since her tenure as CEO, she has worked tirelessly to bridge the communication gap between staff and has encouraged autonomy of each restaurant to the general manager and chef. Pamela has implemented daily pre-service meetings to better communicate with the team, and has put in place programs such as Wine Press Club and family cooking series, as well as events where customers can connect with Tom Douglas, and partnerships with local programs to educate consumers about the food we eat. Most recently, when Seattle revised its labor laws, Pamela took action with Tom Douglas in defending and ensuring equitable pay for all employees, particularly servers, by raising minimum wage to $15 an hour before it was state mandated. Pamela continuously exceeds the standards in her role – she can often be seen leading employee meetings and chatting with staff, no small feat considering the company’s 1,000 employees and over 30 food-based businesses. Pamela is a good friend to Tom Douglas and his business partner and wife, Jackie Cross, and a godmother to their daughter, Loretta. As one of the few female restaurant group CEOs in the United States, she brings a refreshing point-of- view and personal touch to the Tom Douglas Seattle Kitchen management team.

As President, Daniel oversees Nitze-Stagen’s integrated real estate investment and portfolio management activities, with a particular emphasis on deal sourcing, investment analysis and development oversight. Previous to Nitze-Stagen, Daniel worked as an early stage technology investor at Voyager Capital and as a Financial Analyst at Goldman Sachs. In his free time, he enjoys spending time on the water with his wife and two young children. Daniel holds BA degrees from University of Washington in Finance and English and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

As the President of Openpath, James runs operations and leads marketing, public relations and partnerships for the company. A serial entrepreneur, James has built and sold three successful technology companies (EdgeCast Networks, KnowledgeBase and Virtualis) over the past 17 years. While at Edgecast, James helped to build the company’s global network to carry more than seven percent of global internet traffic. Prior to Edgecast, James built KnowledgeBase into a profitable, industry-leading company that was ranked by Forrester as the Industry Leader in eService. James received the E&Y's 2014 Entrepreneur of the Year award for the greater Los Angeles area, is an investor in and advisor to tech startups and VC/PE funds, and is active in various community and philanthropic organizations.

Scott Johnston leads the Johnston Training Group programs that enable technical professionals to present powerfully, write purposefully, and facilitate seamlessly. In addition, he leads the JTG Selection Panel research, conducting in-person interviews with selection panel members from numerous public and private organizations. As a principal at JTG, he has helped A/E/C firms at every stage of the process differentiate themselves and win more work—from early proposal creation to the final project interview. Scott has spoken at the Society for Marketing Professional Services, American Council of Engineering Companies, and National Association of Women in Construction events.