Silicon Valley State of the Market and Opportunity Zones

Leslye began her professional career at the State Department of Housing and Community Development, where she held several positions before taking on the challenge of overseeing the day-to-day activities of the State’s housing loan and grant programs. In that capacity, she worked to pass and then implement the first affordable housing bond initiatives, which made $550 million available for the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing throughout the State. Leslye joined the City of San Jose as the Department of Housing’s first Assistant Director in 1991, and then served for 14 years as the Director. While with the City, she oversaw a program that developed and improved 21,000 affordable housing units, leveraging the City’s funds with more than $2.7 billion from public and private sources. Leslye has served on a number of federal, State, and regional boards and is currently the Co-Chair of CASA, a newly formed task force charged with developing a housing strategy for the nine- county Bay Area . She is a dedicated housing wonk, loves policy and research, and is excited to lead SV@Home.

Responsible for developing more than $3.5 billion in real estate projects, including over 2,300 residential units in the California Bay Area, Hayden has experience in acquisition, contract negotiation, due diligence, risk assessment, financing, construction, and disposition of multifamily, single family and large mixed-use and master planned developments. He maintains relationships with a broad network of property owners, enabling him to identify and acquire prime investments. Hayden also has expertise navigating projects through the entitlement process by working with elected officials, community groups, and political organizations to gain support and get projects approved.

Nathan Donato-Weinstein is a senior executive analyst in the City of San Jose’s Office of Economic Development, which leads the city’s economic strategy, recruits employers, provides workforce development services, manages city real estate, and supports the arts. Nathan primarily works on business recruitment and retention, while using economic and real estate data to better inform policies and decision-making. Before joining the City, he was a reporter covering commercial real estate for the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Nathan is also on the board of Commercial Real Estate Women, Silicon Valley.

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.

Emily Bias advises clients on a broad range of real estate, tax and transactional matters, with a focus on tax-advantaged investment and affordable housing. Emily's practice is concentrated mainly on counseling clients in tax-advantaged affordable housing deals. She drafts and negotiates partnership and operating agreements, financing and bond documents, and real estate agreements, including development, leasing, condominium, easement and related agreements. Emily represents large financial institutions, developers, syndicators and other participants in the industry. Additionally, Emily represents clients on retail and office leasing transactions in locations throughout the United States.

Todd Blanding, CFA, serves as Chief Investment Officer and sits on the Investment Committee. He is responsible for managing the investment process, which focuses on middle-market real estate opportunities. Todd has more than 19 years of real estate investment experience. His past experience includes serving as vice president of real estate acquisition at GI Partners, where he helped grow equity commitments in the firm’s real estate funds from $750 million to $1.25 billion and sourced more than $200 million in new investments for the portfolio. Todd also served as vice president of real estate acquisitions at JPMorgan. In that role, he sourced $1.1 billion in investment opportunities and led the formation of more than $600 million in acquisition and development joint ventures on behalf of JPMorgan’s commingled funds and separate account clients. Todd is a holder of the right to use the Chartered Financial Analyst® designation and is a member of the Urban Land Institute. He received a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Michigan. He also has a master’s of business administration degree in finance, real estate and strategy from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he graduated summa cum laude.

Jesse Gundersheim is a market economist for CoStar, the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. Jesse analyzes real estate tends and maintains market reports for the San Francisco Bay Area, helping investors, property managers, and lenders minimize risk and maximize returns. Jesse regularly speaks at industry events to discuss his findings, and has been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, Bloomberg, and BisNow. Jesse was raised in Marin County and studied finance at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Previously, he led Bay Area market research departments at the brokerage firms of Grubb & Ellis, Studley, and DTZ. Jesse has also worked for private apartment investors, providing due diligence and pro-forma analysis. Jesse enjoys hiking in the North Bay in his free time, and has traveled to nearly 50 countries.

Ms. Hauser joined City Ventures in April 2014 and is responsible for all aspects of the development process, from pre-acquisition through construction and sales for new infill communities across the San Francisco Bay Area. She also evaluates feasibility of development projects by analyzing physical, financial, and political issues for each project. Ms. Hauser has worked on development of mixed-use and residential developments throughout northern California. Her experience includes mixed-use, multi-family, single family, and public private partnerships. Ms. Hauser has a BA, Architecture from Columbia University and a Master of Real Estate Development from USC. She serves on Pacifica’s Economic Development Committee, where she is currently the vice-chair.

Michael Van Every is the President and Managing Partner of Republic Urban Properties, the Bay Area flagship of the Republic Family of Companies. Mr. Van Every works with Federal, State, and Local governments on the creation and development of ‘smart growth’ projects, such as master-planned communities near transportation hubs; urban mixed-use projects near major employment centers; and innovative, public-private partnerships. The Republic Family of Companies is known for developing institutional-quality real estate throughout the United States, from land development, to historic adaptive reuse, to shopping malls. In his 25 years of working experience representing major institutional and private real estate developers in the greater Bay Area, Van Every has earned the reputation as a man with the leadership, the knowledge, the experience, and tenacity to see complicated projects through from land acquisition to completion. Under Van Every’s leadership, RUP has gained national attention for its Transit Oriented Development (TOD) projects at key transit stations working as the premier public-private partner with many transit authorities across California. Since 2006, as the managing partner of RUP, Van Every has been involved with the planning, financing, construction, and delivery of 1,238 multifamily units and 145,000 square feet of mixed-use commercial space. In addition to the multifamily pipeline, RUP has approximately 380 hotels rooms, 151,000 square feet of office, and 120,000 square feet of retail in various stages of development. The estimated market value among projects is projected at $1.5 billion in value. A third-generation San Jose native, Van Every holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from California State University at Fresno. Van Every is an active member of San Jose Rotary Club as well as the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. He also serves as a Board Member on Santa Clara County Catholic Charities. Michael is married and lives with his wife Jennifer and Jacob in the Willow Glen Neighborhood of San Jose.

Sanjeev Acharya is driven to convert his visions to reality through creative ideas, practical thinking and unprecedented passion. He believes in the importance of making positive contributions to people’s lives through intelligent business solutions, and possesses an instinctive talent for innovative problem solving. Professionally, he holds a BS in Electronics and Communication and is a 20-year veteran in high-tech, software engineering and entrepreneurial roles. As a forward thinker, he detected a market in the Silicon Valley for high density, residential developments tailored to fit the modern lifestyles of local urbanites. With a deep understanding of socio-economics he is in a unique position to cater to a dynamic, millennial housing market. In 2001, Sanjeev was inspired to begin buying and selling real estate, and by 2010 he broke ground on his first development project. His extensive portfolio of work includes developments in Sunnyvale, Menlo Park, Mountain View, Santa Clara, San Jose and Fremont. By leveraging his expertise in real estate, land development and construction, Sanjeev Acharya founded SiliconSage® Builders in 2011. It’s important to Sanjeev to continue executing ideas, staying ahead of trends and making a lasting, positive impact on his community. Industry experts have recognized him for his unique and pioneering Design Build business model, enabling him to be the leader of the mixed-use condo market. Sanjeev is playing a vital role in the urbanization of the Silicon Valley. His vision is to propel SiliconSage® Builders to a greater leadership role in similar, future transformations of other metropolitan areas. As a supporter of several nonprofits, Sanjeev believes in the power of giving and maintains a healthy work-life balance through his spirituality, yoga and meditation practices. As a language enthusiast, he enjoys learning and teaching his son Sanskrit and is a proud, devoted and loving father.

Dan has over 30 years of planning and design experience. His specific emphases are in planning and multi and single family residential projects. Dan’s primary responsibility is to ensure that creative, innovative and appropriate designs are applied to every project. He holds an A.B. degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of Oregon, and an architect’s license from the States of California, Nevada and Louisiana. ON HUNT HALE JONES ARCHITECTS > Hunt Hale Jones Architects is a leader in planning and architectural services for urban, neighborhood residential, and the luxury home markets. Since 1993, we have harnessed the power of design to inspire people, create vibrant environments, and enhance the quality of life. We view our clients as partners, offering unparalleled service while delivering outstanding results. Creativity, experience, and ongoing commitment to education and technology ensure our designs exceed our clients’ expectations. HHJA is a progressive, open firm, we achieve our results through nurturing collaboration, leadership and diversity in each of our team members.

Mark has had his real estate license for 33 years and has spent that time listing and selling residential property in his native Silicon Valley. During his career, he has achieved production numbers that place him in the top 1%-2% for sales (depending on the year) for all real estate agents worldwide. For the past 11 years, he has been the President and Publisher of PRDS forms, a subsidiary of Silicon Valley Association of Realtors, serving 7000+ Realtor members in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties. Mark has also served in the past as President of SilVAR, Chair of the SilVAR PAC, President of the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce, and as Chair and Co-chair of the two Oversight Committees that monitor FUHSD and CUSD school bond program implementation overseeing $700M in infrastructure improvements. This past year Mark ran in the Primary and General Election for Board of Equalization for California, falling well short of victory with 927,000 votes for the 23 counties in District 2. Closer to home, Mark has chaired and run the Cupertino/Sunnyvale/Santa Clara Weekly Tour meeting for 32 years. He was named Alumnus of the Year for Archbishop Mitty High School in 2011. Mark considers himself an expert in California property tax and his practice spans residential sales of Single Family, Multi- Family and Land Acquisition and Development from Gilroy to San Mateo. “Math and Spelling are my strong points and I’m still working on interpersonal skills”