Opportunity Zones Summit

Charlie Kapp is a Senior Advisor with HRCapital. Charlie has served institutional clients in the fixed income securities market for over 25 years. He has focused on building strong relationships with large institutions and has earned a reputation for providing value and enhancing returns.

Paul Kapfer is Project Development Manager and General Counsel fo HRCapital. He served on active duty for 20 years with the U.S. Navy as a uniformed attorney ("JAG"). After retiring in 2015, he earned a Master's degree in Real Estate Development from the University of Maryland and was a member of the Board of Directors of Greenbelt Homes.

Steve Glickman is the Founder and CEO of Develop LLC, an advisory firm exclusively focused on building and supporting Opportunity Funds and the broader Opportunity Zones (OZ) marketplace. He is also the Co-Founder, and former CEO, of the Economic Innovation Group, the bipartisan organization that was the chief architect of the $6 trillion OZ program. Steve previously served in the Obama Administration as a senior economic advisor at the National Security and National Economic Councils, where he managed international trade, investment, manufacturing and small business issues. He was also Chief of Staff for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service at the Department of Commerce. Prior to the Administration, Steve served in legal roles on Capitol Hill, the Department of Justice and the Democratic National Committee. Steve received his B.A. and M.A. from Georgetown University, J.D. from Columbia Law School, and LL.M. from the London School of Economics. He is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown, and serves on the Board of The NewDEAL. Steve’s work has been featured in the Atlantic, AP, Bisnow, Bloomberg, Chicago Tribune, Crain’s, Fast Company, Forbes, Fortune, Impact Alpha, Inc., LA Times, Marketplace, NY Times, NPR, Politico, San Francisco Chronicle, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, Vox, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.

Daniel Kowalski currently serves as a Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury. In this role, Dan advises the Secretary regarding Treasury’s efforts to drive the Administration’s domestic policy agenda. His particular areas of focus are budget and fiscal policy; health, education and welfare policy; tax policy; and infrastructure policy. From June through November, 2016, Dan served in several roles in the Trump campaign in New York City with an emphasis on these domestic policy issues. Dan has 30 years of experience in fiscal policy at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Prior to Treasury, Kowalski was Deputy Staff Director of the Republican staff of the Senate Budget Committee. He also served as the Director of Budget Review for the Republican staff of the House Budget Committee. In those two positions, Dan helped shepherd several balanced budgets and reconciliation bills through the U.S. Congress. He started in Washington in 1995 with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) as a Principal Analyst in the unit responsible for preparing CBO’s baseline budget projections. In state government, Dan worked as Director of the Legislative Budget Office for the Missouri General Assembly, and as the senior individual income tax analyst with the Republican staff of the Finance Committee for the New York State Senate. He started his career as a management analyst for the Deputy Commissioner for Audit in the New York City Department of Finance. Kowalski earned a Master in Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland.

Ira Weinstein serves as CohnRenzick’s Managing Principal – Real Estate, Cannabis Industries, where he oversees the advisory, assurance, and tax services pertaining to both industries. His role is to develop and execute strategy that grows the capacity and capability of the firm’s resources dedicated to these industries for the benefit of our clients, our people, and our communities. Prior to taking on this role, Ira spent eight years managing the Baltimore office and over 20 years managing a consulting practice focused on providing strategic advisory services to clients in support of their vision for growth and enhanced enterprise value. He has extensive knowledge of the public-private partnership, specifically leveraging government programs to accomplish the project finance goals of his client base. Such programs include the federal and state New Markets Tax Credit Programs, the federal and state historic tax credit programs, renewable energy tax credits for investment and production, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. Ira is a subject matter expert and firm leader on Opportunity Zones, an economic development provision passed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, providing technical, transaction advisory, and entity formation services related to this provision. Ira speaks at conferences and seminars nationwide on a variety of topics. Before joining CohnReznick, he advised local economic development organizations on strategies to revitalize their geographic footprint. Before that, he spent several years in the corporate finance department of a public company raising capital for corporate and project finance and completing acquisitions and divestitures of company assets. His initial experience just post-college was doing credit analysis for a factor of extending credit nationwide across a variety of industries.

Emanuel Friedman is CEO and co-CIO of EJF Capital, which he co-founded in 2005 following his retirement from Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group, Inc. (now known as Arlington Asset Investment Corporation). He is a founder and the former co-chairman and co-CEO of FBR. He has more than 40 years of capital markets and asset management experience. Throughout the 1990s, he was active in building out FBR's alternative asset management platform. He was instrumental in the creation of hedge, private equity and venture capital funds of FBR, and maintains an extensive network of contacts within the CDO, hedge fund and private equity fund communities. In April 1998, he was awarded the CEO of the Year Award by George Washington University. He was honored for his outstanding leadership skills, demonstrated ability to meet organizational goals in the most challenging business environments, dedication to the community and commitment to education. He began his career in the securities industry in 1973 at Legg Mason Wood Walker, Inc.

Mr. Gronning is a Partner of Normandy and co-founder of the Normandy Real Estate Funds. Prior to Normandy, he held the position of Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer of Morgan Stanley’s real estate investing division. During his 12 years at Morgan Stanley, he was responsible for a $13 billion asset portfolio that served more than 100 clients. He was also instrumental in raising over $2.6 billion in capital for the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Funds (MSREF) and integrating the Lend Lease real estate investment business into the company. Mr. Gronning, a Certified Public Accountant, earned his Bachelor’s degree in Business/Accounting from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Robert K. Jenkins Jr. is CEO. A long tenured economic development finance professional, Bob has long been active in the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program. Prior to organizing REP, Bob was the founding CEO of Hampton Roads Ventures (HRV), a successful community development investment firm that has received and deployed multiple allocations of NMTCs. Bob’s successes as CEO of HRV have been chronicled in numerous media articles, including the New York Times. Bob views REP’s launch of the Renaissance Opportunity Fund as the logical extension of his successful experiences developing and implementing NMTC investment strategies. Bob has also served as Deputy Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer of the Norfolk Redevelopment & Housing Authority, the largest municipal community development agency in the state of Virginia. An experienced real estate finance attorney, Bob is a graduate of Howard University and the George Washington University School of Law. He is licensed to practice before a number of tribunals including the US Tax Court and the US Supreme Court. Bob has successfully completed post graduate studies in real estate development finance at the MIT Center for Real Estate

Michael Sanders is the lead partner of the Firm’s Washington, D.C., office tax group. Michael is a frequent speaker on the Opportunity Zone Fund legislation, which is part of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act. He advises funds, investors, and real estate companies on the program requirements and provides up-to-date guidance. He was recently named a 2019, "Top 25 Opportunity Zone Influencer," by OZ Magazine. Michael focuses his practice in the area of taxation, offering particular knowledge in matters affecting partnerships, limited liability companies, S-corporations, real estate, tax controversy, opportunity zone funds, and estate planning, including trusts and estates. He has a large practice in the area of exempt organizations involving healthcare and low-income housing, associations and joint ventures between for-profits and nonprofits, as well as structuring New Markets Tax Credit (“NMTC”) and Historic Tax Credit (“HTC”) transactions. Prior to Blank Rome, Michael served as an attorney-adviser to the assistant secretary of tax policy at the Office of Tax Legislative Counsel and as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice (Attorney General’s Honors Program). Michael received his LLM Tax Degree from Georgetown University, his LLB from New York University School of Law, and his BS summa cum laude from New York University.

James “Jay” Augustyn is a partner in Ice Miller’s Real Estate Practice. He focuses his practice on real estate transactions, including development, financing, sales and dispositions. Prior to rejoining Ice Miller in 2018, Jay was a real estate partner at a large Chicago law firm. Jay represented a self-managed integrated commercial real estate investment and asset management company organized as a public real estate investment trust in the acquisition and disposition of over one hundred industrial, warehouse and office properties in the U.S. He also represented a credit and asset based investor in the acquisition, disposition and financing of over thirty hotel properties in the U.S. and a sovereign wealth fund in connection with the acquisition of hotel properties in Bal Harbour, Florida; Washington, D.C. and Miami, Florida. From 2008 to 2012, Jay was an attorney at Ice Miller LLP. Jay earned his juris doctor, cum laude, from the University of Illinois School of Law in 2008. He received his Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Michigan in 2000, where he participated in Naval ROTC. Upon graduation, Jay first served as a main propulsion division officer aboard USS NASSAU (LHA 4). Jay then went on to act as Navigator and Combat Information Center Officer aboard USS CAPE ST GEORGE (CG 71), where he was deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2004, Jay was assigned to the Navy Operational Support Center Chicago, where he served as Training Officer and Executive Officer for two years before completing his active duty.

Mr. Watters is a senior managing director and is the officer responsible for new business procurement and execution, development, acquisitions, asset and property management activities in the Mid-Atlantic region. He currently serves on the Finance, Operations & Tenant Relations Committee. Since joining Hines in 1989, Watters has been involved in a variety of development projects and transactions aggregating more than 15 million square feet. Watters earned a BA in History from Colgate University and an MBA from Columbia University.

Ian Ross founded SomeraRoad Inc. in 2014 to take an entrepreneurial and creative approach to value-add, opportunistic real estate in non-core markets. Previously, Ian was a Managing Director at Triangle Capital Group, a firm he helped develop shortly after its inception. At Triangle, Ian managed the Acquisitions and Asset Management units, focusing on the purchase of hard asset real estate, non-performing loans, and securitized mortgage products, as well as the conception and execution of value-add business plans. Ian sourced, underwrote and structured investments, in both the CMBS and CRE arenas, and focused on the development of strategic relationships, firm oversight, and risk management. Prior to joining Triangle, Ian spent two years working as an analyst for Jefferies & Company in its Investment Banking Division where he focused on raising both debt and equity, as well as providing advisory services for companies in the financial services and real estate sectors. Ian initially began his professional career working on Morgan Stanley’s CMBS origination and securitization platform. Ian received an MBA from University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and graduated with honors from Emory University with a Bachelors in Business Administration. Ian serves on Manhattan’s Community Board 5 and sits on the Public Safety & Quality of Life, and Transportation & Environment committees. Additionally, Ian is the Founder and Chairman of The Asperger’s Awareness Council, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2009 that strives to raise awareness and funding for high-functioning forms of Autism.

Farpoint Development’s founding Principal, Scott Goodman, is an innovative real estate leader who cares deeply about how a development relates to the community it sits within. For 30+ years, Scott Goodman has successfully helped neighborhoods and buildings thrive by retaining the integrity of the neighborhood while making a culturally unique home for businesses and people. Goodman focused on launching Sterling Bay in the mid-1980s, a firm that grew to national acclaim under his drive for innovation. He deployed a visionary approach to revitalizing existing commercial buildings and new developments in unexpected locations. He implemented strategies like warehouse loft office space and the condo/commercial subdivision of buildings. These concepts in adaptive reuse stood out in the world of commercial development. As a leader, Goodman brought together a team that infused artistry, architecture, and experience into each development. Over the years, he championed major projects for such prestigious clients as Google, Sara Lee, and gogo, bringing deep insights into how people and office tenants experience and benefit from a development within a community. After Sterling Bay, Goodman sought to transition to a more streamlined operation that was even more responsive to client and community needs. His focus on investor relations, procurement of financing and equity and transaction structuring serve as the foundation for Farpoint Development. Under Goodman’s guidance, Farpoint has been defining and delivering notable Chicago projects, from the purchase and enhancement of Prairie Shores in the Bronzeville community to the development of the 100-acre Bronzeville Lakefront, a mixed-use district championing life sciences and health innovation in Chicago. Goodman’s insight and sense for real estate reinvention come from a diverse education, background, and sense of commitment to a cause. Goodman’s Bachelor of Science in Economics was earned at the University of Michigan. Additionally, he received an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. As his career accelerated, he served as the former Board Chair of the PKD Foundation and Heartland Alliance and is a current Board Member for both prestigious organizations. His membership in the Chicago Economics Club offers insight to his fiscal acumen as well. Goodman’s long-standing leadership, attention to detail and deep building experience are what make his projects stand out from the others, making them many of Chicago’s celebrated icons, both current and future.

Clint Myers is a Partner at Rise of the Rest, where he focuses on real estate investment initiatives. Clint previously was a Senior Managing Director and the Chief Strategy Officer for Hines where he served as a member of the firm’s internal proprietary research group and oversaw a variety of firm-wide strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Hines, he was in charge of Americas Research and Strategy at the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. He received his M.S. in Finance from Boston College and his B.A. in Economics from the University of North Carolina.

Derek Kershaw is counsel in Shearman & Sterling’s Tax practice with more than 10 years of experience advising clients on a range of areas of tax law and representing clients in significant investments and other transactions. His practice includes domestic and international transactional work, including: mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, and joint ventures; private equity and hedge fund investments, structuring and operations; REITs and other pass-through entities, and real estate transactions. Mr. Kershaw is a frequent speaker and writer on Qualified Opportunity Funds, which are a type of tax-advantaged investment vehicle created by the U.S. federal income tax overhaul enacted in late 2017.

Stephanie Smith, principal and founder of SMS Global Advisors Law Group, LLC (SMS Global), has over 20 years' experience as counsel to lenders, developers, and businesses to finance multi-family housing and mixed-use development projects with grants, tax credits, loans, and equity; a mortgage underwriter for a state bond agency and CMBS lending institution; and a legal and tax policy advisor to several federal government agencies’ lending divisions. Through SMS Global, she advises real estate developers, lenders and investors on the efficient coordination for multi-layered financing of real estate and business enterprise ventures in both urban and rural communities nationwide; assists real estate developers and business owners with packaging loan and tax credit applications to successfully obtain real estate and business financing from private and government financial institutions; advises foreign investors on viable U.S. real estate development and business ventures for direct investment opportunities; and provides strategic tax advice related to real estate, business, and investment activities. Ms. Smith is a Governing Member of the American Bar Association’s (ABA) Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law, and the past Chair of the ABA Real Property Section’s Affordable Housing Committee. She is a frequent speaker and writer about tax credit financing and opportunity zone investing for a wide range audience to include commercial real estate agents, developers and real estate trade organizations. She is currently working on a book about “Creative Financing Tools for Real Estate Development Projects,” for publication next year. Ms. Smith received her B.A. in Analytical Philosophy from Howard University, her J.D. from Rutgers Law School, and an L.L.M. in Taxation with Honors Certificate in International Taxation from Georgetown University.

Sharon Carney serves as Chief of Staff at the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development in Washington, DC. In this capacity, she oversees the agency’s $142 million operating budget, policy and legislative affairs, business development, operations, and an interagency portfolio that includes housing and community development, city planning, small business, and the creative economy. In prior roles at the agency, she led development of the District’s economic strategy, implementation of the federal Opportunity Zones incentive, and other special projects focused on inclusive economic development. Sharon has spent her career working to create equitable cities through cross-sector partnerships and evidence-based, community-driven solutions. Prior to public service, she spent 10 years in the nonprofit sector, including roles at the Urban Institute and the Furman Center for Real Estate & Urban Policy at New York University.

Margaret is head of the Urban Investment Group (UIG), a domestic, multi-asset class investing and lending business within the Merchant Banking Division (MBD) that provides equity and debt to real estate projects and social enterprises, as well as lending facilities to help small businesses grow and create jobs. Established in 2001, UIG has committed over $9 billion to community and economic development investments, serving as a catalyst in the revitalization of underserved, predominantly minority communities. Margaret serves on the MBD Real Estate Investment Committee and is chair of the Urban Investment Group Capital Committee. She is also on the Board of Advisors of Launch With GS, Goldman Sachs’ $500 million commitment to invest in companies and investment managers with diverse leadership. Previously, Margaret worked in Equity Derivatives in the Securities Division. She joined Goldman Sachs as an analyst in 2003 and was named managing director in 2013 and partner in 2018. Margaret serves on the boards of several community and economic development organizations, including the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation, Center for an Urban Future, Core Innovation Capital, Low Income Investment Fund, New York Public Radio and The Africa Center. Margaret earned a BA in Computer Science from Harvard College in 2003.

Mr. Jonathan D. Tower is the Founder and Managing Partner of the Arctaris Impact Fund, LP, Arctaris Royalty Partners, LLC, and three predecessor Arctaris impact investment funds. Mr. Tower invests in growth-oriented businesses in the manufacturing, technology, and services industries with heavy emphasis on underserved and underrepresented banking markets. Mr. Tower has over 15 years of industry experience, investing in private equity and private debt, including three interim Chief Executive Officer roles in private equity-backed companies. He has worked closely with portfolio companies in the manufacturing, technology, and services industries to achieve their growth objectives, including Capterra (acquired by Gartner), Verid (acquired by EMC), QuoteShip (acquired by ICGE), Moguldom Media (acquired by InteractiveOne), and Xoom (acquired by PayPal). Prior thereto, Mr. Tower was a Managing Director, Operating Partner and member of the Investment Committee at Dutchess Capital Management LLC. He held responsibilities both in private equity deal execution and maximizing value in portfolio companies, working with management teams to develop growth or turnaround strategies. At Fidelity Ventures, he executed private equity and venture capital investments, focusing on the enterprise technology, security and communications sectors. At IBM, Mr. Tower was a member of the Corporate Venture Capital, Mergers & Acquisitions and Debt Capital Market groups, where he facilitated the issuance of more than $2 billion in term debt, managed $250 million of A/R factoring transactions, led venture investments in five expansion-stage technology businesses, and executed two corporate divestitures that generated $300 million in profit. Prior to IBM, Mr. Tower was a Co-Founder and Vice President of Business Development at Vodium.com. From 1996 to 1999, he was a Financial Journalist at Bloomberg News. Mr. Tower has published articles on corporate finance, derivatives and risk management in Bloomberg News, Bloomberg Magazine, International Herald Tribune, and the New York Times. Mr. Tower received an M.B.A. degree from Harvard Business School in 2002 and a B.A. degree in English and Mathematics from Georgetown University in 1996.

As Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Falcone Group, Alfonso Costa Jr. oversees the development of multifamily apartment communities and condominium projects, leading public-private partnership opportunities as well as the company’s operational and strategic initiatives. His current pipeline of mixed-use development projects includes more than 2,000 residential units and 200,000 square feet of retail & self-storage, with a total value exceeding $1 billion. Such projects include “Block C-East” at Miami WorldCenter, and the “Horizon of Oakland Park,” a mixed-use public-private-partnership with the City of Oakland Park. Prior to joining the Falcone Group, Alfonso served as Deputy Chief of Staff & Opportunity Zones lead for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), where he oversaw policy for the $50 billion annually-budgeted Cabinet agency, which maintains a wide range of housing and community development programs, a $1.3 trillion mortgage insurance portfolio, and approximately 7,000 employees across 57 offices nationwide. As an expert on the bi-partisan Opportunity Zones program, he held the title of Chairman’s delegate and HUD’s lead representative on the Federal Government’s inter-agency Opportunity and Revitalization Council, and for his efforts he was recognized in the Opportunity Zone Magazine’s “Top 25 OZ Influencers” list for both 2020 and 2021. A former 5th-grade teacher as a Teach for America corps member, Alfonso is now an active social advocate through philanthropic & academic volunteer efforts on both the local and national levels. In his home State of Florida, he is the Program Chair of ULI Florida’s Affordable & Workforce Housing Council (AWHC), Advisory Board Member & recent Chair of the Nova Southeastern University Master’s in Real Estate Development (MSRED) Program, recent Member of the City of West Palm Beach Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, Heart & Spirit Society member for the Boca Helping Hands food-giving non-profit organization, and an In Jacob’s Shoes of Hope Hero member for the shoes/socks/school supplies non-profit organization. Nationally, he serves as a Member of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, National Housing Taskforce, Housing Advisory Council Member of the Bipartisan Policy Center, Board Member of the Home Builders Institute, and Full Member of the Urban Land Institute. He earned his law degree from Harvard University, master’s degree from the University of Oxford, and bachelor’s degree from Yale University, where he played both Division-I basketball and Division-I lacrosse while serving as Chair of the Yale Athletic Department’s Thomas W. Ford Community Outreach Committee.

Matthew R. Peurach is a Partner in the firm’s Corporate, Investment Funds, Real Estate Capital Markets and Tax practices. Prior to joining MMM, Mr. Peurach was an associate at a large Baltimore-based law firm and was a senior associate in the Washington National Tax office of a “Big 4” accounting firm. A large portion of Mr. Peurach’s practice focuses on structuring commercial real estate transactions, negotiating and drafting partnership agreements and LLC agreements documenting equity investments in real estate, as well as structuring private equity funds and other joint venture-related entities predominately focused on real estate investments. Mr. Peurach also advises clients on tax issues associated with real estate and other corporate transactions, including qualified opportunity fund investments in qualified opportunity zones, like-kind exchanges under Section 1031 of the Code, affordable housing/low income housing tax credits, historic tax credits, energy credits, conservation easement donations and credits, and mergers and acquisitions of corporate and flow- through entities.