Future of Montgomery County

Marc Elrich was elected as Montgomery County Executive on Nov. 6, 2018. He had previously served three terms (12 years) on the Montgomery County Council as an at-large member, being first elected in 2006. He served as a Councilmember on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006. For 17 years, he was a teacher at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park. As a County Councilmember, he was the chief sponsor of several landmark pieces of legislation and programs. He led the successful effort to increase the Montgomery County minimum wage in coordination with surrounding jurisdictions to $11.50 an hour and subsequent legislation that will eventually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He was the first elected official to propose building a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system throughout the County to address Montgomery's transportation and environmental problems. Ground was broken in Fall 2018 for the first BRT line, which will run along Route 29. Throughout his political career, he has been a champion of improving tenants' rights and for making developers pay for a greater share of the infrastructure cost to build schools and transportation solutions. He was a leader in the fight to preserve Ten Mile Creek in the Clarksburg area by limiting the proposed development that would have threatened the health of Montgomery County's last best stream which flows into the County's backup water reservoir.

A founding principal of Stonebridge, Douglas Firstenberg directs firmwide strategic planning, oversees landmark development projects, and plays a key role in major transaction negotiations. Under his leadership, Stonebridge has developed several of the region’s most innovative and successful urban mixed-use properties, including breakthrough transit-oriented developments and public/private initiatives. Mr. Firstenberg has more than thirty-five years of real estate industry experience, leading complex development projects totaling more than 10 million square feet and $4 billion in value. Mr. Firstenberg started his career with K.S. Sweet Associates, a Philadelphia-based real estate and investment firm where he was named partner. In 1993, he co-founded Stonebridge Associates in Washington, D.C., and led the transformation of the firm into an urban infill mixed-use developer. Mr. Firstenberg graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts and currently serves in leadership roles of several industry and charitable organizations.

Ms. Greenwood is the Global Head of Data and Insights for Cushman and Wakefield with overall responsibility for the data strategy for the company. She provides leadership to professionals who are focused on producing predictive, timely and interpretative analysis on the latest real estate trends. A well-established thought leader, Revathi has 22 years of experience in the CRE industry, advising on properties valued at more than $15 billion for various clients. She brings significant consulting and corporate finance experience as well as strong global exposure across Europe and Asia. Revathi started her career in India in consulting with a local firm and later moved to London where she worked at Citigroup's European Investment Banking Division. After working as the Director of Corporate Finance for KPMG in London from 2003 to 2012, she moved to the U.S., where she most recently held the position of Americas Head of Investment Research at CBRE. Ms. Greenwood holds an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and a Master of Philosophy from the University of Cambridge.

Jeff Galvin is the CEO and Co-founder of American Gene Technologies™ (AGT). He earned his BA degree in Economics from Harvard in 1981. He has more than 30 years of business and entrepreneurial experience including founder or executive positions at a variety of Silicon Valley startups. Several of his companies were taken public and/or sold to public companies, including one in the medical-technology arena that was sold to Varian, the leading maker of linear accelerators used in cancer therapy. Following his startup experience, he retired to become an Angel Investor in real estate and high tech. He came out of retirement to found and fund AGT after meeting Roscoe Brady at NIH.

C. Robert (“Bob”) Dalrymple is a partner in the Bethesda law firm Selzer Gurvitch Rabin Wertheimer & Polott P.C, heading up the Firm’s Land Use/Zoning practice group. Mr. Dalrymple practices in the areas of land use, real estate, municipal and other areas of administrative law, primarily in Montgomery County and Frederick County and the municipalities within those counties. Mr. Dalrymple has provided extensive services to clients throughout the region who have encountered growth management and increasingly complex legislative and regulatory issues during all phases of the due diligence review, entitlement and development process, including legislative amendments and administrative appeals and litigation related to development approvals and entitlements. In this regard, Mr. Dalrymple has represented, among others, local and national retail, office, residential, industrial/warehouse and mixed-use developers and builders, golf course developers, non-profit institutions and organizations, financial institutions, hospitals and other institutional users, as well as complex development and urban redevelopment projects including public/private partnerships and governmental RFP’s. Selzer Gurvitch specializes in real estate and business transactions, tax and estate planning, commercial litigation and dispute resolution, land use, zoning and administrative law and real estate taxation. Mr. Dalrymple sits on the Selzer Gurvitch Board, and additionally commits substantial time and effort in participating in various community, civic, charitable, business and professional organizations and services.Mr. Dalrymple has served on the firm's Management Committee since 2001. Additionally, Mr. Dalrymple commits substantial time and effort in participating in various community, civic, charitable, business and professional organizations and services.