Southern California Industrial Deep Dive

Aliza Karney Guren is the Chief Executive Officer and co-owner of Karney Properties. She assumed her position in 2003 and sets the overall strategy for the company. She is also directly involved in all key areas of the company’s activities, including development, finance, acquisitions and dispositions and asset management.She has spent more than 20 years in the real estate industry, including related experience in law and mediation. Prior to joining the company in 1991, she was a practicing attorney and mediator, and founded and directed an independent nonprofit arts organization. Aliza Guren, a California-licensed general contractor, is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and the National Association for Industrial and Office Parks. She is also a board member of the Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s largest and most active theater companies. In 2014, she was named one of Bisnow’s top 60 women in Los Angeles commercial real estate. She is a member of ULI, RPO, POWRE, and Land Ladies. Aliza Guren earned a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude from Harvard University, where she also earned a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. She is a member of the State Bar of California.

Steve Beard has 25 years of experience in the food processing industry centered mostly on capital expansions, infrastructure development and process design. He joined The Wonderful Company (TWC) in 2010 and is part of the Capital Projects team responsible for implementing large capital projects for all TWC Business Units. Specifically, responsibilities include feasibility studies, facility master planning, process engineering, equipment design, fabrication and procurement, construction management and project management. At TWC he’s been involved in the Wonderful Citrus’s Wonderful Halo’s facility construction, Justin Winery facility expansions, POM Wonderful beverage projects, Fiji Water line expansion and building construction for Wonderful Real Estate Development. Prior to joining TWC, he worked at Patterson Frozen Foods and Wm. Bolthouse Farms, Inc. as Director of Engineering managing construction projects including utility infrastructure, cold/freezer storages, vegetable processing plant expansions, and concentrate, beverage, and salad dressing plant construction. Steve has an MBA from the Krannert School of Management, Purdue University and a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

Brian Wilson, Partner, West Region, joined Bridge Industrial in 2015 and is responsible for Bridge’s acquisition and development activities throughout the state of California. Brian has successfully completed transactions on over 9 million square feet of industrial real estate with a value in excess of $1 billion. Brian Wilson is a graduate of Texas A&M University where he holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design degree. Brian also holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. Brian is also a member of NAIOP SoCal and Inland Empire Chapters as well the Los Angeles Chapter of SIOR.

Mr. Schlehuber has led Rexford Industrial’s property acquisition efforts since joining in 2009. He is also a member of Rexford’s Investment Committee. To date, Mr. Schlehuber has led the acquisitions team through 131 property acquisitions totaling nearly $2 billion and adding 17.2 million square feet to Rexford’s portfolio. Mr. Schlehuber has over 20 years of property investment and finance experience including acquisitions, dispositions, asset and construction management and leasing throughout California. Prior to his time at Rexford, Mr. Schlehuber was an Investment Officer at First Industrial Realty Trust, another publicly traded Industrial REIT. Additionally Mr. Schlehuber spent time working in investment banking and financial consulting at Relational Advisors (formerly Batchelder & Partners) and Arthur Anderson. Mr. Schlehuber is a Chartered Financial Analyst and Certified Public Accountant (Illinois-Inactive). He received his Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Brian Westre has more than 15 years of experience providing clients with turnkey design-build solutions. As Project Executive and Principal for ARCO National Construction, Brian is involved in projects from concept to completion, working with clients throughout the proposal, preconstruction, design, and construction phases of a job. Specializing in light industrial facilities, Brian works with developers on both speculative and built-to-suit projects for cold storage, food processing, manufacturing, and distribution end users. His industry expertise helps developers achieve speculative developments designed to support specialty end users with well-informed upgrades for maximum flexibility, decreased time for retrofit, and marketability to a broad range of clientele. ARCO’s integrated design-build approach helps Brian’s clients overcome current market challenges in material pricing and delays through innovative solutions for securing key trades. Brian received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Missouri University of Science & Technology.

Dana P. Palmer is a partner in the Los Angeles office and a member of the firm's Environmental & Natural Resources and Land Use groups. Dana's practice spans land use counseling for projects requiring review under the California Environmental Quality Act, regulatory compliance and enforcement defense, and litigation under federal and state statutes including in particular CERCLA and California's Proposition 65. He routinely partners with the firm's world-class real estate team on complex transactional matters involving contaminated property. Dana has broad experience before the federal EPA and California agencies including the South Coast Air Quality Management District, California Air Resources Board, State and Regional Water Boards, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Energy Commission, Public Utilities Commission, Coastal Commission, Air Resources Board, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, and various air districts. As a co-editor of the Firm's weekly Renewable Energy Update, on the entitlement side of his practice, he takes a particular interest in projects featuring renewable energy and storage technologies. Examples of Dana's diverse client experience include defending national trucking companies in the enforcement of the California Air Resources Board's Truck & Bus Rule; defending a manufacturer and three national retailers in Proposition 65 litigation in response to allegations of acrylamide exposure in hash browns; representing an aerospace client in the resolution of soil and groundwater solvent contamination issues involving state and federal litigation and a creative negotiated three-party settlement; advising companies on the regulation of antimicrobials (particularly relevant in the COVID-19 era); and performing environmental due diligence for numerous telecommunications, solar, and wind projects. Early in his legal career, Dana was one of the most junior attorneys ever to chair the California State Bar's Environmental Law Section. Dana began his legal career as the inaugural staff attorney at a trailblazing nonprofit organization where he litigated matters concerning water pollution and energy and advocated before state, regional, and local agencies on topics affecting water quality. Prior to his legal career, Dana worked in the environmental sector in various capacities. As special assistant to the administrator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he represented the U.S. Department of Commerce on climate issues at interagency meetings and at an international negotiating conference at The Hague. He also served as a legislative fellow on environmental issues for the office of a U.S. senator and as an associate in the environmental division of ICF International.