Bisnow's Women in CRE Leadership - Los Angeles

Jaime Lee is the Chief Executive Officer of the Jamison group of companies, a privately-held, family-run real estate business, which controls over 18 million square feet of commercial office, retail, medical, and multifamily properties throughout Southern California.  Jamison has been one of the largest commercial landlords in Los Angeles for the past twenty-five years. Since 2014, it has quickly become one of the city’s most active multifamily developers as well, bringing to market 5,000 units with an additional 2,500 units currently under construction and 7,500 more in development. Earning both BA and JD degrees from the University of Southern California, the Los Angeles native currently sits on the USC Board of Trustees where she co-chairs the Alumni Affairs and University Development committee and sits on the Executive, Audit Compliance Risk & Privacy, Nominating & Governance, and Academic Affairs committees. She is also a member of the Board of Councilors for the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences and an Executive Committee member of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. A longtime university volunteer, Jaime previously served as President of the USC Alumni Association Board of Governors and President of the USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association Board of Directors. Jaime is active with her high school alma mater, where she is a member of the Harvard-Westlake Board of Trustees and a founding member of its inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council. Jaime is also involved in a number of civic and non-profit organizations at the city, state, and community levels. She has served the City of Los Angeles as an appointed commissioner under three different mayoral administrations. Appointed by Mayor Eric Garcetti, she was elected President of the Board of Harbor Commissioners for the Port of Los Angeles in April 2018, the largest container port by trade volume in the western hemisphere. She also serves on the Mayor’s International Advisory Council and as co- chair of the public-private partnership non-profit Global LA. She previously served for four years as President of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System Board of Administration, which oversees the City’s $22 billion employee pension fund, and on the boards for the Industrial Development Authority and the Quality and Productivity Commission. She currently serves the State of California as Vice Chair of the California Film Commission and previously spent seven years as a commissioner on the Speech Language Pathology, Audiology & Hearing Aid Dispensers Board. Jaime is active in the community as a board member of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games 2028 where she sits on the Executive, Compensation, and Conflicts committees, the Los Angeles World Affairs Council & Town Hall, and the Korean American Foundation Advisory Board. Recognized for her professional and civic contributions, Jaime has been named one of the 500 most influential people in Los Angeles by the LA Business Journal every year since 2018. She was honored by Asia Society Southern California as their 2020 Urban Visionary, by the USC School of Architecture with their 2021 Distinguished Business Leadership Award, and in 2022 with the LA Parks Foundation’s Rose Award and a Los Angeles Times Woman of Influence Award. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their three children.

Ada Arevalo is the Founder and Managing Partner of iimpact capital, a private equity real estate advisory and investment firm focused on diverse and emerging managers with impact and sustainable investment strategies. Prior to founding iimpact, Mrs. Arevalo was the Chief Impact Officer at Alliant Strategic Investments, a national private equity firm focused on the preservation & impact of affordable housing. In this capacity, Ms. Arevalo lead the firm’s capital raising and investor relation strategies while also being responsible for the development, implementation and measurement of the sustainability and social impact programs across the portfolio. As a member of the investment committee, Ms. Arevalo brought over 15 years of real estate investment experience and unique perspective and passion for ESG and D&I to the investment thesis. Prior to joining Alliant Strategic Investments, Ms. Arevalo was part of the founding team at Avanath Capital Management. Serving over 8 years in several capacities, Mrs. Arevalo most recently served as VP of Fund Management, in that role she was the co-head of capital raising, head of investor relations and Chair of the impact investing committee. Ms. Arevalo also focused her efforts on creating a national and global presence for the firm by participating in multiple industry conferences as both a speaker, moderator and general delegate. Ms. Arevalo also serves as Chair of REĀL, Real Estate Association of Latinx Professionals, an organization focused on the advancement of Latinx executives, professionals and future leaders in the commercial real estate industry.

Ms. Lawshe joined the company in 2002 and is responsible for providing leadership to the acquisition and development team. She has extensive experience with the use of low-income housing tax credits, multi-layered financing structures and HUD project-based rental programs, as well as conventional financing. While at GHC, Ms. Lawshe has been responsible for the acquisition and financing of approximately 15,000 units exceeding $750 million dollars in value. Ms. Lawshe has more than 20 years of experience in real estate development and finance. Prior to joining GHC, Ms. Lawshe served as the chief executive officer of A Community of Friends (ACOF), a Los Angeles-based nonprofit development organization. Under her leadership, ACOF produced approximately 800 units in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties, and raised more than $100 million in capital from private and public sources. Ms. Lawshe obtained an MBA, with a concentration in real estate finance, at the Anderson School at UCLA and a bachelor of science in industrial management/industrial engineering from Purdue University.

Marin is located in Brookfield’s Los Angeles corporate office where she is Vice President of Leasing for the Western Region of focused on Brookfield Property Partners (NYSE: BPY) 10.5M SF class A office portfolio in Downtown Los Angeles. Ms. Turney’s primary responsibilities include strategic new and renewal lease transactions, property marketing through tours and asset development, broker and tenant relationship management as well as overall portfolio strategy for the DTLA fund. Marin works closely with legal counsel and third-party leasing teams, property management, construction and marketing teams to provide a full-service commercial real estate experience for Brookfield Properties tenants. Experience Marin has over 12 years of experience in Downtown Los Angeles leasing. Prior to joining Brookfield in 201, Marin worked at JLL for six years as a third-party broker and before that, an analyst within the corporate accounts sector. Her analytical and leasing advisory roles in the industry positioned her for a role as principal at Brookfield Properties. Before getting her start in real estate in Los Angeles, Ms. Turney worked for a financial lobbying firm in Washington DC at The Investment Company Institute. Marin’s primary area of concentration was analytics and market research. Education and affiliations Marin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Colorado at Boulder. She is a licensed California Real Estate salesperson (#01868581) and is an active member of the Los Angeles Commercial Realty Association (LACRA), and Organization of Women Executives (OWE). Marin has previously served as a 2016 board member for Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW). Outside of real estate, Marin has pursued philanthropic endeavors as the founder of Prototype Partners, a sub-group of the non-profit organization, Prototypes, which focuses on fundraising to improve mental, emotional and physical health of single mothers and their children. Marin is married and is a mother to three young children.

As EVP of Property Management, Kayce Hawk manages operations, strategic planning, impact initiatives, and business development of Rising’s property management assignments and teams. Kayce was an integral part of Rising’s reposition and sale of Rising's signature project PacMutual. Her expertise in project management combined with a prior career in accounting lent itself well to streamlining the multiple repositioning projects that took place at PacMutual. Prior to joining Rising Realty Partners in 2014, Kayce managed 4.6 million sq. ft. of Class A industrial buildings for institutional owners in Seattle. In 2011, Kayce completed her Certified Property Manager (CPM) designation through IREM. Kayce also earned a bachelor’s in communication from Seattle Pacific University. Outside of the office, Kayce's passion has been horsemanship since the age of five. It's an art she plans to craft for the rest of her life. From 2008 to 2013 she worked as a part time riding instructor for children on the weekends. Since her move to Los Angeles, Kayce purchased a young horse and spends her weekends at the barn riding through Vasquez Rocks. She also enjoys hiking, camping, eating and cooking great food, and kickboxing.

Kesha Fisher is a Director in Greystar’s Newport Beach office who oversees the firm’s Southern California fund of owned and JV development assets that span from Ventura to Downtown San Diego. Her current lease-up portfolio is valued in excess of $1 billion, and the development pipeline on which she is responsible for guiding Greystar’s development team is valued nearly $5 billion. Kesha operates a diverse team across all walks of life, and her leadership and vision during the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the assets under her control to keep pace performance-wise. She is also one of a handful of leaders at Greystar that is working on a committee to address racial equality within the company, and the industry as a whole.

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.

Heather Turner is the CEO and co-founder of Tamarack Capital Partners, a privately held real estate investment firm that focuses on value-add hotel and resort investments. Prior to founding Tamarack, Ms. Turner was a partner at DiNapoli Capital Partners. Earlier in her career she worked with Maritz Wolff, Broadreach Capital Partners, The Walt Disney Company and the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is an active member of the AHLA Hotel Investment Roundtable and a past Chair of the Hotel Asset Managers Association. Heather received her BS from Florida State University and her MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Reon Roski serves as CEO of Majestic Realty, a position she was appointed to in May 2022. A Board Member since 1997, Reon joined the company as Senior Counsel and Managing Director in 2007. Reon is responsible for the company’s day-to-day operations and is instrumental in the continued growth of Majestic’s portfolio. Reon is the granddaughter of the company’s late founder, Edward P. Roski, Sr., and daughter of its current President and Chairman of the Board, Edward P. Roski, Jr. Prior to coming in-house, Reon served as a highly-respected real estate attorney for two Los Angeles-based law firms where she managed numerous large, complex and innovative real estate transactions, averaging more than 18 million square feet of transactions per year. A graduate of both the University of Southern California and Loyola Law School, Reon completed extensive studies abroad, including graduate school in China.  Fluent in Mandarin, Reon worked for the Chinese government on real estate matters. Reon has been named one of the “Women at the Top” by Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) and one of Bisnow’s LA Power Women.  She is a member of YPO, Chief Executives Organization, The Real Estate Roundtable, and NAIOP. Reon is a Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for Exposition Park and the California Science Center, and Chair for the California Science Center Committee. She is a member of the Board of Leaders for the USC Marshall School of Business, the USC President’s Leadership Council, the Board of Directors of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at USC, and the Keck Medicine of USC Board of Councilors. Reon also serves on the Board of Directors at Loyola High School and the Board of Directors for Operation Walk.

Jennifer Taylor is an entrepreneur specializing in commercial real estate investing and management. Jennifer is building a new female and minority owned platform, Ambiculture Real Estate Advisors, investing in commercial real estate in markets with rapidly changing demographics. Jennifer brings many years of experience and relationships forged in investment management, asset advisory and consulting with leading investors and firms to her current role. Prior to Ambiculture Real Estate Advisors, Jennifer launched Atalanta Realty Investments, a real estate investment firm targeting office, retail and industrial assets in Western U.S. markets and Hawaii. In 2014, her firm acquired two prominent office assets in downtown Honolulu. This is a re-acquisition for Jennifer as she owned the buildings prior and disposed of assets in a portfolio sale. Jennifer pursued development deals in 4 of the Hawaiian Islands with her team. She gained a strong executive foundation as COO/Principal for Arroyo Realty Partners, where she oversaw the asset management of all owned investments. Jennifer’s team identified under-valued markets and properties; employed creative capital structuring; targeted asset management strategies; and, with a careful eye to the timing of the hold and exit strategy for these investments, executed timely dispositions to an institutional investor netting returns in excess of 200% for its investors. Prior to investments management, Jennifer worked in property management for nearly a decade. Jennifer is a licensed California Real Estate Salesperson; holds the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) and Certified Property Manager (CPM ®) designations. She is co-founder of industry organizations Filipino in Institution Real Estate (FIIRE) and the Los Angeles chapter of African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP). Jennifer is also founder of the non-profit organization focused on diversity, Swirls for Girls and sits on the board of the oldest and largest Filipino non-profit, Search to Involve Pilipino Americans.

Crystal Lofing is a partner in our Century City office's real estate group whose practice involves multiple facets of real estate transactions, specifically including acquisitions and dispositions (including note purchases and subsequent foreclosure or deed-in-lieu of foreclosure processes and negotiations), commercial leasing, real estate joint venture agreements, ground lease and development transactions and other documents relating to the ongoing operation and management of commercial property, including easements, covenants, conditions and restrictions, property management and brokerage agreements. She represents landlords, tenants, sellers, buyers, developers and other real estate users, ranging from entrepreneurial individuals and entities to real estate investment trusts and other highly sophisticated institutional investors.