Real Estate Program

 

Real Estate Symposium

 

Speaker Bios

34th Annual Real Estate and Economics Symposium
Monday, November 21st— 8:00 am ~ 5:00 pm
Westin St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco

 

Katherine August-deWilde
President & COO
First Republic Bank

www.firstrepublic.com

Ms. August-deWilde has been a Bank executive since 1985. Previously, she was Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at PMI Group. She is a member of the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Advisory Council and the Stanford Center on Longevity's Advisory Council. A.B., 1969, Goucher College; M.B.A., 1975, Stanford University.

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 Zorana Bosnic
 Vice President
and Sustainable Design  Director
 HOK

 www.hok.com

 Ms. Bosnic is a leader in sustainable design  innovation and building technologies focusing  on resource conservation, energy savings and daylight enhancement technologies. As a building designer Zorana has worked on numerous projects in Europe, Southeast Asia, The Middle East and throughout the United States. Her expertise includes projects in office, corporate commercial, campus design, and hospitality sector. Zorana now focuses her efforts on the rapidly growing industry demand for sustainable retrofitting of existing buildings and facilities, and is one of the thought leaders of the HOK Renew initiative.

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Michael Bykhovsky
Founder
Applied Financial Technology
www.lpsvcs.com


Mr. Bykhovsky worked as a fixed income research director at buy side and at sell side firms between 1988 and 1995. He was the founder and the CEO of Applied Financial Technology from 1996 until 2008. The company developed and sold a full set of fixed income analytics, from default and prepayment models for mortgages to complex option pricing models. These analytics were used by the majority of buy and sell side firms by the time the company was sold to Fidelity Information Services in 2007. Since then he has been on economic advisory boards to congressmen, and on educational and corporate boards.


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 Henry Cisneros
 Executive Chariman
 Cityview
 www.cityview.com
 Former Secretary of Housing and Urban  Development


 Henry Cisneros is Executive Chairman of the  CityView companies, which work with urban homebuilders to create homes priced within the range of average families. CityView is a partner in building more than 60 communities in 13 states, incorporating more than 7,000 homes with a home value of over $2 billion. Mr. Cisneros’ community-building career began at the local level. After serving three terms as a City Councilmember, in 1981, Mr. Cisneros became the first Hispanic-American mayor of a major U.S. city, San Antonio, Texas. During his four terms as Mayor, he helped rebuild the city’s economic base and spurred the creation of jobs through massive infrastructure and downtown improvements. In 1984, Mr. Cisneros was interviewed by the Democratic Presidential nominee as a possible candidate for Vice President of the United States and in 1986 was selected as the “Outstanding Mayor” in the nation by City and State Magazine. After completing four terms as Mayor, Mr. Cisneros formed Cisneros Asset Management Company, a fixed income management firm operating nationally and ranked at the time as the second fastest growing money manager in the nation. In 1992, President Clinton appointed Mr. Cisneros to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. As a member of President Clinton’s Cabinet, Secretary Cisneros was credited with initiating the revitalization of many of the nation’s public housing developments and with formulating policies which contributed to achieving the nation’s highest ever homeownership rate. In his role as the President’s chief representative to the nation’s cities, Mr. Cisneros personally worked in more than 200 U.S. cities in every one of the 50 states. After leaving HUD in 1997, Mr. Cisneros was president and chief operating officer of Univision Communications, the Spanish-language broadcaster which has become the fifth-most-watched television network in the nation. Mr. Cisneros currently serves on Univision’s Board of Directors. Mr. Cisneros has served as President of the National League of Cities, as Deputy Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas and is currently an officer of Habitat for Humanity International. Mr. Cisneros remains active in San Antonio’s leadership where he is Chairman of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. He is currently a member of the advisory boards of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundation. Mr. Cisneros has been inducted into the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) “Builders Hall of Fame” and honored by the National Housing Conference as the “Housing Person of the Year.” Mr. Cisneros has also been author or editor of several books including: Interwoven Destinies: Cities and the Nation. His book project with former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, Opportunity and Progress: A Bipartisan Platform for National Housing Policy, was presented the Common Purpose Award for demonstrating the potential of bipartisan cooperation and Casa y Comunidad: Latino Home and Neighborhood Design was awarded the Benjamin Franklin Silver Medal in the category of best business book of 2006. Mr. Cisneros holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Texas A&M University. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard University, studied urban economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, holds a Doctorate in Public Administration from George Washington University, and has been awarded more than 20 honorary doctorates from leading universities.

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 Daniel Cressman
 Executive Vice President
 Grubb & Ellis Company

 www.grubb-ellis.com

 Daniel Cressman has specialized in the sale of  commercial properties in the San Francisco Bay  Area for the past 30 years and during his career,  Daniel has completed in excess of $2.0 billion of investment sale transactions in the downtown San Francisco property market. Daniel started his real estate career with Eastdil Realty in 1980 and upon graduating from the University of California, he joined Canadian-based Knowlton Realty where he worked on downtown San Francisco high-rise land assemblies. In 1985, he co-founded local brokerage firm Whitney Cressman Ltd. where he specialized in representing large offshore clients in the acquisition and sale of San Francisco office properties. Upon joining Grubb & Ellis in 1999, Daniel led the San Francisco Grubb & Ellis office to become the #1 sales office in the country and continues to focus his leadership for Grubb & Ellis in investment sales throughout the Bay Area.

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 Barry Giles
 Founder
 BuildingWise

 www.buildingwise.net

 With over 35 years in construction and facilities   maintenance, Barry has consulted on high  performance building and LEED® services and  provided  operations efficiency training, energy audits, and carbon footprint analysis, to government agencies, major commercial and institutional projects. As one of the founding members of the LEED-EB Core Committee, Barry has assisted the USGBC’s education department in developing the LEED-EB training workshop that debuted in late 2003. A Senior LEED-EB Faculty®, he has delivered all aspects of the workshop nationally to over 2,500 individuals. With his deep experience across the entire building lifecycle as an engineer, general contractor, systems operator and facilities supervisor, Barry recognizes the realities of building design, construction and operations.

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 William Ho
 Program Officer
 Enterprise Community Partners
 www.enterprisecommunity.org

 William is the Program Officer for Enterprise  Community Partners – Northern California  green initiatives. He is responsible for    implementing the  Energy Upgrade California/Bay Area Multifamily (BAM) green retrofit lending program and promoting Enterprise green resources such a resident behavior engagement tools and integrative design and sustainability training grants. Prior to Enterprise, William was interim Housing Director and a Sr. Project Manager for the Bernal Heights Neighborhood Center where he oversaw the development of affordable multifamily new construction and rehabilitation projects throughout San Francisco. William has also served as a construction lender for the City of New York and as a community organizer in Boston, MA. William received his BS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan and his Master in City Planning and Master of Science in Real Estate Development degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.


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 Hessam Nadji
 Managing Director
 Marcus & Millichap

 www.marcusmillichap.com

 Mr. Nadji possesses more than 25 years of  experience in real estate research, consulting,  marketing and technology management. He  oversees  Marcus & Millichap’s Research and Advisory Services, including economic and real estate information tracking, analysis and the production of various research publications. The group’s activities and publications support valuation, underwriting and development of specific investment strategies for the firm’s brokerage clients. He also manages the design and application of various research and marketing tools and analysis-related technology, as well as various real estate supply and demand analyses and databases. He joined Marcus & Millichap in 1996 as vice president of research and was promoted to managing director in April 2000. Formerly, Mr. Nadji was the national director of research and information services for Grubb & Ellis Co., where he was responsible for managing the company’s national research group, including real estate and economic analysis for all major real estate sectors, real estate information technology and client-specific consulting assignment. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in information management and computer science from City University in Seattle. As one of the commercial real estate industry’s top analysts, Mr. Nadji is regularly quoted in national publications, including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Investor’s Business Daily, Barron’s, Financial Times, The Economist and Bloomberg Businessweek. He is a frequent guest on CNBC, Fox Business News, Bloomberg News and National Public Radio (NPR).

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 Dana Parry
 President and CEO
 Reynolds & Brown
 www.reynoldsandbrown.com

 Dana Parry has over 25 years of experience  in all aspects of real estate development and  investment, including acquisition, entitlement,  venture formation, financing, tax planning,  construction, project management, marketing, leasing and disposition. Dana is a member in the Urban Land Institute, the State Bar of California and is a licensed real estate broker. Dana is a graduate of the University of Southern California and the UCLA School of Law. Over the past thirty-four years Reynolds & Brown has developed 8 million square feet of quality commercial real estate projects in and around the Greater Bay Area. The Company’s trademark has been its ability to maintain a consistent track record of successful projects despite the cyclical nature of real estate, without compromising its philosophy of developing long term value through quality management. The Company continues to make strategic investments in the Greater Bay Area, and today is actively developing retail, office, and industrial projects in several key cities.

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Kenneth T. Rosen
Chairman
Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics, University of California at Berkeley  
Kenneth Rosen- Haas School of Business, University of California Berkeley

Ken Rosen is Chairman of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics and Professor Emeritus at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, as well as Chairman of Rosen Consulting Group, a real estate market research firm. He was formerly the Chairman and founder of Rosen Real Estate Securities LLC (RRES), a REIT money manager. RRES had Deutsche Bank’s RREEF Alternative Investments and an Asian Sovereign Wealth Fund as minority partners in this venture. Also formerly, he was Founder and Portfolio Manager of Lend Lease Rosen Securities, a $3 billion REIT money management firm. In addition, Mr. Rosen previously served as the special real estate advisor to The Davos World Economic Forum.

In other business ventures, Mr. Rosen co-founded Regional Data Associates (RDA) in 1976, a leading real estate forecasting firm. RDA was sold to Chase Manhattan Bank in 1982, and became part of the Chase Econometric forecasting system. From 1985-1990 he was Consultant/Managing Director of Salomon Brothers’ Real Estate Research Department, which was recognized as Wall Street's leading real estate research group.

Mr. Rosen received his Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1974 and a B.A. with highest honors from the University of Connecticut in 1970. He was a Professor of Economics at Princeton University from 1975 to 1979. In addition, he was a Professor at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley from 1979 through 2004. Mr. Rosen is a trustee of the Urban Land Institute and a member of the board of directors of several non-profit and for-profit entities that deal with real estate finance and development. He has authored over 100 articles and four books on real estate and real estate finance.

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 James J. Saccacio
 CEO
 RealtyTrac, Inc.
 www.realtytrac.com

 James J. Saccacio joined RealtyTrac as  chairman and CEO in October 2000. Since  then he has transitioned the company from  a  local provider  of foreclosure data to the  nation’s leading online foreclosure marketplace, with more than 1.5 million foreclosure properties and more than 3  million unique monthly visitors. Jim was named one of the 100 most influential real estate leaders in 2009 by Inman News and received a 2009 Excellence in Entrepreneurship award from the Orange County Business Journal, recognizing him for his entrepreneurial vision, execution and accomplishments. He was an Executive of the Year finalist for the 2009 American Business Awards, and he was selected as one of the “Hot 25” people in Orange County in 2007 by OC METRO BUSINESS magazine. In his 20-year career, Jim has developed a knack for bringing structure to chaotic environments and repurposing existing assets in creative ways to take advantage of new market opportunities. Prior to joining RealtyTrac, Jim was the principal of the Transition Management Group (TMG), a turnaround specialty firm. While at TMG, Jim managed the successful turnaround of a $75 million consumer products company and orchestrated the strategic acquisition of an $11 million foam fabrication business by a $50 million privately held company. At Elite Leather Company, a manufacturer of leather furniture, he served at various times as COO, EVP sales, VP finance and operations, and controller. Before joining Elite, Jim was an assistant vice president with Bank of America, in the Corporate Banking Division, where he was responsible for lending programs to Fortune 1000 companies. Jim began his career at Bank of America as one of only 50 undergraduates chosen to receive accelerated training within the company’s North American Division, which catered to Fortune 500 corporations. Jim has a B.B.A. in Accounting and Finance from Southern Methodist University and an M.B.A. from the University of California at Irvine.

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 Dan Safier
 President and Founder
 The Prado Group, Inc.
 www.pradogroup.com

 Dan is the President and founder of Prado Group  and is responsible for Prado Group's overall  Development and Investment Management activities. Prior to forming the Prado Group, Dan was a Principal and the Executive Vice President of Prometheus Real Estate Group, Inc. (www.prometheusreg.com), and was responsible for all residential, commercial and mixed-use development activities for the Company. Prior to joining Prometheus, Dan was a Portfolio and Asset Manager at AMB Property Company (www.amb.com) and was responsible for AMB's International Investment Activities where he oversaw a portfolio of retail, office, and industrial properties and formed strategic alliances and investment relationships with various Asia-based institutions and investment companies. Dan is a licensed attorney and member of the State Bar of California, the Urban Land Institute Multifamily Housing Council, ICSC, and the Housing Leadership Council of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Dan received his BA from UC Berkeley with highest honors and his JD from UC Hastings College of Law.

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 Alex Villacorta
 Director of Research Analytics

 Clear Capital
 www.clearcapital.com

 Dr. Alexander "Alex" Villacorta is Director of  Research and Analytics, Data Division, for  Clear Capital®. Alex is responsible for the research and development of our innovative tools and methodologies for analyzing vast amounts of real estate data and providing commentary and analysis on the condition of nationwide markets. Alex created the statistical models which drive the Clear Capital Home Data Index™ (HDI), a powerful tool that delivers the most current and accurate market measures possible. Alex also contributes his insight to the company's monthly HDI Market Report, which offers a near real-time look at pricing conditions at the national, metropolitan, and local market levels. Alex also works with many leading banks, investment firms, and mortgage servicers, providing analytical insight into local markets so they can make vital investment decisions with confidence. His analysis provides localized market information for portfolio acquisition, short sale decisions, non-performing loan repurchases, and REO valuation assessments. He is a published author and has been featured on CNBC, National Public Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek and in many other national media as an expert in real estate trends. Alex received his undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, his master's degree in Applied Mathematics at the University of Colorado, and his Ph.D. in Applied Probability and Statistics from University of California, Santa Barbara. Outside the office, Alex loves spending time with his wife and two children cooking and camping in the local mountains. He is a passionate Lakers fan, enjoys playing the guitar, and is a skilled Ultimate Frisbee player and disc golfer.

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