Brian McGowan is the President of Centennial Yards Company building the most exciting sports, entertainment and business district in the UNIVERSE - in the coolest city in the United States.

McGowan has over 20 years of economic development experience working at all levels of government. He was appointed to senior economic positions in both the Schwarzenegger and Obama Administrations and was the CEO of Atlanta’s economic development agencies where he served under two Mayors. He was also the Executive Vice President/COO of the Metro Atlanta Chamber and Principal with the global law firm Dentons. He was also the founding CEO of Greater Seattle Partners which promoted and grew one of the most economically influential regions in the world.

McGowan is currently a Non-resident Fellow at the Brookings Institute.

Cheri Morris develops and owns upscale mixed-use communities, with a focus on downtown revitalizations. Morris recently completed Alpharetta City Center, and is underway with Woodstock City Center, both as public-private partnerships with their host cities.

Her earlier Main Street Woodstock development has garnered international attention as an unprecedented financial success and driver of ancillary economic development in its downtown environs. She was also on the teams that created downtown Rosemary Beach on Florida’s Emerald Coast, The Summit, one of the nation’s first and most successful lifestyle centers, Vickery Village in Forsyth County, Town Brookhaven on Dresden Drive, Luckie Marietta, a three-block dining and entertainment district on Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta, and Lime Grove, a mixed use resort in Barbados

Morris & Fellows’ development projects have been awarded the “Development of Excellence” by the Urban Land Institute, cited as “Development of the Year” by the Atlanta Regional Commission, received the CNU International Charter Award for Best Neighborhood-Scale District, named “America’s Best Smart Growth Community” by the National Homebuilders Association, and “America’s Neighborhood” by Better Homes and Gardens Magazine.

Cheri also consults to municipalities, creating downtown revitalization plans that combine her unique knowledge of both public-sector planning and private sector development. She is a sought-after thought leader in urban planning and a principal in public-private partnerships, often heading teams that redevelop the downtown districts of cities and towns based on her master plans.

Morris served on the teaching faculty of the International Council of Shopping Centers for over 20 years. She is a frequent speaker for such groups as ICSC, Urban Land Institute, Congress for the New Urbanism and the Atlanta Regional Commission, and has contributed to several prestigious media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Shopping Centers Today, The Journal of Property Management, and Shopping Center Business.

Active in civic planning, the arts and sustainable development, Morris has served on numerous civic and municipal boards and several Livable Centers Initiative planning teams in metro Atlanta, and is currently a member of the Urban Land Institute’s Livable Communities Council. She was the first Chair of the City of Sandy Springs’ Design Review Board, is on the boards of the Sandy Springs Conservancy, Act3 Theater, and Art Sandy Springs. Cheri is married to Terry Morris. The couple have two grown children, and four grandchildren, all of whom reside in Sandy Springs, Ga.

H. Jerome Russell, Jr. is president of Russell New Urban Development, the entity that leads the family’s real estate strategic direction and new business development focus. He oversees the company’s real estate portfolio and chairs the Herman J. Russell Innovation Center for Entrepreneurs (RICE). In addition to real estate development, Jerome has experience in property management, beverage distribution, logistics and banking. Jerome serves on the boards of H. J. Russell & Company, Concessions International, LLC, RICE, the Georgia Historical Society, Central Atlanta Progress, the Urban Land Institute, and is a member of the Rotary Club of Atlanta, The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Tiger 21, and The Carter Center, among others.

Melissa Ahrendt, Stafford’s Executive Director of Real Estate, began her career in commercial real estate with Stafford in 2002. After living overseas for three years, she moved back to Atlanta, serving as Chief Operating Officer of Healey Weatherholtz Properties. Melissa returned to Stafford in 2016. Her career has spanned many facets of commercial real estate, including leasing, property management, development, and marketing.

Chad is an award-winning multidisciplinary designer with over two decades of experience. Having practiced in the fields of landscape architecture, urban design, and architecture, Chad has developed an innate ability to help clients advance solutions that often dovetail into civic and cultural space, making architecture a holistic response within its environment. He has learned that developing authentic design is not an invitation into rethinking a client’s culture or mission, as they often have a great handle on what that is, but rather the honor to develop interest in ideas that diplomatically bring the heart of that culture though listening to them. This way, the client’s uniqueness opens corridors to innovation and relevance particular to themselves, city, or region. Identifying his clients’ partnerships as innovative, collaborative, and inspiring allows the project teams he leads to develop a rather complex, yet beautiful and formal web of connections. Chad feels it is within those connections that wonderful opportunities live.

Matt Bronfman is a Principal and the Chief Executive Officer of Jamestown. Mr.

Bronfman joined the company in 1998 as General Counsel and in 2002 was

named Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer. He became CEO in 2012,

and is responsible for managing Jamestown’s global operations and overseeing

corporate strategy and execution. Under Matt’s leadership, Jamestown has

grown its portfolio of assets in the U.S. and expanded into Latin America and

Europe.

Mr. Bronfman has more than 25 years of experience in real estate and has led the acquisition,

redevelopment and oversight for over $20 billion in projects, including Chelsea Market in New York City,

Ponce City Market in Atlanta, Industry City in Brooklyn, the Innovation and Design Building in Boston, and

Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.

Prior to joining Jamestown, Mr. Bronfman practiced law at Holland & Knight. He currently serves on the

boards for the Atlanta BeltLine Partnership, the Metro Atlanta Chamber, the Jewish Federations of North

America, and is Board Chair of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta. Mr. Bronfman also serves as

President of the board of Directors for the Jamestown Charitable Foundation, which supports nonprofits

to help make cities more enjoyable places to live and work. He has been recognized as a leader in the

industry and is a recipient of the Real Estate Roundtable President’s Circle Award; New York Observer’s

100 Most Powerful People in New York Real Estate in 2013 and 2014; Commercial Observer’s Top 100

Most Powerful People in Commercial Real Estate from 2015 to 2020; Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Most

Admired CEO in 2017; 2019’s 100 Most Influential Georgians by Georgia Trend; and Atlanta Magazine’s

Top 500 Most Powerful Leaders of 2019.

Mr. Bronfman graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude from Tufts University in Boston and

attended law school at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, graduating magna cum laude.

Lisa R. Hurd serves as Executive Vice President at Atlanta-based real estate investment and development firm The RADCO Companies. As the co-head of the RADCO Investment division, Lisa oversees Capital Markets, Asset Management, and Dispositions for the firm. Lisa’s team structures and raises private equity capital, sources creative and accretive debt, manages investment performance, debt, and investor relations for all assets under management, and oversees dispositions activity within RADCO’s multifamily, JV equity, and hotel portfolio.

Lisa has spent her entire career at RADCO and has held multiple roles within the firm during its unprecedented growth following The Great Recession. Beginning her career as an Asset Manager, Lisa oversaw the operations, renovation, repositioning, and ultimate disposition of 5,000 apartment units in multiple markets. She also has worked in both Capital Markets and Acquisitions Analytics, where she underwrote hundreds of potential investment opportunities to expand RADCO’s multifamily portfolio. In her most recent role as Vice President of Capital Markets, Lisa raised more than $800 million in private equity capital and sourced over $3 billion in debt to finance RADCO’s investments while providing best in class investor relations management for RADCO’s network of over 1,000 high net worth investors.

In addition to Lisa’s role at RADCO, she works with several organizations focusing on female empowerment and social equity. In 2016, Ms. Hurd co-founded Real Estate Network Empowering Women, Inc. (RENEW), an initiative to inspire, empower, and advance women in commercial real estate finance. After several years as Co-President, she still serves on the board of directors in an advisory capacity. She is also a board member and serves as Chairwoman of Resource Development for Cool Girls, Inc, a non-profit organization seeking to end the cycle of poverty, low self-esteem, and teen pregnancy for Atlanta girls. Lisa also is an active board member of Open Doors, an initiative led by the Atlanta real estate community with a mission to eradicate homelessness. Lisa also sits on the board of The RADCO Companies and serves as Treasurer of The Radow Family Charitable Foundation. In 2018, Ms. Hurd was featured as a “Woman to Watch” in commercial real estate finance by Globe Street’s Real Estate Forum.

Rahim B. Charania is a business leader with over 20 years of experience, acquiring and reorganizing business operations into efficient, highly profitable businesses. He has used his expertise in business management, strategic planning, finance and sales to distinguish himself as a leader and an innovator. Rahim’s entrepreneurial skills and creativity have shaped his vision into several successful businesses.

Rahim serves as Founder and Managing Director of Woodvale, a leading alternative investment firm providing solutions for clients along with strong and consistent returns for investors. Woodvale’s deep experience in special purpose real estate development, equity capitalization and debt re-structuring creates a single source solutions provider for the needs of today’s commercial real estate market.

In addition to Woodvale, Rahim has founded two other successful business that continue to make a measurable impact in the industries the serve. In 2011, Rahim founded American Fueling Systems (AFS) a national leader in the fueling industry, providing gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas and Liquefied Natural Gas to the transportation and energy sectors. He has taken AFS from an idea to a nationally recognized leader in the energy and fuels marketplace.

In 2016, Rahim created Three Ring Studios (TRS) and is now the Chairman of one of the largest Studio production campuses in Georgia’s growing film and TV production industry. With over 250,000 square feet of sound stages space and over 100,000 square feet of office space. TRS has positioned itself to be a premier facility for film and television productions of all types, offering an impressive array of sound stages, state-of-the-art post-production facilities and world-class support services amid an inspiring, historical setting.

These successful businesses have afforded Rahim many opportunities to be recognized for his efforts by industry and civic leaders across the U.S. In 2011, Rahim was named one of Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Top 40 Executives under 40 and in 2012 Georgia State University honored him with the Outstanding Young Alumnus Award. In 2015, he was recognized as the Businessperson of the Year from the largest Chamber organization in the South East, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce. Rahim has been published in many publications including Forbes and Success magazines, sharing his business insights. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration Degree and Executive MBA from the J. Mack Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

As Chief Development Officer, Travis Garland oversees the day-to-day business across all asset classes at Portman, playing a key role in shaping strategy, executing transactions, and driving the development of new and existing product types.

Previously, Travis served as Managing Director of Office at Portman, where he led transactions totaling over $4 billion in gross value, including leasing, operations, and dispositions. He is an active member of NAIOP and ULI. His achievements have earned him recognition as a NAIOP “Top Producer” in 2014 and 2018, as well as the #2 Producer in 2016, 2020, and 2021. He was also named one of Real Estate Forum’s 40 Under 40 in 2014 and has been recognized as a CoStar Power Broker from 2013 to 2021.

Travis holds a B.B.A. in real estate from the University of Georgia and is a licensed Broker in Georgia and North Carolina. He has been active in commercial real estate since 2005.

Rocky Horde is a Partner in the firm's Real Estate practice group where he focuses on real estate development and finance. Within his real estate practice, Rocky serves his clients through acquisition, finance, leasing, development, redevelopment, operation and disposition in a number of areas, including hotels, office buildings, multi-family developments, resorts, golf courses, country clubs, stadiums, and marinas. In addition to his real estate development and finance practice, Rocky has more than 18 years of commercial mortgage-backed securities loan origination experience. He received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and his J.D. from Vanderbilt University Law School.

As Chief Development Officer for Selig Development Company, Baile oversees Selig’s commercial, residential, and mixed-use development platform. Co-founding Selig Development alongside Scott Selig in 2014, Baile is recognized as one of Atlanta’s leading developers whose dossier accounts for over 5,500,000 square feet of commercial, hospitality, residential and mixed-use developments and acquisitions.

Current projects include three new towers started in 2018, The Epicurean Atlanta Hotel, 40 West 12th Street (Condominiums) and 1105 West Peachtree (Office) plus street-level retail. The Works, a mixed-use 80+/- acre development on Atlanta's Upper Westside represent 1.5 million square feet of office, residential, retail and entertainment, 550 North Highland (residential) and two additional towers in Midtown round out Selig Development's current initiatives. Baile's ventures represent in excess of $2.5 Billion in the Atlanta Region since 2004.

A graduate of Auburn University, professional and civic associations include: National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), Urban Land Institute (ULI), Atlanta Apartment Association and Board of Directors for the Midtown Alliance.

Ryan Mills, CPA, is a partner in CohnReznick’s Atlanta office and a member of the Firm’s Assurance Practice.

Ryan has provided accounting services for a variety of clients in the real estate industry, including REIT’s, as

well as real estate clients in the industrial sector. These services include financial statement audits, the

evaluation of internal controls, keeping clients updated on government required standards, and various agreed-

upon procedures engagements.

Ryan is responsible for providing audit and consulting services to real estate clients in the commercial real

estate arena, as well as to clients that have received federally sourced funds. He is also responsible for

providing audit services to companies of varying sizes and structures. Ryan is responsible for working

effectively with audit staff in the areas of training, supervising, and reviewing their work. Throughout these

engagements, he has shown effective communication with the clients not only in order to carry out his duties,

but also to provide suggestions on how to improve client operations.

Pete Patel’s roots run deep in the hospitality industry, a legacy that ignited his lifelong passion. After earning a Masters of Accountancy from Virginia Tech, he spent five years contributing his expertise to KPMG’s tax real estate group. His eight-year tenure at Delta Air Lines, working in their tax division, unveiled his true calling – hotel development. In 2008, Patel founded RevPAR Development, a venture that has since flourished into a premier player in national hotel development. Looking ahead, Patel’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to launch Nexera, marking the next phase of his journey, focused on expanding within the hotel industry and exploring alternative investments.

Jay Patel is a principal with JMS Family Office and directs all investment activities of the fund. Mr. Patel is responsible for origination, underwriting, financing, execution and disposition of all investments, including litigation against borrowers. Since founding JMS, Mr. Patel has acquired in excess of $250MM of distressed commercial real estate debt and owns or has developed a number of hotel properties. Mr. Patel serves on the board of Budgetel Franchise System, which he and several investors purchased from the Blackstone Group in 2007. Mr. Patel also serves on the board of Inn Distributors, which is a Platinum LEED hotel furniture, fixtures and equipment manufacturer affiliate of the iEVO Group in Udaipur, India.

Mr. Patel was formerly an investment banker in the Principal Finance Group and the Structured Finance Group at Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York, NY. His responsibilities included advising financial sponsors on LBO and M&A transactions, executing private equity investments, and securitization on transactions totaling $60+ billion.

While at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Patel advised Ford Motor Company on the sale of Triad Financial, a subprime auto finance company, for $2.1 billion and invested $100 million equity with the buyer consortium. Mr. Patel advised on both the sale and LBO financing of Hertz to a private equity consortium for $17.1 billion, in addition to structuring and the executing a $4.2 billion rental car securitization. Additionally, Mr. Patel worked on Aramark’s sale to GS Capital Partners and a private equity consortium for $8.3 billion and Lord & Taylor’s sale to Federated Department Stores for $1.2 billion. Mr. Patel formed a JV with Huntington National Bank to purchase $100MM of auto loan originations per month, warehouse and securitize the assets in GSALT. Generally, Mr. Patel was involved in the financial engineering, trading and arbitrage of loan pools through securitization and credit default swap derivatives. Other notable clients Mr. Patel advised were General Electric, Capital One, Citibank, MBNA, Providian and GMAC.

Prior to working at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Patel served as a capital markets analyst for GE Capital in Connecticut where he executed credit card, aircraft, equipment, real estate and healthcare securitizations and assisted in managing a $40 billion investment portfolio.

Mr. Patel earned a B.A. in Economics at New York University in 2003 and attended the London School of Economics. He is licensed by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) for Series 7 and 63 and conversational in French, Spanish and Gujarati.

As a founding partner of Banyan Investment Group, Mr. Chopra functions as the Managing Partner and focuses on the firm’s strategic direction, business development, company culture, and is a voting member on the investment committee.

As the son of a hotelier, Andy was raised in the hotel industry and brings extensive professional training and an intimate knowledge of hotel management and development to Banyan Investment Group. Andy’s professional and academic background developed his keen sense of select service hotel investments and finance; his knowledge of hotel operations further sharpened his underwriting and deal origination expertise. He has led the deployment of $150MM in equity over $500MM in AUM across dozens of hotel and multifamily investments spanning the US. His CRE investment experience has led to an intimate knowledge and expertise of capital raising, deal structuring, capital markets, and asset management.

Andy graduated from the University of Kentucky and went on to gain corporate experience in sales and origination at Johnson & Johnson, a Fortune 50 company. While there, he was awarded a company scholarship to pursue an MBA at Oglethorpe University. He continued his education in real estate investments and finance with a Master of Science in Real Estate from Georgia State University as well as a Certificate in Hotel Real Estate Investment and Asset Management from Cornell University.

Andy enjoys giving back through both servant leadership and philanthropy. In addition to funding academic scholarships at both the University of Kentucky and Georgia State University, he is a co-founder of Khelo, a non-profit with a mission of providing playgrounds to economically disadvantaged schools throughout the world. Andy also serves on the boards of the Atlanta chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization, Georgia State University Real Estate Alumni, and The Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Kentucky. He is a regular guest speaker/lecturer for Georgia State University’s Master of Science in Commercial Real Estate Program.

He calls Atlanta, GA home, where he lives with his wife Arinn and children Virran (son) and Nadiya (daughter). In his spare time, Andy and his wife enjoy cheering on their alma mater, the University of Kentucky Wildcats, in both basketball and football. He and his family are avid travelers and enjoy discovering new places, people, and cultures. They are fortunate enough to have traveled to over 60 countries on 5 different continents. The goal is eventually make it to every country on the planet.

Robert Fischel, AIA, LEED AP, is the Hospitality Leader for Gensler’s Southeast region. In his 30+ year career, he has collaborated on more than 12 million square feet of new and renovated hospitality assets around the globe. His projects include 5-star luxury resorts; upscale, boutique, and full-service convention center hotels; and dual-brand, spa, and business hotels. Robert’s portfolio includes most major hospitality brands, with whom he’s worked to meet complex and demanding budget, schedule, and brand standard requirements. Robert is a Principal at Gensler and a board member for the Atlanta Hospitality Alliance.

Cannon specializes in hotel management and human resource management in the hospitality industry. Prior to joining Georgia State University, she worked with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company and Hyatt Hotels. Her research interests have focused on high performance service organizations, organizational culture, organizational commitment and work teams.

Cannon's research has been published in journals including the Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Hospitality and Tourism Educator, and the International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. She was the founding Executive Editor of Praxis - The Journal of Applied Hospitality Management, a scholarly research journal formerly published by the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality. She has conducted funded research for hospitality organizations such as the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Georgia Hospitality and Travel Association.

John serves as President and Managing Partner, Southeast

for Houston-based Partners Real Estate.

Partners Real Estate is disrupting the commercial real estate

industry with its unique platform that combines a 3-pillar

operating model (Services, Investments & Development)

with a privately-held partnership structure. As such, its

clients appreciate how the full weight of the firm is invested

in their success.

Prior to Partners Real Estate, John was with Cushman &

Wakefield for 20 years where he represented some terrific

clients in both headquarters transactions and multi-market

account business; and also held a variety of leadership roles,

which included serving as Managing Principal of the Atlanta

office, President of the Central region (Midwest & Sunbelt

markets), and President of U.S. Multifamily Capital Markets.

Professional Recognition

• Who’s Who in Commercial Real Estate, Atlanta Business

Chronicle

• 500 Most Powerful Leaders, Atlanta Magazine

• Corporate Diversity Champion, Atlanta Business

Chronicle

• Most Admired CEO, Atlanta Business Chronicle

• Top Ten Producer, Office Category, Atlanta Commercial

Board of Realtors

• President’s Award, Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors

Community Leadership

Being engaged civically is important to John. As such, he

serves on the board of directors for the following

organizations: Atlanta Police Foundation, Morehouse

College, Metro Atlanta Chamber and the Buckhead Coalition.

John is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta, and Past President

of Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors, The Rotary Club of

Atlanta, former Chairman of the Board and current Advisory

Board member, Chastain Park Conservancy.

Education

• MBA from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of

Business

• Psychology degree from the College of Charleston

Personal

John and Jada, a pediatric nurse at Children’s Healthcare of

Atlanta, have three sons: Reilly, Owen and Lachlan.

As Chief Executive Officer and the largest shareholder of Partners, Jon has been responsible for leading the significant growth of Partners from a small, narrowly-focused company, to a fully-diversified commercial real estate and investment firm with more than 250 people, and offices in Texas’ four major metro areas—Houston, Austin, San Antonio and Dallas—as well as one in Atlanta, Georgia, with continued expansion into the Southeastern U.S. and additional geographies on the way. From a client representation perspective, Jon is primarily focused in the areas of Tenant Representation and Corporate Services. Jon has over 30 years of transaction experience, including more than 20 million sq. ft.

Jon’s strengths are his analytical background coupled with a creative problem-solving approach. Rather than the typical “it can’t be done,” Jon’s approach is “it can be done” and he

works diligently to find creative methods and structures to assist his clients in reaching their real estate objectives. Jon is considered a “bulldog” when negotiating on behalf of his clients, and is focused on advocating for his clients to deliver superior results.

Experience

• Over 20 million square feet of transaction experience in Houston and Globally

• 2006 Houston Business Journal MVP (Top 10 brokers in Houston)

• NAI Houston Top Producer

• NAI Houston Chairman’s Council every year since 1995

• NAI Houston President’s Council every year since 1995

• Houston Business Journal Commercial Real Estate “Heavy Hitter” every year since 1998

Education

• Graduate from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in electrical and computer engineering

• Has also attended graduate business school at the University of Houston

• Licensed real estate agent in the State of Texas Jon and his wife, Kristi have 2 daughters, Maddie and Reese. Jon enjoys spending time with his family and golfing as time permits.

Associations

• Duchesne Academy of Sacred Heart – Board of Trustees Member

• Chairman of Advancement Committee

• Chairman of Annual Giving Campaign

• Fourth Grade Soccer Coach