Steven DeFrancis is the founder and CEO of Cortland. He has more than 25 years of experience in complex multifamily development and management, specializing in unique development and value-add opportunities. Since its founding in 2005, Cortland has expanded into a global, vertically integrated, multifamily real estate investment, development, and asset management company. Anchored on providing a beautiful, yet affordable living environment and an enriched lifestyle to its residents, the company has adopted the unique approach of internalizing the majority of the functions dedicated to achieving those two objectives – from construction and design to product development.

Steven and his team manage a portfolio of multifamily assets located in twelve states, primarily throughout the Southeast, Midwest, and Texas. Internationally, Cortland maintains a global materials sourcing office in Shanghai and a development and management platform in the UK. The company employs more than 2,000 associates and owns and manages more than 60,000 apartment homes. Cortland is a National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) Top 50 Owner and Manager and is ranked 6th among Atlanta’s “Top Workplaces” in the large employer category (2019).

Steven earned his bachelor’s degree in Real Estate from The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business. He is a member of The Buckhead Coalition and serves on the board of the Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership. He is also a member of The Real Estate Roundtable, The Urban Land Institute, and the National Multifamily Housing Council.

Brand is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board for Brand Properties which he founded in 1998. As the CEO of Brand Properties, Brand has been responsible for overseeing the development of industrial, office, retail, multi-family, and mixed-use projects throughout Atlanta and the Southeast Region. He currently manages the development, acquisition, and disposition strategy for Brand Properties' real estate holdings and manages over 4 million square feet of third-party assets. Brand was the recipient of the Atlanta Business Chronicle's and Georgia Trend's 40 under 40 and honored by the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the Philanthropic Leader of Tomorrow Brand is the Chairman of the Home of Hope at the Gwinnett Children's Shelter, as well as a member of the Board of Directors for The Westminster Schools, Board of Directors of Trinity School, a member of the University of Georgia Board of Visitors and Regional Board of Directors for the University of Virginia where he received a bachelor's degree in economics. Brand also serves on the Board of the Buckhead Coalition and Chairs the Sugarloaf Community Improvement District. Brand's relationships have allowed him to create alliances with the region's most respected real estate investors. development companies, and financial institutions. With years of experience in real estate development, deal structuring and financing. along with great leadership, Brand continues to pave a path of success for the Brand Properties team.

Attend Bisnow's 2018 Innovation Summit or email tom.friend@bisnow.com for more information or check out the event page linked below!

bit.ly/2OG84nW

Paul Bowers was named chairman,

president and chief executive officer

of Georgia Power, effective 2011. The

company is the largest subsidiary of

Southern Company, one of the nation’s

leading energy providers.

Paul joined the Southern Company

system at Gulf Power in 1979 and has

held executive leadership positions at

multiple subsidiaries.

Prior to his current position, he was chief financial officer

of Southern Company, where he was rated by Institutional

Investors magazine as one of the industry’s Top Three CFOs

in America.

In 1998, Paul was elected president and CEO of South

Western Electricity LLC (Southern Company’s former U.K.

subsidiary), which he later transformed into Western Power

Distribution (WPD), a distribution network company. In 2001, he

was elected president of Southern Company Generation, where

he was responsible for the company’s overall operational

activities. He also served as CEO of Southern Power.

Paul serves on the boards of Nuclear Electric Insurance

Ltd. (2018 chairman), Nuclear Energy Institute, AFLAC,

Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (2017-

2018 chairman), Atlanta Committee for

Progress (2016 chairman), Metro Atlanta

Chamber of Commerce (2013 chairman),

Georgia Chamber of Commerce (2015

chairman), Georgia Research Alliance,

and the Georgia Ports Authority. He is

curator for the Georgia Historical Society.

Paul is a past member of the Federal

Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Energy Policy Council and the Board

of Regents of the University System of Georgia.

For his professional achievements and his commitment to

the well-being of the citizens of Georgia, Paul has received

the American Jewish Committee’s National Human Relations

Award and has been inducted into the Junior Achievement

Business Hall of Fame. In 2018, Paul was inducted as a

Georgia Trustee by the governor of Georgia for exemplifying

the highest standard of “Not for Self, but for Others“ in his life

and career.

A Pensacola, Fla., native, Paul holds a Bachelor of Science

degree from the University of West Florida and a master’s

degree from Troy University. He is also a Harvard Business

School AMP graduate

Pedro Cherry serves as executive vice

president of Customer Service and

Operations (CSO) for Georgia Power.

He leads 5,000-plus employees in the

CSO organization with responsibility for

the company’s customer service efforts,

power delivery, sales, pricing and plan-

ning, regional external affairs and corpo-

rate services. Cherry is responsible for

operating and maintaining an electric system that serves 2.5

million customers in all but four of Georgia’s 159 counties.

Cherry earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineer-

ing and an MBA in operations management and finance from

Auburn University. He serves on the boards of the Georgia

Department of Economic Development,

Clark Atlanta University, Zoo Atlanta

and the Georgia Tourism Foundation. In

addition, he serves on the Leadership

Atlanta Board of Trustees, the advisory

board of the North Georgia Division of

Synovus and the Georgia Chamber board

of governors.

Cherry is a member of the CFA

Institute, 100 Black Men of Atlanta, the Auburn Athletics

Strategic Advisory Committee and Auburn’s Alumni Engineering

Advisory Council. He is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta,

Leadership Georgia and the Atlanta Regional Commission’s

Regional Leadership Institute.

Mike Gomes is Cortland’s, and the multifamily real estate industry’s, first-ever Chief Experience Officer.

In his role as CXO, Mike oversees marketing and communications, design (architecture, interior design,

and product design), and innovation teams, and he works across all of Cortland to align the entire

organization around a forward-thinking resident and community experience.

Mike joins Cortland from AMB Sports and Entertainment, where he served as Senior Vice President, Fan

Experience, for the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons, Atlanta United of MLS, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium. He

helped achieve industry-leading results through the design and implementation of innovative strategies

and programming that enhanced the game and event day experience for fans and guests of the new

stadium.

Prior to joining AMB Sports and Entertainment, Mike enjoyed a more than 20-year career with Walt

Disney Parks and Resorts, serving most recently as Vice President, Experience Development and Media

Strategy. During his career at Disney, he held a variety of roles with responsibilities in product

management, business development, web/mobile development and ecommerce, operations, technical

strategy, and corporate alliances.

Mike has been named on three US patents, named one of Adweek’s Rising Brand Stars in Atlanta, was

part of the team at Disney who received Fast Company’s Innovation by Design’s award, and was part of

the team who won Sports Business Journal’s Sports Breakthrough of the Year for the innovative food and

beverage program at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

As Chief Operating Officer for the City of Atlanta, Cox directly manages and oversees all city operating departments and related agencies including Aviation, Police, Fire, Corrections, Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs, Planning and Community Development, Public Works, Watershed Management, Human Resources, Procurement, Information Technology, Sustainability and Enterprise Assets.

To know K.P. Reddy is to experience boundless enthusiasm for creating new ventures. Reddy’s multidisciplinary career spans the innovation continuum. Over 25+ years, he has been a technologist, subject matter expert, founder, CEO, advisor, investor, professor, author and coach.

Reddy effortlessly combines expertise in advanced technologies with critical, in-the-trenches experience as an entrepreneur. He is a globally recognized authority in AEC environments, artificial intelligence, robotics and automation, collaborative communication, mobile applications and cloud computing. His passion is in launching game-changing startups, raising substantial investments, and leading organizations to meaningful acquisition and IPO exits. His most recent book, “What you know about startups is wrong.” hit the best seller list in its first week of release.

KP is the interim-CEO of portfolio company Konstru and sits on the Board’s of OnScale, WAimat and Hummingbird Kinetics. His experience advising Fortune 500 companies like Coca-Cola, Cox Communications, IBM and UPS informs his ability to accelerate internal know-how to achieve aggressive financial targets.

Career Highlights Include:

Founder of BuiltTech Labs, is a closed ecosystem of innovators, entrepreneurs, and investors seeking to disrupt the Built Environment through innovation. (Current)

Founder of Shadow Ventures, Seed Stage Venture Firm focused on disrupting the Built Environment. (Current)

Co-Founder of The Combine, corporate innovation incubator. (Current)

CEO of SoftWear Automation, a disruptive robotic sewing automation technology for the apparel/textile manufacturing industry. Within 18 months, he closed $3M Series A funding, launched two product lines, recruited the management team, and built a sales pipeline that considerably increased the company’s valuation;

General Manager of ATDC, As Interim General Manager for the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC), Reddy led one of the world’s top startup incubators changing the world, as recognized by Forbes . He leads the National Institutes of Health-funded entrepreneurship track of the B.E.S.T. post-doctorate program, which prepares students for biomedical careers beyond academia.

Founder and Managing Advisor for AMPIRIX, an AEC industry strategy company that launches new companies and products for clients such as Autodesk, Builtspace and Mohawk (acquired);

Managing Director for Enterprise Transformation for Gehry Technologies,the technology company started by world renowned architect Frank Gehry (sold to Trimble);

President and CEO for RCMS, a leading BIM technology and services company (exited to NYSE:ARC);

Founder, CEO, CTO for Cereus Technology Partners, one of the first ASP/cloud building infrastructure/software companies for hosting enterprise applications (NASDAQ:CEUS), market cap:$350m, since sold to NASDAQ:VRSO);

CIO for Verso, an end-to-end telecommunications product company

A sought-after speaker and thought leader, Reddy authored BIM for Building Owners and Developers in 2012, a book on the adoption of advanced technology in the infrastructure space. He frequently addresses audiences at universities and technology startup conferences like SXSW and TechCrunch. Reddy has been featured on NBC, The Economist, Fox News, Huffington Post, Los Angeles Times, US News & World Report, and The Wall Street Journal.

A proud Yellow Jacket, Reddy earned his bachelor’s degrees in Civil Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he is also an adjunct professor.

Scott Willis serves as DartPoints President and Chief Executive Officer and also serves as a member of the Board of Directors. Mr. Willis is a recognized global technology leader in the communications industry with a demonstrated track record of building successful businesses for both large and small organizations to significant scale. He has extensive leadership experience transforming organizations, setting strategic direction, overseeing complex operations and confecting corporate alliances while delivering growth and profitability to the business. Scott has the right balance of strategic leadership, vision, enthusiasm and operational and technical expertise for building sustainable customer relationships to elevate DartPoints to be a leader in the edge data center market. Mr. Willis brings over 30 years of experience in the technology industry with a history of proven success. Most recently, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Zinwave, a leading global provider of in-building wireless products and solutions. He successfully transformed the organization, reset the global strategy, led the charge to innovate new products and solutions which primed the company to achieve aggressive growth. Through his leadership, he positioned Zinwave as a global leader of in-building wireless solutions. Over the course of his career, Scott has served in executive leadership roles at respected technology companies including Ericsson, Nokia, BellSouth and Sprint. Before Zinwave, he served as Executive Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Executive for Goodman Networks, a privately held leader in the design, engineering, deployment and integration of wireless communications networks. In his role, he was responsible for all commercial strategy, sales and marketing and grew revenue from $400 million to $1.2 billion annually. Prior to Goodman Networks, Scott was Executive Vice President and General Manager at Ericsson, where he oversaw more than 6,500 personnel across the U.S. and Latin America growing the business from $5 million in revenue annually to more than $3.5 billion in over 5 years. Previously, Scott served as Vice President and General Manager at Nokia Networks, where he led the growth of a new business to $1.5 billion in annual revenue in 3 years and established Nokia Networks as a market leader in North America. Mr. Willis holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Oklahoma and an MBA from Wake Forest University Babcock Graduate School of Management. He also holds continuing executive education certificates from Stanford University Graduate School of Business and Columbia University Graduate School of Business.

Patrick Braswell is the CEO of Transcend, a commercial real estate brokerage firm that seamlessly transcends companies into a space that reflects their culture and inspires growth.

WHEN CULTURE, DATA & SPEED MATTER

We believe work environments should reflect culture and inspire growth... (We make sure that happens)

Specialties: Elevating the Workplace, Commercial Real Estate Brokerage

Sandy Selman co-founded CPROP to develop practical blockchain-powered solutions to

address pain points across the real estate industry. CPROP’s initial product is a

blockchain-powered transaction management system designed to remove anxiety and

inefficiency associated with long-distance transactions by providing blockchain-

authenticated documents, smart contract escrows, process automation and options to

choose user-rated service providers.

Sandy is also a co-founder of Sanus Connect, which harnesses IoT and blockchain

technology to deliver powerful new business solutions in the property and infrastructure

sectors.

Prior to Sanus Connect, he managed an early-stage venture fund that deployed over

$100 million to disruptive cleantech businesses, helping its portfolio companies transition

from pre-revenue experiments into global, profitable enterprises.

Sandy spent the early part of his career as a project finance banker and financial advisor

specializing in infrastructure finance and M&A, especially in emerging markets in Asia,

Latin America and Africa.

He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a

MBA in Finance from The George Washington University.

Matt has been on the bleeding edge of CRE tech for more than a decade as software has been his competitive advantage in the investment market. After starting his career in private lending and originating loans across the United States, he transitioned into the private equity and fund management arena with Colony Capital.

Jeffrey Berman is a General Partner at Camber Creek. Jeffrey runs Camber Creek’s New York office where he sources deal flow and coordinates customer acquisition, retention and marketing strategies for Camber Creek’s portfolio companies. Jeffrey brings close to two decades of executive experience in the real estate industry and has served on the Board of Directors and Advisory Boards of numerous companies, in addition to coordinating investments in same. Jeffrey graduated with a BA (with distinction) from New York University’s Stern School of Business.