Rachel Heller became CHAPA’s CEO in 2016, after joining the agency as the Director of Public Policy in 2012. Rachel is responsible for providing strategic leadership and overseeing all activities of the organization. She works in partnership with the Board of Directors to articulate and execute CHAPA’s mission. Rachel previously worked as the Director of Public Policy at the Alliance for Business Leadership, served as Chief of Staff to Massachusetts State Senator Susan Tucker, and was the Senior Policy Advocate at Homes for Families, a nonprofit advocacy organization working to end family homelessness. Rachel holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Peace Studies from the University of Connecticut.

Douglas J. Manz is a Partner and the Director of Development at The HYM Investment Group, LLC. HYM is currently leading the development of over eighteen (18) million square feet of mixed-use development in Greater Boston, including Bulfinch Crossing (Government Center Garage Redevelopment) and Suffolk Downs. Mr. Manz previously served as a Development Partner for JPI and Vice President of Development for Northland Investment Corporation where he focused on the permitting and development of high-rise, mid-rise and low-rise multifamily projects. Prior to that, he held various positions with Leggat McCall Properties in Boston. In 2013, Mr. Manz was appointed to and served on the City of Cambridge Transportation Advisory Committee and is a member of ULI and NAIOP. Mr. Manz is a graduate of Cornell University and the Harvard University School of Design.

Gary Kerr is a Senior Managing Director for Greystar Development Services in the Northeast region. Gary is responsible for managing new development projects and expanding the development pipeline for Greystar in Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. Previously, he served as a Managing Director of the Boston-based Cronin Development and a Senior Director at Tishman Speyer.

Gary has been active in the industry since 2005 and has managed multiple large-scale, ground-up developments of various asset classes including residential, office and life science. He previously led the redevelopment of Boston’s iconic Pier 4 and worked on the master-planning entitlement of over one million square feet of commercial development in the Kendall Square submarket of Greater Boston.

Gary received a bachelor’s of arts in Business from Saint Anselm College as well as a bachelor’s of science in Mathematics from Queens University. He also earned a Master’s of Science in Construction and Real Estate from the University of Reading, and a Master’s of Business Administration from Boston College.

Todd Mikelonis has two decades of experience in property management. His expertise in the apartment management & leasing market throughout New England is unparalleled. His experience managing both small multisite and large institutional multifamily enables an innovative, forward-thinking approach to the larger institutional multifamily market. Todd is currently the Managing Director at CHARLESGATE and additionally leads business development for new construction projects and existing multifamily buildings. Investors and developers rely on his operational experience and rental market guidance to create market-beating, stress-free property investments. He works with clients to create and execute strategic management plans that achieve their goals. Todd was instrumental in building CHARLESGATE’s apartment management and leasing platform, developing its reputation as one of the most well regarded and fastest growing leasing and management firms in Boston. Todd holds a BA in Economics from UMass.

John, an equal majority owner of SGA, spearheads the firm’s architecture practice, encompassing the life sciences, academic, commercial, technology, and residential markets. Known as a design innovator and thought leader, John leads many of the firm’s valued client relationships. Using his creativity, knowledge and strong communication skills, he has generated award-winning design concepts and has achieved public approvals for SGA’s largest and complex projects.

With over 16 years at SGA, John oversees the firm’s large-scale projects in both urban and suburban settings. He plays a major role in master planning, conceptual design, and the entitlements process, welcoming opportunities to present the perspective of clients to generate consensus among communities, municipalities and key stakeholders.

John’s talent for placemaking and architectural innovation has broadened recognition for SGA’s approach to design. Within the firm, John is a champion for design and an advocate for SGA’s culture, with an ongoing focus on fostering a supportive environment where people can thrive and grow as design professionals.

John received a Bachelor and Master of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Outside of the office, he spends time with his wife, two sons, and dog Brenna, who is a lab mix. He and his family enjoy traveling, the beach, and sports – they support Boston’s pro teams, his sons’ youth teams, and their alma maters, Virginia Tech and Ohio State.

Karen Knox is a distinguished senior advisor and relationship manager at NFP. With more than 15 years of international property and casualty experience, Karen leverages her expertise to navigate the complexities of international and digital asset risks. She partners with clients to develop strategic, customized, cost-effective solutions that address the unique challenges of private equity and infrastructure sectors, including:

Construction

Energy

Technology

Digital Assets

Karen’s wealth of knowledge across a variety of industries is accompanied by her experience in key international positions, including country manager for Aon in Israel and account management roles at FM Global, Lockton, Chubb and Aon.

Karen is also an active board member of the Boston Blockchain Association, where she contributes her expertise to promote the advancement of blockchain technology and digital assets.

Fred Borges is involved in Rockpoint’s eastern United States investment and asset management activities. Mr. Borges is based in Rockpoint’s Boston office. Prior to joining Rockpoint in 2011, Mr. Borges worked at Barclays Capital in the Real Estate Investment Banking Group for one year and previously at Cabot Properties for two years. Mr. Borges received a B.A. in International Relations from Tufts University.

Yorick Starr is a Managing Director and Investment Officer at Invesco Real Estate. Yorick is

responsible for originating senior and mezzanine loans for the commercial real estate credit

lines of business a primary focus on the Northeast and Eastern US.

Yorick began his investment career in 2002 and joined Invesco Real Estate in 2017. Prior to

joining Invesco, he was a senior vice president of the commercial real estate group at Wells

Fargo based in New York, where he was responsible for managing a team of relationship

managers focused on institutional clients, overseeing originations, portfolio management and

day-to-day operations of the office. Yorick spent over 15 years at Wells Fargo in a variety

positions, including acquiring and financing sub-performing and performing commercial real

estate loan portfolios, managing commercial real estate loan workouts and working within a

specialty finance group.

Yorick earned a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of San Diego with

minors in accounting and computer science.

Mr. Petz joined Colliers in 2019 and serves as managing director of investment sales within the Capital Markets team. He carries extensive experience in the disposition of core trophy assets, as well as a diverse mix of urban/suburban office, industrial, life science, and land development assets.

As the U.S. leader of office sales, Frank serves on the Board of Advisors for U.S. Capital Markets, Colliers' national platform of financing and sales advisors dedicated to elevating our brand and providing best-in-class service to our clients.

Immediately prior to joining Colliers, Mr. Petz led the growth of JLL’s overall capital markets business in New England. Prior to JLL, he served as director of capital markets activity at both Eastdil and CBRE, and ultimately built his capital markets foundation on the buy-side at AEW Capital Management for the first 15 years of his career.

Matthew Purtell is the head of CRE Project Lending for New England and Washington D.C. with KeyBank Real Estate Capital. Lending in all asset classes Matt focuses on balance sheet executions in Commercial Real Estate but works closely with KeyBank Capital Markets specializing in loan originations for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, LifeCo relationships, CMBS, and off-BS bridge products. KeyBank also provides structured financing for operating entities and CRE Investment Banking.

Christopher joined the USI New England’s South Portland, ME office in 2020. In his position with the Commercial Property & Casualty group,

Christopher specializes in the Industries Real Estate Development and Construction. He works closely with clients to help them understand the

complexities and components of their insurance costs and identify areas to mitigate costs through claims and modification review, forensic policy

reviews, contract and lender agreement compliance as well as finding creative was to deploy various alternative risk financing techniques to lower

the total cost of risk.

Christopher started his insurance career as an Underwriting Account Analyst in 2011. By 2016 he earned the title of Senior Underwriter for Maine

Employers’ Mutual Insurance Company. Prior to joining USI he worked for The Rowley Agency as an Account Executive from 2018 to 2020.

Christopher received a General Management & Risk Management and Insurance Degree from the University of Southern Maine. He has earned the

prestigious Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) designation, and the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU) designation. He has also received

the Certified Risk Managers (CRM) designation, a widely recognized qualification that provides risk managers a foundation of knowledge and skills

needed to identify, assess, monitor and limit risks. He has also earned the Workers Compensation Profession (WCP) designation. Furthermore,

Christopher has served on various association committees, such as, Government Affairs-ABC, Local Issues Committee at the Maine Real Estate &

Development Association (MEREDA), and a Board Member on the Maine Better Transportation Association (MBTA). He was on the American

Association of State Compensation Insurance Funds (AASCIF) Underwriting Committee from 2016 to 2018 and was the Chair in 2018.

As Managing Director and Head of Residential Development, Stephen is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day efforts for residential/mixed-use projects nationally with involvement in acquisition, finance, construction, and management activities.

Stephen’s experience has been interdisciplinary with contributions to several complex and high-profile projects across a wide variety of asset types. Prior to joining the firm, Stephen worked at the Related Companies across the development platform with involvement in a multitude of ground-up new development, fund investment re-development, asset management, acquisitions, and design/construction oversight efforts in both New York and Boston. Prior to Related Companies, Stephen worked as a Project Architect/Team Lead at Rafael Viñoly Architects on projects including 432 Park Avenue in New York and Marble Arch Park in London. Prior to RVA, Stephen worked with the Mitchell Architectural Group on various professional/academic research, healthcare, and advanced technology projects across New England.

Stephen holds a Master of Architecture and Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Wentworth Institute of Technology. He has lectured and served as a design critic at various universities, is a licensed architect and private pilot.

As Head of Construction, Josh leads the firm’s construction team. He is also keenly involved in the firm’s industrial development efforts in the Metro Boston region.

Prior to Marcus Partners, Josh was a Project Executive with JLL’s New England Construction team. Josh currently serves as a Co-Chair Program Committee on the Board of Directors at Rebuilding Together Boston.

In his 12 years of experience, Aksel has worked on many project types, including historic preservation, residential, commercial, industrial, offices, religious, educational, and museums. After many years involved in various community and industry organizations, Aksel has developed a talent for building trusting relationships with clients, consultants, and co-workers. His breadth of knowledge allows him to bring a unique perspective to every project. With an eye for detail and architectural design principles, Aksel ensures that every project is one of which clients and designers can

be proud.

Colleen Arria is a Principal and Interior Designer with Stantec. She co-leads the workplace design practice in the Boston office and brings 20 years of experience across workplace, commercial mixed-use, institutional, multi-family and student housing design. She believes and strives to make design an inclusive and holistic process, enabling clients to discover how their goals and culture can be supported and transformed through collaborative placemaking.

Karen has a general commercial real estate development and finance practice representing owners, developers and financial institutions in construction, term and bridge financing transactions for all commercial real estate asset classes. She also leads the firm's Affordable Housing and Community Economic Development Group and has significant experience representing owners, developers, financial institutions and quasi-public agencies in HUD and Fannie Mae-financed developments, federal and state low income housing tax credit, historic tax credit and tax-exempt bond financed projects, New Markets Tax Credit developments and "Comprehensive Permit" projects under Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 40B. Karen also has extensive experience structuring complex, multi-tiered and multi-phased projects using creative land use tools such as condominiums, air-rights and ground leases.

Karen is also co-chair of Sullivan's Women's Initiative and serves on the firm's Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee.

Real estate is in Joel’s DNA. The son of a Cuban architect, he grew up in Miami, traveling to inspect sites with his father and even helping to design two of his childhood homes. After attending the University of Florida and Harvard Law School, Joel became a partner at Goulston & Storrs. After leaving to conduct real estate deals on his own, he soon joined his friend, Steve Samuels, who was looking for some help in growing a development company.

Joel is passionate about seeing a new district come to life after years of work. “That’s the best part, watching our new project come to life and be woven into the fabric of the community in which it resides.”

Outside of work Joel enjoys being, quite literally, outside. He loves cycling, boating, tennis “and any other sports I can still survive.” He’s also quick to add, “I’m a big fan of American craft beers.”

Joel serves as Chair of the Boston Main Streets Foundations and as a member of the Board of Nuestra Comunidad Development Corporation, a non-profit CDC that builds affordable housing and promotes economic development in Roxbury.

Yanni Tsipis is Senior Vice President - Seaport at WS Development in Boston and oversees the company's Seaport project, a 7.7 million square foot mixed-use development currently underway in Boston's Seaport District. Prior to his tenure at WS, Yanni spent nearly 15 years at Colliers International after completing undergraduate and graduate studies at MIT in civil engineering and planning. At Colliers, Yanni focused his work on managing large-scale urban development and historic rehabilitation projects. His project experience at Colliers included multiple commercial, multifamily residential, hotel, and other project types, and spanned over $2 billion of development projects, all in the City of Boston. Yanni lives in Westwood and has written four books about the history of the city's transportation infrastructure. He serves on numerous non-profit boards and is a past member of the Boston Landmarks Commission.

Justin MacEachern returned to Gilbane Building Company in 2024 as vice president and business leader of Gilbane’s Building Company’s Massachusetts and Northern New England offices. A well-known and respected construction leader, Justin brings years of experience and established relationships with local and national clients, developers, architects, and other real estate leaders to this role. From 2017 to 2023, Justin was the director of construction for Boylston Properties, where he oversaw the highly successful development and construction of Arsenal Yards in Watertown, MA, a 750,000 SF, nearly $1 billion mixed-use, ten-building development consisting of life science, multi- family residential, hotel, and retail uses. Before his role at Boylston Properties, Justin spent ten very successful years working for Gilbane as a senior project executive overseeing projects for such clients as Reebok, Alexandria Real Estate, State Street Bank, Google, and the Boston Red Sox, to name a few. Justin is committed to building upon Gilbane’s solid foundation of inclusion and diversity and advancing workforce development. He is very active in the Massachusetts real estate community, most notably as a NAIOP MA Silver Gavel member and member of the Board of Directors for the Boston Chapter of ACE Mentoring, where he co-chairs the ACE fundraising committee.

As Director of Interior Design for RODE Architects, Jessica has been at the forefront of RODE's growth in the design of hospitality spaces (including hotels, restaurants, and amenities) as well as bringing her expertise to multi-family, corporate, complex institutional, and academic research facilities. Jessica brings a unique approach to RODE’s interiors projects by mixing the tried and true with originality and innovation. With 16 years of experience in the field, her leadership has helped RODE to integrate a more complete, full-service approach to the architectural practice. Jessica holds a BFA from Suffolk University and a MID from the Boston Architectural College. She remains connected to her Alma Mater as an adjunct faculty member at the BAC.

As Vice President of Sales, Jack is responsible for the overall framework and management of Evolution’s go-to-market strategy. With a history in Commercial Real Estate Management and a passion for sustainability, Jack’s focus at Evolution is to find creative approaches to improve corporate bottom-line performance through energy conservation measures, energy risk management, and ESG Solutions.

Chuck Hurchalla is the president of Evolution Sustainability Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the deregulated energy markets, including natural gas, electricity and petroleum products. He is considered a subject matter expert on hedging strategies and the fundamental and technical drivers of movements in the energy markets, including renewable products. In addition, he has been instrumental in helping clients develop comprehensive energy management solutions that meet or exceed energy efficiency and sustainability goals.

Jennifer Schultz is a partner at the law firm Nixon Peabody, LLP, and the Leader of the Nationwide Real Estate Development Team. Jenn specializes personally on large-scale complex mixed-use development in and around the Boston area, Worcester, and Providence, RI. She and her team have successfully permitted over 10 million square feet of development over the last 6 years, including over 4 million square feet of lab/R&D space. Nixon’s national development team includes more than 26 lawyers and professional staff across seven offices.