The Vice President for Real Estate & Facility Services is responsible for all real estate, planning, and facility services and operations on both the Charles River and Medical Campuses as well other domestic and international locations of Boston University. The position oversees Facilities Management & Planning and the Real Estate Office.

Ned brings over 20 years of real estate experience in finance, acquisitions, and development for both the public sector, notably for the fourth largest university system in the country, and for companies in the private sector.

Provident founder Steve Hicks serves as the company's Chairman and President and Chief Executive Officer. Steve practiced law for 25 years for a number of prestigious regional and national firms, specializing in the area of public finance with additional concentration in the area of legislative law. He participated in many public finance issues over his 25 year career in a variety of roles including bond counsel, underwriter's counsel, and counsel to the issuer. He played a major role in the formation of the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority, one of the nation's largest issuers of debt securities for a wide range of public projects. While practicing public finance law, Hicks was the principal attorney or supervisory partner on approximately $12 billion in project financings from 1973-1996 for acute care general hospitals, nursing facilities, affordable housing, and numerous other health care and other essential state and local government projects.

Hicks served as General Counsel to the Louisiana Senate Committee on Revenue and Fiscal Affairs (1976-1980) where his primary responsibility was for bond and tax legislation referred to the Committee and the Louisiana Public Facilities Authority from 1974-1980.

He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Research Park Corporation, a public, nonprofit corporation organized by the Louisiana State Legislature to promote the development of high technology industries and research in Louisiana and Chairs the Audit Committee of the Research Park Corporation.

Trisha Filippone is Vice President of Business Development and Client Services for Education. She works closely with regional and national leadership to develop client relations and implement growth strategy for the company’s Northeast Region, specializing in public and private K-12 education, as well as higher education, with a focus on Public Private Partnership delivery. She has spent the last 13 years in higher education, at institutions including Harvard, MIT and UMass, and over 32 years working on developing, financing, and constructing nearly $10 billion of assets in Massachusetts. She is a recognized leader in the industry and a Subject Matter Expert on Public Private Partnerships.

Prior to joining Suffolk, she served in various positions at the University of Massachusetts including Executive Director of the University of Massachusetts Building Authority (UMBA).

As Executive Director, Filippone oversaw an ambitious $3.1 billion growth plan that includes the building and renovation of academic and research buildings, dormitories, and athletic facilities on all five UMass campuses. She was involved in numerous capital projects to improve teaching, learning and student life. Filippone joined UMBA in 2012 as CFO and assistant secretary-treasurer. As CFO, she managed all aspects of finance, including controller, treasury, risk management, business systems, and capital planning.

In addition she served in various positions at The Broad Institute, including CFO and assistant treasurer, senior financial officer and controller. Previously, she was director of Allston Finance at Harvard University and 12 years at the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. Filippone is a member of the Massachusetts’s Society of Certified Public Accountants, the Treasurer’s Club of Boston, Financial Executives International, Boston Women in Public Finance, Professional Women in Construction, and the Society for College and University Planning.

Dick Amster joined the MIT Department of Facilities in November of 2007 and leads a staff of over 75 employees in the management and implementation of ground-up building projects on campus as well as major renewals and renovations of MIT’s existing physical assets. Prior to coming to MIT, he spent 26 years with Turner Construction Company in Boston and New York City. Dick lives in Hingham with his family, wife Pam, a first grade teacher; daughter Rachel, her son Gabriel and his father, Isaiah; and his son Casey. Dick has an undergraduate degree in English from Harvard and an MBA from Columbia.

Mike Davis, FAIA, is Bergmeyer's President. Committed to sustainable design at its deepest level, he is also an effective advocate for progressive public policy and a staunch defender of the quality of the public realm. In addition to his many civic and professional involvements, Mike is a recent President of the Boston Society of Architects, is currently Chair of the BSA Foundation, and is chair of the Boston Civic Design Commission. Experienced in adaptive reuse and new construction, Mike has been Principal-in-Charge of some of Bergmeyer's most significant housing, mixed use, institutional and commercial building projects. With an imaginative view of a project’s potential and a firm understanding of the many variables involved in community building, he provides our clients with clear vision and valuable insight.

At home in his cherished Boston neighborhood, Mike is ebullient about the city. He sees Boston as an increasingly diverse and multicultural world-class center for the rapidly-expanding 21st century creative economy. Still proficient with sketchbook, tracing paper and magic markers, he has also earned master's status in social media and Tweets and blogs more than he probably should.

Mike holds a BS in Architecture from Penn State and a Master of Architecture from Yale University.

John S. Hamilton is responsible for PHG’s new management assignments, acquisitions, and business development. In the past 17 years, Hamilton and his team have underwritten, financed, acquired and/or taken over management of over 140 hotels with over 55,000 rooms.

Hamilton has years of experience sourcing, evaluating, underwriting, and executing hospitality real estate and management transactions. Previously a licensed CPA, he has been associated with such prominent firms as Lowe Hospitality Group, Promus Hotels, Carnival Hotels & Resorts, Doubletree Hotels, and Laventhol & Horwath.

PHG is a third-party hotel and resort management and asset management company providing services to owners and lenders, including hotel and resort property management, asset management, receivership, and project management.

PHG over 100 hotels and resorts under management, comprising over 24,000 rooms, over 1.5 million square feet of meeting space and approximately 12,000 employees. Pyramid Hotel Group, ranked among the largest U.S. hotel management companies by independent sources, www.pyramidhotelgroup.com

Kathy Spiegelman recently retired from her position as Vice President and Chief of
Planning, Real Estate & Facilities (PREF) at Northeastern University. This position
was created in 2022 with the merger of Campus Planning & Real Estate with
Facilities Management. Previously Kathy had been Vice President and Chief of
Campus Planning & Real Estate since 2013, when the position was created to
ensure that the university’s physical resources kept pace with its core values and
ambitions. In her leadership role for PREF, Kathy had responsibility for shaping
and caring for Northeastern’s physical resources throughout the university’s
global network. Northeastern’s experiential learning has been the centerpiece of
this work. Projects included maintaining campus operations during COVID;
development of award-winning learning and research buildings and private
student housing partnership projects bringing campus vitality to Columbus
Avenue in Boston; creation of spaces for Northeastern’s global network in US,
Canada and London; the emerging campus for the Rowe Institute at Northeastern
in Portland Maine; two Institutional Master Plans in the City of Boston and the
university’s first Climate Action Plan.

Kathy’s career began in local government in the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts
as a planner at the Cambridge Historical Commission and Community
Development Department, including her role as the Assistant City Manager for
Community Development. She had responsibility for affordable housing,
economic development, neighborhood planning, zoning and urban design. Her
entry into university work was with Harvard University where she filled several
roles with responsibility for coordinating design and planning consultants,
negotiating with representatives of Harvard faculties as well as members of the
community to accomplish capital plans, including the evolving 20+ year building
program for Harvard’s Allston development. In her university work Kathy has led
department reorganizations and mergers to achieve strategic institutional
objectives and gain greater efficiencies. This required leading campus and
environmental planning initiatives, project management, regulatory approvals,
PILOT negotiations and property operations.

All of this work facilitated responsible stewardship, principles of sustainability
and resilience, the value of community context and engagement and a
commitment to collaboration and innovation. These values were communicated
to her students during the dozen years she taught the planning studio at Harvard
Graduate School of Design and reflected in her commitment to volunteering and
non-profit board participation. Kathy graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Brown
University and holds a Masters of Science from the Columbia University School of
Artchitecture and Planning.

Jason is responsible for all aspects of American Campus Communities’ on-campus development projects – including market analysis, project feasibility, design, team oversight, and managing relationships with our college or university partners.

Every university has a unique vision for the student experience. Jason works closely with our partners to customize housing solutions that best serve the student body as well as the university’s mission and values, architectural design standards, financial goals, and operational needs. To date, Jason has spearheaded 64 projects totaling nearly $3.2 billion in development value – including 17 of our 25 largest projects.

Throughout his career, Jason has worked in every functional aspect of student housing – beginning as a Resident Assistant and marketing coordinator with Century Development. One of ACC’s longest-tenured employees, he joined the company in 1997 as a Marketing and Leasing Manager. Over the years, Jason’s role expanded into business development, corporate marketing, and development oversight. Most recently, he served as SVP of Marketing and Development.

Jason was deeply involved in the genesis of the 21st Century Project, a groundbreaking initiative of the Association of College and University Housing Officers-International (ACUHO-I). Working with fellow members of the ACUHO-I Foundation Board, Jason helped envision the student housing of the future and outlined the planning principles that are transforming our industry. Under Jason’s leadership, ACC has combined these principles with our experience and operational expertise, resulting in on-campus developments that fully support and enhance the academic experience of today’s university students.

Outside of work, Jason is a big supporter of the arts and serves on the board of Ballet Austin.

David Manfredi, CEO and Founding Principal of Elkus Manfredi Architects, has been privileged to work with industry leaders from across the country on a diverse portfolio of planning and building projects. Committed to the strong belief that the quality of our environment directly influences the quality of our lives, David effectively advocates for building and protecting vital, sustainable, and durable urban places. During his career, he has planned vital new urban neighborhoods, recast tired retail precincts into 21st-century main streets, the edges of universities from barriers into connective seams with adjacent neighborhoods, urban research parks into lively innovation districts that support the collaborative imperatives of today's science and technology, and obsolete manufacturing and warehouse buildings into active places that have become the heart of vibrant urban neighborhoods. From the game-changing life science research center, The Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, to some of our country’s most iconic “people places” such as The Grove in Los Angeles — at every scale, in every context, David's mission is to create common ground that brings people and communities together.

An active member of the Boston Preservation Alliance, A Better City, the Urban Land Institute, and NAIOP, he also serves on the Boston Civic Design Commission, University of Notre Dame School of Architecture Advisory Council, Northeastern University School of Architecture Advisory Council, and the ULI Boston Advisory Board.

David is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame with Bachelor degrees in both English and Architecture, and the University of Chicago, where he received a Master of Arts. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Boston Society of Architects, and a LEED Accredited Professional.

Sean has worked on several extremely challenging construction projects throughout his career and understands the unique needs of his clients and the importance of maintaining an open and honest dialogue. As Vice President, Sean is responsible for overseeing the overall performance of his team’s projects, including schedule, budget, quality management and execution. He is directly responsible for achieving the owner’s goals and is dedicated to exceeding his client’s expectations throughout the duration of his projects.

Elizabeth Sherwood Krol, National Client Manager for Partner Engineering and Science, Inc. She has more than 20 years of experience in the environmental and engineering consulting industry. Elizabeth provides comprehensive transactional support services for real estate owners, operators, investors, and developers as well as environmental and real estate attorneys and financial services companies nationwide. Her background in environmental science, in addition to her knowledge of current environmental regulations and the real estate industry, allows her to offer comprehensive environmental consulting services for real estate transactions.

Barry Bluestone is the Russell B. and Andrée B. Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. He served as the founding Director of the Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy from 1999 to 2015, and the founding Dean of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs from 2006 to 2012. Before assuming these posts, Bluestone spent twelve years at the University of Massachusetts at Boston as the Frank L. Boyden Professor of Political Economy and as a Senior Fellow at the University’s John W. McCormack Institute of Public Affairs. He was the Founding Director of UMass Boston’s Ph.D. Program in Public Policy. Before coming to UMass in the Fall of 1986, he taught economics at Boston College for fifteen years and was Director of the University’s Social Welfare Research Institute. Professor Bluestone was raised in Detroit, Michigan and attended the University of Michigan, where he received his B.A., M.A. and finally his Ph.D. in economics in 1974.

At the Dukakis Center, Bluestone has led research projects on housing, local economic development, state and local public finance, and the manufacturing sector in Massachusetts. At the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, he has co-chaired the Open Classroom series, a graduate seminar on critical social issues open free to the public each semester. He was also part of the team that developed the school’s Master’s Program in Urban and Regional Policy (MURP).

As a political economist, Bluestone has written widely in the areas of income distribution, business and industrial policy, labor-management relations, higher education finance, and urban and regional economic development. He contributes regularly to academic, as well as popular journals, and is the author of eleven books. In 1982, he published The Deindustrialization of America (co-authored with the late Bennett Harrison) which analyzed the restructuring of American industry and its economic and social impact on workers and communities. A sequel published in 1988, The Great U-Turn: Corporate Restructuring and the Polarizing of America, also co-authored with Harrison, investigated how economic policies have contributed to growing inequality. In earlier books, Bluestone investigated the low-wage labor market, the aircraft industry, and the revolution in the retail trade sector. In 1992, Negotiating the Future: A Labor Perspective on American Business was published. Co-authored with his father, Irving Bluestone, the book traces the history of labor-management relations since World War II and offers the concept of the “Enterprise Compact” as an approach to industrial relations which can boost productivity, improve product quality and innovation, and enhance employment security. Korean, Spanish, and Japanese editions of this book have been published.

Mr. Brannigan is based in Boston and is responsible for Beacon Capital Partners’ asset management activities in Boston. Previously, Mr. Brannigan was a Senior Asset Manager and Regional Vice President at Beacon Properties, with responsibility for the asset management of a portfolio of properties totaling over 9 million square feet in Boston and Washington, DC. Prior to joining Beacon in 1996, Mr. Brannigan served as Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Winthrop Financial Associates, where he was responsible for sales, refinancings, restructurings, and reporting to investors for a portfolio consisting of over 16 million square feet of commercial space and 5,000 apartment units. Mr. Brannigan earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.