Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Market Kickoff

Clay leads the long-term, strategic vision for Grubb Properties and plays an active role in all investment decisions. Under his leadership, Grubb Properties successfully transformed from a family-owned business to an employee- and board-owned company. Clay has overseen the launch of nine private equity fund programs to provide capital investment for acquisitions and development, including more than $1 billion in new real estate investment since 2010. Clay has been involved in a number of initiatives to enhance the communities and environments where Grubb Properties operates. He serves as chairman of the Grubb Preservation Foundation, which focuses on land preservation. He is also chairman of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte’s Real Estate Advisory Board. Clay is an active board member of Aym Technologies, a home healthcare software company. He is on the Board of Trustees for the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, D.C., where he chairs the National Freedom School Advisory Committee. Clay has served as past chairman of board of directors of Freedom School Partners, which provides after-school and summer programs to at-risk children. He is a past president of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, past chairman of the board for the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, and past member of the Mint Museum Board of Trustees. Clay has served on the Kenan-Flagler School of Business’ Real Estate Advisory Board, Queens University’s Presidential Advisory Board, Queen’s University’s Learning Society Executive Committee, North Carolina’s Environmental Defense Fund Board, and the NC Dance Theatre Board of Trustees. He is a member of the Young Presidents Association and served as North Carolina Forum Chair for five years. Clay received the Charlotte Apartment Association’s most prestigious award, the Lex Marsh Award, and the Young Bishop Award from Virginia Episcopal School as recognition for his accomplishments.   Clay received his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law and his Bachelor of Science in Management from the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University, with a concentration in finance and a second major in economics.

Erik is a co-founder of White Point Partners with over 15 years of real estate experience. He focuses on asset management, underwriting, equity and debt structuring, and investor relations. Erik previously served as SVP of Finance for a publicly-traded student housing REIT where he was responsible for capital markets strategies, underwriting, asset management, and managing the joint venture and investor relations programs. Prior to his tenure at the REIT, he worked in J.P. Morgan’s Real Estate & Lodging Investment Banking Group where he advised clients on M&A transactions and raised over $6.5 billion of debt and equity capital. Erik began his career at Wells Fargo, where he provided large real estate firms with acquisition and development financing. Erik received a Master of Business Administration from The University of Texas at Austin and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute and serves on the Advisory Board of the McCombs School of Business Real Estate Investment Fund at The University of Texas at Austin.

As a self-made multiple business owner, AJ exemplifies the transformation from entrepreneur to leader. With no formal education in business, AJ began his career in 2008, co-founding Capstone Companies, now the largest privately held multifamily investment sales brokerage in the nation. AJ has learned that above all, the key to scaling a business is humble, servant leadership. As a leader of his businesses, AJ has instilled in his team critical Core Values including putting "Team Before Self", "Checking Your Ego at the Door" and having a "Relentless Passion for Improvement". Having founded three successful real estate start-ups, a growing food and beverage business, and various tech-enabled investments, AJ has acquired valuable skills from the business world. AJ prides himself on his approachable personality, team-before-self way of living, easy going nature and relentless work ethic. These traits have helped AJ develop a reputation as a trusted resource for anything multifamily, commercial real estate, techology or non-profit related. Currently Managing Partner (Co-founder) of Catalyst Capital Partners, a multifamily development and investment company with a $1B+ pipeline throughout the Southeast, AJ oversees the management and investment activities of the firm. AJ continues to act as a Partner (Co-Founder) of Capstone and directs the company's national growth and technology-related business development initiatives. Capstone is a multi-year recipient of the "Inc. 500/5000 Award" and multi-year winner of The Business Journal's "Best Places to Work" List. Over the past 12+ years with Capstone, AJ has led the firm's growth from one office in Charlotte, NC to twenty coast-to-coast. In his time as a broker at Capstone, AJ led investment sales transactions representing an aggregate value of $2.5B+ and 25,000+ units. In this role, AJ was the top Producer for 3 of his last 4 years. AJ is also the founder and passive Partner of Built on Hospitality, a NC-based Food and Beverage group with a focus on creative new concepts in the full-service and QSR space throughout the Southeast. While his business responsibilities are many, the pursuit of most pride for AJ, international philanthropy, specifically funding and building elementary schools around the world, is AJ's guiding light. As a Global Board Member of BuildOn, the largest NGO in the world focused on building schools in rural third-world villages, AJ has been responsible for the funding and construction of 3 primary schools in Central and South America (225 students year-round), with 5+ more in the pipeline. AJ graduated from The University of Michigan in 2007 with a MS in Bio-Psychology and Cognitive Science. AJ is a member of the National Multi-Housing Council and the Urban Land Institute and is active in various other professional and philanthropic roles across the region. He enjoys Michigan sports, volunteering, the outdoors, world travel, and spending time with his wife Caitlin, and two boys, Harrison and Jackson.

Mr. Pavlov has built his career exclusively in commercial real estate capital markets, with experience spanning origination, underwriting, and placement of debt and equity across the full capital stack. He has been involved in more than $8 billion of transactions nationwide, with a particular focus on ground-up development and transitional value-add projects. Prior to joining George Smith Partners, Don was Head of Capital Markets at Lev, where he oversaw over $2 billion in closed financings. At Lev, he focused on integrating data and artificial intelligence into the financing process, building technology-enabled workflows that improved lender outreach, market intelligence, and execution efficiency for clients. Previously, Don was with Newmark, where he worked on large-scale, highly structured financings, often $100 million and above, across multiple asset classes and geographies. Don began his career at Mission Capital, where he focused on loan sales, trading, and advisory for institutional clients. This early experience gave him unique insight into secondary markets, distressed debt, and the broader ecosystem of capital markets beyond new originations. Don is based in Charlotte, North Carolina, and serves clients nationally. He is a member of ULI and was recognized by Commercial Observer in its “30 Under 30” list of top financing professionals. He graduated from Cornell University with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations and double minors in Business and Real Estate. While at Cornell, he was also a member of the varsity football team.