Brian leads Skender’s specialized Healthcare and Life Sciences market sectors, overseeing project teams responsible for various hospital, outpatient and laboratory projects. A veteran of Skender since 2008, Brian is well known for his contagious energy and commitment to quality, strategy and overall client experience.

Rachel Jackson is an Associate Principal at Thornton Tomasetti’s Chicago office. With nearly 20 years of experience on projects involving ground-up construction, adaptive reuse and investigations of existing structures, she strives to find simple, constructable solutions to complicated design challenges.

Rachel's portfolio includes projects that have shaped the skylines of several Midwestern cities, particularly Chicago's. Her healthcare expertise ranges from large, complex, new designs-—including the University of Chicago Medicine’s New Cancer Pavilion—-to engineering the kinds of modifications and improvements that allow existing medical facilities to continue to perform at a high level.

Rachel is a member of the Structural Engineers Association of Illinois and has formerly served on its Board of Directors, and is active with Professional Women in Construction.

Ryan Dyer is the Director of Design for Healthcare at Ryan and leads masterplanning, programming, and conceptual design direction and intent for multiple key healthcare projects. He works with design team leaders to develop a strategy to progress Ryan’s overall design quality and culture. He is a registered architect well-versed in inpatient, outpatient, and off-campus medical office and ambulatory settings and is adept at guiding customers through the design process to achieve their goals and vision. He aims to create projects that function flawlessly, look great, and enhance the experience of the patients, families, and staff who inhabit them.

Jodi has over 19 years of experience, focusing exclusively in the design of healthcare projects worldwide. She eagerly embraces all types of healthcare projects, from small outpatient clinics to mega-hospitals. She has a comprehensive knowledge of operations, as well as empathy for the human condition, helping to create environments that support staff, patients and families alike. Leading HDR’s oncology planning initiative, Jodi is particularly dedicated to studying best practices and emerging concepts that promote optimized and innovative cancer center design solutions.

John has led The Concord Group's Program Management and Owner's Representation services since

2003. As the principal responsible for these services, he oversees the coordination and control of all

projects' planning, design, construction, and close-out phases. Since joining The Concord Group, he has

been responsible for projects totaling more than $12 billion in project value. Additionally, John manages

client relationships and develops new business for our Program Management and Owner Representation

sector.

John began his career in England, providing Project Management and Cost Management Services. He

holds a Bachelor of Science in Quantity Surveying and is a member of the Royal Institute of Chartered

Surveyors (RICS).

Alex Katz develops healthcare facilities and hospitals using creative financing solutions and proven

development approaches.

As a Principal at Farpoint Development, he develops solutions that maximize value while enhancing

the patient experience. With a track record of structuring and capitalizing over $500 million in real

estate transactions spanning healthcare, retail, and office assets, Alex brings extensive finance and

development expertise to every property type.

His innovative approach to financing and development execution has delivered successful medical

facilities, including converting a shuttered restaurant into a two-story Northwestern Medicine facility

and reimagining a former banquet hall as an Advocate Health Care primary care center.

Prior to joining Farpoint in 2022, Alex served as Managing Director at one of the nation's leading

owners of healthcare real estate, where he led their capital markets strategy and institutional

partnerships. His deep experience in structured finance, equity formation, and development drives his

ability to align stakeholders.

Beyond his professional work, Alex demonstrates his commitment to healthcare advancement through

his support of neurodegenerative disease research, including his involvement with the Michael J. Fox

Foundation and previous leadership of the Parkinson's Disease Research Society. He holds a BA in

Political Science from Lehigh University and lives with his family in Chicago's River North neighborhood.

Ryan Magnuson is a real estate director for Northwestern Medicine with 20 plus years of related real estate development experience in healthcare and retail. At Northwestern Medicine, Ryan leads a varied portfolio of real estate assets and related transactions. Ryan holds a B.S. in Operations Management from Northern Illinois University and a MBA from Indiana University. Ryan is actively involved in his community of Oak Park, IL where he resides with his wife and two children. In his free time, Ryan enjoys working out, going to concerts, and playing/coaching lacrosse.

As Vice President of Construction and Healthcare Team Leader at BEAR Construction, Victor has over 40 years of construction experience, 37 specifically with healthcare and specialized projects in the pharmaceutical, manufacturing, laboratory and research development arenas, including extensive experience in new construction from additions to high rises. As a team leader, he prioritizes strategy and collaboration and excels at coordinating preconstruction, estimating and logistics at the beginning of each and every project for his clients. Victor also has an impeccable record of client satisfaction and follow-through at project completion.

BEAR Experience: 2014

Industry Experience: 1983

Education: Marquette University

"I think we all take great satisfaction in successfully completing construction projects, but there is an extra level of pride when it comes to building healthcare facilities that enrich the lives of so many people."

Jana is a seasoned manager with over 20 years of expertise in healthcare and higher education in design and construction management. She has experience in all facets of preconstruction, bidding, permitting, estimating and onsite construction management. Her current role includes delivering several major strategic projects for UC Davis Health System including the California Tower ($3.7B, 1M square foot replacement bed tower project), a Surgical Outpatient Center with Clinics, new Parking Structure as well as several renovation projects and upgrade projects to the Central Utility Plant. She leads the construction management teams on the projects and as well as supporting the implementation of the strategic programs for UC Davis Health.

Kurt’s professional engineering career spans over 40 years. His expertise includes structural engineering design for Mission Critical Facilities such as Data Centers, Health Care Facilities such as Hospitals and Clinics and Life Sciences Facilities such as Biopharmaceutical Pilot Plants and Production Facilities around the United States and the World. His area of expertise is in designing buildings to be occupable after natural disasters including Tornados, Hurricanes and Earthquakes. He has been the structural engineer of record for conventional “fixed Base Buildings” ranging from 1-23 stories, “Base Isolated Buildings” ranging from 1-5 stories, and the retrofit and new construction of buildings incorporating Fluid Viscous Dampers ranging from 1-22 stories. He has published numerous papers on passive energy dissipation and presented the findings at various conventions in Boston, San Francisco and Milan.

For over 23 years as the Founding Principal at PARADIGM Structural Engineers, Kurt spends most of his time developing new leaders at PARADIGM and mentoring staff in Chicago and San Francisco.

Prior to joining the real estate industry, kage was an analyst in the investment banking division of bank of America Merrill Lynch. Kage holds a BA Degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and received his MBA from the university of Chicago booth school of business. Kage is also an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI).

Kage is an avid golfer and Blackhawks fan and enjoys spending time with his wife, family and friends.

Fearon Melton is the Founder and Managing Principal of Resilient Real Estate Partners. She heads the advisory business for healthcare and academic providers in need of institutional real estate guidance. She also leads the investment platform for Resilient’s institutional partners seeking sector level expertise in the valuation and risk assessment of medical office real estate. She delivers investment decisions by analyzing healthcare industry insights, real estate market data points, and demographic trends. These decisions are similar to the analyses she conducted in her past position as a senior investment professional at MBRE Healthcare, which is now known as Remedy Medical Properties. While on that lean team, she worked to build the medical office portfolio from ~$350M in 2013 to more than $5B in 2020. These acquisitions were exclusively for the benefit of Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors, who managed ~$10B of assets at that time. Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors is the subsidiary of LA based Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors, which ultimately managed ~$26B of AUM during the same period. Those medical office acquisitions were approximately 19% of Kayne Anderson Capital’s total assets under management. Her group was consistently recognized as one the most active buyers and largest institutional owners of medical office real estate, many years participating in more than 10% of all closed medical office transactions for the year.

Before MBRE Healthcare, Fearon completed M.B.A studies at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, where she concentrated in finance, accounting, and real estate. Prior to obtaining her graduate degree, Fearon worked in New York with J.P. Morgan’s investment bank and for a regional accounting firm in Charlotte, North Carolina. She received her

bachelor degrees in Economics and Public Policy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Mr. Ross joined the firm in 2014. As a Director in the Transactions group, he is responsible for the sourcing, underwriting, and closing of transactions and venture relationships within the firm’s healthcare strategy. During his tenure at Harrison Street, Mr. Ross has acquired or developed over $6.5 billion of medical office, life sciences and senior housing on behalf of the firm’s discretionary funds. Mr. Ross holds a BA in Economics from the University of Michigan.”

As a founder and principal of Echo, Jon is responsible for the firm’s strategic direction and manages the day-to-day operations for the company. Jon’s responsibilities include sourcing new investment opportunities, debt/equity financing, leasing, project management and asset management for Echo’s portfolio of properties.  Jon has extensive experience in real estate development, land assemblage, property acquisition, corporate real estate consultation, tenant representation, and leasing.

Prior to founding Echo Real Estate Capital, Jon served as Vice President of Development for a privately held Chicago-based development firm where his list of preferred development clients included numerous national retailers and restaurants expanding throughout the Chicagoland MSA.  Prior to that, Jon helped found a Chicago-based retail brokerage company where his list of clients included: McDonald’s USA, Dollar General, Verizon Wireless, Fifth-Third Bank, Save a Lot, Sonic, Anna’s Linens, True North Energy, Flexeon Rehabilitation, and Front Burner Restaurants.

Jon began his commercial real estate career with a retail and hotel development firm and was involved in over 30 projects comprising 8+ million square feet of commercial space.

Prior to his start in commercial real estate, Jon worked in the Indianapolis Division of Centex Homes – a Fortune 500 Production home builder based in Dallas, TX.

Molly is a partner in the Chicago Office of Siegel Jennings, a national property tax law firm. As a litigator and trusted advisor, she collaborates with Owners, Asset Managers, Acquisition teams and Tax Departments to identify, create and execute property tax reduction strategies. She becomes a member of her clients’ management team. Her goal is to maximize and protect the full potential of real estate assets, minimize related tax liabilities, and resolve disputes with tax authorities and government entities.

Molly’s client experience ranges from family owned 1031 portfolios to national commercial investment funds, including special use properties such as hospital campuses to multi-million-dollar manufacturing facilities.

Her comprehensive understanding of the commercial real estate market was developed in part through her time as a real estate broker in the Chicago area prior to starting her legal career. Molly regularly represents clients in hearings before review boards, local assessors’ offices, the

Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, and the circuit courts.

Suzanne Hendrick has over 30 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Prior to joining Xroads Advisors, Suzanne was executive vice president of asset services operations at Transwestern. In collaboration with Transwestern's Midwest leadership group, Suzanne guided Transwestern's Chicago portfolio. She was integral in directing challenging projects, supporting business development and strategy and delivering exceptional client service and returns.

Hendrick has thrived at multiple high-profile stops during her long career. From 2013 to 2022, Suzanne was EVP and managing director of asset management for MB Real Estate (MBRE). She was responsible for overseeing the firm's property portfolio of 14 million square feet, acting as leader and mentor to the management teams, directing day-to-day operations of the group, as well as leading business development. Suzanne won major business during her tenure, including Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, 69 West Washington, 190 S. LaSalle and the Chicago Riverwalk. Before joining MBRE, Hendrick served as vice president at The John Buck Company (JBC) and held the position of General Manager at 111 South Wacker Drive, an iconic Class A high-rise office building in downtown Chicago from 2006-2012. She has also been involved in the strategic repositioning of several notable properties, including 200 West Monroe, 321 N. Clark and 303 E. Wacker.

Despite the time it took to manage some of Chicago's most significant buildings, Hendrick found time to give back to her community. She was a member of The John Buck Company's Charitable Committee and served as its chair for several years. Hendrick remained a strong supporter of the JBC Foundation. Hendrick was also a co-chair for BuildOn's annual Chicago fundraiser and was a mentor in the non-profit's Partnership Program.

Suzanne is a licensed Broker in the State of Illinois. She is an active member and serves on the Board of Directors for the Building Owners and Manager's Association/Chicago. She is the board liaison for its Emergency Preparedness Committee and is on the BOMA audit committee. She held a LEED Green Associates accreditation from 2010-2020. She started her real estate career in accounting and was a Certified Public Accountant from 1987-1997.

Suzanne has received industry recognition including RE Journals Midwest Commercial Real Estate Hall of Fame Award, Connect Media Women in Real Estate Award, and 2021 Real Estate Forum, Women of Influence, Woman to Watch Award.

Bija Bennett is an internationally known wellness and lifestyle pioneer—and an outstanding communicator who conveys the tenets of mind-body health in remarkably accessible and engaging ways.

An author, speaker and life-long champion of mental health awareness, Bija is an advocate for an emerging wellness paradigm that addresses the whole person in interconnected ways, teaching care strategies and multidisciplinary solutions to help individuals realize optimal wellbeing. As a certified yoga therapist, she has treated thousands of patients and has developed pioneering programs for Fortune 500 companies, major medical institutions, spa and hospitality groups, and personal clients. Bija has written four internationally respected books and publishes regularly in Rolling Stone and AGEIST magazines. She is an Ambassador for the Global Wellness Institute, the leading organization empowering wellness worldwide, and currently serves as the GWI Yoga Therapy Initiative Chair. In partnership with the Global Wellness Summit, Bija established the Bennett Family Award for Collaboration in the Science of Wellness to recognize scientists collaborating for the advancement of human health and wellbeing. She has spoken at universities and corporate retreats and regularly appears at national and international conferences.

Through her charismatic and engaging style, Bija is a dynamic representative in the next step of mind-body health.