With more than 40 years of experience designing, planning, and managing a variety of project types, Rick has built a strong rapport as a trusted partner to developers, operators, and brands throughout the hospitality industry. He represents the firm as a Hospitality Leader for the North Central region, based in Gensler’s Chicago office. In his role as a Senior Project Director, Rick leverages his deep expertise and experience, both locally and across numerous national and international markets, serving as a dependable guide to clients on complex projects, from early-stage financing and planning to design and delivery phases.

Rick’s global professional experience spans from the U.S. to Finland, France, and China, where he opened and managed two offices in Beijing and Shanghai previous to joining Gensler. His design work has been recognized with national and international awards from the AIA, FIABCI, ULI, BD&C, ALA, USITT (Theater), SAFA (Finnish Architects), as well as organizations in South America and China.

Celadon Partners, LLC (“Celadon”)

Celadon Partners was formed in 2020 as a joint venture between Scott Henry and Aron Weisner for the development of affordable housing. The entity evolved from Celadon Holdings, LLC, a company previously founded and operated by Mr. Henry, a former executive from JPMorgan Chase’s LIHTC investment group, since 2008. Based in Chicago, the company is active as a developer in multiple markets throughout the United States.

The team brings significant affordable housing development and finance experience based on experience from a diverse set of backgrounds. The firm has completed affordable housing redevelopments in seven states totaling over 1,600 units.

Overview of Project Experience & Approach

The color “celadon” that combines the balance of blue’s essence of tranquility and serenity with green’s essence of growth and renewal. To us, this balance symbolizes our commitment to an environmentally sensitive approach to our work to create healthy, efficient, and affordable communities.

The end goal for all of Celadon’s properties, whether they are newly constructed or redeveloped, is to be the preferred place to live in the market during the entire investment horizon and beyond. We prioritize building healthy, energy-efficient, and service-enriched living environments for our residents and the communities we work in. This requires us to carefully select the best locations and provide an attractive amenities/services and quality environment that meets the needs of the community in which it is based. We prioritize property management and are active owners to assure partners and investors that the asset will be well-maintained, while also being attentive to the needs of our resident population.

Our core principles are:

Reliability: Celadon Partners is proud of our commitment to deliver on promises by playing our role in meeting the housing needs of community residents throughout the construction and management periods.

Creativity: Celadon uses open-minded and innovative thinking and close collaboration with community and public and private partners to find solutions to development challenges where others are unable.

Experience: We have the experience to develop projects of significant scale and complexity having completed numerous affordable housing developments, building trust with our partners through transparency and collaboration, successfully utilizing tax credits and other financial products, and being a pre-qualified developer of choice for many municipal programs.

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.

Lula S. Cassidy is a nationally recognized hospitality strategist, revenue architect, and executive leader redefining how design, procurement, and commercial performance intersect in modern hospitality. As Executive Vice President of Hospitality Markets at Design Environments, Lula leads strategic growth across hotel brands, industry associations, lodging communities, ownership groups, and management companiestransforming physical spaces into high-performing revenue assets.

 With a career spanning hundreds of hotel openings, renovations, and repositioning projects, Lula is known for bridging the gap between design execution and revenue optimization. By aligning FF&E, procurement, and design with measurable business outcomes, Lula has elevated the role of design firms from aesthetic contributors to essential drivers of asset value, operational efficiency, and long-term profitability.

A recognized industry voice and speaker at major hospitality events, including
AAHOACON and brand national conferences, Lula brings thought leadership to topics such as revenue-driven design, procurement innovation, and the future of hotel performance. Lula is also an early adopter and advocate of AI-powered revenue marketing, leveraging emerging technologies to enhance demand generation, pricing strategy, and guest acquisition for hotel owners and operators.

 Prior to joining Design Environments, Lula built a reputation as a results-driven leader working alongside top hotel brands, management companies, and ownership groups in key U.S. markets including Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, New York City, San Francisco, and Detroit. As a former board leader within Illinois State tourism and art & cultural organizations, Lula brings local ties, deep industry relationships and a forward-looking perspective on travel behavior, market demand, and emerging technologies.