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Speakers and Panels

Meredith Cress

Meredith Cress

Senior Vice President, Management Services

Hines

Kelly Wheeler

Kelly Wheeler

SVP & Director of Operations & Strategy

Transwestern

James Tainter

James Tainter

Partner, Managing Director

NAI Partners

Steve Seltzer
Moderator

Steve Seltzer

President

Sheridan Commercial

Kim Schell
EMCEE

Kim Schell

Houston Market Manager

Bisnow Media

Meredith Cress

Senior Vice President, Management Services

Hines

Meredith is responsible for Southwest Region Management Services which includes property and facility

management, engineering, and maintenance services for over 39 million square feet of commercial office,

residential, industrial, life sciences, medical and retail assets under management. Meredith is also

responsible for the diversification strategy and growth of her property management business into different

sectors of real estate.

In her role, Meredith is responsible for operational oversight of all asset types in Texas, Colorado, and

Arizona, leading a talented team of approximately 400 employees. She was responsible for starting up

Hines’ new multifamily property management arm, Hines Living formerly known as Willowick Residential,

in the Southwest Region, scaling from one property of 224 units under management in late 2019 to nine

properties at over 4,200 units by year-end 2023. Meredith believes providing exceptional service and

support to our clients, as well as our valued employees who serve them, is paramount to Hines’ success.

Meredith brings two decades of experience in leading real estate property and facility management teams

with an expertise in Class A commercial office space. Having joined Hines in 2004, she has contributed to

the industry through the Houston chapter of the Building Owners & Managers Association, where she

served on the board of directors for six years, including the role of president in 2016. Additionally,

Meredith participated as a board member for Texas BOMA, as well as the University of Houston’s Bauer

College of Business Advisory Board.

Meredith earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from Texas Tech University. She

enjoys traveling and spending quality time with her husband, two kids, and French bulldogs.

Kelly Wheeler

SVP & Director of Operations & Strategy

Transwestern

Kelly serves in multiple capacities as the Asset Services team leader for Transwestern’s Houston office and Central Texas Region. She is the single point of contact for select clients - ensuring consistent, elevated service delivery across geographies, supporting strategic property initiatives, capital planning and deployment, amenitization and tenant experience programs, and tactical property operations.

Kelly strategically focuses on differentiating Transwestern by leveraging the power of the family of companies across the firm to provide clients with unsurpassable real estate solutions.

Kelly has 18 years of experience in commercial property management in the Houston area. She has managed noteworthy properties such as 5 Houston Center, 1000 Main, Bank of America Tower, and the Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical campus. Kelly built and led the Transwestern team that commissioned Bank of America Tower in 2019.

Kelly is currently engaged as a national single point of contact for Beacon Capital Partners across all Transwestern-managed assets and supports multiple teams in a range of asset classes, including office and life sciences real estate.

James Tainter

Partner, Managing Director

NAI Partners

Jim Tainter is a Partner and NAI Partners’ Landlord Services Division’s Managing Director and group leader responsible for the provision of leasing, marketing, property, project, and asset management services delivered to NAI Partners investor and landlord-agency clients. With over thirty years of progressive experience in Real Estate Ownership, Asset Management, Brokerage, Development, Construction/Project Management, Sourcing Third Party Business, Marketing and Leasing, Asset Acquisitions/Dispositions, and Property Management on a diverse base of commercial, industrial, retail and multi-family product types; Jim joined NAI Partners in 2014. His track record for being actively engaged and providing exceptional service with an “owners point of view” via the deployment of high functioning teams to many of the most discerning property owners is undisputed. His strengths include: earning the confidence of his clients, recruiting, developing, and motivating top talent, organizing engaged teams, and deploying best practice mentalities from an owner’s perspective is how Jim generates value for owners of commercial real estate, their assets/properties, and the agency leasing, property management, property accounting, and project services teams of NAI Partners. Prior to joining NAI Partners; Jim worked at Harsch Investment Properties, as it’s Senior Vice President – Regional Manager in charge of Las Vegas, where he oversaw all leasing (both in-house and third party brokers) as well management operations on 8 million square feet of industrial, office, and retail space. Prior to Harsch, Jim was a Principal in charge of Asset Management for eight years at Balke Brown Associates, a St. Louis-based Owner, Developer, Manager, and Broker, where he oversaw the growth of their asset management portfolio from 1.5 to 5 million square in his first five years there and initiated the company’s strategic plan to diversify its business lines to include brokerage.

Steve Seltzer

Moderator

Sheridan Commercial

Prior to establishing Sheridan Commercial, Steven served as Vice President of Operations for National Projects for The Howard Hughes Corporation, where he managed special projects with a primary focus on sustainability for more than eight million square feet of office, retail, and mixed-use properties inclusive of 70+ assets with over 800 tenants. Previously, Steven was with TPMC Realty Corporation for nearly twenty years where he served as Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President and led the asset management, property management, leasing, development, and marketing of office, retail, and mixed-use properties across Houston, Dallas, and Los Angeles including various multi-million dollar office redevelopment projects. The office portfolio maintained an average 95% Energy Star rating and the high-rise buildings achieved LEED Gold certification. Steven was also instrumental in negotiating all vendor, service, construction, and utility agreements, while managing a $30 million dollar annual operating budget.

Prior to TPMC Realty Corporation, Steven held senior level positions with Hines, Prentiss Properties, The Horne Company, and Southwest Savings.

Steven received a B.A. from Sam Houston State University in 1977.

Kim Schell

EMCEE

Bisnow Media

Kim was born in Flushing, New York and come from many generations of New Yorkers. It was a culture shock when she first moved to Houston, Texas in the late 70's but can now say Y'all with the best of them. Kim graduated from the University of Houston with a BBA in Marketing and has worked in media her entire life. Kim played and coached soccer for many years and even spent a summer in England playing in tournaments. The oldest of three girls, she now has two sons (the first born Texans in her family), a husband and three male rescue dogs.

Summary

  1. Have your buildings remained open during the pandemic? If so, were there any changes in on-site staffing as it pertains to engineering and administrative personnel?

  2. What safety? Sanitization? procedures have been implemented within common areas as well as tenant areas?

  3. What necessary changes are being made to buildings to comply with social distancing regulations?

  4. Landlord-Tenant Communication: How have you communicated with your tenants?

  5. How will the office market change as a result of the coronavirus?

Agenda

Time Activity
4:30 PM
5:30 PM
Property Managers Playbook

How Office Is Adapting for the Future

Sponsors