Christopher Rising is the CEO of Rising Realty Partners (RRP), a Los Angeles-based real estate investment and operating platform that owns and manages over five million square feet of properties. He serves on the company's Executive and Investment Committees, drawing on his extensive experience in managing acquisitions and creative development. Prior to joining RRP, Christopher was Senior Vice President of Asset Transactions at MPG Office Trust, where he worked directly with the CEO to improve finances through debt reduction and restructuring.

Under Christopher's visionary leadership, RRP has spearheaded the revitalization of historic buildings in Downtown Los Angeles into creative office spaces, attracting unique businesses back to the region. The company's transformation and subsequent sale of the PacMutual Campus, one of the oldest office buildings in the heart of DTLA, was described by the Los Angeles Times as a "record price for a pure office building downtown." More recently, RRP has generated great success by entering the industrial space, acquiring five multi-tenant light industrial properties in the past year. Christopher's success in the real estate industry has earned him recognition by the Los Angeles Business Journal as one of the 500 most influential people in Los Angeles.

In 2003, Christopher founded The Rising Real Estate Group (RREG) and eventually partnered with Barker Pacific Group to create Hamilton Capital Partners (HCP), an equity fund vehicle. RREG is also a principal in 626 Wilshire Blvd, a 156K square foot office building located in downtown Los Angeles.

Christopher began his career as an associate at Pillsbury Madison & Sutro and later worked at Cushman Realty Corporation (CRC) under brokerage legend John C. Cushman, III. He then served as a Director at Cushman & Wakefield of California, Inc. (C&W), joining C&W after its merger with CRC in 2001.

Outside of work, Christopher is an active member of the Los Angeles community, serving on the River LA Board and The Rose Bowl Legacy Foundation. He formerly sat on the Board of Overseers at Loyola Law School and the Duke Athletic Advisory Board. He is a past President of the Board of Chandler School in Pasadena and served for ten years on the Board of Regents of Loyola High School, where he chaired the Investment Committee. Christopher holds a J.D. in Real Estate Law from Loyola Law School and a B.A. in History and Political Science from Duke University. He also attended Duke on a football scholarship and was a member of the 1989 ACC Championship team.

Laurie Lustig-Bower began her career in commercial real estate 29 years ago with CBRE and now holds the title of Executive Vice President. For many years, she ranked as the #1 producer for CBRE’s Private Capital Group nationally and has ranked nationally in the top 2% for CBRE for nearly two decades. As a leading multi-family professional, Ms. Lustig-Bower has handled approximately $9 billion in multi-family property sales in the Los Angeles area within the past ten years. She is the founder and leader of Team Lustig-Bower, a team of nine professionals who specialize in the marketing and sale of multi-family properties in the greater Los Angeles area, specifically focusing on the sale of apartment buildings, condominium conversions/reversions and land for apartment and condominium development. Ms. Lustig-Bower has been rated one of the top brokers in the United States for the past 20 years. As one of the first brokers to focus on marketing Los Angeles properties to the international market, Ms. Lustig-Bower is known for selling the eight acre Robinsons May development site at 9900 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills for $500 million in 2007 to a London based buyer and then again in 2014, to a China based buyer.

Jay Newman joined The Athens Group in 2000 as Chief Operating Officer where he focuses on the company’s financial affairs and development opportunities. He has more than 32 years of experience in commercial real estate including development along with entitlements and design, acquisitions, joint ventures, finance and dispositions. Jay is primarily responsible for managing the acquisition and financing of many of The Athens Group's projects including the raising of equity capital. In addition, Jay was primarily responsible for the development and financing of the mixed-use Montage Beverly Hills in California and the acquisition, re-entitlement and redesign of the West Hollywood mixed-use Edition project and is currently engaged in the planning and entitlement for the re-development of the Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica.

In 1993, Jay was one of the founding members of the national real estate law firm of Pircher, Nichols & Meeks based in Los Angeles where he was a managing partner and a real estate transactional attorney. In 1995, he joined Highridge Partners in Los Angeles as Senior Vice President of the Summit Commercial Properties Division, where he focused on the purchasing, repositioning, leasing, management and sale of shopping centers and office buildings on both a one-off and portfolio basis. Jay was one of the founders of Lend Lease Development (US) in 1996, where he focused on the development of resorts (including The Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay, California), shopping centers and office buildings. As Senior Vice President of Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Inc., and a member of the Lend Lease Lodging Group, he focused on the development of new hotels and resorts throughout the United States and was primarily responsible for the creation of the Resort Development Program.

Jay received his undergraduate degree in applied economics (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) from the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, and his MBA and Juris Doctorate degree from Stanford University in 1982. He is a guest lecturer at the UCLA School of Public Policy and Planning and a frequent speaker at ULI, Meet the Money, Bisnow, the Southern California Development Forum and CLE International. Jay sits on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, the Board of Directors of the Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau, and the Board of Directors of Beverly Hills Rotary. Jay is also actively involved in Imagine LA. Jay and his family reside in Los Angeles, California.

As Co-Managing Principal for the Southwest Region, Rob is responsible for Gensler offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, Newport Beach, Phoenix, Las Vegas and Denver; and he also serves on Gensler's Board of Directors and Management Committee. Known to peers and clients as an accomplished architect, practice leader and collaborator, Rob is committed to design innovation, technical quality and a belief that we are only as good as the people we mentor to succeed us. Rob's technical expertise spans more than 32 million square feet of built projects that have reshaped city landscapes worldwide. A strong proponent of community service, he has shepherded Gensler's gServe program, which encompasses the firm's community outreach activities and socially conscious design efforts. Rob is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, a member of the Urban Land Institute, and he serves on the Boards of the Design Build Institute of America's Southern California Chapter and the Los Angeles Business Council. In 2012, the AIA California Council awarded Rob its Presidential Citation for changing the face of architecture in Los Angeles.

Carol Schatz, president and CEO of the Downtown Center BID, is known as DTLA’s biggest champion. Before she landed in DTLA, she was an SVP at the California League of Savings Institutions and then deputy regional director for the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corp, where she oversaw the liquidation of billions of dollars in assets of failed savings institutions in the 12 western states. The most rewarding part of her job these days is touting the success of DTLA’s transformation. “Being a pivotal player in Downtown’s complete transformation has given me the greatest satisfaction,” she says. The possibilities are endless in DTLA, according to Carol. She sees construction costs and land prices as challenges developers face as a result of the progress that has been made. “We’ve become a victim of our own success,” she says. Carol also has concerns about the “misguided” anti-development legislation now being tossed around. She advises women and others getting started in the industry to “trust your instincts, and don’t take no for an answer." Away from the office, she enjoys the opera and theater as well as traveling, hiking and swimming.

A name partner of the firm, Anton N. Natsis is Chair of Allen Matkins’ Real Estate Department and is one of the top real estate attorneys in the United States. His practice focuses on development, leasing, purchase and sale, and portfolio investment sales transactions involving office, retail, and industrial projects, as well as arbitrating numerous fair market value disputes, CAM disputes and other significant landlord/tenant disputes. He also has extensive experience in debt, equity, and joint venture workouts, and the purchase of distressed assets and distressed debt. Tony is continually sought out by some of the largest national land owners, such as J.P. Morgan Asset Management, Blackstone Real Estate, Brookfield Properties, HCP, Vornado Realty Trust, Regent Properties, The Irvine Company, Boston Properties, Equity Office Properties, Kilroy Realty, Inc., Beacon Capital Partners, MPG Office Trust, Kamehameha Schools (The Bishop Estate) and Westfield Corporation. He represents many governmental entities, including the LAUSD, State of California, and City of Anaheim. Tony is also frequently retained as counsel for major national office tenants, such as AT&T, Citicorp, the FDIC, AIG, The Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles Times.

A frequent lecturer and author, Tony is the chief consultant for the California Continuing Education of the Bar Commercial Leasing Series, the legal education reference book on leasing for California attorneys, is an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law School for a course covering commercial real estate transactions, and has spoken before such national real estate groups as ULI and BOMA. Tony is a founding board member of The Ziman Real Estate Center, which is governed under the joint auspices of the UCLA Anderson School of Business and the UCLA Law School.

In the past decade, Tony has closed commercial office leases exceeding 50 million square feet. He has worked on real estate purchase contracts with a total consideration of more than $30 billion and on development transactions with a total consideration in excess of $25 billion. Since 2006, Tony has represented clients in office building portfolio investment sales transactions involving over $75 billion of consideration.

One of Tony's most significant transactions is the largest real estate acquisition deal in the history of the United States. He provided extensive real estate services in connection with Blackstone Real Estate's purchase of Equity Office Properties Trust, at that point the largest owner of office space in the U.S. other than the Federal Government, for $43 billion. Subsequently, Blackstone contracted to sell over 50% of the properties it purchased with such sales closing in the first and second quarter of 2007. Tony assisted Blackstone in its acquisition due diligence related to EOP and the subsequent sales of the properties. The transactions related to this deal included Maguire Properties' purchase of Blackstone/EOP in Orange County for $2 billion, Irvine Company's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Diego for $1 billion, Morgan Stanley's purchase of Blackstone/EOP in San Francisco for $2.5 billion, and Beacon Capital Partners’ purchase of Blackstone/EOP Seattle for $6.3 billion.

Sonnet currently serves as Vice President and General Manager for Project Management Advisors, Inc. (PMA), a national real estate advisory firm specializing in Development Management, Project Management, Investor Representation and Program Management services. She has spent the bulk of her 30-plus year career as an architect, developer, business strategist and planner working for both national and international firms. As general manager, Sonnet oversees projects across multiple sectors, including high-rise and multifamily residential, entertainment, healthcare, educational, and commercial.

Prior to joining PMA, Sonnet was Vice President, Design and Construction at NBC Universal, where she was responsible for developing and leading design, construction and related capital planning services for NBCUniversal and DreamWork’s West Coast Studio Operations. In this role, she managed the planning and execution of construction projects at the iconic 400 + acre Universal Lot in Studio City.

She was honored in 2016 and 2017 by Bisnow as one of “Los Angeles’ Power Women.” In the past year, Sonnet has been recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as part of their Women’s Leadership Series, the 2020 class of Thriving in Their 40s, and as a Women of Influence in Construction and Design. Sonnet Hui is a Trustee of the Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science (CDU).

Swinerton Senior Vice President and Region Manager Ray Haj is responsible for the overall vision, financials, and management of all operations totaling over $2.0 billion annually within Swinerton's Southern California and Hawaii Region. Ray manages 1,600 Swinerton employees within this region.

Ray is responsible for the oversight and success of the entire region. His focus with his core team in recent years has been developing a Best-in-Class culture, client relationships, establishing a diverse market portfolio, and leading and managing rapid business growth as a master builder. Recently Ray's primary focus has been on building a shared vision and leading succession planning to ensure Swinerton's continuous success in the future years, led by the rise of the next generation of leaders.

Ray has nearly 30 years of experience in the construction industry (22 years with Swinerton), with a Master's Degree in Engineering Management from Brigham Young University, a Master's Degree in Project Management from the University Centre of Business Administration in Vicenza, Italy, and a Bachelor's of Science in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Brigham Young University. Ray first worked with a top Italian contractor overseas before joining the Swinerton Los Angeles office in early 2001.

Justin X. Thompson is a partner in our Real Estate practice group based in our Los Angeles office. Justin advises on all aspects of real estate, including real estate finance, development, leasing, loan restructurings, land exchanges, sale-leasebacks, property management arrangements and joint ventures. He represents commercial and industrial developers, investors, lenders and property owners.

David Hart is the President and CEO of Steinberg Hart, an international Architecture, Interiors, and Planning firm headquartered in Los Angeles. Founded in 1953, the firm’s seven offices focus on higher education, urban mixed-use residential, performing and visual arts, hospitality, government, civic and commercial projects.

David developed Steinberg Hart’s reputation as a leader in Higher Education through the design of inspirational, sustainable projects that shape the way students learn and socialize for institutions such as Stanford, UCLA, and USC. He now leads the firm’s large-scale mixed-use practice in urban cores, with projects such as Los Angeles’ Vision on Wilshire and San Jose’s Miro Towers. Leveraging his experience working with public agencies, institutions, builders, and developers, he works to advance complex public-private-partnership projects with an emphasis on responsible density, affordability, community impact and value creation for clients.

As a thought leader, David speaks regularly at conferences both nationally and locally, including Greenbuild, P3C, SCUP, Educause, and NACUBO, and he has been tapped by publications such as GlobeSt, Monocle, the Silicon Valley Business Journal, and Bloomberg CityLab for his insights on design and urban issues of our time. David serves on the ULI Urban Revitalization Council, the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics Policy Advisory Board at the University of California at Berkeley, the Los Angeles Business Council Board of Directors, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.