As senior director of Shawmut’s West region, Chris Hennessy is focused on providing the best client experience, leading the pursuit and execution of projects across hotels, restaurants, life science, commercial, sports venues, museums, and high-end residential. This has led to a portfolio boasting the adaptive reuse projects for both Soho Warehouse and The Hoxton DTLA, The Houses at 8899 Beverly, and Nobu Ryokan and Nobu Malibu. Chris is a member of LAEDC, SCDF, ULI LA, Hotel Association of Los Angeles, California Hotel & Lodging Association, and California Restaurant Association.

Joel leads Lowe’s national retail platform targeting assets that can be developed or redeveloped into mixed-use properties. Over his 30+ year career, he has developed expertise in all aspects of retail real estate. He recently led Rockwood’s retail property investment business, overseeing all strategy, development, acquisitions, leasing, management, and dispositions. Previously he was with BlackRock; was SVP for California Pizza Kitchen, responsible for managing national expansion; and oversaw leasing, development, management, marketing, and portfolio management of properties in the west for Madison Marquette.

Joel enjoys all forms of sports including cycling, softball and skiing. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, Urban Land Institute (ULI) and is immediate past Chair of ULI’s Commercial Retail Development Council. Education: University of Michigan, BA

Jim is the National Head of Retail Investments and Retail Capital Markets for

Lincoln Property Company, and co-founder of the retail investment firm, Paragon

Commercial Group, Lincoln’s west coast retail investment partner.

Jim began his career as a real estate and finance attorney with Latham & Watkins

LLP where he represented developers, equity investors and lenders in capital

structuring, acquisitions, dispositions, leasing and entitlements throughout the

United States.

Jim co-founded Paragon in 2009 to capitalize on retail real estate investment

opportunities resulting from the GFC market dislocation. Since that time, Jim has

been honored by the Urban Land Institute as one of the “Top 40 Under 40” land

use and real estate professionals in the United States, by the Los Angeles Business

Journal as one of the top 5 retail real estate professionals in Los Angeles, and

twice recognized by the Los Angeles Times as a Commercial Real Estate Visionary.

Jim currently serves in various industry leadership capacities including the

Executive Committee of the Southern Methodist University Folsom Institute for

Real Estate, Policy Advisory Board for the Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban

Economics at UC Berkeley, Executive Committee Board of the USC Gould School

of Law Real Estate Law and Business Forum, immediate past Chairman of the

Urban Land Institute's Small Scale Development Council, and lecturer at the

University of Southern California Gould School of Law and the UC Berkeley

Masters of Real Estate programs.

Jim’s civic involvements include his current service as a Planning Commissioner

for the City of Manhattan Beach, California, as well as a founding donor and

advisor to the SMU Real Estate Impact Fund, a student-driven investment vehicle

focused on impact investing in underserved communities.

Dan Norville’s career path, like his investment performance, has been a steep and steady climb upwards, each year building upon the prior year’s success.

A graduate from NYU, Dan began his career in the hospitality sector as a Wall Street analyst. His next career moves included roles in private equity and real estate development where he successfully managed complex projects involving “ground up” construction, but it was the adaptive re-use projects that resonated with him. Greater speed, less cost, less waste, and reduced job site pollution, in Dan’s eyes, was a winning combination.

With a track record of success and $1.0 billion in completed real estate transactions, Dan set out on his own in 2013, starting Norcap, a real estate investment firm focused on acquisition, development, and asset management of hospitality and office buildings. Since founding Norcap and its subsidiaries, Dan has built or purchased, renovated, and repositioned seven hotels and one office tower in the Western US.

The prospect of even more people becoming unhoused during the global pandemic in 2020 spawned Dan’s newest business, Vivo Living. Leveraging his and his team’s expertise in hospitality and housing,

they set out to acquire underutilized hotels, add kitchenettes, and convert them into efficiency apartments. Including hotel-like amenities such as co-working space, fitness centers, and pools made these reasonably priced apartments even more unique and appealing. Vivo now has fifteen properties across the US, with more in the pipeline.

Dan has subsequently brought all four of his companies under a single umbrella called Vivo Investment Group, a firm focused on housing development with the care of people and our planet at its center.

With 25 years in the construction industry—and 15 of them at Shawmut Design and Construction—Vincent Spataro brings a thoughtful, highly-technical approach to the commercial ground-up, tenant interior, sports venues, and retail work he leads in Shawmut’s West region. As senior director overseeing all projects, teams, and operations within these sectors, Spataro’s presence in the market and long-lasting relationships have enabled him to lead the construction of some of Los Angeles’ most noteworthy and innovative projects including Apple Tower Theatre, SoFi Stadium, Glorya Kaufman Performing Arts Center, and what will be one of the largest cross-laminated timber buildings in the city at 843 N Spring Street. Acting as a true partner to clients and architects, Spataro puts in the effort upfront to identify efficiencies and solve for potential challenges before the team steps foot on-site.

Spataro is committed to supporting the community—dedicating his time to volunteer for The Posse Foundation, a comprehensive and renowned college access, and youth leadership development program. He also devotes time to his children’s school, Saint Paul the Apostle. Spataro is an active member of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce and ICSC (Innovating Commerce Serving Communities).

Joshua Loeb is a Partner in Ervin Cohen & Jessup LLP’s Real Estate Department. Joshua’s practice encompasses a broad cross-section of real estate transactions, including acquisitions and dispositions, capital markets and construction.

Joshua’s primary practice areas focus on real estate acquisitions and dispositions of all asset classes, as well as the representation of both borrowers and lenders in connection with a variety of real estate financing transactions, including acquisition financing, construction financing, mezzanine loans, loan modifications and restructurings.

He also has substantial experience in the preparation and negotiation of construction agreements (both AIA and custom agreements) on the developer’s side for the construction of commercial, multi-family and high-end residential properties.

Brian joined Hackman Capital Partners in 2018 and serves as Executive Vice President – Development and Planning. In this role, Brian creates innovative visions, implementable strategic plans, and long-term, resilient frameworks, working collaboratively with communities, cities, and industry experts. Brian came to Hackman Capital as a Design Director from Gensler, where he worked on several Hackman Capital projects, including The Culver Studios and 888 Douglas in El Segundo.

A recognized Practitioner of Urban Design, Brian has led and collaborated on the design of over 100 million square feet across the globe ranging from urban infill mixed-use properties to sports-anchored entertainment districts and media production studios. Brian has won numerous design awards, including professional recognitions bridging AIA, APA, and ASLA and was named as a Top 40 Under 40 by ENR California in 2017. Brian received his undergraduate degree in City and Regional Planning with a Minor in Sustainable Environments from California Polytechnic State University. San Luis Obispo, and a Masters in Urban Design from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.

Sejal Sonani, AIA is a Principal and Managing Director at HLW, a leading architecture and design firm. Since joining HLW in 2012, Sejal has been instrumental in transforming the firm’s Los Angeles studio into a holistic practice with a strengthened focus on architecture. In the last five years alone, Sejal has overseen more than 1.5 million square feet of office projects in the area, while championing the firm’s adaptive reuse, repositioning, master planning, and ground-up construction expertise along the west coast from Silicon Beach to Silicon Valley. Currently, her team is designing over 500,000 square feet of transit-oriented redevelopment along LA’s Expo Line, aimed at creating vibrant, walkable, and prosperous communities anchored by sustainable mobility.

The studio's active work builds on a nearly 30-year legacy of pioneering economic growth through transformative design. In recent years since, the team has continuously evolved to help reshape the city’s built environment, including reimagining the former Macy’s store at Westside Pavilion as a creative office campus, redeveloping abandoned industrial parks into urban institutions, and renovating the city's first historic-designated skyscraper, Union Bank Plaza.

John has over 30 years of experience in the construction industry, was a structural designer earlier in his career and has managed most aspects of construction since then. Known for his expertise on highly challenging and complex projects, including adaptive re-use, clean room manufacturing and acoustically sensitive studio facilities; John has gained respect from clients such as Disney Studios, Paramount Pictures, Technicolor, Eikon and Boeing. John holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Southern California.

Ireland’s loss was Southern California’s gain. The co-founder of our company is the garrulous Irishman John Parker. On the surface, he is an easy-going gentleman. On the job, he is all business.

John Parker co-founded Parker Brown, Inc. in 1994 with Scott Brown. The two set the “get the job done” tone for the company’s construction operations and corporate management.

Leaving Ireland for the U.S. in 1989, John owned and operated John Parker Building Ltd., a residential remodeling firm. After relocating his family to Los Angeles, John was the construction manager at a Los Angeles area commercial construction company until the inception of Parker Brown, Inc. in 1994.

John and Scott are personally involved in every project that Parker Brown, Inc. is awarded. They provide oversight from the job site or from the corporate office, and, in a lot of cases, from both.

John is deeply involved in the communities he serves. He is the past president of the Canoga Park/West Hills Chamber of Commerce, former president of the Canoga Park Improvement Association, a past member of the Oversight Committee on the Bond Program of Pierce College, and executive vice president of the Women’s Odyssey, a residential drug and alcohol recovery program. Currently, he is a commissioner serving on the Los Angeles County Building Rehabilitation & Appeals Board, and is presently the president of the United Chamber of Commerce of the San Fernando Valley.

Edward M. Osuch, President of NEO & Associates, Inc. has been practicing the art and functionality of architecture since 1994. He specializes in all aspects of architecture and design from concept to construction for commercial buildings and residential housing. Edward M. Osuch, Architect, LEED AP - graduated from USC, School of Architecture; received a LEED certification from USGBC in the year 2002, and he has been licensed in the State of California since 2008, and several other states. Edward is the Architect of Record for many medical office buildings and LEED Silver for the adaptive reuse of the DMV in Hollywood, CA. He received several design awards throughout California and was invited as a panelist for the Los Angeles First Home Buyer’s Conference. Edward has been a mentor for several interns from USC and Woodbury University and has taught design and lighting at Long Beach City College. NEO & Associates, Inc. has grown into a well-versed team of architects and fosters soon-to-be architects across the United States.