Rick’s career as a Fortune 500, government and non-profit executive underscores the Accelerator’s mission to bridge the public and private sectors to connect people with fulfilling work. He served as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Deputy Chief of Staff and separately founded and is a board member of the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, which in the past three years has raised $32 million to modernize government and support innovative strategies to connect youth with jobs and revitalize communities. After working at the Mayor’s office, Rick ran the successful Measure M campaign which generates $120 billion for construction and operations.

Rick founded and was Chair of the national advocacy group Courage Campaign and founded and was CEO of Newstar, Inc., which worked in Russia with companies like Lockheed and Marriott. He was Vice President and Assistant to Occidental Petroleum founder and Chairman/CEO Dr. Armand Hammer. He is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Responsible for developing more than $3.5 billion in real estate projects, including over 2,300 residential units in the California Bay Area, Hayden has experience in acquisition, contract negotiation, due diligence, risk assessment, financing, construction, and disposition of multifamily, single family and large mixed-use and master planned developments. He maintains relationships with a broad network of property owners, enabling him to identify and acquire prime investments. Hayden also has expertise navigating projects through the entitlement process by working with elected officials, community groups, and political organizations to gain support and get projects approved.

David is a Partner in KPMG’s Orange County Real Estate and Passthrough Entities Tax practice. He has more than 30 years of experience in tax planning and structuring of transactions for clients in the real estate and financial service industries.

Professional and Industry Experience

David Meulmester is Tax Partner in Charge for our Orange County office. Previously, he was in the Montvale, New Jersey office, where he served as the National Partner in Charge of the Tax Technology Practice, leading the development of software applications and tools that assist KPMG tax professionals in their client service needs. Prior to this he served as the Northeast leader for the real estate tax practice from our Stamford, CT office.

His clients have included real estate companies, real estate funds, private equity funds and fund of funds, hedge funds and other companies in a variety of industries.

His career has also included Professional Practice Partner responsibilities for the Connecticut Tax Practice and a rotational assignment with our Washington National Practice in the pass-through group, as well as national training instructor.

Representative Clients

Bridge Capital Partners

Capricorn Investors

CBRE Global Investors

Edge Funds Management

GE Asset Management

Professional Associations

Member, California Society of Certified Public Accountants

Member, AICPA

Other Activities

Board Member and Audit Committee Chair, Orange County United Way

Guy joined Windes in 1998 and is a partner in the firm’s Tax and

Accounting Services department. He focuses on tax planning,

compliance, and consulting with small- to middle-market businesses

and their owners, working closely with his clients to analyze and

maintain the most tax efficient structure to suit each client’s unique

situation.

Guy possess technical expertise and knowledge in the areas of

federal and multi-state income tax for corporations, partnerships,

limited liability companies and individuals, payroll, sales and use

tax, property taxes, accounting, tax credits/incentives, and audit

representation.

He serves a wide variety of clients in the real estate, construction,

manufacturing, professional services, healthcare, and restaurant

industries, as well as high-net-worth individual clients.

Guy also heads the firm’s Comprehensive Office Solutions Group,

which provides client accounting services such as bookkeeping,

payroll solutions, sales and use tax compliance, business property

tax returns, accounting software implementation and conversions,

and staff training.

Steven Meier is chair of Seyfarth’s Corporate Department, co-chair of the firm’s Tax Practice, and co-leader of the Opportunity Zone Funds Team, a topic which he frequently speaks on. He is a deal lawyer with broad experience in designing and implementing U.S. domestic and cross-border corporate and real estate transactions. Mr. Meier is active in the capital markets industry, where he advises clients in the design, implementation and monetization of traditional and alternative real estate investment programs. His mergers and acquisitions practice involves counseling strategic and financial buyers and entrepreneurs on the corporate and tax aspects of domestic and cross-border business acquisitions and dispositions. Mr. Meier has been recognized by The Legal 500 for his tax and mergers and acquisitions practices, and he is a frequent speaker on tax and business issues in real estate securities programs and mergers and acquisitions transactions.

Sanford C. Presant is Chair of global law firm Greenberg Traurig’s Real Estate Funds Practice. He focuses his practice on providing fund and joint venture best practice business and tax structuring advice to sponsors of the leading real estate private equity funds, qualified opportunity zone (QOZ) funds, REITs, and their local partners and investors in the U.S. and internationally.

Sandy has more than 30 years of experience as a tax and business lawyer for major funds and real estate companies. He has structured and negotiated the tax and business aspects for leading industry QOZ funds, over 100 real estate funds (including their internal general partner structuring and executive compensation) in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia, and more than 500 joint ventures (partnerships and LLCs), including QOZ subsidiary JVs (QOZBs), as both a corporate and tax attorney. Sandy was the National Co Chair - Real Estate Fund Services at Ernst & Young from 2000 - 2005 and was Chair of DLA Piper’s Real Estate Fund Practice. Sandy is a prior Chair, American Bar Association Partnership Tax Committee, and is a member of the NAREIT Government Relations Committee and the Tax Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) of the Real Estate Roundtable (and its Opportunity Zone Subcommittee.)

Sandy has substantial experience in structuring funds and joint ventures to minimize UBTI, including the use of blocker structures reducing the withholding and tax for cross border investors and tax-exempts, public and private REITs, hotel net lease structures that minimize leakage, and fractions rule compliant structures.

Richard Gabaldon provides tax compliance and consulting to a variety of public and privately-held entities. He focuses primarily on real estate clients including real estate investment funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), developers and home builders. In addition, he provides services to high net worth individuals. Richard has practiced public accounting for more than 25 years.

In his current role, Richard advises and consults with clients regarding complex tax matters in RSM’s Lead Tax group. He assists engagement teams in REIT compliance matters, with focus on benefiting clients through industry-specific experience and technical acumen in specialized areas, and is responsible for ensuring that tax and compliance advice align to the firm’s standards.

Professional affiliations and credentials

· Certified Public Accountant

· American Institute of Certified Public Accountants

Education

· Bachelor of Arts, University of California at Los Angeles

Investments of CIM Group. Ms. Wenger has management responsibility for broker relations, and also sources real estate investments across CIM Group’s platforms. Prior to joining CIM in 2009, Ms. Wenger had an extensive career in real estate investments at firms such as Arden Realty under General Electric in the Western United States, Equity Office Properties, and MacFarlane Partners. Earlier in her career she was a Certified Public Accountant.

Ms. Wenger earned a B.S. degree in Business with an emphasis in Accounting, graduating with honors from the University of California Riverside. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute, serves on the Executive Board for the Urban Mixed Use Development Council (Gold Flight), and is a mentor for the young leader partnership program.

Determined to find and execute on opportunistic real estate opportunities, Scott Gale formed Ventus Group (“Ventus”) in 2006. From 2007-2013, Scott acquired nine distressed properties from various banks and builders. The acquired assets, located through California and Oregon, included semi-improved single-family lots, subdivisions and master-planned communities, as well as retail, office and industrial buildings. All but one of those properties were sold between 2012-2015.

Through 2012, Ventus also entitled, managed and/or consulted on several residential, retail and hotel projects/assets owned by third-parties (national homebuilders, market analysts, and private developers). The company’s consulting activities included entitlements processing, cash flow analysis, market research, and project management.

Since 2014, Ventus has dedicated its efforts solely to The Fig. During this period, Scott and his team assembled more than eight contiguous acres in a prime Los Angeles location, all along advancing the design, analysis, and entitlements for The Fig- a 4.42-acre mixed-use development (hotel, residential, retail).

Prior to forming Ventus Group, Scott served as Vice President of Land Acquisition at Shea Homes where he acquired 3,146 residential lots (attached and detached) throughout Southern California. Before Shea Homes, Scott was a Project Manager at Woodside Homes, where he was responsible for design team coordination, entitlements processing, horizontal development purchasing, as well as sales/construction support.

Scott also served as a Senior Consultant in the Real Estate Capital Markets at Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal. There, Scott analyzed and supported large real estate transactions, including asset and company sales, as well as capital procurement and due diligence.

Scott earned a Master of Business Administration and Master of Real Estate Development (“MRED”) from the University of Southern California. He also holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, San Diego.

Scott serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Science Center. He also taught several Real Estate Development and Finance courses at University of California-Irvine in the Light Construction & Development Management program.

Eddie Lorin is managing member and co-founder of Strategic Realty Holdings. He is a real estate owner, developer and acting principal. Through the course of his career, Eddie has successfully acquired more than 200 properties; 40,000 units contained in over $4.2 billion in real estate.

Eddie is one of the original “mission-oriented investors” before impact investments focused on delivering a triple bottom line…financial, environmental and social returns to its investors, residents and its stakeholders. Eddie is a member of the EIG and the Novogradac coalitions for Opportunity Zones.

Eddie is also co‐founder of the 501c3 HAPI Foundation with his wife Jane which was

developed to promote health and wellness in low-income apartment communities.

Earning his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and has been a licensed California real estate broker since 1988. He has two college-age daughters and lives in Westlake Village, CA with his wife.

Larry Perry is an accomplished business development leader and figurehead

in the private lending industry. As Vice President of Loan Originations at

Parkview, he brings to the team over 50 years of experience building and

maintaining client relationships across the Western U.S. He meets with

current and prospective Parkview clients in person to establish presence and

build a positive brand, while fostering continuous client engagement. Prior to

his work at Parkview, Larry served as a key member of the executive team in

charge of business development and loan origination at another leading

private construction lender. Larry received his Juris Doctorate from La Salle

University.

Bill is a partner in the Orange County office with over 25 years of experience advising clients on a wide range of tax, joint venture, real estate, and corporate matters, including forming partnerships for the acquisition, sale, and development of commercial real estate, fund formation, 1031 like-kind exchanges, tenancy-in-common arrangements, Proposition 13 planning, Opportunity Zone investments, business entity restructuring and corporate succession planning. Bill represents a diverse group of sophisticated real estate sponsors, owners, developers, and capital providers. He works on projects covering most segments of the real estate industry, including multifamily, office, life science, industrial, hotel, entertainment, retail, mixed-use, and master planned developments.

Clients value Bill’s ability to efficiently structure real estate and corporate transactions to minimize tax and liability exposure, while also providing strategic counsel on other operational and legal matters. For many of his clients, he acts as the primary point of contact to assist and guide them through the life cycle of their respective commercial real estate investments, from the signing of the purchase agreement to the eventual disposition of the same. Since Bill represents both sponsors and capital providers, he has developed a unique understanding of the various conflicts of interests involved in any transaction, and has become adept at finding solutions to remove such impediments.

While much of Bill’s experience relates to general real estate matters, he has developed a special emphasis in counseling early stage real estate companies in connection with the creation of their initial operating companies, the formation of funds (both co-invest funds and funds created for direct investment), and the granting of participation interests to key employees/team members, along with collaborating with other practice groups at Allen Matkins to help with broader corporate securities, employment, litigation, and day-to-day business needs.

Widely respected for his industry and legal experience, Bill is frequently sought after as an author and speaker for regional and national conferences.

Daryl J. Carter is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of Avanath Capital Management, LLC, a California-based investment firm that acquires, renovates, and operates apartment properties, with an emphasis on affordable and workforce communities. Mr. Carter directs the overall strategy and operations of the Company. Since its formation in 2008, Avanath has acquired $2.5 billion of properties in 13 states in the U.S., comprising 12,000 apartment units. Avanath is vertically integrated and is an SEC registered investment advisor and an institutional fund manager, with capabilities that include acquisition sourcing and underwriting, construction, asset management, and on-site property management.

Mr. Carter has 40 years of experience in the commercial real estate industry. Previously, he was an Executive Managing Director of Centerline Capital Group. Mr. Carter became part of the Centerline team when his company, Capri Capital Finance, was acquired by Centerline in 2005. Mr. Carter co-founded and served as Co-Chairman of the Capri Capital family of companies. He was instrumental in building Capri to a diversified real estate investment firm with $8 billion in real estate equity and debt investments under management. Prior to Capri, Mr. Carter was Regional Vice President at Westinghouse Credit Corporation and a Second Vice President at Continental Bank.

Mr. Carter holds a Master’s in Architecture and a Master’s in Business Administration, both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Architecture from the University of Michigan. Mr. Carter serves on the Visiting Committee of the MIT Sloan School of Management. In 2015, Mr. Carter received the MIT Sloan School Distinguished Alumni Award and served as the 2015 commencement speaker for the Sloan School MBA graduation.

Mr. Carter is a Past Chairman of the National Multifamily Housing Council. Previously, Mr. Carter served as an independent director on the boards of the following companies: Catellus Development Corporation (CDX), Silver Bay Realty Trust (SBY), and Whitestone REIT (WSR).

Aaron is President and CEO for the Accelerator. He previously served as the Accelerator's Director of Economic Development. He’s spent the majority of his career in investment banking, where he traded equity derivatives and facilitated equity transactions. More recently, he worked in middle-market private equity before pivoting into the public sector, first as a fellow in the California Senate and now with the Accelerator. He’s a graduate of Harvard College and received his MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

Jacqueline Waggoner is vice president and Southern California market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. She oversees Enterprise’s affordable housing, community development, investment and strategic programs from the state’s Central Coast to San Diego. Jacqueline started with Enterprise in 2005. During her tenure, she has advanced capital solutions, intellectual resources and capacity building tools to achieve Enterprise’s strategic and production goals, leading to more than $300 million in Enterprise investments locally. She has worked with the city of Los Angeles, banks and nonprofit developer partners to create local funds for affordable housing, advocate for low-income families and support Enterprise’s vision of providing communities of opportunity.

Jacqueline serves on the 10-member Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission, the agency’s governing board, appointed by Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas in February 2017, and chairs LAHSA's Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness. She is also a member of the County of Los Angeles Tenant Protections Working Group. Jacqueline serves on the board of directors of the Southern California Association of Nonprofit Housing (SCANPH), a membership organization that supports the production, preservation and management of affordable homes. She is on the board of governors of the California Housing Consortium and a board member for the Los Angeles Business Council and Restore Neighborhoods LA, Inc. Jacqueline serves on the steering committees for LA Thrives, a collaborative advancing equitable transit-oriented development, and LA Funders' Collaborative, a network promoting healthy, equitable and sustainable communities.

A Los Angeles native, Jacqueline has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a master’s degree in urban planning from UCLA. Her experience in commercial real estate lending spans more than 20 years. Before joining Enterprise, she was vice president for community lending with Wells Fargo Bank in Los Angeles.

Mr. Larry J. Kosmont, CRE®, is the President and CEO of Kosmont Companies, which he founded in 1986. Kosmont Companies is an industry leader in public/private real estate transactions and economic development. In 1990, he founded Kosmont Realty Corporation, a real estate brokerage firm. In 2015, he launched Kosmont Transactions Services which sources private financing for public projects, P3 initiatives, and infrastructure funding. He’s also a Principal of California Golden Fund, an approved EB-5 Regional Center.

Mr. Kosmont’s 40-year career encompasses public/private financial structuring and negotiations, development, and management of real estate and public finance transactions exceeding $12 billion. He has an extensive track record as a public/private real estate consultant and public finance advisor. Mr. Kosmont has assisted hundreds of local government agencies in public finance and real estate matters ranging from large-scale economic development programs to site-specific real estate strategies and projects. He has guided over 1,000 private sector projects in obtaining public approvals, structuring deal terms, and securing public/private financing.

Mr. Kosmont served as Interim City Administrator for the City of Montebello, CA from May 2011 to March 2012 as part of a financial turnaround assignment awarded to Kosmont Companies. From 1975 to 1986, Mr. Kosmont served in the roles of City Manager, Director of Community Development, and Redevelopment Director in the cities of Santa Monica, Seal Beach, Bell Gardens, and Burbank.

Mr. Kosmont is a registered Municipal Advisor with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and achieved a Series 50 professional qualification. Mr. Kosmont is also a licensed real estate broker in California (BRE No. 01182660), a designated Counselor of Real Estate, CRE®, and has served or is serving on:

· City of Manhattan Beach Economic Development Advisory Council – Chairman

· MWD Board (represented City of Los Angeles)

· State Commissioner – California Economic Development Commission

· USC Executive Education – Board of Directors

· Los Angeles City Commissioner – Industrial Development Authority

· California Assoc. of Local Economic Development (CALED) – Board Advisor

· Los Angeles Business Federation (BIZFED) – Board Member

Mr. Kosmont holds a Masters of Public Administration Degree from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York – Binghamton.

Mr. Kosmont is a recipient of the 2016 California Business Properties Association (CBPA) Champion of the Industry Award for his service in real estate and economic development. Kosmont Companies received the Latin Business of the Year Award from Los Angeles Business Journal (2016).

Beth Mullen is CohnReznick's Affordable Housing Industry Leader. She is also a member of the Firm’s Tax Practice Executive Committee. She has more than 25 years of experience providing consulting, tax, and accounting services to real estate owners and developers and the community redevelopment industry.

Beth has been involved with the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program since its inception and has provided consulting services to developers, state credit agencies, and investors. A significant portion of her time is devoted to helping put deals together by structuring public/private partnerships that are financed in part by the LIHTC, federal and state historic tax credit programs, the federal New Markets Tax Credit Program, energy tax credits, and historic rehabilitation tax credits. She manages the CohnReznick tax requirements for private corporate funds and publicly syndicated LIHTC partnerships comprising several billion dollars in invested assets.

Her clients value her unique ability to interrelate tax credit regulations and compliance requirements, financial reporting under Securities Acts law and compliance, and cost certification reporting requirements enumerated by HUD and state housing agencies. Beth assists her clients during the development stages of their properties bringing the foresight necessary in dealing with the competing interests of the developer, lenders, investors and regulatory authorities.

Beth is involved on an ongoing basis in upgrading CohnReznick’s state of the art financial analysis model that is used to structure transactions. She assists clients with tax planning and research and any necessary correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service and state taxing authorities. She is responsible for the Firm’s tax quality control review of all tax returns for owners of affordable housing. Beth is an industry spokesperson and a frequently invited speaker at national and local industry trade conferences. She teaches internal and external courses on low-income, New Markets, and historic tax credits and has published articles in several trade magazines.

Neil S. Faden practices transactional corporate and securities law with

concentrations in organization and capitalization of collective investment funds,

community development finance transactions, crowdfunding and peer-to-peer

lending transactions, and healthcare industry financing and transactional matters.

Recognized as a Top 25 Opportunity Zone Influencer in 2019 by Opportunity

Zone Magazine, Neil has organized several qualified opportunity funds and is

currently advising numerous clients in connection with investments using the new

Opportunity Zone program. Neil focuses on finance matters related to the New

Markets Tax Credit program and renewable energy tax credit projects. His

practice includes the representation of community development entities,

investors, lenders and borrowers.

Neil advises clients in connection with the organization, capitalization and

financing of marketplace lending platforms and loan purchase transactions.

Neil advises sponsors of collective investment vehicles, organized as limited

liability companies and partnerships, ranging from hedge funds to real estate

private equity funds.

Neil has lead responsibility for dozens of affordable housing finance transactions,

including the formation of limited partnerships designed to invest in affordable

housing that generates federal low-income housing tax credits, negotiation with

institutional investors in such partnerships, negotiation with lenders and

negotiation of equity investments in partnerships that are constructing or

rehabilitating affordable housing.

Bryan Shaffer is Principal/Managing Director of George Smith Partners where

he focuses on delivering solutions to address his clients’ real estate capital

requirements. Mr. Shaffer works hard to arrange structured financings for

multifamily and commercial properties, including acquisition, refinance,

construction, bridge and permanent loans. Mr. Shaffer has successfully

structured both debt and equity placements for private entrepreneurs and

institutional clients. He has been able to utilize his prior vast and diverse

experiences in owning, operating, developing commercial real estate to help

him succeed in capital raising for multi-family, affordable, office, retail,

industrial, hospitality, data centers, healthcare/medical and senior facilities

sectors to provide the best options and structure for his clients.

In his career, Mr. Shaffer has been deeply involved in over $8.5 billion in real

estate transactions, including the structuring or arranging over $3 billion of

debt and equity placements and the repositioning and sale of $2 billion of

properties for a Japanese institutional investor, Mitsui Real Estate

Sales/Mitsui Fudosan. His focus is understanding the needs of clients large

and small, so with his team, they can provide the best solution in the market.

Mr. Shaffer closed transactions with every type of capital provider including

Banks, Insurance Companies, Family Offices, Private Equity Firms, Bond

Funds, CTL Lenders, Funds, Community Development Lenders, and

Institutional Investors. He serves on the direct investment committee for

Clearinghouse, CDFI and has advised two family offices.

Prior to serving as a Principal and Managing Director at George Smith

Partners, Mr. Shaffer ran his own global investment advisory company, led

dispositions for the world’s largest real estate owner, created a global trade

association and operated projects for several development firms. He has

served as a contractor for the United States Resolution Trust Corporation

(RTC), as an Expert Witness and California Superior Court Receiver.