Southern California Women Leading Real Estate

As a real estate development leader, Ekta brings over 20 years of experience in investing and developing multifamily residential and mixed-use projects across the nation. At SoLa Impact, she heads the development department forging a new path for high quality affordable housing and workforce housing in California’s historically overlooked Black and brown communities. She is a member of the firm’s Investment Committee responsible for providing oversight for the real estate investments of the firm. Prior to SoLa Impact, Ekta spent the majority of her career in Southern California with Alliance Residential, leading ground-up new construction and value-add investments with Prudential and AIG as capital partners. Ekta has executed over $2.5 billion RE transactions with over 7,000 units in Southern California. Prior to that, she worked in the New York and Chicago regions on multi-phase, mixed-use, mixed income public-private partnerships. Ekta was honored as a leading woman in Commercial Real Estate by Bisnow, Globe Street, Los Angeles Business Journal. She is a US Green Building Council LEED Accredited Professional, Housing Committee member of HomeAid Orange County, serves on Cornell Alumni Admissions Committee, was appointed to the City of Santa Ana General Plan Advisory Group, and is a member of Bisnow DEI board. She is a graduate of Cornell University and holds an MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.

As Director of Development for the Michaels Organization, Abbie Hawkins brings 10 years of experience in real estate entitlements, permitting, development, and financing for all asset classes including retail, hospitality, senior and student living, affordable and market rate multifamily housing projects throughout California and the western region. Abbie has responsibility for all aspects of development, and vast experience with CEQA, due diligence, entitlements, project design, and project management . Abbie received her Bachelors of Science in Real Estate from San Diego State University.

Janae Hilliard is a Multifamily Analyst for Shapell Properties, a privately-owned real estate investment firm specializing in commercial and multifamily properties, managing open-air retail centers, offices, and multifamily units across both Southern and Northern California. She offers analytical and strategic assistance to the Multifamily team, executing optimal practices and spearheading new initiatives for the company. Janae’s responsibilities include generating financial analysis, managing day-to-day team operations, partnering with the property operations team, and contributing to team and company projects. Prior to joining Shapell, Janae worked at Brookfield Properties, one of the globe's leading firms in alternative investment management. During her tenure at Brookfield, she was involved in both leasing and office asset management, showcasing her versatility in office real estate operations. Janae holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology from the University of California Riverside and is a licensed Salesperson in the State of California. Furthermore, she successfully finished the Ross Program in Real Estate at the University of Southern California, earning recognition as the recipient of the "Best Development Proposal" award. Janae is presently pursuing certification in Real Estate Investment and Finance at the University of California Los Angeles Extension Center. She serves as a dedicated Board Member and takes the lead on the Events Committee for the Los Angeles Chapter of the African American Real Estate Professionals group. Janae demonstrates exceptional organizational skills, meticulous attention to detail, and resourcefulness, operating at an accelerated pace. Her commitment to achieving operational efficiencies is evident as she proactively strategizes on accomplishing tasks promptly without compromising quality. Janae is dedicated to community mentorship and willingly offers her leadership services wherever they are needed. Janae currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Olga Zarney is the office tax leader in the Century City office. Olga has over 15 years of experience as a respected CPA and business advisor to entrepreneurs and their businesses. She provides tax compliance and planning for individuals, partnerships, closely-held businesses, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. She focuses on serving clients in the real estate industry including retail, office, residential, hospitality, industrial, and developers. Olga works closely with large real estate family owned offices to help them with tax saving strategies such as 1031 like-kind exchanges, cost segregation studies, use of federal and state tax credits and advises on entity formation and structure. She also works closely with attorneys on estate and gift tax planning to assist clients with a successful transition of family businesses to next generations. Additionally, Olga has handled tax controversy matters, including representation of taxpayers before federal, state, and local taxing authorities.

Amy Steinfeld is a land use and water lawyer with a broad understanding of environmental issues and a passion for the agricultural industry. Operating in one of the most heavily regulated industries and states, her passion and genuine concern for her clients is critical to her success. Drawing on a substantial network and ability to work closely with state agencies and local governments to anticipate decision-makers’ viewpoints, she efficiently moves even the most contentious projects forward and reduces permitting delays. Her combination of water law and land use experience allows Amy to operate at the apex of the industry. She advises water districts, cities, agricultural interests and developers in all aspects of water law. Accomplished in all facets of land development, Amy is recognized for her experience in water supply strategy, local policies and public outreach. She brings deep experience in every part of the process, from site due diligence to the preparation of groundwater sustainability plans and environmental documents to the defense and settlement of complicated multiparty CEQA lawsuits. Amy is co-founder and co-chair of the California H2O Women Conference, which provides an opportunity to collaborate, educate and support women leaders in the water industry.

As General Counsel for McCourt Partners, Amy Arentowicz oversees all legal affairs on the company’s behalf and acts as a strategic advisor on transactional matters. She is a key partner in the structuring, negotiation and execution of deals and is responsible for regulatory considerations on federal, state and local levels. Amy joins McCourt from the development subsidiary of Brookfield Properties, where she served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel. Amy has twenty years of experience handling complex real estate transactions in both legal and business capacities. While at Brookfield, she was responsible for all legal matters pertaining to Brookfield’s development business within Canada and the United States. Prior to Brookfield, Amy spent over 7 years with the Related Companies, as General Counsel of Related Hudson Yards, where her work focused on advising and managing all legal aspects of New York City’s newest neighborhood. Before joining Related, Amy was a Shareholder in the Real Estate Department of Greenberg Traurig LLP’s New York office. Amy received a Bachelor of Arts in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame and a Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law.

Rachel Freeman serves as the Deputy Mayor of Business and Economic Development under Mayor Karen Bass. For nearly two decades she has been engaged in a broad range of economic development projects with an emphasis on commercial real estate and development. Rachel oversees seven departments totaling over 6,000 employees and a combined budget of over $8 billion: Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, Department of City Planning, Department of Building & Safety, Department of Convention & Tourism Development, Economic & Workforce Development Department, and Department of Cannabis Regulation. She is charged with growing a prosperous economy by creating jobs, attracting investment, increasing tourism and supporting businesses of all sizes through equitable pro-growth strategies. Prior to joining the administration Rachel Freeman served as Senior Vice President, Real Estate for Tejon Ranch Company (NYSE:TRC). Where she oversaw entitlements, land planning, transportation infrastructure, sustainability, legal and other development related activities in the Los Angeles County region, directly managing over 12,000 acres, 19,300 homes and 10M SF of commercial, industrial, parks and other civic uses. Prior to Tejon Ranch Company, she held the position of President & CEO at Capri Retail Services, LLC a subsidiary of Capri Capital Partners, LLC, an SEC registered real estate investment management firm leading entitlements, asset management and supporting acquisition/disposition related initiatives for Southern California, on behalf of major institutional investors. Having spent her career spearheading innovative and impactful real estate projects, Rachel Freeman has led the development efforts for a diverse array of projects including greenfield, mixed-use, multi-family, sustainable and transit-oriented developments across the region. She has most recently served as Co Chair for BizFed’s CEQA, Land Use and Housing Committee, the Board of Directors for Building Industry Association of Southern California's Los Angeles/Ventura Chapter and is an active member of Urban Land Institute’s (“ULI”) Housing Council.

Samantha Millman is the President of the Los Angeles City Planning Commission, the central forum for members of the public to voice their opinions on the real estate development projects under consideration in their city. 

Rebecca Clark, CEO of Linc Housing, has more than 30 years of experience in creating strong communities and healthy residents through affordable housing. Her experiences range from leading varied nonprofit companies to consulting on governance and organizational development, driving public policy outcomes and effecting necessary changes in the system. She believes in the power of collaboration to create and redevelop healthy and vital communities integrating housing, employment, healthcare, services, education, and more. Since coming to Linc in the fall of 2014, Rebecca has led the organization to implement a stronger partnership and community development focus, along with guiding the organization through a time of significant growth in Linc’s pipeline of affordable and supportive housing. She has invested in strengthening Linc’s financial position, infrastructure, and organizational culture to support efforts toward accomplishing the organization’s mission. Her tenure has also included the expansion of resident services and a focus on strengthening the team’s skills and capacity to make these accomplishments possible. Under Rebecca’s leadership, Linc was awarded Developer of the Year by Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing (SCANPH) in 2019 as well as several property-specific awards. Prior to taking the helm at Linc, Rebecca served the affordable housing industry as an independent consultant. She founded Clark Consulting Group to help nonprofits and governments achieve their goals. Her consulting work included facilitating nonprofit mergers and alliances to create stronger organizations, strategic planning, change management, board governance, and business innovation and development. As a nonprofit executive she served as CEO of National Community Renaissance, executive vice president of BRIDGE Housing, managing director of Linc Housing, and president and executive director of Hope Through Housing Foundation. Rebecca's experience also includes the role of Director of Housing Development and Construction Management for the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission serving the nine million residents in the Los Angeles County jurisdiction. Rebecca also serves in various leadership positions in the affordable housing industry. She serves on the board of the California Housing Consortium and Housing Partnership Equity Trust. Rebecca is a graduate of Cal Poly Pomona in Architecture where she studied at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark as part of her coursework. Her business degree is from the Claremont Graduate University Drucker School of Management. Rebecca is an outdoor enthusiast and recreational cyclist. Over the years she has ridden and co-lead self- contained tours across the Western U.S. and Europe.

Robin Hughes joined the Housing Partnership Network as its President and Chief Executive Officer in 2022. She brings over 35 years of experience in the affordable housing and community development sector. As HPN’s chief executive, Hughes leads a collective network of the nation’s leading affordable housing and community development nonprofits and oversees the vision, strategy, and sustainability of practitioner-driven peer exchange, policy, and innovation/R&D to spark systems change and social enterprises that solve for closing the gaps in the sector. Hughes also manages a portfolio of businesses co-designed and/or launched with network members, which currently include Housing Partnership Fund (CDFI), Housing Partnership Insurance Exchange, Framework Homeownership®, and the Charter School Financing Partnership. Prior to joining HPN, Hughes served as the President and CEO of Abode Communities for 26 years. Abode Communities is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit architect, developer, manager, and operator of service- enhanced affordable housing. Under her leadership, Hughes transformed the organization into one of the nation’s top developers and the premier provider of environmentally sustainable affordable housing in California. During Hughes’ tenure, Abode Communities developed more than 50 residential and mixed-use communities; created new affordable homes for over 12,000 California residents and provided a social safety net for its residents through Beyond Homes, the organization’s substantive resident services program. Early in her career, Hughes held positions in the private and public sectors including The Richmond Group of Companies, Citibank, the Community Development Commission of the County of Los Angeles, and the Office of the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles. Hughes received her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in public administration from the University of Southern California and certification from the executive program in Community Development at Harvard Kennedy School.

Ms. Kao is a Managing Director at AEW and Head of Asset Management for the firm’s Private Equity Group. In this capacity, she is responsible for the oversight of all asset management activities across all funds and separate accounts. Ms. Kao is also a Senior Portfolio Manager for the firm’s open-end core property fund, the AEW Core Property strategy, where she is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the Fund’s investments and operations as well as working closely with investor relations on marketing and providing support to the Fund’s investors. She has been with the firm since 1998 and is a member of AEW’s Risk Management Committee, and Diversity Equity & Inclusion Committee. Ms. Kao serves as a Council Member for the Urban Land Institute (ULI). She holds a B.S. in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Dalila Sotelo has been actively involved in housing development and finance for over 30 years. Recently, Ms. Sotelo joined Primestor as the President of its Residential Division, with the intent to expand its mission to develop, acquire, and enhance residential properties to impact and empower the communities that Primestor serves. Ms. Sotelo expands Primestor’s capacity to create more sustainable and equitable communities. Throughout her noteworthy career, she has been an effective advocate of housing for all income levels and has spent her time promoting this effort across the country with the development of over 3,000 units. Ms. Sotelo has extensive experience in the non-profit sector, private sector, and public sector. She served as the Deputy Chief of Operations for the City of Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency and was instrumental in the effort to deploy over $240 million in public subsidy for the creation of affordable housing in Los Angeles. With over 10 years in leadership positions through her civic engagement at the local, county and state levels, Ms. Sotelo has served as an appointee of two Governors and three Mayors representing the community and the real estate industry.

Cathy Tran Moses is a litigation attorney who focuses on complex business and real estate litigation and dispute resolution.   Cathy has obtained successful results for the Firm’s clients in a wide range of complex litigation matters, including partnership disputes, breach of contract disputes, business torts, and other real estate litigation.  Cathy was formerly a Trial Attorney with the United States Department of Justice, Civil Division, and a law clerk to The Honorable M. Margaret McKeown of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Sarah Corr was named Managing Investment Director for Real Assets in June 2020. She implements and manages the Fund’s global real asset investment strategy and policy portfolio, which includes real estate, infrastructure, and forestland. Sarah has been with CalPERS since 2001. She previously served as interim managing investment director over two years and as an investment director in the Private Equity asset class. Prior to joining CalPERS, she worked in the banking and insurance industries. She is a member of the Executive Committee for the Private Equity Women Investor Network. Sarah earned an MBA from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in political economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

With more than 30 years of real estate experience, Ms. Volz has been involved in merely all aspects of development from early feasibility to property management. This includes planning and implementation services with over 200 educational institutions (including over 30 community colleges) and operational advisory services for more than 20 professional services firms and not-for-profit agencies. She is recognized for her respectable manner with which to strategically advance outcomes and sustainable growth through straight-forward communication embedded in collaboration and empathy. She founded Volz Company in 2015 to work with people you like and respect and who are dedicated to making a positive influence in the world through the built environment. Since inception, the firm has been focused on and continually advances mission-based outcomes. Her prior background includes leadership positions at an international student housing firm, national program management firm and an international architecture firm as well as management team of three $200M+ new developments, a significant mall renovation project, and a 52-story urban mixed use building.

Kim Brewer is Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield’s US Senior Vice President of Development. She has been with URW since 1996 serving in senior roles in both management and development. Kim is currently responsible for oversight of the development activities for the company’s West Coast assets, including Westfield UTC, Century City, Topanga, Roseville and Valley Fair. This development pipeline across URW’s premier properties represents significant capital investment focused to reinvigorate the retail shopping experience in reimagined environments that will serve the communities and its shoppers into the future. Kim holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of San Diego. She currently serves as a board member on the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission, the Warner Center Association and San Diego Economic Development Corporation. She is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). In her free time, Kim enjoys traveling, having visited 46 countries to date, sailing, golfing, cooking and spending time outdoors hiking.

Melissa has more than 15 years of construction experience, with a focus on the pharmaceutical and life science industry. Currently, she is the preconstruction manager for Turner’s life sciences projects throughout California. Starting her career as an on-site project engineer and project manager, Melissa uses her operational background to inform the preconstruction process and provide clients with a comprehensive plan from conceptual design through field mobilization. She is passionate about the life-saving contributions of the facilities she builds and implementing innovative construction technologies to help advance the industry.