Sargent S. Johnson has been with the Minneapolis office of Hines, the International Real Estate firm, since 1992. He currently serves as a Managing Director with responsibilities in acquisitions, dispositions, asset management, finance, leasing and development. Career highlights include office, retail and multi-family acquisitions totaling over $825 million dollars and leasing over 4.5 million square feet of office and retail space in some of Minneapolis’ premier commercial real estate assets including Wells Fargo Center, Fifty South Sixth and Edina Galleria. Mr. Johnson is also working on Hines’ next Class AA office development in downtown Minneapolis – 900 Marquette, located and 9th Street South and Marquette Avenue, will include 700K square feet of next generation premier office space with unparalleled workplaces, amenities, and public spaces.

As Chief Operating Officer, Traci Tomas charts a strategic path forward for Doran Companies’ certification as a woman-owned business and also oversees operational functions for the company, including asset management, human resources, IT and marketing. Traci is a licensed Minnesota real estate broker, a Certified Commercial Investment Member and a Certified Property Manager. She is an active member of multiple professional associations and was honored with a Personal Development Award from the Business Women’s Circle and named a Notable Woman in Commercial Real Estate by Twin Cities Business Magazine.

JO Companies, LLC is a Black-owned, mission driven real estate development company that specializes in

developing affordable multifamily housing, workforce housing, and selling residential and commercial

real estate. Other real estate development areas include, market rate, mixed-use and commercial

development. Founded by Johnny Opara in 2009, President and CEO of JO Companies, after spending

over 15 years in corporate America in sales, and having received recognition repeatedly by Executive

Leaders as a Top Sale’s Professional in achieving and maintaining high sales with million-dollar revenue

quotas within strong industries representing major corporations, such as: Medtronic, Pitney Bowes,

American Express, Century Link, International Paper, and Cox Automotive he left to become an

entrepreneur and pursue his passion for real estate. Johnny’s passion and motivation for developing

housing that’s affordable was fueled by his late father. Johnny saw first-hand how important the lack of

affordable and quality housing affects communities and their families.

JO Companies currently has over $100M in their real estate development pipeline. JO Companies

recently closed on new construction financing and broke ground this past January on The Hollows, an

$18.4 million multi-family development project located at 520 Payne Avenue in Saint Paul, MN! The

Hollows is a 62-unit workforce housing project located on the Greater Eastside, gateway to Lowertown

and Downtown Saint Paul. The Hollows has received wide-spread support from City of Saint Paul, the

Planning and Economic Development Department (PED), PED leadership, elected officials-City Council,

Business community, Met Council, Ramsey County, Dept. of Deed, and many other stakeholders within

the community. US Bank is the Tax Credit Investor and RedStone is the lender.

Wangstad Commons is JO Companies second affordable housing project and is a $22.5 million new

construction development that will bring 54-Units of affordable housing and supportive housing units to

the City of Brooklyn Center located at 61st. & Brooklyn Blvd. Wangstad Commons will offer one-, two-,

three- and four-bedroom units for households making incomes of 30%, 50%, and 60% area median

income. Wangstad Commons projected close is late Spring/ Summer of 2023.

From 2018 to 2020, JO Companies had a joint venture with Newport Midwest, a Minnesota affordable

housing development company. JO Companies responsibilities included: site identification, obtain

entitlement, Tax Credit Applications, lead community engagement and work with neighborhood

stakeholders, and secure city approvals and whatever else was required to move projects forward in

coordination with Newport. Newport Midwest is a subsidiary of Newport Partners, LLC. Newport

Partners was formed in 1998 as a tax credit syndication firm providing equity investments to

institutional investors. As a syndicator of tax credits, Newport Partners has placed over $1 billion in

equity to institutional investors and equity financing to over 172 multifamily developments throughout

the country. Newport Partners has expanded to develop and manage multifamily projects, first in

California and subsequently in Minnesota, Washington, and Arizona.

JO Companies builds on Johnny’s leadership and relationship building experience to develop high quality

affordable housing. Johnny is a licensed real estate agent and specializes in creating generational wealth

for first-time home buyers. Johnny is a member of Urban Land Institute and belongs to the ULI MN

Product Council. Johnny also serves on the Board of Directors for the Saint Paul Area Chamber and

Advisory Board for the Rice and Larpenteur Alliance.

JO Companies’ mission is to make sure nobody goes through what Johnny’s father went through when it

comes to finding quality affordable housing and making sure people who may need a little help aren’t

judged or looked down upon because of how much money they have, or because of where they live. JO

Companies development philosophy is simple, “Building housing that’s market rate in design, but that is

affordable.”. We’re all human beings, and everyone should be treated with dignity and respect, and live

somewhere they can be proud of.

Johnny graduated from Augsburg University with a B.A. in Business Administration and majored in

Management

Brady Pollard is a Vice President and Director of Preconstruction with JE Dunn Construction. Brady will speak to the trends in what developers are looking for in construction and design of multifamily housing both locally and nationally. He can also touch on the topic of procurement and escalation that are influencing the growth of the multifamily market.

Brady has worked with JE Dunn for nearly a decade and holds a degree in Construction Science from the University of Oklahoma.

Bill Griffith is a shareholder for Larkin Hoffman in the firm’s real estate and land use practice group. He practices extensively in land use, zoning, real estate, environmental permitting and municipal law. Bill has served as legal counsel to Mall of America for more than 20 years and also serves as city attorney for the city of Columbus. In addition to his practice, he has been an adjunct professor in land use law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law. Bill has published articles and guest commentary in Urban Land, Minnesota Business, Minneapolis Star Tribune, St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Minnesota Real Estate Journal, and is a frequent speaker at seminars on land use, zoning, municipal and environmental law.

Robby Mailatyar is Senior Managing Director of Real Estate for Greystar, with responsibility for the management and national oversight of the conventional owned assets. Since joining Greystar in 2007, Robby has held roles as operations and financial analyst supporting the Houston area, regional property manager, and senior director in development and new construction. Leading up to his current role he assumed leadership responsibility for the Midwest division, where he played a critical role in stabilizing and growing the company’s Midwest business. Active in the multifamily industry since 2005, Robby is experienced in high-rise, mid-rise, and garden-style assets, and has worked with numerous institutional owners including Goldman Sachs, RREEF, Howard Hughes, CROW, Blackrock, Intercontinental, and ST Residential.

His knowledge in management, investment, and development has been instrumental to the operations team, and his analyst skills, oversight capabilities, and innovative thinking have created increased property values in targeted markets. Robby holds Texas and Minnesota real estate licenses and a certified residential manager designation through the Minnesota Multi Housing Association.

The founder and managing director of Aptitude, Sam draws from his more than 18 years

of experience in building systems design and construction leadership to steer the

company’s business strategy and operations. As managing director, he supports the

entire Aptitude team in the pursuit of our purpose. Prior to joining Aptitude, Sam led

teams in complex, mission critical healthcare projects in a diverse range of roles that

span the entire design and construction life cycle. He holds a bachelor’s degree from

Georgia Tech and a master’s degree from Auburn University. When not in the office,

Sam enjoys a range of outdoor activities including wood working, coaching youth

soccer, and leading Scouts.

About Aptitude:

A strategic trade partner of JE Dunn Construction, Aptitude: Intelligent Integration is the

provider of digital and physical connectivity solutions that use a unique combination of

tailor-made design processes and cutting-edge technology to deliver connected built

environments for commercial real estate. Leveraging the insight of nearly a century in

design-build experience, Aptitude manages the full scope of building connectivity,

helping owners and operators lower costs, increase efficiencies and get more value out

of their properties through innovative, goal-oriented building development and

management. Founded in 2021, Aptitude is headquartered in Atlanta, GA, and

maintains offices across the United States. For more information, visit aptitudeii.com.