Tanya Stern is Acting Planning Director for Montgomery County, MD, its largest county with over 1 million diverse residents. She leads planning and development review for urbanized, suburban, and rural communities; the development of countywide housing, multi-modal transportation, and growth management policies; innovative studies on real estate and the economy; historic preservation; and promotion of design excellence in architecture and the public realm. Prior to this role, she served as Deputy Planning Director overseeing countywide housing policy, zoning, growth management, multimodal transportation planning and historic preservation; real estate, economic and demographic analysis; IT/GIS; and agency management services including budgeting, HR and communications. She served as an advisor for Thrive Montgomery 2050, the county’s new General Plan. Previously, Ms. Stern served for 14 years in the Government of the District of Columbia, at the DC Office of Planning as Deputy Director overseeing neighborhood planning and urban design and as Chief of Staff; in the Executive Office of the Mayor; and in other agencies. Additionally, she has 11 years of non-profit sector experience. Ms. Stern holds a master’s in city planning from the University of Pennsylvania and is certified through the American Institute of Certified Planners and as a Certified Public Manager.

Bill Tompkins is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montgomery

County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC), based in Rockville,

Maryland. He leads a team of 25 diverse professionals who work to fulfill the

mission of making Montgomery County one of the most diverse, equitable and best

places to be in business in the country. Bill was previously Executive Vice President

and Chief Operating Officer and has been with MCEDC since January of 2019.

Bill received his MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was a General

Motors Fellow and received his BA in Economics, magna cum laude from Tufts

University.

Bill has a deep background in marketing, business operations, strategic planning and

nonprofit management, with most of his career serving as a senior executive in the

media and entertainment industries with Fortune 500 companies.

Robert A. Goldman has been President of Montgomery Housing Partnership (MHP)

since 2001. He also has worked in housing policy at the federal and local levels. He is a

recognized expert in affordable housing and in 2017 was selected as Practitioner of the

Year by the National NeighborWorks® Association.

Goldman is a past president and current member of the Housing Association of

Nonprofit Developers (HAND), as well as a member of the Community Development

Network of Maryland. He has served on the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Washington

Housing Initiative Council, the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission, the Wheaton

Redevelopment Steering Committee, and the Long Branch Task Force.

Prior to joining MHP, Goldman worked as a Senior Development Officer at the

Enterprise Social Investment Corporation (ESIC) where he was involved in syndicating

low-income housing tax credit projects. He received his Juris Doctorate from UCLA Law

School, his master’s degree in Real Estate from Johns Hopkins University, and his

bachelor’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University.

A native Washingtonian, Goldman lives in Montgomery County, Md., with his wife and

daughter.

A visionary, internationally recognized urban planner and developer, Andy began drawing plans of cities by the time he was 10. Andy served as Director of Washington, DC’s Office of Planning where he created and directed the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative which framed Washington’s iconic neighborhoods including the Wharf, and The Ballpark District. Andy was most recently CEO of the Olympic Park Legacy Company in London where he led the transformation of the 500-acre London 2012 Olympic Park – the largest regeneration project in the United Kingdom. Andy also serves at MIT as a Senior Advisor to the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning where he works on international initiatives and will be teaching a course on “city building”. He also serves on boards in Washington DC, including the Folger Theater, Field School and DCJCC.

Stephen Morel is the Chief Executive Officer and was formerly the Chief Investment Officer of the Montgomery County Green Bank (MCGB). He comes to MCGB with a professional background in corporate and project finance, with a particular interest in the use of public and private funds to fill market gaps and catalyze investment into high impact sectors. Stephen brings his strong skills in financial management and project-related investment to MCGB in order to accelerate the deployment of programs and products towards achieving the Bank’s clean energy and energy efficiency objectives.

Prior to the MCGB, Stephen led a financial consulting company dedicated to connecting infrastructure developers with debt and equity financing sources. This role followed almost a decade of experience as an investment officer and project finance specialist for the Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Stephen began his financial career in investment banking at Taylor-DeJongh and Friedman, Billings, Ramsey.

Bob Youngentob is Executive Chairman of EYA, LLC and one of the founding partners. His responsibilities include product and site visioning, investor relations, investment committee leadership, and strategy, particularly in acquisition and development. Bob has over 30 years of real estate experience.

Bob currently serves on the Board of Advisors for The Universities at Shady Grove and the Terwillinger Center of the Urban Land Institute. He is a former chair of the Washington D.C. District Council of the Urban Land Institute and currently is chair of its Governance Committee. Bob has served on multiple private school boards including The Maret School and Green Acres. He has been a guest lecturer on real estate at the Harvard Business School, Georgetown University, University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins University, and has spoken at numerous conferences sponsored by the Urban Land Institute and Builder Magazine. In 2016, Bob was inducted into the W.H. Marvin Hall of Fame for Design Excellence. In 1996, he was recognized as an Entrepreneur of The Year by Ernst and Young. Bob grew up in the Washington D.C. area, graduated from Lehigh University, and earned a MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Nihar serves as a Partner in Transwestern Development Company’s Washington office, overseeing the Mid-Atlantic region. He is responsible for the financial health and execution of development projects, sourcing new deals, and structuring capital. Nihar has sourced over $800 million of product in the region in addition to leading the development, management of sales and leasing operations and the dispositions of more than 3.8 million square feet of real estate across mixed-use, hospitality, multifamily, condominium and townhome product types valued at over $1.5 billion across 15 different projects and delivering over 2,300 units of housing in the area. Nihar started his foray into the industry by working in project management for general contractors, where he managed the construction of data centers, government facilities and mixed-use apartment communities. He is a United States Air Force veteran and separated as a Captain after serving in Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Nihar earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Boston University and a Master of Business Administration from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University.

As a Principal with StonebridgeCarras, Kent Marquis focuses on financial strategies relative to acquisitions, asset management, and dispositions. He manages relationships with current and prospective financing partners, directs the underwriting of potential investment properties, manages the firm’s investment assets, and reports on all investments to lenders and investors. He has more than twenty years of experience in the real estate industry with complex joint venture structures spanning a diverse range of property types.

Prior to joining StonebridgeCarras, Mr. Marquis worked in public accounting with Reznick Group in audit/compliance. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Accounting from Husson University and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Marquis served as co-chair of the District of Columbia Building Industry Association Capital Markets Committee from 2014-2016. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and serves as a mentor in the ULI Mentorship Program.

John L. Ziegenhein is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Chevy Chase Land Company, overseeing the company’s new development and two-million square feet of commercial and residential properties. John has over 20 years of experience in real estate development and management, most recently as Chief Operating Officer at McCaffery, Inc. He is a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers, Inc., Urban Land Institute, and National Multifamily Housing Council. John currently serves on the Land Company’s Executive Committee, and is active locally serving on the Board of the Arlington Food Assistance Center and Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing.

Bob Elliott has over 20 years of real estate experience and is currently Chief Executive Officer for Lantian Development, a small, privately held, real estate investment and development company, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. Lantian invests exclusively in the Washington, DC region and has acquired operating properties, value add investments and large tracts of land, totaling over 300 acres and 1.2 million square feet. Prior to joining Lantian, Bob held leadership positions at Washington REIT, Clark Enterprises and JBG and he has developed more than two million square feet of commercial, multifamily, retail and mixed-use development in the Washington, DC region with total development value in excess of $1 billion.

Marc Elrich was elected as Montgomery County Executive on Nov. 6, 2018. He had previously served three terms (12 years) on the Montgomery County Council as an at-large member, being first elected in 2006. He served as a Councilmember on the Takoma Park City Council from 1987-2006. For 17 years, he was a teacher at Rolling Terrace Elementary School in Takoma Park.

As a County Councilmember, he was the chief sponsor of several landmark pieces of legislation and programs. He led the successful effort to increase the Montgomery County minimum wage in coordination with surrounding jurisdictions to $11.50 an hour and subsequent legislation that will eventually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. He was the first elected official to propose building a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system throughout the County to address Montgomery's transportation and environmental problems. Ground was broken in Fall 2018 for the first BRT line, which will run along Route 29.

Throughout his political career, he has been a champion of improving tenants' rights and for making developers pay for a greater share of the infrastructure cost to build schools and transportation solutions. He was a leader in the fight to preserve Ten Mile Creek in the Clarksburg area by limiting the proposed development that would have threatened the health of Montgomery County's last best stream which flows into the County's backup water reservoir.

A founding principal of Stonebridge, Douglas Firstenberg directs firmwide strategic planning, oversees landmark development projects, and plays a key role in major transaction negotiations. Under his leadership, Stonebridge has developed several of the region’s most innovative and successful urban mixed-use properties, including breakthrough transit-oriented developments and public/private initiatives.

Mr. Firstenberg has more than thirty-five years of real estate industry experience, leading complex development projects totaling more than 10 million square feet and $4 billion in value. Mr. Firstenberg started his career with K.S. Sweet Associates, a Philadelphia-based real estate and investment firm where he was named partner. In 1993, he co-founded Stonebridge Associates in Washington, D.C., and led the transformation of the firm into an urban infill mixed-use developer. Mr. Firstenberg graduated from Duke University with a Bachelor of Arts and currently serves in leadership roles of several industry and charitable organizations.

Eric Morales is the Maryland Market President of United Bank, a premier community bank headquartered in Greater Washington, D.C. As Market President, he is responsible for the

management and operation of all nine United Bank offices in the Maryland Market, including maintaining client relationships and new business development. Morales has an extensive background in commercial real estate lending, having financed the acquisition and construction of multiple commercial and residential real estate projects in and around the D.C. metro area.

He is also active in the local community, notably with United’s financial literacy programs, educating local youth through the Bank’s Teach Children to Save initiative, and volunteering with

Junior Achievement Finance Park. He has also served on the board of numerous organizations, most recently with the Catholic Business Network of Montgomery County and the Arlington

Chamber of Commerce. Additionally, Eric was a proud recipient of the Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40 awards in 2024.

Prior to his time at United Bank, Morales worked as a Financial Manager at TIER REIT, Inc. and a senior associate at EY. Morales holds both a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Master of Accounting degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.