Phoenix Office of the Future

Mark Mitchell is a third-generation Arizonan with deep roots in the Tempe community. Before being elected Mayor in May, 2012, Mitchell was elected to the City Council in March of 2000 and served three four-year terms. Mayor Mitchell is a native of Tempe, attending elementary and middle school in the community before graduating from McClintock High School. He also earned a Political Science degree from Arizona State University and has spent a number of years dedicated to a small business here in Tempe. Mitchell is currently the Vice President of this local business, Arizona Flooring and Interiors. During his time as Mayor, Mitchell has focused on strengthening Tempe’s local economy and the economic recovery by working to attract new businesses and retain current business partners. Since his election in May, 2012, the City of Tempe has added thousands of jobs, and with the addition of such companies like State Farm, Silicon Bank and Union Bank, Tempe is looking forward to welcoming tens of thousands of jobs over the next decade. Mayor Mitchell is also committed to maintaining and improving Tempe’s world-class assets like the Tempe Center for the Arts and Tempe Town Lake, working with law enforcement to ensure that Tempe is made up of safe neighborhoods, and to providing a transparent city government. As a community member, Mayor Mitchell has served on numerous boards and charitable organizations, including the Kiwanis Club of Tempe, Tempe Diablos, Tempe Leadership Class XV, Tempe Sister Cities, Tempe Impact Education Foundation, Rio Salado Foundation, and Tempe YMCA. Mitchell is on the Board of Directors of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council and serves as the City of Tempe’s representative on the Maricopa Association of Government’s Regional Council, Regional Council Executive Committee, and Transportation Policy Committee and also serves on Valley Metro RPTA and Valley Metro Rail Boards of Directors. Mayor Mitchell also currently serves on the Executive Committee for the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and is involved with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities. Mayor Mitchell is continuing his family’s legacy in Arizona politics. His father, Harry Mitchell, was Mayor of Tempe from 1978 to 1994 and served on the City Council for more than 24 years. Harry Mitchell also elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and served Congressional District 5 including the City of Tempe from 2007 to 2011. Mayor Mitchell’s great-grandfather, W.W. Mitchell, moved to Tempe in 1945 and served as an Arizona State legislator in the 1940s. He has two daughters that he is raising in his hometown.

John has been around the construction industry his entire life and has a deep understanding of the development, financing and construction processes. As Chairman of Ryan’s Southwest Region, John continues to manage the development and construction of Marina Heights, the multi-year, two million-square-foot, mixed-use campus, along with other select projects. He remains an integral part of the division by providing industry-leading quality, integrity and professionalism to ensure that future projects are consistent with Ryan’s objective of building lasting relationships.

Heidi Kimball is a Senior Vice President with Sunbelt Holdings, a recognized leader in real estate development, management and investment throughout the Southwest since 1979. Over the course of its 35-year history, Sunbelt has developed a strong presence in commercial development and asset management, as well as the developer of some of the Valley’s most beloved residential communities including McDowell Mountain Ranch in Scottsdale, Power Ranch in the East Valley and Vistancia in the Northwest Valley. Recent acquisitions have provided unique opportunities in commercial development. Kimball joined Sunbelt in 1982, and has worked in a variety of capacities on many of Sunbelt’s iconic projects, including most recently the Marina Heights project at Tempe Town Lake. Kimball is responsible for Sunbelt’s asset management and brokerage activities, and in that capacity has provided management and leasing services to ASU at its Research Park since 1993. She also offers experience in due diligence, financial analysis, development, entitlements, and disposition, and serves as the firm’s designated broker. Originally from Wyoming, Heidi graduated with a BA (Psychology) from the University of Wyoming in 1980, and earned an MBA from Arizona State University in 2001. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi and Beta Gamma Sigma. In addition, she holds the designation of Certified Property Manager from the Institute of Real Estate Management. Kimball is the current Treasurer of Urban Land Institute Arizona, and serves on its Management Committee and Advisory Board. She also serves on the board of Valley Partnership, which she chaired in 2002, and is a Trustee of its Political Action Committee (VPAC). Kimball is a member of National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP) and Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM), a board member of East Valley Partnership, and a member of Arizona State University’s Real Estate Advisory Board. She is the mother of three adult sons.

Michael R. Davis, AIA, is a second-generation Arizonan who has lived in Phoenix since 1973; when the population of Maricopa County was 1,157,000. He is an architect, artist, strategic thinker and developer committed to sustainable urban development. Davis is the Founder, CEO and Director of Design for DAVIS, an Architecture, Interiors and Urban Design firm specializing in exceptional commercial and residential mixed use-projects. DAVIS designs inspired architecture for everyday life for the nation’s best corporations and developers. Davis’ primary focus at the firm is the creation of exquisite, meaningful places where people spend the most time…The places we live. The places we work. And the places we play. Founded in 1991, DAVIS has designed 75-million square feet with a market value of $20 billion.

John P. Creer is the assistant vice president for Real Estate Development at Arizona State University. Creer comes to ASU from Coldwell Banker Commercial in Salt Lake City, where he has worked as a commercial real estate broker since August 2011. Creer’s most recent professional accomplishments with Coldwell Banker include brokering transactions with national and regional companies such as UPS, US Bank and Obagi Medical Products, Inc. He is a licensed real estate broker in Utah and is a licensed real estate agent in California. Creer holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting, with an emphasis in corporate and partnership taxation from the University of Utah. Prior to his Salt Lake City relocation, Creer worked for Grandview Advisors, LLC, Vanir Construction and the Trammell Crow Company on professional service contracts with the Los Angeles (California) Unified School District. One of his notable ventures with his partners at Grandview Advisors was the development of a master planning process and protocol to support a $7 billion, voter-approved capital investment program for 585 public school sites across the Los Angeles area. Earlier in his Los Angeles work, Creer was responsible for the development and execution of a $2.3 billion master plan for 41 new San Fernando Valley K-12 school sites. He managed a $200 million charter school development program and started an asset management division to monetize underutilized real estate owned by the school district through public-private partnerships. Previously in his career, Creer was chief financial officer for a Los Angeles venture-backed technology transfer company. He formerly served as managing partner of a Salt Lake City commercial development firm and was the chief financial officer of a Salt Lake City technology start-up company. Creer also performed various development, leasing and property management roles for a Salt Lake City commercial and industrial real estate development firm.

Buck Yee has been a member of the DAVIS team for 31 years. He is an award-winning Project Architect who's skill and reputation for responsibility and accountability place him in high demand. Buck has worked on high profile projects such as Unisource Energy, Fountainhead Office Plaza, Hayden Ferry Lakeside and most recently, Marina Heights at Tempe Town Lake. Buck has developed a vast understanding of different product types. His experience with Class A Office, mixed-use, hospitality, retail, senior care and public museums make him a valuable asset to each project. His team-oriented attitude ensures all stakeholders are heard and ideas presented are thoroughly communicated.

Steven leads all aspects of ViaWest Group with primary emphasis on investment and development strategy, deal-sourcing, and capital markets activity. He has thirty years of experience in the development, operations and financing of all types of real estate, with deep experience in industrial and office properties. Through involvement in over $3 billion worth of projects, Steven has provided build-to-suit, speculative development, acquisitions, dispositions and property management services in multiple product types in the Southwest, Pacific Northwest, and Southeast U.S. Prior to forming ViaWest Properties in 2003, Steven led the development as SVP of The Plaza Companies, a full service, medical-office, senior-living development, and property management company. Prior to joining Plaza, Steven rose through the ranks to become COO and EVP of The Hewson Company, a privately-held, real estate development company in the Western U.S. in which capacity he developed properties ranging from mid-rise office buildings to a 2.2MM s.f. industrial complex. Other work experience includes Real Estate Finance work with SunTrust Banks in Atlanta, GA. Steven graduated from The University of Texas Honors Program with a B.A. with Honors in Marketing. He has served as Chairman of the NAIOP Arizona Chapter, on the National Board of Directors of NAIOP, and in national and local capacities with Urban Land Institute (ULI). He has also served on numerous local and national boards and councils of non-profit philanthropic, civic and industry organizations including Greater Phoenix Leadership, Greater Phoenix Economic Council, as Board Chairman of the Jewish Community Association of Greater Phoenix and on the National Board of JFNA. He resides in Paradise Valley, Arizona with his wife Jennifer and has three grown children.

Megan Creecy-Herman serves as Vice President, Market Officer for Prologis. With over 15 years of commercial real estate experience in the Southwestern US, Ms. Creecy-Herman was previously responsible for oversight of Liberty Property Trust’s portfolio in the Arizona region including leasing, development and acquisition activities. Creecy-Herman is a former President of the NAIOP-Arizona Chapter and a recipient of NAIOP’s national award for Chapter President of the Year.

Bill is a forty year veteran in office and industrial real estate. Through brokerage, development and investment, he has been directly involved in well over a billion dollars of transactions. He was a founder of the Phoenix Grubb & Ellis office–the first outside of California–and also a founder and President of Arizona's Lee & Associates office. He established and served as an officer for Grubb & Ellis' research and consulting division which specialized in state of the art market and financial feasibility analysis and strategic business planning for commercial assets. For many years, Bill has been involved in the development of, and investment in, office/industrial properties through Gosnell Development Corporation (GDC), a company that has developed over three million square feet of commercial properties, perhaps most notably the Point Resorts and related developments. More recently, Bill has focused exclusively on principal investment activities and leads Everest's efforts in office, office flex and industrial investment. Bill was named by INC magazine Entrepreneur of the year for the success of the Lee & Associates office in Arizona and he is a member and past Chairman of the SW chapter of the American Society of Real Estate Counselors. He also served two terms as chairman of the City of Phoenix Commission on the Economy.

Mark Singerman is Vice President, Regional Director for the Rockefeller Group’s Arizona Region. He is responsible for the development process of the company’s projects throughout Arizona, including in-depth financial and market analyses and direction of consultants, such as architects, engineers, and leasing agents. Before joining the company in 2008, Mr. Singerman was the Western Region President of Crosswinds National LLC in Phoenix, where he was instrumental in forming the western national division to develop commercial and mixed-use master-planned communities. His extensive real estate career began in 1975 in the midwest as a Retail Leasing Representative for Developers Diversified REIT in Cleveland, Ohio. Afterward, Mr. Singerman served 18 years in southern California with several large developers, including regional mall developer Ernest W. Hahn, Inc. and Trizec/Hahn. He directed the acquisition, development, and construction of numerous office, industrial, and retail-center buildings, as well as single- and multi-family residences. In addition, he acquired and managed the entitlement and development of over 4,200 acres in California, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, and Florida for mixed-use master-planned communities with infrastructure to support 15,000 homes, plus parks, schools, amenity centers, and commercial spaces. Mr. Singerman holds a Bachelor of Business Administration, with honors in Personnel Management, from Ohio University, and a Masters of Business Administration from California State University. He is actively involved in the Urban Land Institute and several other national real estate organizations.

Mike Gleason is a Partner at Netrix and Director of the IT Real Estate practice. Netrix is an IT consulting firm that helps clients bridge the gap between construction and technology. Netrix works with clients during all phases of a new buildout; from initial accurate IT budgeting, design, migration planning as well as ensuring the technologies deployed are seamless to the end user in the consumption model that fits their business. Mike’s group recently acted as the lead IT architect for Zurich Insurance’s 783,000sq ft. corporate HQ in Chicago, IL as well as many other corporate relocations across the country.

Steven M. Goldstein is a shareholder with the law firm of Sacks Tierney PA, a mid-sized law firm located in Scottsdale since 1999. He has represented real estate clients for his entire career, focusing on commercial sales and acquisitions and leasing work on office, industrial, and retail projects throughout the country. Current real estate representation includes numerous office transactions with ViaWest Group and industrial projects for Tratt Properties. Steve also represents closely-held businesses and physician practices, providing advice on corporate, contract, real estate, and transactional issues. Steve has been with Sacks Tierney since 1986, as a shareholder since 1993, and served on its Executive Committee for 10 years. He has been recognized as a Top Rated Lawyer in Real Estate Law by The American Lawyer and by The Best Lawyers in America® in Health Care and Corporate Law. Steve received his undergraduate degree in economics and political science (with highest distinction) from the University of Arizona in 1983, and his law degree cum laude from Harvard University in 1986.