Jill leads Edlen & Co.’s public-private partnerships and build-to-suit projects for nonprofit and for-profit organizations, facilitating the important work of nonprofits and public agencies in our communities. Her projects at Edlen & Co., and previously at Gerding Edlen Development which she joined in 2003, include affordable housing, community facilities, student housing, academic buildings and mixed-use residential. Jill sources new deals and manages all aspects of the development process, with a depth of expertise at integrating non-conventional sources of financing including low income housing tax credits, new market tax credits, historic tax credits, tax-exempt bonds and urban renewal funds. She holds a Master’s of Urban Studies from Portland State University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from University of Pennsylvania. She served on the City of Portland’s Planning and Sustainability Commission and currently serves on the boards for Architectural Foundation of Oregon and Earth Advantage.

Chris co-founded Capstone Partners LLC in 2002. He brings over 26 years of real estate investment, development and asset management in all product types. Chris has personally sourced and directed the development, investment and management of over 8 million square feet of industrial, multi-family, retail and office properties in the Pacific Northwest and Northern Nevada for institutional partners and clients including Morrison Street Capital, Prudential Real Estate Investors, PCCP, LLC, Washington Capital Management and several family offices.

Chris received a BA in Economics from University of California, Davis in 1989 where he also served as its Student Body President. Chris lives in Portland with his wife Barbara and two teenage children Nikki (18) and Conner (15). Chris is an Eagle Scout.

He serves on the Advisory Board for the PSU Center for Real and is a Board Member of KairosPDX, a PPS K-5 Charter School. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute and The Forest Park Conservancy.

Bruce Wood has been with the Portland Development Commission since February 2012 where he currently manages the Real Estate and Construction Services team. Bruce, originally from Longview, Washington, began his real estate career in 1988 upon graduating with his MBA from Harvard Business School. After a short time in Seattle with the Trammell Crow Company, in 1990 Bruce transferred to the Portland Trammell Crow office where he headed up leasing and development of industrial properties. From 1992-1997 Bruce worked for Harsch Investment and headed up several industrial developments including Harsch’s efforts in Las Vegas where Harsch eventually became southern Nevada’s largest Landlord. In 1997, Bruce left Harsch to head up the regional office of Opus Northwest which he grew to one of the largest developers in the region. Bruce left Opus in 2005 and founded, Foundation Real Estate Development, which continues to own and manage assets in the Portland area. With a passion to bring private real estate experience to public efforts, he joined the PDC in 2012. In addition to his real estate efforts, Bruce is an adjunct faculty member of the Portland State Real Estate program and is the longest serving Board member of PSU’s Center for Real Estate Studies.

“My People used to say, when a stranger appears at your door, feed him for three days before asking who he is, where he's come from, where he's headed. That way, he'll have strength enough to answer. Or, by then you'll be such good friends, you don't care.”

Bashar Wali is a founder, a father, and a hotel fanatic. He’s a pragmatist—hungry to experience life not as it is packaged and sold, but as it is. His vested interest in hospitality, culture, and design, is cut with curiosity of what’s possible, beyond the status quo.

Bashar is always looking for that spark—that perfect symmetry of an idea and its physical manifestation—to make human experiences as we know them, better. He’s the consummate Host of the Soirée—ever in pursuit of a shared humanity among friends, colleagues, and total strangers. This is perhaps his greatest gift: bringing together a group that’s more inspiring than the sum of its parts.

As founder and CEO of This Assembly and Practice Hospitality, Bashar draws upon expertise honed over a 30-year career in hospitality. An expert in the lifestyle space, Bashar is known for pushing limits in his philosopher-meets-hotelier kind of way. Whether helming the TEDx stage, hosting a Global YPO event, or collaborating on Clubhouse, Bashar’s message is unwavering: service is what you deliver, hospitality is how you make people feel.

Bashar has done every job in a hotel—from frying an egg to negotiating a deal—working for Starwood Hotels before leading acquisitions and development globally at Grand Heritage Hotels. Prior to launching This Assembly and Practice Hospitality, Bashar served as President/CEO of Provenance Hotels, where he remains a partner, for 15 years, growing the company from five to 15 hotels, 1,500 team members, and expanding the collection from the Pacific Northwest to an award-winning national brand, with annual revenue in excess of $150 million.

When Bashar isn’t traveling to 50+ countries and 45+ states, he’s home in Portland, Oregon with his wife and kids, dreaming up the hotels of tomorrow.

Vanessa Sturgeon became president and CEO of TMT Development in 2003. Founded by her grandfather, Thomas P. Moyer, Vanessa started learning the business while still in college. Today, she leads a team that manages more than 6.5 million square feet of mixed-use high-rise assets, retail shopping centers and industrial parks in Oregon and Washington.

Her grandfather’s entrepreneurial spirit and fierce commitment to Portland is evident in the way Vanessa leads TMT and serves her community. With countless business accolades and extensive board service to her credit, gratitude for the life she leads fuels her “love what you have” philosophy and her passion to help those who struggle with inequity.

As a mom to three boys, Vanessa loves the feeling of family at TMT. “We all like each other. It’s authentic. We don’t take ourselves too seriously. We laugh a lot … we have fun. I can dish it, but I can take it, too.”

The company she leads places a high value on service. Service to tenants, business partners, coworkers and community. Empowering people to lead and serve from wherever they are is something she believes in; something she learned from mentors who let her make mistakes and build her reputation.

“My grandfather placed a high value on service, on how you treat people … on being embedded in and connected to the community in lots of different ways. That’s how you impact change.”

Vanessa attended Santa Clara University, Atkinson Graduate School of Management and Willamette University College of Law.