San Diego Student Housing & Higher Education Conference

Ms. Jhaveri has twenty years of progressive leadership and management experience with a proven record of commitment to continuously improving the student experience, building strong relationships with faculty and campus partners, new construction and capital projects and food service operations. She began her career at Illinois State University as an Assistant Residence Hall Coordinator and moved up to be an Area Coordinator for University Housing Services. She then served as the Associate Director of Residence Life at California State University, Chico for five years. Ms. Jhaveri then moved to the University of Texas at Austin where she served as the Director of Residence Life for nearly four years as well as the Director, Business Services for one year. Her most recent position at the University of Texas at Austin was Executive Director of University Housing and Dining. In each of these roles she has designed and delivered innovative programs and services, showed a relentless commitment to top notch facilities and technology, exemplified collaboration with various campus partners and built great teams. Ms. Jhaveri holds a PhD in Education and Human Resource Studies from Colorado State University. She holds two master degrees; Master's in Business Administration from Illinois State University and Master's in English Literature from the University of Mumbai, Mumbai, India. On behalf of the entire UC San Diego community, I want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Mark Cunningham for his 38 years of dedicated service to UC San Diego. Mark's commitment to our students and to the academic enterprise at large has been unparalleled. His vision of making our campus a vibrant living and learning community is already materializing through transformational projects. I - and many others - will forever remain inspired by his contagious and positive energy.

Alex Leonard is a Senior Director of Development for Greystar Real Estate Partners. He is responsible for sourcing, coordinating, and executing project development for Greystar-owned projects in Southern California submarkets of the company’s Western region and is implementing the entitlements and construction of over 2,500 apartment homes worth over $1b in capitalized costs. Before joining Greystar in 2018, he was senior manager of development at AvalonBay Communities, where he delivered over 3,000 apartment homes, totaling over $1.2b in capitalized cost, in urban and suburban communities throughout Southern California. Alex holds a master’s degree in real estate from the University of San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in finance and sociology from the University of Nebraska. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He serves as a board member for HomeAid San Diego, a non-profit dedicated to building multi-unit housing for San Diego’s temporarily homeless. Alex is an Academy of Magical Arts (the Magic Castle) Associate member. He also is furthering his education by pursuing a sommelier diploma from the Wine & Spirits Education Trust (WSET) and currently holds the Level 3 sommelier designation.

For more than 25 years, Weston Harmer has been dedicated to real estate, striving towards developing housing and lifestyles for all generations, including Market-Rate, Luxury, Senior, Student and Affordable Housing. Weston’s in-depth knowledge of all Real Estate Sectors gives him an advantage over most. As Director of Development, Weston oversees the financing, proforma modeling, design, entitlement and permitting processes. After graduating from the University of Utah, Weston was recruited to Southern California, to begin his development career. Starting on the front lines, Weston lead and directed over 25 Sales Agents. His time in sales provided him an in-depth knowledge of the end users desires, patterns and psychographics. Mr. Harmer was promoted to the development team and began leading development portfolios as large as $400 million. Weston’s ability to work within all sectors, banks and partners, has help him rise to the top of the Development Industry.

A graduate of Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, David formed McCullough Landscape Architecture as a sole proprietorship in 1999 while consulting for another firm. After wife and partner, Catherine joined the business in 2001 and became Chief Executive Officer and President in 2002; the firm became a woman-owned corporation and a certified Small Business by the State of California. With offices in San Diego and the Bay Area, McCullough creates spaces for hospitality, retail, mixed-use and institutional properties around the world. As principal landscape architect, David oversees all aspects of the design and production of firm projects at McCullough. He serves as head designer on all projects and maintains quality control on all work completed. Previous projects have earned awards and recognition in several national publications. David finds time in his schedule to take leadership in creative organizations such as the the San Diego Architecture Foundation (SDAF) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) local Urban Design Committee. He currently serves as Chair of the Pecha Kucha Night program, which is on its sixth successful year. He finds it inspiring to take part in such a diverse mix of creative minds while bringing them together to share with the public their wild ideas. In addition, recently David was appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to serve on the Historical Resources Board as Chair, which governs the identification, protection, retention and preservation of historical sites in San Diego. Concurrently, he has been invited to serve on the city’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT). David’s design philosophy is centered around merging context and creative passion with grit, soul, and style. The firm takes every project with a uniquely creative approach that centers around diversity, discovery and conservation. David feels it’s important to engage the human spirit with nature, while expressing empathy. Recent projects include a large waterfront development in Shanghai, China, Seaport San Diego redevelopment, several multifamily projects in Calgary and Vancouver, along with other notable hospitality, entertainment, and mixed-use collaborations in the Western US and Canada.

Mr. Schulz is the University Architect at San Diego State University, responsible for long range planning, real estate, design and construction for the university. He has overseen over $2.4 Billion in projects to date at SDSU. Mr. Schulz brings to his position over 40 years experience in design and construction, and project oversight on more than $4 billion of public facilities. He is a licensed architect and a senior building official in California. He has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Ball State University, and Master of Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona, and is a proud husband, father, grandfather, and Aztec for Life.

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.

Doug Austin, FAIA, is Founder, Chairman and CEO of AVRP Studios, a California-based architectural firm well known for its expertise in the design of affordable housing and the urban environment. Mr. Austin is recognized by his peers as a visionary design leader. Since establishing his firm in 1976, he has led teams in designing projects both domestically and internationally including urban infill, development, mixed-use, housing, education, corporate office, multigenerational space and healthcare that have been recognized with over 150 awards for design excellence. Mr. Austin has played a unique role in San Diego’s success downtown. He chaired the Design and Construction Task Force for the City’s ballpark and Ballpark District. Doug also served as the Vice Chairman of San Diego’s Centre City Development Corporation that oversaw the planning and development for downtown during a time when The City experienced its biggest growth in San Diego history. Mr. Austin was recognized in a special commendation by the Mayor and City Council as one of San Diego’s leading visionaries, “Mr. Austin has been an important guardian of the design of the skyline of downtown San Diego. He has made his mark on the future of downtown”. In the book, The Executive Architect the authors wrote “No architect we have met is more successful in achieving building value, performance, and image on every project”. Nominated for design excellence and service to the profession, Mr. Austin was one of the youngest members ever to be elevated to Fellow in the American Institute of Architects in 1991. Doug’s passion for architecture and his mission to make housing available to all, led him to some of the first micro-unit housing during the 80s in trying to make homes naturally more affordable through design as an alternative to unsustainable government subsidies. He challenged the building Industry, who was faced with inclusionary housing issues, to build two projects that ranged in size from 195 SF per unit to 295 SF. The premise was simple “if people can’t afford more there should be a good option to buy or rent less?” In its outside-the-box nature, the firm was recently awarded US and International patents for a new methodology involving prefabricating modules that act as the formwork for Concrete buildings up to 75 stories in height that hold the potential to save significant construction cost and time in the process. Austin serves as Chair of the Advisory Board for YIGBY (Yes in God’s Backyard), which is an organization committed to finding innovative ways to house its poor and homeless. YIGBY is one of many ways that represent AVRP Studios’ commitment to the larger goal of housing for all. Austin served as the Vice chairman of San Diego’s Redevelopment Agency and currently completed 8 years as a Planning Commissioner for the City of San Diego. Mr. Austin recently accepted the position as Director of Government Relations for the AIA San Diego Chapter. Austin received his B’ARCH from Cal Poly SLO, where he is an Honored Alum and serves on the President’s Council of Advisors. His firm sponsors a grant each year for “Housing Innovations”. Austin has furthered his post graduate education studying at Harvard’s Graduate Center for Design and participating in the exploration of workforce housing at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing.

As a Principal for Gensler San Diego, Richard King leads work in Higher Education across the Southwest with a focus on student life and student housing. He has worked on seven University of California campuses, multiple California State Universities, and community colleges and private colleges across California. Experienced with broad idea-based design, balanced with technical expertise for the detail and craft of buildings, Richard leads all aspects of projects from concept through construction, ensuring the built work serves to engage students and support the community. Richard is currently leading the Evolve Student Housing project at San Diego State, as Principal- in-Charge, driving the team to achieve affordability without compromising quality. Richard is a long-time member of the AIA and USGBC and participates with local schools in developing young professionals in Architecture. Richard earned a Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies and Art History from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.