Bay Area Retail Conference

Jeff oversees the asset management, leasing and operating teams for Federal’s West Coast portfolio, which comprises nearly 6.5 million square feet of some of the best retail and mixed-use real estate in the country. Prior to his current role, to which he was promoted in 2023, he served as senior vice president, West Coast Leasing. Prior to joining Federal in 2011, Jeff was the principal in charge of leasing for the CIM Group where he was responsible for formulating the leasing strategy on CIM’s commercial portfolio of approximately 12 million square feet. Prior to that, he was vice president of development and operations for Regent Properties, Inc. and before that, he formed and operated Vision Property Management, Inc., a full-service real estate development, leasing and management company. Jeff has over 30 years of experience in leasing, entitlements, property and asset management with an emphasis on redeveloping and repositioning underperforming and functionally obsolete assets. Jeff received his undergraduate degree in real estate finance, his master of business administration and his master of real estate development from the University of Southern California. In addition, he holds the Certified Leasing Specialist (CLS), Certified Property Manager (CPM), Senior Certified Shopping Center Manager (SCSM), Certified Commercial Investment Manager (CCIM) designations, and retains his position as adjunct faculty at the University of Southern California, teaching Retail Development in the Masters of Real Estate Development program.

Benjamin Kochalski, President and Chief Investment Officer, joined TMG in 2019, and heads the firm's newly-opened Silicon Valley office. His responsibilities include establishing the investment strategy for the office, leading all acquisitions and dispositions, while supporting the firm’s development activities, and is a member of TMG's Investment Committee. Prior to TMG, Ben was principal and director of John Buck Company's JBC West division. Since opening the San Francisco office of the John Buck Company in 2011, he managed and grew it while leading high profile projects such as Park Tower and One Steuart Lane. During his time at The John Buck Company he was responsible for over $2.7 billion of acquisitions and dispositions and his responsibilities included implementation of investment strategy, oversight and coordination of the West Coast investment activities, joint venture structuring, and the origination of new investment opportunities for the firm’s West Coast regional office. After graduating from The Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc) in Civil Engineering, he completed his MBA in Real Estate Management, Finance, Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He resides in the Bay Area with his wife and three children.

Nathan oversees asset management responsibilities for a portfolio of office, retail and residential assets in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also works closely with the local development team on Grosvenor’s build-to-core strategy for multi-family residential assets. Prior to joining Grosvenor in 2021, he held roles in commercial real estate investment management & capital markets, and most recently led the global real estate strategy & analytics function for a major apparel retailer. Nathan earned his Bachelor of Science, Real Estate Studies from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Tim Welsh has served as our Chief Development Officer since June 2024. Prior to joining El Pollo Loco, Mr. Welsh was the Senior Vice President of Design and Construction for TriMark's South and West US Regions. TriMark is the industry leader in food service design and commercial kitchen construction. Before his time at TriMark, Tim was the Chief Development Officer of Crunch Fitness and QDOBA® Mexican Eats. His extensive experience also includes leadership roles at The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Sweetgreen, and Walgreens. Throughout his career, Mr. Welsh has led growth strategies, franchise sales, prototype development, remodel programs, and facilities maintenance. Mr. Welsh is a registered architect and started his career owning a private practice specializing in multi-unit restaurant development. He holds an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree in Architecture from The Ohio State University.

Crowned “the anti-snob of the San Francisco Food Scene” by San Francisco magazine, Adriano Paganini has created some of the San Francisco Bay Area’s most beloved restaurants. Paganini grew up near Milan where his father was a tailor. More interested in food than fabric, he enrolled in culinary school, and managed to become an apprentice to world famous French chef/restaurateur Paul Bocuse. Adriano ultimately moved to London where he got a job cooking at the Hyde Park Hotel. He stayed for five (5) years honing his skills in the kitchen. When the Italian Ambassador gave a dinner for the Queen of England, Italian chefs from all over London prepared dishes. The Ambassador chose three of Adriano’s preparations and, at 24 years of age, he was placed in charge of Italy’s dinner for Queen Elizabeth. He also cooked for Margaret Thatcher, and cooked for Luciano Pavarotti. Adriano moved to San Francisco, took over the kitchens at the Donatello Restaurant in the hotel of the same name. He then moved on to open his own restaurant in the Marina. However, cooking 6 nights per week at Café Adriano wasn’t enough. In 1994, at the age of 27, Adriano Paganini opened the first chef driven restaurant in America. Pasta Pomodoro was the inspiration for the entire fast casual dining segment of the industry that spawned hundreds of concepts. Pasta Pomodoro was not only game changing for fast casual and casual dining in America, it was also wildly successful in its own right. Adriano built 46 units and ultimately sold the brand. A master at understanding and reading contemporary culture, Adriano’s track record in both creating and exploiting trends, of identifying the right concept in a particular location, and his history of finding and preserving relationships with talented people are what have led to the success of Back of the House: Belga; Beretta; Delarosa; El Techo de Lolinda; Lolinda; Starbelly; Super Duper Burger; Uno Dos Tacos.

Bill Shopoff has more than forty (40) years of real estate and investment experience. His expertise includes the acquisition, development, and sale of new and redeveloped residential and commercial properties throughout the United States, as well as partnership structure, debt placement, venture capital and investment underwriting. Mr. Shopoff has acquired over 1,000 properties on behalf of his various entities, including the acquisition of over 6,000 apartment units (fee or mortgage loans), the entitlement of over 20,000 lots/units of land suitable for single-family or multi-family development, as well as millions of square feet of commercial projects. Additionally, the firm has undertaken numerous development projects, with current developments underway including high cube logistics buildings, apartments, luxury condominiums and single-family build to rent product. For over 30 years, Mr. Shopoff has led Shopoff Realty Investments and its predecessor firms. Since 1992, he has served as either Principal or as President of the Asset Recovery Fund, and since August 1999, as the President of Eastbridge Partners, L.P. Upon acquiring the assets of Eastbridge Partners, L.P. in April 2004, Mr. Shopoff created the manager, Shopoff Realty Investments, L.P., and has served as its President since that time. Bill Shopoff also stands as Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of Vertimass, LLC since 2012 and holds security licenses: Series 22, 24, 39, 62, 63, 79TO. Involved in a number of industry associations, Mr. Shopoff is currently a member of Commercial Investment Real Estate and is a Certified Commercial Investment Member. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute, the Building Industry Association as well as Lambda Alpha International (LAI), a global land economics society. Mr. Shopoff also stands as Investment Committee member for LCAD (Laguna College of Art + Design) and board member for The Park Club professional network of Orange County. Mr. Shopoff is also involved in various collegiate councils, being named to the Executive Council of the Real Estate Center at The University of Texas McCombs School of Business. This Executive Council advises faculty and staff on curriculum matters within the University’s real estate department. He is also a member of the University of California Irvine-Chief Executive Roundtable (UCI CERT), which works in concert with local business leaders and university faculty. In addition to his industry and educational board involvement, Mr. Shopoff is also involved in various nonprofit foundations, including his former roles as President of the Board of Directors for the Central Coast Wine Classic Foundation, and as a board member of Global Energy Network International (GENI), a non-profit organization based in San Diego, California. Furthermore, Mr. Shopoff has also been the top fundraiser for the past 20 years for the AIDS LifeCycle, a 585-mile bicycle ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, which supports the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Mr. Shopoff is a frequent speaker on various real estate and investment related topics. He has been invited to participate as a key panelist and a guest speaker on professional panels at real estate conferences and industry events throughout the United States. He holds many awards and accreditations including nomination for the Orange County Business Journal’s 2023 Excellence in Entrepreneurship Award.

Cherie Y. Song is a Partner in Lubin Olson's Real Estate and Business Practice Groups. She specializes in commercial leasing, acquisitions and dispositions, and telecommunications. Ms. Song represents institutional landlords, multi-billion dollar investment management companies, REITs, pension funds, and national retailers in a broad range of lease-related matters for office, retail, industrial, mixed-use properties and telecommunications assets. She also represents developers and investors in the acquisition, development, disposition and financing of commercial properties. Her practice also includes advising startups and private companies on various real estate and business-related matters. Prior to joining Lubin Olson, Ms. Song practiced in the San Francisco office of Buchalter Nemer and the Los Angeles office of McGuireWoods. Ms. Song was honored by Thompson Reuters as a Super Lawyer “Rising Star” in 2009 and 2010.