Bisnow's West Coast Office Leasing & Development Conference

Jessica Alba

Transportation Policy Manager
Stanford University

After more than 15 years in consulting, I recently joined Stanford University as an internal and external liaison on transportation policy matters. Prior to joining Stanford, I was a sustainable transportation planner at Nelson\Nygaard Consulting Associates and Trivector Traffic, two thought leaders on transportation solutions that put people first. While leading various efforts throughout North America, my passion has become increasingly motivated by improving transportation options in the San Francisco Bay Area and particularly on the Peninsula and in Silicon Valley. In my new role at Stanford University, I represent and support Land, Buildings & Real Estate (LBRE), Parking & Transportation Services (P&TS) and other departments on interagency committees and on local, regional, state, and federal transportation policy matters. I am a results-driven leader with strong track record of managing projects and stakeholder needs within political realities. I am also a dedicated mentor and developer of staff, colleagues, and emerging professionals.

Matt Lituchy

CIO
Jay Paul Company

Matt Lituchy joined Jay Paul Company in 2000 as Chief Investment Officer. In this capacity, he oversees acquisitions, dispositions and new business opportunities as well as all capital and financing activities for the company. In his tenure Matt has raised over $3 billion in project financing and acquired in excess of $1 billion of commercial real estate for investment or redevelopment.

Carl Shannon

Senior Managing Director
Tishman Speyer

Mr. Shannon is responsible for Tishman Speyer’s portfolio in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Pacific Northwest. He has been charged with overseeing the development of various signature developments, such as Lumina and The Infinity, two condominium projects adjacent to San Francisco’s waterfront, and three office buildings at Foundry Square III, 222 Second Street and 555 Mission in the central business district. Mr. Shannon is also a member of the Investment and Management Committees. Before joining Tishman Speyer in 1998, he worked for both GE Capital and The Prudential Insurance Company of America. Mr. Shannon received an AB, magna cum laude, and graduated with an MBA, with high honors, from Harvard University.

Kevin Ratner

President
Forest City West

Daniel Minkoff

Owner
The Minkoff Group

The Minkoff Group specializes in creating top quality commercial and residential properties in Silicon Valley's most desireable downtown locations for Silicon Valley's top companies and their employees. All projects are a quick walk from Caltrain stations and restaurants, contain abundant bike parking and showers, include operable window for fresh air, are built to the highest levels of environmental stewardship, and include extensive roof decks.

Sean Brooks

Department Manager of Real Estate and Property Development
Bay Area Rapid Transportation

Sean Brooks is the Department Manager of Real Estate and Property Development.at the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transportation District (“BART”). In his role, he oversees all transit-oriented development projects and real estate interests on behalf of the District. BART currently has over 450,000sf of commercial space and nearly 1,900 housing units under construction at all income levels. Mr. Brooks has held previous Economic Development/Real Estate Development senior roles at the City of Redwood City, City of Hayward, and City of Brea. Prior to his public-sector experience, Sean served as the Director of Development for the Olson Company; Senior Commercial Real Estate Associate for Empire Companies; and finance/accounting roles at Ernst & Young Corporate Finance and KPMG LLP.' Sean graduated with an MBA in Finance/Real Estate from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and received a BA in Urban Economic Development from UC Berkeley. Mr. Brooks is a California Licensed Certified Public Accountant, California Real Estate Broker, adjunct professor at the University of Phoenix, serves on the executive board of the Urban Land Institute San Francisco Chapter, and was recognized as a San Francisco Business Times Class of 2015 “Forty Under 40” Honoree. He enjoys working with young people and helping the next generation become leaders within the business community

Dan Grossman

CEO
Chariot

is the CEO of Chariot and Global Vice President of Microtransit at Ford Motor Company, overseeing all microtransit-related business at the company. Prior to joining Ford, Dan held leadership positions at General Motors’ Maven and Zipcar, where his expertise in helping large cities and enterprises develop shared mobility services helped launch those brands in more than 100 new markets in the US and internationally. Dan earned a Bachelor of Science in Business, Finance & Real Estate Development from California State University, Sacramento and is based in the Bay Area.

Jim Hartnett

CEO
Caltrain

With 35 years of service to my community, I look forward to continuing that record at the San Mateo County Transit District. Born to a family of public servants it is only natural that my path has led me to this role as the General Manager and CEO of SamTrans, Caltrain and the TA. Mobility is vital to the residents and industry of San Mateo County and I’m eager to build upon the work that has already been done by those before me. I began my career of public service with the United States Navy Reserve after graduation from Redwood City's Sequoia High School. Through the G.I. Bill I was able to graduate and begin a career in law and civic service. I have been honored and fortunate to have served as a city council member and Mayor of my hometown, Redwood City. My civic interests continued as the Chair of both the SamTrans and Caltrain board of directors. More recently I was appointed to and served as vice chair on the California High Speed Rail Authority board. I believe that active participation in the entities and processes of our democracy is critical to our future and to our success as a region, state and nation. In my role as General Manager and CEO of the San Mateo County Transit District I am proud to continue my journey of public service, performing meaningful work in my community.

Ben Kochalski

Principal
The John Buck Company

Ben is head of the West Coast regional office, primary responsibilities include development and implementation of investment strategy, oversight and coordination of the West Coast investment activities. Responsible for joint venture structuring and the origination of new investment opportunities for the firm’s West Coast regional office.

Giselle Bonilla

Director, Global Real Estate
Zendesk

Giselle is the director of global real estate and capital projects at Zendesk. She joined Zendesk in 2019 and has managed location strategy, real estate transaction management, and the design and construction team. Before Zendesk, Giselle held numerous positions managing real estate and workplace at NerdWallet, SunEdison, Slack, FirstWind, and StubHub.

John Herr

EVP
Lincoln Property Company

David Wilbur

Principal
Four Corners Properties

Principal: Mr. Wilbur has over 20 years of direct experience in real estate investment, development, and equity investing through joint venture relationships. Mr. Wilbur has designed, entitled, and built over 6 million square feet of office and R&D buildings in west coast markets with the majority located in the Silicon Valley where he has established strong relationships with local real estate brokers, architects, contractors, and city officials. Before joining Four Corners Properties, Mr. Wilbur was the lead development partner at Harvest Properties where he oversaw the design and entitlement of a new 2 million square foot office campus for a Fortune 500 technology firm looking to consolidate their headquarters in the City of Santa Clara. Prior to joining Harvest Properties, Mr. Wilbur served as a Managing Director at RREEF, the real estate investment management division of Deutsche Bank, where he initiated and oversaw more than $1 billion of development and value-add based investing in the San Francisco Bay Area and other select west coast markets. Mr. Wilbur, prior to joining RREEF, oversaw joint venture based development investing in the Bay Area and select national markets for AMB Property Company and before AMB, Mr. Wilbur served as a Vice President at Spieker Properties where he oversaw the company’s $500 million development portfolio on the west coast. Mr. Wilbur started his career as a consulting engineer providing earthquake resistant building design services to a variety of institutional and developer clients. Mr. Wilbur graduated from the University of California Davis with a Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering and a Masters of Business Administration and a Masters in Structural Engineering from the University of California Berkeley. Mr. Wilbur is licensed in California as a professional engineer, real estate broker, and general contractor.

Vinson Heine

Vice President
Overaa Construction

Vinson Heine has more than 25 years of experience in the construction industry delivering quality projects and developing long term client relationships. Vinson has a special interest for developing high-achieving teams to deliver fast-paced, highly technical projects for the commercial, education, and transportation industries. His depth of experience includes partnership development, project management, business development, preconstruction, estimating, and field operations. He is proficient in utilizing Viewpoint project management software and CPM Scheduling software. Currently, Vinson leads the commercial and transportation market sector group at Overaa, providing quality assurance and quality control, tracking budget and schedules on projects, seeking constant input from the client during preconstruction and construction services for client review.

Alan Mackay

Founder and CEO
Werqwise

Alan is the Founder and CEO of Werqwise. The company is the cornerstone of Alan’s desire to help change the world by changing the way we work. He believes that success is about thinking unconventionally, bringing people together, empowering them, and treating them in the right way. Adding the right emotional and physical environments drive business performance and success. Prior to founding Werqwise, Alan established and expanded three different businesses in the Real Estate, Shared Workplace and HR industries. He was the COO of Compass Offices and the Group CEO of Dryden Human Capital Group/Darwin Rhodes. His focus on profits and delivering investor/shareholder returns has led him to build high performing teams with a customer centric approach. Alan’s experience is geographically and culturally diverse and ranges across multiple investments, including angel, private and venture. It is this combination of humanity, commercial acumen, and grit that makes Alan unique amongst his peers.

Andrew Pearl

VP, Division Manager
Swinerton

From his beginnings as a Mason Tender and Carpenter while working in New Jersey, Andrew went on to study Architecture at Keene State College in New Hampshire before heading west to attend the University of Southern California – Viterbi School of Engineering to pursue a Master’s in Construction Management. Since joining Swinerton in 2007, Andrew worked on the West Coast in various positions and has successfully managed other regional offices – including San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Sacramento. He ascended quickly to become one of the youngest Vice President’s in firm history and is a member of the Swinerton Builders - Board of Directors. Throughout his career, Andrew has leaned on his experience in the trades and fine arts teachings to solve complex challenges on various construction projects, but his real passion is in building relationships and coaching high-performing teams. Returning to his roots in the northeast, he relocated in support of the company’s 15-year business plan (“March to 2030”) to expand both geographically and through sector diversification by opening the New York City office. As the New York City Division Manager, he is responsible for overseeing all business operations; including talent recruiting and mentoring, project planning and staffing, contract review and negotiation, and oversight of the project teams to ensure compliance with commitments of schedule, budget, safety, and quality standards. In addition to operations, he is focused on servicing the company’s national corporate service accounts in New York City, fostering trusted relationships with clients, local authorities, and consultants, along with maintaining community relations through corporate responsibility efforts.

Kareem Barzegar

Senior Vice President
Avison Young

Kareem Barzegar has more than 17 years of institutional commercial real estate experience. At Avison Young, Kareem specializes in tenant representation, representing a diverse type of office tenants. He previously worked at Cassidy Turley and Grubb & Ellis where he specialized in both tenant and landlord representation, completing over 500 leasing assignments while achieving one of the highest distinctions in CRE, a CCIM certification. EDUCATION Kareem completed his Bachelor’s Degree in Business from San Francisco State University in. He is a licensed California Real Estate Broker, and holds a prestigious CCIM certification. AFFILIATIONS Kareem co-founded The Care Group, a fundraising organization for children’s charities in 2017. The Care Group is an all-volunteer non-profit group (501c3) dedicated to raising money for underprivileged youth. Previously, Kareem was also elected President of RECON San Francisco, a local children’s charity in the Bay Area, six years in a row from 2012 to 2017.

Emily Williams

Head of Global Real Estate
Twitch

Emily Williams is the Head of Global Real Estate at Twitch where she oversees the company’s global portfolio strategy and supports its design development, change management programs and strategic workplace operations. During her tenure at Twitch, she has worked cross-functionally to scale business operations from a single headquarters location to approximately 400,000 square feet in more than 20 locations worldwide. Focus areas in recent projects include data-driven design programming, strategic partnership alignment, and brand integration. Prior to Twitch, Emily worked as a Paralegal at Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp where she managed relationships with major corporate litigation executives and served as one of the firm’s key trial strategists. She holds a BA in Cultural Anthropology from Kenyon College.

Jesse Gundersheim

Director of Market Analytics, San Francisco Bay Area
CoStar

Jesse Gundersheim is a market economist for CoStar, the leading provider of commercial real estate information, analytics and online marketplaces. Jesse analyzes real estate tends and maintains market reports for the San Francisco Bay Area, helping investors, property managers, and lenders minimize risk and maximize returns. Jesse regularly speaks at industry events to discuss his findings, and has been quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Business Times, Bloomberg, and BisNow. Jesse was raised in Marin County and studied finance at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Previously, he led Bay Area market research departments at the brokerage firms of Grubb & Ellis, Studley, and DTZ. Jesse has also worked for private apartment investors, providing due diligence and pro-forma analysis. Jesse enjoys hiking in the North Bay in his free time, and has traveled to nearly 50 countries.

Eli Khouri

Principal
Probis Strategic Solutions

Eli Khouri, principal of Probis Strategic Solutions, provides strategic consultation in all areas of commercial real estate development and construction. Prior to Probis he served as President and CEO of Equity Office – an affiliate of the Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) - one of the nation’s largest office real estate owner/operators. Mr. Khouri oversaw the strategic direction of the company as well as all day-to-day operations. Before working at Equity Office, Mr. Khouri served as Executive VP and Chief Investment Officer at Kilroy Realty (NYSE: KRC), and was responsible for the performance of the Company’s investment activities and capital allocations including acquisitions, development, redevelopment and dispositions.

Aliza Skolnik

VP & Director of SF Office
ESD

Aliza Skolnik focuses on strategic leadership, sustainable solutions and healthy environments. As Vice President and Director of the ESD San Francisco Office, she is responsible for managing the business development, recruitment and operations for the West Coast. She is a registered Professional Engineer as well as a LEED and WELL Accredited Professional, Green Globes Professional and Fitwel Ambassador. Aliza is also an active leader in the real estate industry through her involvement in the local USGBC and CoreNet chapters. She specializes in improving the well-being of the people who occupy the communities, buildings and workplaces we design.