Senior Vice President-Development, Student Living with The Michaels Organization (Michaels), leading the company’s public-private partnerships with higher education institutions in California, by bringing nearly 20 years of real estate development and finance experience including the development of large-scale housing and dining facilities that utilized public-private partnership (P3) delivery models. In addition to delivering P3 real estatement development projects on-campus, Raoul is the company's leader for off-campus student housing development in California.

Thor Hoskins joined the Sares Regis Group of Northern California (SRGNC) Development Team in 2017. Thor brings with him over a decade of project management experience ranging from development, design, and preconstruction to project closeout and everything in between. Hoskins is akey member of the award-winning development team for a public-private partnership between a non-profit foundation and the City of Mountain View that delivered 124 homeless beds in response to COVID-19. As a part of this team, he managed relationships with the modular vendors to ensure that the project was delivered within six months of the start of construction to satisfy government funding requirements from the CARES Act. Hoskins holds a B.A. in Architecture with a minor in Construction Management from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Vincent Polhemus is Senior Business Development Manager at Clark Pacific, a leading design-

manufacturer-builder of prefabricated building systems. Vincent’s experience in prefabricated building

systems spans 20 years in Southern California and includes unitized curtainwalls, window walls,

aluminum panels systems, architectural precast concrete, thin-shell concrete and GFRC. Starting as a

project manager for a glazing contractor, Vincent moved to Preconstruction in 2016, and has worked on

award winning projects throughout California, including the California New Natural Resources Building

in Sacramento, 510 S Vermont in Los Angeles and One Westside in Los Angeles.

Chris Neufeld is DPR Construction's Northwest Prefabrication Leader. With a background in healthcare and life science project management, Chris partners with teams to implement innovative prefabrication strategies across of all DPR's commercial markets. Chris is passionate about using the principles of industrialized construction to streamline project delivery and ultimately create safer, more efficient, and more sustainable jobsites.

Aaron Rhodes is the Vice President of Business Operations at TimberQuest, a leader in prefabricated mass timber solutions. In this role, he drives organizational strategy, oversees financial performance, and ensures operational excellence. Aaron’s approach combines innovation with a people-first mindset, positioning TimberQuest at the forefront of sustainable, high-quality, and cost-effective building solutions. From single building additions to full campus replacements, his leadership ensures that TimberQuest delivers spaces that are built fast, designed to last, and crafted with aesthetics and sustainability in mind.

As President of Avanath Investment & Development (AVID), a subsidiary of Avanath Capital Management, Keith Harris is responsible for the firm’s development activities across the U.S., including its venture with Vessel Technologies, Inc. Vessel is a mission-driven housing product company that provides key components of a building already completed through an industrial manufacturing process, which delivers full development of an apartment community swiftly and efficiently at scale. AVID focuses on the expansion of Avanath’s affordable housing portfolio, utilizing relationships with Housing Agencies and Cities throughout the country. Prior to the formation of AVID, Mr. Harris was Executive Vice President of Avanath’s Investment Group, responsible for the firm’s national acquisitions, financing, asset management, and capital renovation activities. He has more than 40 years of experience in real estate including work in acquisitions, dispositions, asset management, lending, and investment structuring. Before joining Avanath, Mr. Harris was Senior Vice President of the Bozzuto Group, an experience-focused real estate company founded in 1988 that acquired, developed, and built more than 50,000 homes and apartments. His responsibilities included institutional capital raising and client relations. Prior to Bozzuto, he spent 14 years at The Laramar Group, most recently serving as Chief Investment Officer. In this role, he led the firm’s acquisitions and dispositions as well as client capital management. Over the course of his tenure with The Laramar Group, he oversaw investment transactions for more than 30,000 apartment units valued at approximately $3 billion. Mr. Harris also spent 12 years with Heitman Capital Management and JMB Realty Corporation.

As Chief Executive Officer of Decro and its affiliated entities, Mr. Handel is responsible for the strategic direction and overall management of the company, pursuit of new housing opportunities, and oversight of a portfolio with 28 developments and over 1,500 housing units in California and Florida.

Prior to joining Decro, Mr. Handel had more than 25 years of experience in developing, financing, syndicating, operating, constructing and managing affordable housing developments. Mr. Handel represented nonprofits and National Equity Fund (NEF) as counsel in affordable housing transactions, formed California nonprofit public benefit corporations, and advised nonprofit Board of Directors on legal compliance issues. At NEF, he closed 57 development deals representing a gross equity investment by this low-income housing tax credit syndicator of $315 million.

Mr. Handel is President of The Carter House, Inc., a nonprofit organization that operates a HUD Section 811 housing development in South Los Angeles, and serves on the Board of the Hockey Equipment Lending Program, Inc., a nonprofit that supports disadvantaged youth playing that sport. He is the former Chair of Los Angeles Lawyer, a Los Angeles County Bar Association publication, and has been published in that magazine and the Los Angeles Business Journal. Mr. Handel has been a speaker at the National Association of Housing and Rehabilitation Officers Summer Conference and conferences of Housing California and the Southern California Association of NonProfit Housing. He is admitted to practice law in California and received a Juris Doctor from Loyola Law School (Los Angeles) and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Southern California.

Joanne has two decades in real estate development, focusing on homelessness initiatives for the past several years. She drove the LifeMoves|Mountain View project funded by the State of California’s Homekey program, delivering 100 new construction units in an eye-popping six months. She helped surpass this effort on Labath Landing, Rohnert Park, a second wave Homekey project, that also used prefabricated construction, delivering 60 units in a draw-dropping four months enabling the city to achieve an Early Occupancy Bonus and additional funding.

It’s Joanne’s unique, creative and ‘out of the box’ way of thinking that allows her to tackle challenges and come up with new ideas and solutions to help push boundaries and achieve the impossible. She wants to share this magic across communities to bring our unhoused and most vulnerable neighbors indoors and firmly believes our homelessness crisis is not rocket science and can be solved.

Jo holds a BSc (Hons) in Architecture, Building, Planning & Environmental Studies from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London and a MSc in Project Management (with a major in Private Finance Initiatives) from the University of Reading, UK.

Responsible for developing political and community outreach strategies for the company and each of its housing development projects. Interact with leaders from key stakeholder organizations to champion our mission and explore opportunities for collaboration and partnership. Foster, advance and engage partnerships with nonprofit and grassroots orgs to ensure our company's impact is felt -- primarily through the unsubsidized housing we build for low- and moderate income households -- and also through our charitable giving and community partnerships.

A born tinkerer with a passion for how things come together, Sophia leads Kalesnikoff’s growing presence across the United States mass timber market. Based in Los Angeles, she focuses on early design collaboration, preconstruction strategy, relationship-building, and connecting design intent with efficient manufacturing and delivery for teams pursuing thoughtful, buildable mass timber solutions.

Sophia holds a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and brings experience spanning architecture, manufacturing, and construction, including contributing to the delivery of Los Angeles’ first multifamily mass timber project. Outside of work, she gravitates toward hands-on building projects, campervan conversions, and sketching mass timber housing concepts — often viewing constraints as part of the creative opportunity.

Danny Haber is the co-founder of oWOW, a B2B and B2C real estate company. An innovative entrepreneur, with a flair for providing workable solutions to the burgeoning housing crisis in California, Haber has been labelled the ‘Oracle of Oakland’ with visionary solutions to the housing crisis. His company, oWOW develops, designs, and constructs net new housing units for consumers and also builds modular units for resale to developers. As a vertically integrated corporation, oWOW operations are geared towards cost-cutting measures, and luxury living courtesy of adaptable units.

Paul Mayencourt is assistant professor of Cooperative Extension in Engineered Woods Products and Design between the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and the Department of Architecture at the University of California Berkeley. He earned a PhD in architecture in building technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), an MSc in structural engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ), and a BSc in civil engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). He worked for two years as a licensed structural engineer in Zurich. Paul has taught structural design and mass timber construction at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, the University of Washington (UW), and the University of California, Berkeley.

Matt was drawn to architecture in college, appreciating the balance of art and science. His design process similarly takes a scientific approach, responding to the needs of each project through trial and error to find the best solution. Matt appreciates that each project brings its own unique challenges and enjoys the iterative process of problem solving.

Matt’s work includes 1 De Haro, the first mass timber building in San Francisco to use CLT and the first multi-story building of its type in California. He is an established thought leader on mass timber, and an advocate for the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural benefits of its use in construction.

A Bay Area native, Matt has gained a greater appreciation for building through DIY improvement projects on his home is Marin, where he lives with his wife, daughter, and their dog Pico.

Erik Kneer, S.E., LEED AP BD+C, is nationally recognized for his expertise in mass timber and sustainable structural systems. As Strategic Initiatives Leader at GPLA Structural Engineers & Builders, he has advanced the use of cross-laminated timber and hybrid structural solutions to reduce embodied carbon, enhance material efficiency, and deliver high-performance environmental outcomes.

An early adopter and advocate for mass timber construction, Erik combines advanced structural analysis with constructability-driven design to ensure timber systems are both architecturally expressive and fabrication-ready. His work bridges sustainability goals with practical delivery strategies, aligning environmental responsibility, seismic performance, and schedule certainty.

With a background spanning construction, design, and engineering, Erik brings a comprehensive perspective that enables owners, architects, and builders to confidently implement mass timber solutions at scale—unlocking both environmental and operational value.

Jamie Pincus is a Senior Vice President and Construction Leader. She joined CAC in January 2025, and following CAC’s January 2026 merger with The Baldwin Group, she is now part of The Baldwin Group’s Construction Practice.

Jamie works closely with clients, prospects, and colleagues to navigate the complexities of construction risk and deliver practical solutions tailored to their needs.

Before joining CAC, she held leadership roles in construction project risk, complex casualty risk management, and property and casualty insurance brokerage, supporting organizations across a range of industries.

She is known for identifying changes in risk that help control cost, strengthen insurance program quality, and better align client needs with carrier appetite and broader risk management strategy.

Jamie earned a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, Economics and Finance from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. Outside of work, she enjoys traveling, spending time with family and friends, and staying active.

Ruby Bolaria Shifrin is joining Terner Labs as the inaugural Chief Investment and Partnership Officer. Prior to this role, Ruby served as Vice President and Head of Community at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), where she led work dedicated to building an equitable, inclusive, and just California. Her work focused on creating opportunities for individuals, families, and communities to thrive through Housing Affordability, Economic Inclusion and Mobility, and Local Impact initiatives. Ruby started at CZI building the Housing Affordability program before expanding her leadership to the broader Community initiative.

She brings diverse experience in housing and community development, having previously worked as a project manager for multifamily mixed-income developments in San Francisco and in commercial real estate at Fivepoint and JLL. Her international perspective comes from managing an in-situ upgrading pilot in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Her career began in advocacy, organizing for environmental and social justice organizations including Earthjustice and Corporate Accountability International. This foundation, combined with her technical expertise, informs her commitment to equity and social justice. Ruby holds a BA in Politics from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Construction industry expert James Woodbury has spent almost three decades leading high-impact, large-scale projects across diverse sectors from conception and design through construction and completion. He is as skilled at managing cross-functional teams as he is at navigating complex schedules and meeting critical timelines. Highly adept at devising innovative, cost-effective project solutions to streamline project execution and maximize construction value, James is known for exceeding client expectations.

It is this experience – earned at award-winning commercial construction firms Blach Construction and Devcon Construction – that led him to develop MassFrame Solutions. Realizing an opportunity to increase construction quality, value and efficiencies, while prioritizing sustainability in the challenged California housing market, he founded MassFrame Solutions in partnership with Daley’s Drywall and Taping, Inc. Together, their combined forward-thinking, industry prowess coupled with code changes and existing building techniques, has enabled them to efficiently develop a high quality, affordable structural housing solution that California & our Nation desperately need.

In addition to holding his LEED AP BD+C (Building Design + Construction) certification, James is a Design-Build Professional®, certified by the Design Build Institute of America (DBIA). He is well versed in design-build practices and what constitutes successful project teaming, as evidenced by multiple project award recognition from the DBIA. He graduated from the California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Engineering and minor in Construction Management.

Tony Mirenda, a seasoned Construction Executive with over 42 years of experience in the Bay Area, has been instrumental in leading and growing businesses across multiple market sectors, including mixed-use, multifamily residential, affordable housing, and education. His leadership has resulted in the successful completion of numerous high-profile affordable housing/mixed-use projects such as the Gateway to Millbrae Station (Millbrae BART), College Terrace Centre (Palo Alto), and Casa del Pueblo (San Jose). Mirenda’s extensive expertise spans all phases of contract delivery, and he has been a key player in public education construction for over 27 years. Throughout his career, Tony has built a robust network of relationships, serving on various industry and nonprofit boards, including chairing the San Jose Chamber of Commerce. With a passion for mentoring, Tony has dedicated 15 years to designing and building stage sets for his alma mater’s drama program and is deeply involved in community service, including youth coaching. Recently, Tony joined Kitchell CEM as Executive Director South Bay where he continues to drive innovation and growth.