Bay Area NextGen Construction Summit

Randy Miller is an 18-year industry veteran. He founded and was the CEO of RAD Urban, Inc, an award-winning and pioneering manufacturer of pre-fabricated, pre-finished volumetric modular buildings specializing in steel-frame non-combustible construction. Mr. Miller developed a vertically integrated and highly technical approach to building development bringing real estate, architecture, engineering, manufacturing, and construction all under one roof. Mr. Miller grew RAD Urban from inception to a 300-person firm delivering up to 50,000SF of finished building per month. Mr. Miller has focused his career on developing advanced building technologies and leveraging these technologies in the pursuit of better, and more economical real estate development and construction. Mr. Miller holds a master’s degree in civil engineering and construction management from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a licensed civil engineer in the State of California and is a California licensed general building contractor, general engineering contractor, manufactured housing contractor, and fire sprinkler contractor.

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.

Professional of the Year, and 2013 US Dept of Energy Grand Award for Housing Innovation. Earning building and design accolades year after year, Weiss most recently garnered US Green Building Council Outstanding Single Family Project of the Year in 2017. Weiss is a pioneer in the “green building movement” and his expertise is in building high-quality, durable, efficient homes. A certified master builder with numerous professional affiliations Weiss is also a PHIUS Certified Builder, Living Future Accredited, RESET ApP and LEED Accredited Professional who has spoken on panels about building energy, health & wellness in the built environment, and housing innovation. He spends his spare time mountaineering, trekking, and dedicating his life to improving his own health and that of others.

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.

Andrea lead’s Eden’s Real Estate Development team and is responsible for Eden’s new business and pre-development pipeline, new construction, real estate acquisition and portfolio renovation efforts. Under her leadership, Eden currently has a pipeline totaling nearly 5,000 homes for lower-income households across California. Since joining Eden’s development team in 2008, Andrea has overseen the development of over 2,500 new units and the acquisition of over 1,500 existing units in six California counties – from Sonoma to San Diego County. She is currently managing Eden’s expansion into new regions in California, with a growing department of 27 development professionals. Andrea has significant experience in construction management, construction litigation and public contracting. She worked as a construction management consultant for Capital Projects of UC Berkeley where she was involved in large rehab and new construction projects – from planning and development through funding and construction. Additionally, she was the lead paralegal in the construction group at Hanson Bridgett Marcus Vlahos & Rudy, a San Francisco law firm. Andrea serves as President of the Housing Leadership Council of San Mateo County (board member since 2013) and is an inaugural board member and Treasurer of SV@Home, a housing advocacy organization in Santa Clara County. Andrea Osgood earned her Bachelor of Arts (BA) with Honors from Pomona College and a Master of Arts in Urban Planning from the UCLA Graduate School of Public Policy and Social Research.

A “unicorn” in the world of construction technology, Lisa offers 15 years of design and construction management experience focused on prefab and modular buildings. Her unique blend of expertise in building codes, structural engineering, acoustic performance, building envelopes, embodied carbon analysis,fire science, permit approvals, cost planning, supply chain, procurement, logistics, scheduling, and sequencing is topped off with a deep personal network in the emerging mass timber and construction innovation field. As one of the leading experts in the US on Mass Timber, she sits on several industry and professional advisory boards and supporting mass timber market development through individual research projects and organizations like the Tallwood Design Institute and the Council of Tall Building and Urban Habitat. As a co-author and peer reviewer for the 2012 United States Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) Handbook, Lisa began her contributions to the market development of CLT and mass timber well before the design and construction industry realized its potential. In 2016 she peer reviewed the Nail Laminated Timber Design and Construction Guide and by 2018 had completed a two phase research program establishing a new design methodology for the blast resistance of CLT, accomplished through seven full scale live blast tests and opening a new market for timber structures.

Sanat Patel has been in the commercial banking industry for over twenty-five years. Currently, Sanat is the Chief Sales Officer at AVANA Capital heading up Business Development and is a member of the Credit & Risk Administration Team at AVANA Capital. Sanat excels at creating dynamic financing solutions to allow entrepreneurs to realize their dreams of creating wealth for themselves, and their families. His passion and drive are key to closing over $1 billion in loans as of 2017 YTD. Sanat has served in various functions of commercial banking – serving clients in small business, middle market, and large corporate banking within Wells Fargo Bank, Citibank and JP Morgan. His competitive drive resulted in him being ranked in the top 10% of the nation as a Banker at the institution’s throughout his career. Sanat’s career in the Financial Industry began in 1989 after graduating from California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelors degree with a dual major in Finance and Management Science and a minor in Economics. In 2008, Sanat graduated and completed the Banking Degree offered by Pacific Coast Banking School, held at University of Washington.

Patrick Kennedy is the owner of Panoramic Interests, a development firm that has been building housing, live-work space, and commercial property in the Bay Area since 1990. The firm has focused on dense, mixed-use, mixed-income, infill developments, typically financed with private funds. All of the multi-family housing projects include below market rate units. The firm’s projects incorporate the Smart Growth principles designed to discourage auto use, mitigate sprawl, encourage local business, and enhance the pedestrian streetscape. Mr. Kennedy grew up in the East Bay, and attended Claremont McKenna College, majoring in Economics and English. He is a former member of the Carpenters Union and Steelworkers Union, and the California Bar. After college, he worked as a contractor, and then attended Harvard Law School and MIT, graduating with a J.D. and a Masters in Real Estate Development. Early development work included building his own house, and renovating several small commercial properties. His hobbies include open water swimming and ultra-light backpacking, both of which have furnished surprising insights into his work in development.

Wong, the Cloud Apartments CEO, is a former engineer for SpaceX and worked on the spacecraft company's launch pads. He hopes to bring the innovative approach at SpaceX to his new company. “We see ourselves as a product company and a technology company,” Wong stated on his LinkedIn page

Randall Thompson is the Senior Preconstruction Manager at Nibbi Brothers General Contractors and NibbiPrefab. From preconstruction through project delivery, NibbiPrefab works directly with clients, design teams, modular manufacturers, and Nibbi operations staff to ensure the successful design, procurement, and construction of its modular projects. With over 20 years of construction industry experience, Randall excels at merging modern methods of construction with tried-and-true practices. His leadership at NibbiPrefab further demonstrates his dedication to advancing the construction sector through innovations in industrialized construction. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Architectural Engineering from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Muhammad A. Nadhiri is the oldest of three children and was raised in Central Florida, in a household rich with educational, artistic, and social justice history. Muhammad’s father, retired from a lifelong career in education, is a poet. Muhammad’s mother, also a former educator, is the Executive Director of the Zora Neale Hurston Museum in Eatonville, Florida, the oldest incorporated African-American town in the United States. Muhammad’s family has numerous ties to the arts, politics, and the struggle for equality; these basic principles, which formed the foundation of Muhammad’s childhood, continue to drive his philosophy as a developer, businessman, and volunteer. Muhammad lives in San Francisco, with his wife, Rochelle, and daughter, Zahra. Muhammad is the Co-Founding Managing Partner of Axis Development Group; he brings deep experience developing residential/retail/commercial mixed-use projects in the San Francisco Bay Area and select urban markets nationally. Axis is a privately-owned San Francisco and Los Angeles based real estate development firm that specializes in the creation and execution of highly-serviced, uniquely-stylized urban-infill and mixed-use projects. Axis’ Principals bring over 40 years of acquisition, structuring, entitlement, construction, marketing, and sale/lease-up experience to the projects the firm pursues. Axis’ core strategy is to take the experience of its Principals and leverage that knowledge into projects that respond to the complex urban environments in which the firm operates. Prior to forming Axis with Theo F. Oliphant, Muhammad was a Co-Founding Partner at UrbanCore Development and the Founding Managing Partner at M.A.N. Associates, both of which are San Francisco Bay Area-based real estate development firms; Muhammad served as the Principal-in Charge for each firm's development activities. Previously, Muhammad was a Senior Project Manager at AF Evans Development in Oakland, where he was responsible for the development of two downtown-revitalization residential/retail mixed-use projects, totaling 433 for-sale units and 70,000 square feet of retail over five city blocks. Muhammad began his real estate career as an Associate at Wilson Meany in San Francisco, where he co-managed the development of rental and for-sale residential/retail mixed-use projects in San Francisco and the Bay Area; one of which was as a member of the project team for the redevelopment of the historic Ferry Building. Prior to beginning his career in real estate development, Muhammad was an investment banker; he was an Analyst at Nationsbanc Securities and an Associate at RBC Dominion Securities, in New York City. Muhammad holds a B.A. in Business Administration with a concentration in Corporate Finance from Morehouse College and an M.B.A. from Columbia Business School. Muhammad is a Past Chairman of the Board of Directors for the 100 Black Men of the Bay Area, a Member of the Board of Directors for the 100 Black Men of America, and a Member of the Board of Trustees for Katherine Delmar Burke School. Muhammad is also a Member of Urban Land Institute, San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association, and San Francisco Housing Action Coalition.

Justin Stewart is the CEO and Owner of 8-time National Excellence in Construction Award winning Synergy, Inc, and industry disrupting Synergy Modular. Synergy has built over 10,000 units and countless commercial projects as a GC over the last three decades in the Pacific Northwest. In 2017, in response to a demand for predictability, Justin founded Synergy Modular, building projects at a fixed cost, in 30-50% less time.

What I like best about architecture + design: I’ve always enjoyed the process of combining creative and critical thinking to design buildings that respond to the needs of the ultimate occupants. From starting with developing the initial concept to fine tuning it until it feels ‘right’. Documentation through construction is just as interesting since there is always something new to learn as we strive to achieve the concept/design! What I add to a project team: An extensive archive of technical knowledge mixed in with very many lessons learned that I like to share with the team. I also bring strong leadership and mentorship.