Cyrus Sanandaji is the founder and managing principal of Presidio Bay Ventures, a commercial real estate investment and development firm focused on the design, construction and long-term operation of a diverse set of product types for private and public sector tenants across the United States.

Richard brings over 40 years of architecture, design and development experience to Forge. An acclaimed Bay Area architect and serial entrepreneur, Richard leads the Forge team, driving the creation and implementation of our solutions model for innovative, impactful, sustainable and affordable residential real estate development.

Under Richard's leadership, Forge currently has over $500 million in development and almost 1000 units in the current pipeline. The entire portfolio is targeted to Essential Housing and Impact investment.

Richard has been on the leading edge of sustainability and innovation throughout his career. In 1978, Richard served as the interior architect for 505 Sansome Street, the first “fresh air building” in the U.S. Even today, the building operates so efficiently that it was recently recertified as LEED Platinum. Similarly, Richard designed and delivered as Executive Architect, the first pre-fabricated concrete office building in Northern California, 1101 5th Avenue in San Rafael, CA. As an early LEED AP professional, his projects have looked to advance the implementation of new technologies in sustainable building practices.

Richard’s innovative efforts in architecture and development have paved the way, numerous times, for record-breaking profits. For example, Richard served as the Executive Architect for Belvedere Place, a 103,000 square foot office complex in Marin County. The project sold in November 2016 for $46.75M, or $454 psf, one of the highest prices ever paid in Marin County. Similarly, Richard served as the Design Architect for Piers 1.5, 3 & 5 in San Francisco managing the architecture and redevelopment on behalf of Pacific Waterfront Associates and CalSTERS. The award-winning $50M mixed use renovation of the Piers was sold in March 2017 for $103M or $1,250 psf, a record high for office space in San Francisco at the time.

Maxim Shapiro founded Novateur in 2018 and leads the firm. Through Novateur’s partnership with WJB Advisory Group, he also serves as Managing Partner, leading that U.S. institutional advisory work. Maxim brings more than 21 years of experience in commercial real estate, spanning acquisitions, asset management, debt restructuring, direct lending, and structured finance. He began his career with a private equity firm that invested in retail assets across Europe before the Great Recession, where he learned to underwrite and value assets, and later worked as a lender handling new originations and distressed workouts.

Born in the Soviet Union and raised in the Boston area, Maxim speaks fluent Russian. He lives in the Bay Area.