Alan E. Dones is a licensed contractor, a long-time entrepreneur, an outspoken advocate of equal opportunity in employment and contracting, and an accomplished musician/producer.

Dones is principal of ADCo, LLC and managing partner and co-founder of SUDA, LLC, a firm specializing in large-scale, innovative, public agency projects and mixed-use development. SUDA has completed several landmark projects in Oakland, CA and is currently pioneering international development projects in Africa.

In 1988, Alan Dones co-founded and served as CEO of Rondeau Bay Construction, Inc. (RBC), an engineering and construction firm based in Oakland, CA. Under his leadership, RBC grew to include offices in five major US cities and completed over $70 million of construction projects.

Alan is active in a number of local and national organizations. He has worked with agencies throughout the United States to revise and enhance their small business and W/MBE policies. Currently, he is a member of the City of Oakland’s Workforce Investment Board; member of the Alameda County Health Care Foundation; and member the East Bay Conversion and Reinvestment Commission. Formerly, Dones served as president of the Northern California Chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors; vice-chairman of the Oakland City Charter Review Committee; board member of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce; delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business; and member of the Legislative Committee for the Engineering and Utility Contractor’s Association.

As a member of the Military Conversion and Reinvestment Commission, Mr. Dones was instrumental in promoting legislation and drafting revisions to the language of the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) that enhanced the ability of Women and Minority owned firms to compete for DOD and conversion related contracts.

Mr. Dones has authored several articles on minority business issues in local and National publications. He has co-authored a measure on the 1996 ballot in Oakland, California to amend Oakland’s City Charter mandating Affirmative Action programs, combating disparities in City employment and contracting. This initiative had national significance in that it is one of the first voter responses to counter the impact of the controversial anti-affirmative action California Civil Right Initiative (CCRI).

Alan Dones is executive producer and co-founder of Strategic Media Alliance, LLC (SMI) ― an international production company based in Oakland, CA.

His musical credits are many. Alan co-authored the 1981 hit single, “Be Yourself” with world-renowned bassist, Nathan East. The song appeared on singer Debra Laws’ first solo album, “Very Special” and rose to the top-ten mark on Billboard’s R&B charts [listen]. In 1981, Dones co-authored, “Go For It”, performed by Bill Summers & Summers’ Heat and featured on their classic Jam the Box album.

Alan has produced, written and performed with many of the Bay Area’s top artists, including Rodney Franklin, Ray Obeido, Larry Batiste, Jennifer Johns, Hannibal Means, Patricia Banks, Harvey Scales, David Daniel, and The Nemonics. He performed for more than a year in the award-winning and highly acclaimed San Francisco musical review, “Soul, Style & Sass.”

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.

A graduate of Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, David formed McCullough Landscape Architecture as a sole proprietorship in 1999 while consulting for another firm. After wife and partner, Catherine joined the business in 2001 and became Chief Executive Officer and President in 2002; the firm became a woman-owned corporation and a certified Small Business by the State of California.

With offices in San Diego and the Bay Area, McCullough creates spaces for hospitality, retail, mixed-use and institutional properties around the world. As principal landscape architect, David oversees all aspects of the design and production of firm projects at McCullough. He serves as head designer on all projects and maintains quality control on all work completed. Previous projects have earned awards and recognition in several national publications.

David finds time in his schedule to take leadership in creative organizations such as the the San Diego Architecture Foundation (SDAF) and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) local Urban Design Committee. He currently serves as Chair of the Pecha Kucha Night program, which is on its sixth successful year. He finds it inspiring to take part in such a diverse mix of creative minds while bringing them together to share with the public their wild ideas.

In addition, recently David was appointed by San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer to serve on the Historical Resources Board as Chair, which governs the identification, protection, retention and preservation of historical sites in San Diego. Concurrently, he has been invited to serve on the city’s Code Monitoring Team (CMT).

David’s design philosophy is centered around merging context and creative passion with grit, soul, and style. The firm takes every project with a uniquely creative approach that centers around diversity, discovery and conservation. David feels it’s important to engage the human spirit with nature, while expressing empathy.

Recent projects include a large waterfront development in Shanghai, China, Seaport San Diego redevelopment, several multifamily projects in Calgary and Vancouver, along with other notable hospitality, entertainment, and mixed-use collaborations in the Western US and Canada.

Cory Creath, AIA, LEED AP, brings more than 30 years of commercial architectural design experience to

AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design as one of the firm’s founders and Principal Architects. With particular

expertise in multi-family residential and hospitality architectural design, Cory’s knowledge spans design,

building, development, and operational issues for developers, designers, owners, and investors alike.

More than simply an architectural designer, Cory assists clients with the business case for each

development, helping stakeholders increase a project’s construction success. In addition to managing

architectural design projects, Cory oversees AXIS/GFA’s business development initiatives and day-to-day

operations, guiding the firm as an expert on the business-side of architectural firm management. Prior

to the formation of AXIS/GFA, Cory was a Studio Director with Gensler’s San Francisco office. In his spare

time, Cory enjoys sharing the outdoors with his family – particularly skiing California’s local mountains.

Matt Passalacqua is a Senior Enterprise & Market Development Executive who has led nationwide direct & indirect multifamily market development teams with a dedicated vertical focus on Multifamily Solutions since 2006. Since joining Wave G (Wave Broadband) in 2019, Matt’s focus has been leading teams in growing Wave’s serviceable fiber footprint while also taking charge of enhancing & improving standard multifamily deployment methods creating seamless as well as touchless “Already On” end-user solutions. As the world & multifamily resident needs continue to change, Matt and his team are dedicated to maintaining Wave’s ability to develop dedicated solutions to meet client needs at every level.

Riaz Taplin has been thinking about workforce housing for most of his professional life. Growing up in a real estate family, Riaz detoured early in his career from the family business to develop his own style by founding a design/build firm and developing over 50 ultra-luxury residences in the Bay Area. Completing his last project just before the great recession, Riaz refocused his vision to workforce housing in Oakland. Over the next decade, Riaz built a portfolio of over 1,300 units in the workforce housing category. In the process, Riaz consistently worked to innovate market-rate approaches to workforce housing, also known as naturally-occurring affordable housing. In successive projects and ventures, Riaz explored co-living, adaptive reuse micro-units, student housing, and traditional ground-up construction – all of which led to the firm’s custom workforce housing solution – the ABD Studio.

Today, Riaz leads Riaz Capital, a vertically integrated workforce housing developer and institutional-grade sponsor with a core team of over fifty professionals managing a portfolio of over 1,300 units, and with over 1,000 residences in the pipeline. Riaz is a board member of the Oakland Promise, the urban planning think tank SPUR, and co-chair of the American India Foundation SF Bay Area board. He earned a B.A. in Economic History from the London School of Economics.

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.

Jim has over 20 years of design-build experience, specializing in integrated and manufactured systems. Jim works closely with developers and owners on how best to implement prefabrication strategies on their projects, whether it is complete façade or structural systems.

Sandra Biddulph leverages her more than 30 years of experience in structural design, materials, building types, and building codes and regulations to deliver superior project solutions. Whether it’s the seismic and structural design of steel, concrete, masonry, and wood building structures, Sandra works to achieve budget and schedule goals while communicating imperative information relative to all members of the project team throughout project development.

Her work has included lateral system development for significant high-rise and mid-rise steel and concrete structures, both locally and overseas, continuously championing the application of the latest technologies, teamwork, and proactive design solutions.

Sandra approaches each project with a commitment to excellence.

Rich Elder is a Partner in Lubin Olson's Litigation and Real Estate Practice Groups. He specializes in construction law and handles both litigation and the negotiation and preparation of construction contracts. As a seasoned construction attorney, Mr. Elder represents property owners as well as design-build, engineering and construction firms in construction claims involving delay, defective design and engineering, unforeseen site conditions and breach of warranty and in the negotiation and drafting of contracts and related project documents. Mr. Elder also has experience in general commercial litigation, including matters relating to securities, trade secrets and other business disputes.Prior to joining Lubin Olson, Mr. Elder was a partner at Burke Williams & Sorensen LLP in Oakland.

Larry brings over thirty years experience in real estate, community and economic development in both the public and private sector to Burbank Housing. Most recently Larry served as the Director of Housing and Intergovernmental Affairs for Napa County. He managed Napa County’s affordable housing programs as well as the county’s Housing Authority and community and economic development activities.

Prior to joining Napa County Larry spent over ten years in the private sector, co founding a development company specializing in adaptive reuse of underutilized industrial property and overseeing some of the company’s largest development projects in the San Francisco Bay Area including the redevelopment of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard and Treasure Island. While in the Northeast Mr. Florin oversaw a 2,000 unit urban mixed use development project along the Hudson River across from Midtown Manhattan.

He has over 15 years experience working in senior management positions in San Francisco including executive level positions in the Mayor’s Office, Redevelopment Authority and Port. He also served as the first Executive Director of the Treasure Island Development Authority.

Throughout the years Larry has served on the Executive Board of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Governors Task Force on Military Base Conversion, the State of California Housing Element Working Group and California Forward’s One Million Homes Initiative. He has received the San Francisco Business Times Real Estate Transaction of the Year Award and the San Francisco Mayors Manager of the Year.

Larry has a Master in Urban Planning from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Purchase State College.

Yusef Freeman is the Managing Director of California for the Jonathan Rose Companies, leading ground up development and acquisitions on the West Coast out of the Companies’ Oakland, CA office.

Prior to joining the Rose Companies, Yusef was a Vice President of Investments in the transactions group at PGIM Real Estate, sourcing investment opportunities for the real estate private equity funds of the company.

Prior to joining PGIM in 2018, Yusef was the Managing Director for McCormack Baron Salazar, leading west coast operations and new business development nationally for the company and a Graduate Program lecturer in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley.

Yusef holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley where he spent one year studying abroad at the American University in Cairo, Egypt; a Master of Public Administration from New York University, where he majored in public finance as a Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow; and an alum of the Center for Urban Redevelopment Excellence Fellowship Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

David Bogstad has been developing innovative solutions for a wide variety of projects for over 30 years, many with intricate and complex programs. David’s strong belief that collaboration brings about superior buildings begins with qualified teams of experienced consultants and extends to his work with government agencies. His passion for design, fine detail and constructability, together with his natural ability to motivate and energize the team, has resulted in the successful completion of a large portfolio of significant projects.

As Design Director, Mark brings over 35 years of experience in architecture, leading the charge on a broad spectrum of project typologies ranging from small multifamily residential projects to large scale, complex mixed-use development. Mark is known for his collaborative approach, reflecting a belief in a truly integrated process from project onset to delivery. Notably, Mark was the Design Director for The Jasper – a 39-story high rise; Truckee Artist Lofts – a 77-unit modular, affordable housing project; and Electric Lofts – a micro-unit, co-living, urban-infill apartment building in Oakland. With an attention to detail and focus on materiality, Mark continues to lead successful design projects tuned to the local conditions and incorporating innovative approaches to project delivery. As a college lecturer teaching design and MEP integration, he has passed these successful strategies on to the next generation of architects.

Travis is fascinated by the purposeful creativity required to produce successful architecture. He believes projects of every size and scale provide opportunities for unique solutions to address any design challenge. Viewing the architecture process as a puzzle, Travis enjoys a collaborative design approach and continually seeks out opportunities for learning and growth.

Carolyn J. Lee is a partner in Lubin Olson’s Real Estate, Land Use, and Affordable Housing service groups. She specializes in affordable housing transactions, commercial real estate transactions, and entitlements. Ms. Lee represents clients in a broad range of matters, including acquisitions and dispositions, leasing, financing, entity formation, development, title and real estate due diligence, land use, and environmental matters. She also has significant experience representing clients in the acquisition, financing, and development of affordable housing projects using tax-exempt bonds and low-income housing tax credit financing, as well as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s financing and subsidy programs.

In her land use practice, Ms. Lee represents developers, institutions, and other property owners in obtaining entitlements and permits for the use of their property. She advises her clients on the preparation of environmental review documents under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and the preparation of entitlement documents under Planning and Zoning Law, the Housing Accountability Act, the Subdivision Map Act, general plans, specific plans, and local planning codes and zoning ordinances. She has represented clients with complex development projects throughout the Bay Area and Northern California, which involve entitling large multifamily residential projects and mixed-use office, commercial, and residential projects.

Ms. Lee is a member of the Asian American Bar Association of the Greater Bay Area, the Emerging Leaders Peer Network (ELPN) of the Non-Profit Housing Association of Northern California, and the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition.

Recently, Ms. Lee was honored by Thomson Reuters as a Northern California Super Lawyer “Rising Star” for 2021, 2022, and 2023. Ms. Lee was also included in the 2023 edition and 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for her work in Real Estate Law.

ummerHill Housing Group is the umbrella organization for SummerHill Homes, an award-winning residential builder and SummerHill Apartment Communities an apartment, mixed-use infill rental housing developer.

This powerful alliance forged to serve the home-sales and multifamily rental markets to strengthen the capabilities of two highly successful enterprises. Currently, SummerHill has 20 active projects actively under construction that represent over 2,700 homes, and 12 projects in the development/design stage that consist of another 2,750 homes.

SummerHill Housing Group provides the expertise, financial capability, excellence in relationships and staffing power in both the for-sale and for-rent markets. This partnership draws upon decades of experience and expertise in all phases of developing properties from beginning to completion. SummerHill has proven expertise in working closely with cities and neighborhood constituents to successfully integrate new home communities into the texture of the surrounding neighborhood by developing the most compatible housing type, architectural style, and urban plan for each site. We bring strategic real estate investment opportunities to life in the residential and apartment sector. Combining institutional experience with entrepreneurial vision, our management provides investors with the local presence, focus and depth of experience to succeed in competitive markets.

Gaurav is the VP of Product a Brilliant, a leading Smart Home and Smart Apartment company and recipient of the CES Innovation Award, the CTA TechHome Mark of Excellence, the IoT Breakthrough Award, and the CEDIA BEST Award. Gaurav is a Product Leader with experience across a variety of industries: IoT (Brilliant), Mobile Commerce (Shopkick), PropTech (Trulia, Zillow Group). Gaurav is a strong believer in giving back to the Product discipline and has previously been an Editorial Contributor at Products that Count, Curator of Startup Digest (Product), and a Senior Instructor for Product Management at Product School.

Michael J. Schall is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Essex Property Trust, Inc. He

previously served as the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the

company from 2005 to 2010, during which years he was responsible for the strategic planning

and management of the Company’s property operations, redevelopment and co-investment

programs. From 1993 to 2005, Mr. Schall was the Company’s Chief Financial Officer,

responsible for the organization’s financial and administrative matters. He joined The Marcus &

Millichap Company in 1986. He was also the Chief Financial Officer of the Company’s

predecessor, Essex Property Corporation. From 1982 to 1986, Mr. Schall was the Director of

Finance for Churchill International, a technology-oriented venture capital company. From 1979

to 1982, Mr. Schall was employed in the audit department of Ernst & Young (then known as

Ernst & Whinney), where he specialized in the real estate and financial services industries. Mr.

Schall received a B.S. from the University of San Francisco. Mr. Schall currently serves as a

member of the Board of Trustees of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, Inc. Mr. Schall is a member of the

NAREIT Executive Board of Governors. Mr. Schall is also a Certified Public Accountant

(inactive) and a member of the National Multifamily Housing Council, and AICPA.

Mr. Morgan is Essex’s Group Vice President and Head of Data & Analytics, leading a department that leverages innovative techniques in data science and novel data sources to produce actionable insights across the company’s Operational and Investment arms. Prior to joining Essex, Mr. Morgan led real estate research and analytics teams at Wall Street investment banks including Morgan Stanley, where he was the company’s U.S. Real Estate Strategist. During his tenure, Mr. Morgan received the Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Street award for stock selection and was previously a member of Institutional Investor’s #1-ranked analyst team at Citigroup. Mr. Morgan began his career conducting economic research at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, DC and earned his Master’s Degree in Economics at Princeton University, where he was a National Science Foundation Research Fellow.