In addition to 15 years of experience in real estate development, Mr. Babsin is an attorney and CPA. Mr. Babsin holds a BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois, a JD from Harvard Law School, and a Master in City Planning from the University of California at Berkeley.

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.”

Mr. Kirchofer serves as Senior Vice President of Development for AvalonBay, with responsibility for all of the company’s development activity in Northern California. The company is a leading developer, owner, and manager of multifamily and mixed-use developments in the region. Mr. Kirchofer joined the company in 2013.

Prior to joining AvalonBay, Mr. Kirchofer led complex residential and mixed-use projects in the Bay Area for one of the Bay Area’s top nonprofit affordable housing developers, MidPen Housing.

Mr. Kirchofer is a former member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, and a member of the SPUR Housing Policy Board. Mr. Kirchofer received a Bachelor of Arts from Stanford University.

Alicia Guerra has developed a multi-disciplinary practice focused on local, state, and federal land use entitlement and permitting and environmental review for a broad sector of private industry, developers, and public agencies. Ms. Guerra’s practice often involves complex and controversial projects at all levels of the administrative process including due diligence, land use entitlements, development agreements, disposition and development agreements, permitting advice, and counsel for water resources, environmental compliance, and wetlands natural resources. She has handled all aspects of these substantive areas, from advising private and public sector clients regarding the applicability of the law, to guiding clients through a permitting or entitlement process at the local, state or federal level.

Joe is a founder of srmErnst and has over 20-years of real estate experience in development, investment, asset management and finance. Joe joined SRM Associates in 1999 and was the principal in charge of all new development since 2005.

Prior to SRM, Joe was a Vice President in Structured Finance with Norwest Bank Minneapolis (prior to acquisition of Wells Fargo) structuring private mortgage and asset-backed securities transactions. Joe was also a Vice President with Cargill Financial Services focused on developing a conduit for acquisition and securitization of subprime residential mortgages, and a Vice President with Piper Jaffray as a structured finance analyst involved in the acquisition, restructuring and fund management of a $1 billion portfolio of distressed residential loans and under-performing CMBS deals.

Joe graduated magna cum laude from the University of Saint Thomas receiving his B.A. in Finance and Computer Science. He is a Portfolio Advisor with Inner City Advisors, an Oakland based non-profit small business and jobs advocacy group.

As a Principal, Kelly works in tandem with the Construction Management team in managing the daily operations of all development projects. She also assists the Chief Financial Officer, Lino Campanile, in overseeing the fiscal activity of the entire suite of Westlake companies – Westlake Realty, Westlake Urban and Westlake International. On a day-to-day basis she acts as a bridge between the Development and Finance teams.

Prior to joining Westlake, Kelly worked in the digital advertising and media industry in New York City. Previously an Account Executive for the advertising technology company, Ogury, she was responsible for managing her own book of business and working with a variety of top brands across multiple verticals to accomplish their advertising and marketing goals. Prior to Ogury, Kelly worked for Digital Trends, a technology news and reviews site, and at MEC buying and planning digital media campaigns and major digital sponsorships for AT&T Wireless.

Kelly earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in East Asian Studies from Harvard College.

Brent Saldaña advises investors, developers, owners and operators, and others in the real estate industry

in diverse, sophisticated real estate and corporate transactions. His clients span from individual investors

and family-owned real estate enterprises, to established developers, to sponsors launching real estate

funds, and his experience touches on multiple asset types and classes, including multifamily, office,

hospitality, industrial, R&D campuses, and vineyards, among others. He serves as chair of Farella Braun

+ Martel’s Real Estate Group.

Brent has extensive experience in acquisitions and dispositions, construction and permanent financings,

multi-tiered joint ventures and entity formations, development projects, leasing, and asset and property

management arrangements. He advises clients in many unusual deals requiring creative structures,

including unique land swap transactions and challenging tenant workouts. Brent also works closely with

members of Farella’s Family Wealth Group in structuring real estate holdings and succession planning

for families looking to preserve generational wealth.

Brent’s practice has a particular focus on complex real estate projects in the San Francisco Bay Area that

require negotiating mutually beneficial solutions among multiple stakeholders to protect his clients’

interests. His work involves thoughtful consideration of interrelated agreements, excellent project

management skills, and a continual appreciation of the big picture. He brings an infectious enthusiasm

for placemaking, the built environment, and all things real estate.

Representative work includes:

 Representing the interest of a major investor in a hotel property in Oakland, CA, and

representing the seller of a hotel in Oakland.

 Representing the owner in the refinancing and sale of Cavallo Point Lodge in Marin County.

 Representing the developer in adaptive reuse projects in the East Bay involving the exercise of

purchase rights in leases with the municipality, structuring of joint ventures, obtaining

construction financing, and negotiation of reciprocal utility easements with adjacent owners.

 Representing a multifamily owner and operator in the restructuring of a dozen of its limited

partnerships and tenancy in common holdings along the West Coast.

 Representing the seller in the sale of a Peninsula office building re-entitled for multifamily

construction. This sale, involving seven separate owners, required intricate seller financing,

facilitated by the appointment of an administrative agent.

 Representing a sponsor in the formation of a single-family residential investment fund targeting

assets in the Southwest.

 Representing owners and operators of collective retail experiences, including representation of a

flower market operator and food hall operator.

 Advising an office/retail unit owner in the foreclosure of an assessment lien under a reciprocal

easement agreement against an adjoining unit owner.

 Negotiating a $175MM credit facility, including lines of credit, secured by personal property

assets for a Bay Area-based construction company.

 Advising clients on Subdivision Map Act, Tenant Protection Act, Commercial Tenant Protection

Act and other California statutory law issues.

 Negotiating financing for the developer of a mixed-use project in India Basin in San Francisco.

 Assisting an East Bay developer with build-to-suit leases, including a build-to-suit lease for a

220,000-square-foot office building for a life sciences company.

 Representing winery and vineyard owners and operators in water infrastructure and water rights

easements.

 Advising a senior living owner and operator in sale negotiations with a developer of an adjacent

mixed-use project in San Jose in which the senior living owner obtained future easement and

other rights in an intricate set of sale and easement agreements.

Brent is a 2025 Leadership Council on Legal Diversity (LCLD) Fellow. Prior to joining a law firm, Brent

worked in development and marketing at The San Francisco Foundation and as in-house counsel for a

CDFI fund (nonprofit lender) lending to businesses in New York and in disaster recovery zones.

Brent earned his J.D. with honors from the University of Texas School of Law and his B.A. with honors

from Tufts University. He is admitted to practice in California and New York.