With more than 35 years of experience, Nuria Fernandez has made a name for herself as an inspiring leader in the transportation industry. As the General Manager and CEO of the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA), she is responsible for 2100 employees, delivering projects, programs, and transit services that provide mobility solutions for more than 2 million people who live and work in Silicon Valley. Among the highlights of her tenure at VTA is the construction of the $7 Billion extension of the heavy rail service, Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) into Silicon Valley. When completed, the two-part project, including 16 miles of rail and 6 news stations, will provide transit alternatives for tens of thousands of commuters to Silicon Valley. The first two stations, Phase I of the project, are slated to begin passenger service in 2020.

Fernandez is also responsible for the creation of VTA’s “Innovation Center,” an incubator to encourage collaboration, test the latest technology, and imagine new ways to keep the valley moving forward by leveraging the expertise of Silicon Valley’s high-tech corporations and universities.

Prior to leading VTA, Fernandez served in leadership positions at some of the busiest transit agencies in America, including Chief Operating Officer of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority, and Sr. Vice President of Design and Construction for the Chicago Transit Authority and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, consecutively. She also served as Commissioner for the Chicago Department of Aviation, overseeing O’Hare and Midway Airports.

Fernandez was appointed Acting Federal Transit Administrator by President Bill Clinton, where she enabled the administration of more than a billion dollars in annual grant funding to local communities for planning, design, and construction of new and expanding rail and bus systems.

Fernandez serves as Chair of the American Public Transportation Association for 2019-2020, leading the national organization in the advancement of advocacy, innovation, workforce development and membership growth. Fernandez was born and raised in Panama City, Panama, immigrating to the U.S. to pursue her bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering and Master of Business Administration.

Mr. Vaz founded AMCAL in 1978 and has led the company’s dramatic growth, developing $750 million in residential and mixed-use projects throughout California. A highly regarded leader in the affordable housing field, Mr. Vaz has spearheaded the building of 7,000 affordable apartments, raising more than $700 million in tax credit financings. AMCAL housing has changed thousands of lives by providing quality apartments and partnering with local non-profit organizations to empower residents through education and supportive services. Seeing the massive need for affordable housing in fast-growing Texas, Mr. Vaz expanded AMCAL’s operations into that market in 2012.

Mr. Vaz serves on the Board of Directors for the California Housing Consortium, an organization dedicated to advancing affordable housing and community development. He is also a member of the Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing and the California Redevelopment Association. Entering the student housing field in 2012 to serve California universities that face a housing crisis, he quickly become a recognized expert and AMCAL a preferred builder. He is a frequent speak on affordable and student housing and urban redevelopment at major forums including Urban Land Institute, Pacific Coast Builders Conference, National Housing Conference, Building Industry Association, University of Southern California, Bisnow and numerous affordable housing groups.

Real Estate Developer, Affordable Housing Builder, Housing Leader, Community Builder, Attorney

Passionate about equality of opportunity through housing and education for all income levels. Passionate about inclusion and diversity.

• 17+ years in real estate acquisitions, contract negotiations, site selection, and brokerage.

• 10+ years of experience in a corporate real estate environment (multi-family and mixed-use real estate development and portfolio/asset management leadership)

• Strong focus on political and community engagement, advocacy, and building relationships with local organizations, community leaders, policy makers, and government agencies. This involves close monitoring of the political environment in order to advocate for and advance policies, programs, and projects that will positively impact the housing industry and community at large.

• Exceptional relationship-building skills and people skills – ability to relate well to others and be relatable to others.

• Focus on all aspects of development at a strategic level including acquisitions, feasibility, entitlements, consensus building, complex loan closings, design, construction, and sale/lease-up.

• Ability to drive the planning of multiple, fast-paced and complicated projects.

• Team management – up to 50 FTEs plus all vendors and stakeholders in a fast-paced environment.

• Participate in speaking engagements, panels, and media interviews regarding the Silicon Valley housing crisis.

Jeffrey Rogers and his team conduct commercial real estate development projects with private and institutional equity partners. Since Jeff founded Briggs Development in 2011, the company has built a track record of delivering attractive financial returns relative to the market.

Mr. Rogers began his career in 1994 at CB Commercial (CBRE) as an office leasing professional in Southern California. In 1996, he joined Colliers International in Northern California. In the Colliers Advisory Group (CAG), Jeff managed leasing transactions and provided financial statement impact analysis for enterprise tenants until 2011. From 2006 through 2008, Jeff was a partner in MJ Core Holdings focusing on land entitlement. He previously consulted for privately held development firms and family-owned entities in the development and stabilization of various projects in the Silicon Valley from 1999 to 2007.

He has served as a board member and/or fundraiser for the San Jose Police Activities League, the Bellarmine College Preparatory Dad’s Board, Links for Life and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Jeff is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

Mr. Rogers graduated from the University of San Diego with a Bachelor of Business Finance Degree.

A San Jose native, Ralph began his career in local commercial and industrial real estate by following in the footsteps of his father, Nelo, who founded N. G. Borelli Realtor in 1955. Ralph joined the firm in 1973 at age 19, when he obtained his first real estate license while still in college. He continued to work part-time until graduation and then entered the field full-time—becoming president of the company when his father retired in 1977.

Ralph soon began expanding the firm’s capabilities—from brokerage, development, and management of residential, retail, and industrial properties to the broad range of services it offers today. In 1979, Ralph directed the formation of Borelli Investment Company’s first syndicated partnership to acquire multi-tenant industrial and office properties. In its history, Borelli Investment Company has formed over 35 partnerships with a portfolio of more than four million square feet, valued at over $600 million in property management accounts. Currently Borelli has 11 partnerships operating a total of nearly 1,000,000 sq. ft. that is valued at over $250 million.

In addition to providing overall direction for the company, Ralph has negotiated several joint ventures on various industrial and office developments. He has also sold in excess of 2,000 acres of land, 150 buildings, and negotiated more than 4,000 leases.

Ralph received his degree in real estate from San Jose State University in 1976. In addition, Ralph has worked with numerous industry groups and earned many distinctions within his profession.

Responsible for developing more than $3.5 billion in real estate projects, including over 2,300 residential units in the California Bay Area, Hayden has experience in acquisition, contract negotiation, due diligence, risk assessment, financing, construction, and disposition of multifamily, single family and large mixed-use and master planned developments. He maintains relationships with a broad network of property owners, enabling him to identify and acquire prime investments. Hayden also has expertise navigating projects through the entitlement process by working with elected officials, community groups, and political organizations to gain support and get projects approved.

Sara Neff is a Partner and General Manager of Sustainability for Microsoft's Cloud Operations + Innovation team.

Prior to joining Microsoft, she was Head of Sustainability, Lendlease Americas, where she provided leadership and management oversight in developing, implementing and driving Lendlease's corporate sustainability framework in the Americas region.

Prior to that role, she served as Senior Vice President, Sustainability at Kilroy Realty Corporation. Under her leadership, Kilroy was recognized as a leader among publicly traded real estate companies on sustainability in the Americas by GRESB for seven of the last eight years as well as being recognized by NAREIT, and achieved carbon neutral operations at the end of 2020. She is a LEED Fellow and holds a BS from Stanford and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Through hard work and diligence, my objective is to learn every day, improve every day, help build lasting business relationships, add value and help others be successful in their businesses and careers. Work in commercial real estate in a position that offers the challenge to develop, acquire, operate, maintain, repair, modernize and improve the sustainable areas of the built environment. Provide long range value through thoughtful planning, implementation and execution of the day’s work. Employers deserve this level of commitment from their investment in its employee's, and it is what makes companies fundamentally succeed. Your work should be your resume and it should speak to the success of the business as well.

Specialties: I have extensive experience in facility operations, maintenance, repair and construction as well as operating & capital improvement projects, bidding and execution of construction projects. I have performed multiple due diligence exercises for acquisition and disposition. I have an eye on sustainability and the USGBC LEED goals and objectives, processes and projects. I also have experience in labor negotiations and contracts.

· 30+ years of experience in office and industrial acquisitions and development

· Experience acquiring, entitling and developing over 2.5 million sq. ft. of office, R&D and industrial projects; and leased and/or sold over 3.5 million square feet a space with a total market value over $1.4B

· Acquisition roles at Prometheus Development, (Sanford Diller) Opus Development, Insight Development

· Experience entitling five large projects in downtown San Jose including the development and lease up 225 W Santa Clara, San Jose’s most successful Class A office building

· Licensed California Real Estate Broker

· Board of Directors of the San Jose Downtown Association

· B.A. Political Science from University of Southern California

Mark Tersini oversees the implementation of KT Urban's downtown development strategy and works closely with Silicon Valley cities and its community's members to successfully navigate the challenges faced by urban infill development. Mark won the Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce “2016 Businessman of the year” award, and is the former President of the Homebuilder’s Association of Northern California (South Bay Division). Mark joined KT Urban in 1989. Mark Tersini has been involved in real estate development and construction since he began his career in 1982. He was born and raised in San Jose and attended San Jose State University.

Nanci Klein is responsible for cultivating and maintaining significant relationships with the world’s top global companies that have a presence in San Jose.

She’s steered some of city’s most complex economic development projects and negotiations, such as the retention and expansion of eBay, NanoSolar, Cisco, SunPower and Hitachi.

Regina has spent her entire career working towards housing and economic justice through affordable housing and community development. She has most recently served as Director of Housing Development at First Community Housing, a leading San José-based affordable housing developer. Originally from Richmond, Regina has called San José home for many years after a significant stint working on housing and community development issues on the East Coast.

Previous to joining FCH, Mrs. Celestin was a member of the National Development Council’s East Team providing housing and economic development consulting services to several East Coast municipalities and leading NDC’s green initiatives. She has also worked at the National Housing Trust, structuring the financing for and overseeing the rehabilitation of affordable housing properties while employing green construction features. Regina received her Master of City Planning degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelors in Urban Studies from Stanford University.

With over 37 years of land use planning experience including over four years with the City of Palo Alto and nearly ten years with the San Jose Department of City Planning, Building & Code Enforcement, Ray provides the expertise in land use and entitlement for land development projects. Ray has been involved with the management and planning of a wide range of projects from inception through construction including multi-use and industrial/commercial projects, large-scale residential projects, and specialized projects such as operating and post-operation landfill sites. Ray has extensive experience working with the cities and other governmental agencies throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP).