Steve is Co-Founder and CEO of Statt, a venture-backed, big data

and AI policy and regulatory intelligence platform based in

Washington, DC and Austin, TX.

Steve was previously the Co-Founder and CEO of the Economic

Innovation Group, a bipartisan economic policy ideas and advocacy

organization, which was the architect for the $100B Opportunity

Zones program.

Earlier in his career, Steve served in the Obama-Biden

Administration, including for the National Security Council and

National Economic Council in the White House. He also held the

role as Chief of Staff for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service.

Steve previously practiced law as Majority Counsel to the U.S. House Oversight and

Government Affairs Committee, as well as an Honors Program Attorney in the Justice

Department and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.

Steve received his B.A. and M.A., magna cum laude, from Georgetown University, J.D. from

Columbia Law School, and LL.M., with highest honors, from the London School of Economics

and Political Science.

Ira Weinstein serves as CohnRenzick’s Managing Principal – Real Estate, Cannabis Industries, where he oversees the advisory, assurance, and tax services pertaining to both industries. His role is to develop and execute strategy that grows the capacity and capability of the firm’s resources dedicated to these industries for the benefit of our clients, our people, and our communities.

Prior to taking on this role, Ira spent eight years managing the Baltimore office and over 20 years managing a consulting practice focused on providing strategic advisory services to clients in support of their vision for growth and enhanced enterprise value. He has extensive knowledge of the public-private partnership, specifically leveraging government programs to accomplish the project finance goals of his client base. Such programs include the federal and state New Markets Tax Credit Programs, the federal and state historic tax credit programs, renewable energy tax credits for investment and production, and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.

Ira is a subject matter expert and firm leader on Opportunity Zones, an economic development provision passed as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, providing technical, transaction advisory, and entity formation services related to this provision.

Ira speaks at conferences and seminars nationwide on a variety of topics. Before joining CohnReznick, he advised local economic development organizations on strategies to revitalize their geographic footprint. Before that, he spent several years in the corporate finance department of a public company raising capital for corporate and project finance and completing acquisitions and divestitures of company assets. His initial experience just post-college was doing credit analysis for a factor of extending credit nationwide across a variety of industries.

Daniel Cullen has nearly 20 years of experience in tax planning for

structured real estate transactions and related securities law matters. Mr.

Cullen serves as a REIT columnist for the Journal of Passthrough Entities

and is viewed as a leading professional in the taxation of REITs and related

structures. Mr. Cullen received the Best Panel Award, for the presentation

"An In-Depth Look at DSTs" at the 2013 ADISA Annual Conference. Mr.

Cullen also serves as an adjunct professor at Northwestern University

School of Law and DePaul University College of Law, teaching the Taxation

of Structured Real Estate Transactions.

Practice focus

Mr. Cullen has experience in all aspects of tax planning for inbound and

outbound real estate projects, including real estate investment funds,

leveraged partnerships, joint ventures, QOZ funds, REITs and Section 1031

structures such as tenancy-in-common arrangements and Delaware

Statutory Trust (DST) offerings. In addition, he handles tax matters related

to lease financings of real estate, aircraft, railcars, school buses, cell towers

and other telecommunications equipment, synthetic lease structures and the

related tax aspects of derivatives and financial products. Throughout his

career, Mr. Cullen has also been involved in tax planning for many domestic

and international partnerships, joint ventures and emerging companies,

including projects in Australia, China, Brazil, Mexico, Europe, Russia, the

Bahamas, Panama and the Philippines.

Jonathan Kayne, Director of Special Projects in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and

Economic Development, has over 20 years of experience in the real estate industry in both the

public and private sectors including office, retail and residential. Jonathan has also held

positions with the District as Interim Director and COO of Department of General Services. Prior

to joining the District he held positions as COO of DBT Development Group, Senior Vice

President, Director of Real Estate for Federal Realty Investment Trust and Vice President for

Charles E Smith Residential. Mr. Kayne received a Master’s Degree in Real Estate from Johns

Hopkins University.

Matthew concentrates on structuring complex commercial real estate transactions, negotiating and drafting partnership and LLC agreements for equity investments, and forming private equity funds and other joint ventures primarily targeting real estate assets. He works with a broad range of clients spanning REITs, sponsors, developers, investors, private equity funds, institutional investors, financial institutions, and public companies, among others.

A core component of Matthew’s real estate private equity practice involves advising on tax issues related to real estate and broader corporate transactions, including qualified opportunity zone investments, tax-free like-kind 1031 exchanges, affordable/low-income housing and historic tax credits, energy credits, and mergers and acquisitions involving corporate and flow-through entities.

He has also served as a senior associate in the tax office of a “Big 4” accounting firm.

Jerry Breed has more than 30 years of experience providing counsel on federal and state tax incentivized matters.

Ranked in Chambers USA as a leading tax lawyer, he focuses his practice on tax planning and on structuring low-income

housing tax credit, historic rehabilitation tax credit, new markets tax credit, renewable energy and opportunity zone

transactions.

Jerry has closed many low-income housing, historic rehabilitation, new markets tax credit, renewable energy and

opportunity zone transactions that permit his clients to maximize tax benefits and investment returns, all within the

framework of the client's business goals. He has substantial experience in the structuring and taxation of community

development investments. He also has represented clients with respect to audits of tax credit investments.

His clients include syndicators and investors in low-income housing, historic rehabilitation, new markets tax credit,

renewable energy and opportunity zone transactions as well as developers of these projects. Jerry has represented

lenders, REITs and other private equity investors in structuring financial arrangements that preserve the ability of

participants to claim tax credits. Frequently, these tax favored transactions include state credits and other federal, state

and local subsidies.

Under the rapidly developing opportunity zone program, he has represented the owners of qualified opportunity zone

businesses as well as sponsors of opportunity zone funds. Jerry also represents state housing authorities that allocate

low-income housing tax credits. Many of these transactions involve tax-exempt organizations, including colleges and

universities that seek to secure favorable financing for the rehabilitation or construction of facilities on or around their

campuses.

Jerry presents and writes regularly on various tax credit and federal income tax issues. He is a board member of the

Historic Tax Credit Coalition and the National Housing & Rehabilitation Association, for which he is also a past chairman.

Mr. Shah joined EJF in 2018 and is a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Shah is responsible for portfolio management activities for all real estate funds and has overall responsibility for acquisitions, financing, development, construction, and asset management related activities. In his role, Mr. Shah oversees EJF’s real estate investment strategy, capital allocation, and partnership initiatives across the firm’s real estate portfolio. Mr. Shah has over 25 years of experience in the real estate industry. Prior to joining EJF, Mr. Shah was the President and Chief Investment Officer of the Multifamily Division at Kettler Inc., a real estate development firm based in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Mr. Shah earned his BS in Financial Management from St. Joseph’s University and an MBA in Corporate Finance from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute.

Tom Skinner is a founding member of Redbrick LMD and is one of the firm’s three Managing Partners. He has invested in and developed close to $2 billion in real estate assets and established a pipeline of over $4 billion in future development projects.

Prior to founding Redbrick, Tom invested in or founded numerous operating businesses primarily in the real estate, technology and financial services industries. Tom began his professional career at McKinsey & Co. where he worked with financial institutions on strategy issues. Tom earned his Ph.D. in economics from MIT and his BA in economics from Oxford University.

Ben currently serves as Chief Executive Officer and Director of Fundrise, an online real estate investment platform with over 300,000 members and $1.45 billion in real estate nationwide. Fundrise leverages technology to lower the cost of real estate investment and operations, enabling greater transparency and an ultra-low fee model. Ben has over 18 years of experience in real estate development and investment. Prior to Fundrise, Ben was managing partner of WestMill Capital Partners and President of Western Development Corp., a major mixed-use development company in Washington, D.C with more than 3 million square feet under management. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, he sits on the board of the National Center for Children and Families.

Craig Bernstein is a Managing Partner of OPZ Bernstein, a subsidiary of The Bernstein Companies, a Washington, DC based real estate investment management firm. Mr. Bernstein has more than 20 years of experience in real estate, including acquisitions, dispositions, construction, development, financing, asset management, property management and leasing. Mr. Bernstein is responsible for establishing OPZ Bernstein’s strategic initiatives and overseeing the Fund’s investor relations.

As one of the nation’s leading Opportunity Zone experts, Mr. Bernstein has contributed to stories for The New York Times, Associated Press, Washington Post and CNBC. Mr. Bernstein is a frequent speaker at Opportunity Zone events including the Global Institutional Real Estate Forum, Washington, DC Building Industry Association, Washington, DC Economic Partnership, Bisnow, The ASD Summit and The New York Riverside Experience.

Prior to founding OPZ Bernstein, Mr. Bernstein was the Chief Investment Officer of White Star Investments, a prominent single family investment office in Bethesda, MD. During his 10 year career at White Star Investments, Mr. Bernstein oversaw a diversified portfolio of privately held real estate, private equity, alternative investments, and marketable securities. Mr. Bernstein focused extensively on allocating capital to external managers, and leading the firm’s manager selection and due diligence processes. Prior to joining White Star Investments, Mr. Bernstein was a Director at Cushman and Wakefield. One of the youngest Directors in the firm’s history, Mr. Bernstein’s clients included TIAA-CREF, TA Associates, Lerner Enterprises and the B.F. Saul Companies.

Named as a member to the Inaugural Bisnow “Top 35 under 35” list, Mr. Bernstein has also served on the Board of the Greater Washington Commercial Association of Realtors (GWCAR) and the Board of Hillel at the University of Maryland. Mr. Bernstein resides in Potomac, MD.

Vikram is a shareholder with Bean, Kinney & Korman representing a broad range of clients in tax and corporate matters. His tax practice consists of assisting businesses of all sizes in identifying and handling complex domestic and international tax issues, particularly in the real estate, renewable energy, government contracting and technology industries. Vikram began his tax career as a CPA with Ernst & Young, LLP, where his work focused on state and local incentives. Prior to joining Bean, Kinney & Korman, Vikram worked as a tax attorney with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom where he focused on highly complex transactions and novel tax controversies.

In his corporate practice, Vikram assists throughout the lifecycle of a business from formation to exit. During these stages, Vikram assists clients in structuring the business, negotiating agreements among the stakeholders and third parties, capitalizing or financing the business, navigating employment matters including compensation, and handling exit transactions, such as mergers, acquisitions, and asset sales. Further, Vikram brings his tax expertise to his corporate work and provides a unique integrated service that creates significant value for his clients.

In addition to his legal training and experience, Vikram is personally involved as a principal in hospitality projects and technology projects, and he has invested in a number of businesses in the region. This gives him the perspective of a business owner and investor, which allows him to understand their needs in a way that most attorneys cannot.

Richard Price focuses on real estate finance and regulation, affordable and rural housing and community development, government contracts, administrative law and legislation. He assists for-profit and nonprofit businesses and government agencies. Richard is the editor-in-chief of Nixon Peabody’s Affordable Housing and Community Development blog.