As Labor Commissioner, Julian Alvarez III represents the interests of more than 14 million Texas workers with respect to Texas Workforce Commission services and ensures that their concerns are considered in all Commission actions. Prior to his appointment, Commissioner Alvarez served as president and CEO of the Rio Grande Valley Partnership, fostering relationships and coordinating programs to advance regional economic development and employment opportunities. He also served as the Texas Regional Director for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson advising on legislative and policy issues related to South Texas.

As a senior project manager with over 24 years in his career, Michael Anderson has managed A/E teams for warehouse/industrial, fulfillment centers, mission critical facilities, retail, and banking institutions. In his role, he is responsible for schedule preparations and budgeting, pre-planning/coordination meetings, project financials, team performance and structure, project coordination, project accuracy/quality assurance, and client relations. Throughout his career, Anderson has held various roles including electrical designer, architectural designer, project manager, and business development.

Liz Berthelette is a seasoned commercial real estate researcher and economist who serves as head of Northeast and National life science research at Newmark. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, Berthelette is an experienced presenter who is often quoted by local, regional and national publications.

Ciere Boatright is the Vice President of Real Estate and Community Development and helps oversee planning and development of some of CRG’s high-impact real estate projects. She works closely with the Chicago Business Unit of CRG’s parent company, Clayco, to advance real estate and construction opportunities and oversee the successful execution of its high-profile pursuits. Boatright is launching a program to mentor and support aspiring commercial developers of color, as well as establishing a national CRG Cares philanthropic program in the numerous markets where CRG is active. Prior to joining CRG, Boatright served as the vice president for real estate and inclusion for Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives, Inc. During her time at CNI she managed the planning and development of new projects, including Pullman Park, the 180-acre mixed use site at 111th Street and I-94, where CNI coordinated over $450 million of new investment and created nearly 1,800 new jobs.

Kemena Brooks is the director of Development for The Community Builders. In her role she oversees Chicago development activity from initial concept through project stabilization. Brooks is responsible for project planning and finance structuring through design, construction and lease-up. She is a recent Loyola University Chicago’s Baumhart Scholars MBA alum. She holds a Master of Urban Design from the University of North Carolina Charlotte and a Bachelor of Science with a major in interior architecture from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.

Larry Davis joined FCL in 2013 as a senior executive in the construction industry and is responsible for overseeing all FCL’s national construction operations. His sales and project expertise is primarily rooted in the operation, large-scale project development and construction of industrial/e-commerce, office, retail, hospitality and mixed-use projects. Davis also possesses strong project management skills including estimating, pre-construction assistance, field supervision, client presentations, contract negotiations, hiring, training, formulation and adherence of policies and procedures, profit and loss accountability, risk management, monthly reporting, quality assurance and long-term strategy.

Jill Didier is the vice president for Milwaukee business development at Miron Construction. In her current role, Didier leads the development, growth and advancement of Miron’s sales in the greater Milwaukee market while encouraging innovation and enhancing the company’s strategic vision. She is responsible for relationship development, project proposals and client retention as Miron expands its southeastern Wisconsin operations. Didier’s background includes data analytics, workforce and economic development, marketing and government relations and has served as both Wauwatosa alderwoman and Wauwatosa mayor. She was also with the SAS Institute, where she helped government entities utilize data analytics to drive policy and budget-making decisions. Didier helped to further economic development for Milwaukee County as the county’s economic development coordinator. Didier graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in communication. She is an active community volunteer, serving on the Marquette University’s Industry Advisory Construction Board, Employ Milwaukee’s Construction Industry Advisory Board, NAIOP Wisconsin’s Board of Directors as well as their Public Policy Committee and is an associate board member for the Zoological Society of Milwaukee. She volunteers and supports many causes including Sharp Literacy. She enjoys spending time with her two adult children and her two dogs Millie and George! April 2019, Didier embarked on a personal journey to battle advanced breast cancer. Now besides her current roles and responsibilities, she tries to light the path for others with a cancer diagnosis.

Mariah DiGrino is partner in DLA Piper’s Chicago land use, development and government relations group. Her practice can best be described as “where real estate runs into government,” seeking land use approvals and negotiating and securing development incentives for complex projects throughout the Chicago metro area and nationally. She has appeared before a variety of legislative and administrative bodies, as well as circuit and appellate courts. Her work involves a wide variety of asset classes and industries in a variety of settings, including office and industrial, commercial and residential, historic and new, brownfield and greenfield, urban and rural, and everything in between.

Joe Dunlap is a logistics and management consulting professional with over 30 years of experience as well as mentor for several start-up supply chain technology firms. His functional areas of expertise include transportation, warehousing, inventory, third-party logistics, and supply chain management project life cycles including strategy, assessment, design and implementation, as well as consulting sales and practice management. Dunlap’s experience includes leading consulting services organizations, directing consulting engagements, developing innovative solutions and services, and building and managing consulting businesses. He is accomplished at coaching executive decision-makers, conceptualizing solutions, expectations alignment, and delivering results. Dunlap is an occasional presenter at industry events, author of several white papers, and holds two patents for distribution automation technology solutions.

Michael M. Edwards is the president and CEO of Chicago Loop Alliance. Since joining Chicago Loop Alliance in 2012, Edwards – an economic development expert – has been guiding efforts in promoting a high-performing urban experience that attracts people and investment to the Loop. Edwards is a founding member (2018) of the Global Business District Innovation Club in Paris; a Senior Fellow of the Institute of Place Management in Manchester, UK; as well as a member of the International Downtown Association Board of Directors. Edwards is a recognized expert in downtown management and frequently speaks internationally on key downtown opportunities and challenges.

Keara Fanning is the senior director of ESG at Link Logistics Real Estate, which is the largest operator of industrial real estate operating solely in the U.S with over 400 million square feet under ownership. Fanning oversees Link’s ESG program, including investor and annual reporting, sustainable development programs, health and wellness and social impact. She works to help achieve the company’s ambitious environmental sustainability goals, including carbon neutral operations by 2025, by delivering efficiency programs throughout the portfolio. Prior to joining Link, Fanning helped develop the ESG strategy for a large investor’s multifamily and retail portfolios and has over ten years of sustainability consulting experience.

Keith Ferrazzi radically transforms teams by offering leaders the inspiration and the road map to catapult their organizations forward, make up for lost time, embrace new realities, and win new frontiers. His newest bestseller, “Competing in the New World of Work,” offers a bold new vision for what the organization of the future looks like – digital, distributed, inclusive, resilient, empathic – and the emerging best leadership practices that will redefine success in the ever-evolving world of work. Based on an ambitious global research initiative involving thousands of executives, innovators, and change-makers who have redefined their strategies, business models, organizational systems, and even their cultures, Ferrazzi documents the workplace innovations that emerged during the pandemic and shows leaders how to shape their organizations and practices to remain competitive in a new, post-pandemic context.

The author of “Who’s Got Your Back,” “Never Eat Alone,” and “Leading Without Authority,” he’s also an entrepreneur, founder and chairman of Ferrazzi Greenlight, and an executive team coach to some of the most prominent organizations in the world. He’s a thought leader and frequent contributor to publications such as Forbes, Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal, and Fast Company. Ferrazzi has been at the forefront of remote team transitions since his published research appeared in Harvard Business Review.

In his speeches, he examines how the pandemic forced us to shed antiquated ways of doing business and make bold leaps into the future of work and reveals the emerging best practices of thousands of C-suite executives on how to remain competitive and impactful in a post-pandemic world. You’ll leave inspired and ready to catapult your organization forward, embrace new realities, and discover new frontiers.

Rielle Green brings over 10 years of experience to her role at Acadia Realty Trust as director of ESG. Starting her career at the University of California, Green created a program to reduce campus emissions, energy, water and waste. She then joined the San Francisco Department of the Environment, working on an energy disclosure policy in the commercial real estate sector. Following that, she joined CBRE where Green worked across a national portfolio creating and implementing programs around energy and water conservation, conducting internal and investor reports including GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark), building out a climate risk review process and overseeing LEED®, ENERGY STAR®, WELL® and Fitwel® certifications. Now at Acadia, Green is furthering her experience through targeting the retail sector and building a program with a focus on data management, reporting and goal setting, health and wellbeing, and climate risk evaluation.

Ben Grippi is responsible for reviewing emerging real estate technologies and engaging with the senior leadership team to develop platform-wide innovation strategies. His team handles the implementation and stewardship of all property-level technologies, PropTech vendor management and oversight of all strategic technology partnerships. Before joining The RMR Group, Grippi was a multi-sector asset manager and led Innovation at MetLife Real Estate. He oversaw the implementation of more than 30 OpTech, PropTech and RE SaaS Tech initiatives in his five years with MIM Real Estate, completely transforming the business platform and capabilities. Prior to his role with MetLife Real Estate, Grippi served as the head of MetLife Investment Management’s Quantitative Analytic & Strategy team for five years and was responsible for modeling $550 billion of fixed-income market risk through a proprietary asset and liability management framework.

Siobhan Harold Fink is focused on helping businesses reimagine their workspace strategies to value real estate as an asset rather than a cost center, while drawing on more than 20 years of experience as an advisor on the creation of global real estate portfolio plans for Fortune 500 and 1,000 companies. She is also a subject matter expert in commercial real estate standards, guidelines, and technology integration. Fink’s extensive experience spans global corporate real estate strategy; location and site selection; advanced workplace strategies; merger, acquisitions, and divestiture planning/strategy; and organizational realignment.

As director for the BNSF Railway, Cary Hutchings is responsible for all the disposition, lease and permitting/licensing transactions for land revenue management and real estate. He also manages the lease administration team that supports over 400 leased facilities. Prior to his current role, he managed complex business expansion and new business location projects as well as lead teams responsible for Regional Economic Development and Colocation activities of Intermodal Customers. Prior to the BNSF, Hutchings worked as an Economic Development Specialist at Jones Lang LaSalle. He has also served in a variety of economic and business development positions at the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (Indiana Department of Commerce). Hutchings has completed projects totaling over $1.1 billion in investment and creating tens of thousands of jobs. He volunteers with the Special Olympics and various food bank/mission-based charities.

Bart Johnson is president at Wintrust Bank and serves as the commercial real estate market head for Wintrust Financial. He joined Wintrust Bank in 2011 and led the launching of the Wintrust Commercial Real Estate line of business. Today, he works with the bankers across all Wintrust charters in the management of the company’s $7 billion investment real estate loan portfolio. Johnson and his Wintrust peers are financing projects across the country, supporting their clients’ growth and diversification efforts.

Steven Johnson is the Chief People and Compliance Officer at Bluecrew. He is an employee advocate whose career has focused on building programs and products that improve employee experience and empower frontline employees with a voice in the workplace. During his more than seven years at Amazon, Johnson led teams focused on employee relations and compliance, employee engagement science and listening strategy, frontline employee hiring assessment product and program management, and employee reskilling and upskilling. Prior to Amazon, he spent over a decade at Coca-Cola leading employee and labor relations for their North America and Western Europe bottling operations.

Keith Largay is a senior managing director and co-head of the Chicago and Columbus offices of JLL Capital Markets, Americas. In addition to his management responsibilities, he represents real estate owners in the financing, both debt and equity, of their investment properties. He has been directly involved in the placement of over $15 billion in real estate financing. His financing experience includes all major property types including office, multi-housing, retail, industrial, hospitality, data centers and condominiums.

Daniel Levison has a commercial real estate career spanning more than forty years. Having hands-on experience in running a twenty-agent full-service brokerage operation, creating multiple technology startups focused on commercial real estate, and acting as a principal and consultant in purchasing and repositioning over $50 million of commercial real estate assets provides Levison a unique perspective for his clients, investors and partners.

Clark Lindsay is Cresa’s President of Project Management, after merging his previous company, Pacific Program Management, into Cresa in October 2024. In this role, he drives Cresa’s corporate strategy in Program and Project Management, focused on growing and strengthening the Cresa platform and teams, finding and integrating great firms through M&A, and serving on the Cresa Board of Directors. With a focus on creating successful real estate programs rooted in people-centric workplaces, and working from a philosophy of finding and retaining diverse people in skill, thought and background, Clark has created substantial and sustainable growth both for the business and his people.

Cresa is a commercial real estate company focused on occupiers, providing personalized, resourceful and connected solutions to achieve excellent real estate outcomes with high-value client experiences. Sized to serve clients, with an employee-owned mind set, Cresa is headquartered in Chicago with teams deployed across North America. Founded in 1990, the company creates opportunities for businesses to minimize real estate risk and maximize productivity through a personalized and programmatic approach to transaction management, strategy, project management, and the transition of the workspace.

Rob Marek is the vice president of E-Z Riser Roof Raising and directs all sales and marketing efforts. E-Z Riser is a patented construction technology to lift an existing roof to a new clear height. Roof raising projects have revolutionized the renovation and reuse of outdated commercial buildings for warehousing, retail “destination” uses, manufacturing, athletics, self-storage and more.

As Vice President of Logistics, Jennifer McNeill is responsible for movement of product into the regional distribution centers from domestic and international suppliers, import and export trade compliance, and the delivery of product to True Value customers worldwide. McNeill holds a bachelor’s degree from Loyola University in New Orleans. She is a member of the AWESOME network (Achieving Women’s Excellence in Supply Chain Operations, Management and Education) and part of the FLOW (Freight Logistics Optimization Network) Committee spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Biden-Harris Supply Chain Disruption Task Force.

Patti Miller currently serves as a Vice President at E.E. Reed Construction, LP. She leads the strategic planning and revenue generation efforts for the company, and provides direction and leadership for the company by developing and executing various company initiatives. Miller is responsible for short and long-term strategies as well as many day-to-day operational activities. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and her MBA from Texas A&M University.

FCL Associate Vice President of Project Development Chris Moore brings an impressive portfolio of experience and a passion for building to the construction industry. After joining FCL in 2012 as a project manager, he successfully delivered industrial projects for companies like Home Depot and FedEx, making his way up the ranks to his current position. Throughout his career, Moore has focused his efforts on growing and maintaining relationships with customers and working closely with the pre-construction teams to ensure the smooth transition to production – and protecting customer investments throughout the building process. His stellar reputation for honesty, quality of work and knowledge of project execution make Moore an essential member of the industrial building community.

Leslie Moore is a senior vice president and serves as the director of ESG and Corporate Operations at LXP Industrial Trust. She joined the firm in 2007 and previously served as vice president of asset management. Moore graduated from Texas A&M University.

Matt Moroney oversees all aspects of Wangard Partners and has an integral role in the regulatory, environmental, and project-approval aspects of the business. He also assists Stewart Wangard in the execution of key company and project level initiatives. As former executive director of the Metropolitan Builders Association, Moroney skillfully led highly independent and successful homebuilders to work as a team to accomplish industry-shared goals. He later was asked by Governor Scott Walker to serve as Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Subsequently, Moroney served as deputy chief of staff for Governor Walker until he was selected as the strategic economic initiatives director for the state of Wisconsin. In this role, he coordinated government activities for the largest economic development project in the state’s history. Moroney is an active community member and holds positions on several organizations’ board of directors, including Citizens Bank, Waukesha Business Alliance, and La Casa Esperenza Foundation. He also serves on the NAIOP Corporate public policy committee.

Edip Pektas is a serial entrepreneur and an investor in fintech, aviation and healthcare. He is currently the managing partner of Inoa ventures Management, a venture investment company; Chief Innovation Officer of Alliance Ground International, an air cargo ground handling company; and the founder of Airblox, a digital marketplace for air cargo capacity. After spending 5 years running a start-up air cargo ground handling company, MIC Cargo, that was acquired by Alliance Ground International, he is now focused on building a portfolio of assets and companies that is airports- and aviation-focused. Pektas is a DePaul University graduate with a degree in Finance and Information Systems.

Jason Peters holds a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration and Business Administration, Juris Doctorate degree, and master’s in public administration. He was elected to the La Crosse, Wisconsin City Council at the age of 21 and served two years before heading to law school. He was a practicing real estate and estate planning attorney in the state of Minnesota for 10 years before transitioning into municipal administration. Peters has served in municipal administration roles in Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin. He is an avid golfer and a huge Green Bay Packer fan.

Chris Pickett has over 20 years of commercial experience operating at the intersection of global supply chain management, enterprise software development, and transportation market economics. Beginning his career in Silicon Valley in the late ‘90s, Pickett worked on the first generation of B2C e-commerce fulfillment networks. He later joined the early leadership team at Coyote Logistics at its launch, where he played an essential role in the company’s rise to over $4 billion in global revenue to become the second-largest U.S. truckload freight broker by 2020. He went on to launch Pickett Research, which publishes U.S. truckload market intelligence, before joining Flock Freight as Chief Strategy Officer in 2021.

As executive leader of Marcus & Millichap’s office and industrial business segments, Al Pontius is primarily responsible for directing the firm’s strategy and growth in these sectors throughout the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, he serves on the firm’s senior executive team responsible for design and execution of firm-wide strategies and initiatives.

Ryan Rademann is a senior manager in Wipfli’s construction and real estate practice. His areas of focus include customer relationship management workstream, user adoption and training, Microsoft Power BI, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, field service, and project service automation. Rademann pairs business acumen and technical knowledge with strong communication skills to implement solutions for the challenges his clients face.

Dawn Riegel brings over 20 years of interior architecture and design expertise to the Ware Malcomb team. As Principal, she is responsible for overseeing and reviewing all interiors projects for the Midwest Region. She is also responsible for client relationships and client development. Her experience includes overseeing all aspects of project design and management including programming, space planning, contract drawing preparation, final drawing and code review, and contract administration. Riegel’s project expertise includes commercial office, warehouse, retail, healthcare, industrial, public and education project types.

Craig Robinson is an experienced chief executive, division president and board director for global commercial real estate, outsourcing and tech-enabled service companies. He has led business units within both large global public companies and private growth businesses. Prior to joining Industrious, he built and led Powered by We, a hyper-growth business unit at WeWork that provided real estate development, technology and management services to clients globally. Robinson was previously the CEO of Global Corporate Services at Newmark where he led all sales, operations and platform investments. Prior to Newmark, he was president of Colliers International Group Inc., U.S. Region, where he was responsible for over $1 billion in annual revenue and 5,600 real estate professionals.

Melissa Román Burch is Chief Operating Officer for the NYC Economic Development Corporation where she leads real estate transactions that catalyze economic growth, and initiates investments to mobilize private capital. Through NYCEDC’s diverse real estate portfolio spanning 64 million square feet and 200+ properties, Burch oversees assets that accelerate business growth in strategic sectors across life sciences, entertainment, advanced manufacturing, food distribution and manufacturing, and the green economy. Burch joined NYCEDC in April 2022 after two decades as a leading property executive and developer of large-scale, mixed-use projects distinguished by iconic design, environmental leadership and innovative partnerships. Prior to NYCEDC, she served as executive general manager for Lendlease and spearheaded real estate investment and development activities for the New York region. Burch was previously executive vice president for Forest City Ratner and oversaw the development of Pacific Park Brooklyn, anchored by the Barclays Center and comprised of new market-rate and affordable housing, office space, transportation improvements and parks. A committed civic leader, Burch proudly serves as a trustee of the Henry Street Settlement and Coro New York Leadership Center. She graduated from Harvard College and the Harvard Business School.

From concept to completion, Jennifer Rosenberg is the driving force behind several of Keystone’s signature developments, including The Curtis in Philadelphia and Hotel West & Main in Conshohocken. She is involved in all aspects of her projects – from defining the vision to budgeting to construction management – and she does it all by staying on task, being organized and agile, relying on strategic and creative thinking to tackle those inevitable glitches that arise during the development process. Rosenberg is a George Washington University graduate and holds an MBA from Temple’s Fox School of Business. A skier since age two, her happy place is Colorado with the fam.

Marci Rossell is a world-renowned economist and financial expert who speaks candidly on the nexus of economics, politics, culture, and the media. She honed her animated style serving as Chief Economist for CNBC, where she became a household name and a must-watch source of financial news. The former co-host of the well-known “pre-market” morning news and talk show Squawk Box, Rossell takes complex economic issues, often dull in the button-down business press, and makes them relevant to people's lives, families, and careers.

Prior to her career in broadcast journalism, Rossell served as corporate economist and investment spokesperson for OppenheimerFunds, one of the nation’s largest mutual fund companies. Her success in the private sector led to her economic commentary being revered and ultimately her appointments on nationally syndicated talk shows. Before moving to Wall Street, she was an expert witness for Deloitte & Touche in court cases involving economic issues. Rossell began her career as an economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She earned a Ph.D. in Economics from Southern Methodist University, where she was named one of the Young Alumni of the Year in 2002.

Adam Roth is an executive vice president at NAI Hiffman and specializes in industrial real estate including land assemblage and development, building sales and tenant representation. As a director of NAI Global Logistics, Roth focuses on providing real estate and supply chain solutions to distribution and warehouse companies throughout the world on matters including corporate relocation, site search analysis, build-to-suit alternatives, acquisition, disposition and leasing services.

Marat Safir is a principal and co-founder of TMG Real Estate Advisors, as well as s3 Construction. With over 25 years of commercial real estate consulting experience, Safir has extensive expertise in advising corporate tenants in identifying solutions as it relates to their industrial footprints around the country. Additionally, he has recently founded a property technology company that acts as a conduit between tenants and asset owners throughout the lease negotiation process.

Carolyn Salzer is the director and head of industrial research for the Americas working with the logistics and industrial services group as well as a member of Cushman & Wakefield’s Global Research Think Tank. She leads the team and contributes to the coordination and production of local, regional, national and corporate research analyses. She oversees quarterly reporting, statistical production, and forecasting for 80 markets within the Americas. Within this role, Salzer collects and analyzes statistics from all industrial markets tracked by Cushman & Wakefield to educate clients and the firm’s 840 industrial professionals on current research trends and tools.

Jacques Sandberg leads Related Midwest’s affordable housing business where he oversees a portfolio that includes more than 40 sites and 10,000 affordable residences. Sandberg plays an integral role in the redevelopment of Roosevelt Square, a mixed-income development on the Near West Side that will ultimately include more than 2,000 residential units, and Lathrop, a multi-year, multi-phase project that is transforming the historic property into a vibrant mixed-use, mixed-income community. Sandberg holds a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where the focus of his work was on urban design and real estate development, and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Grinnell College.

Lindy Schrik leads CenterPoint Properties’ Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategic initiatives and sustainability efforts. She has worked in the real estate industry for over 20 years as a real estate tax associate, design coordinator and property manager. Schrik has held her IL Managing Broker’s License since 2004 and earned her LEED AP certification in 2010. Her efforts have helped CenterPoint earn LEED certification for several buildings throughout the U.S. Schrik is an accounting graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and has served on the BOMA Suburban Chicago board since 2020 and the BOMA International Industrial Committee since 2018.

With more than 35 years of commercial real estate experience, Peter Schultz is responsible for leading the investment initiatives and portfolio operations for First Industrial’s east region. As executive vice president, Schultz manages the region's portfolio, guides its team of experts, and directs the proper execution of all leasing, development, acquisition and disposition activities primarily throughout the eastern U.S. He also is a member of First Industrial’s management committee, which drives the overall strategy of the company.

Cory is senior vice president for Griffco Design/Build Inc. He previously led the business development and growth strategies for FCL Builders nationally. With over 20 years focused on strategic planning and business development for general contractors, architectural and engineering firms, Singer’s efforts since joining FCL builders in 2011 assisted the company in entering the Dallas/Fort Worth, Southeast, West and desert Southwest markets. As vice president of business development and pre-construction, Singer was charged with coordinating the company’s business development, sales and pre-construction efforts.

Drawing on 30 years of experience driving innovation and leading operations at companies including Apple and Microsoft, Mike Steep shares strategies on how to leverage emerging technology into bottom line business opportunities. Throughout his career, Mike has worked in the presence of industry legends including David Packard, Bill Gates, and Satya Nadella, witnessing first-hand some of the greatest breakthroughs and transformations within organizations and entire industries.

Author of the critically acclaimed book First Light of Day: A Cautionary Tale of Our Future, Steep is the founder and executive director of Stanford’s Engineering Center for Disruptive Technology and Digital Cities. In this role, he has built a bridge between Stanford’s disruptive technologies labs and 30 corporate partners – including Amazon, Cushman & Wakefield, Hitachi, and Visa – to create new opportunities for innovation and monetization.

Mike is the former SVP of Global Business Operations at PARC, where he worked with CEO’s and R&D executives from companies including BMW, Google, P&G, L’Oreal, and Air Bus to transform technology disruption of their industries into new lines of business. He has had an exceptional career with more than two decades of global operating experience at companies including HP, Apple, IBM, Microsoft, and PARC’s world-renowned innovation center. Steep earned his MBA from the University of Virginia, and his BA from the University of Pennsylvania. He is an Adjunct Professor of Digital Business at Imperial College London and has served on several Smart Cities Boards including the City of London, advising commercial clients on the impact of emerging technology in their industries.

Bret Swango is the head of Location Intelligence & Workforce Analytics at Colliers as well as a founding member of the Economic Incentives Practice at Colliers. The location intelligence platforms he has developed have earned him recognition as a global top 10 Data Analytics Professional by OnCon. His core competency is turning data into insight and helping some of the world's largest organizations make more informed, quantitatively defensible location decisions in these highly uncertain times. With over a decade of operational, financial and analytics expertise, he partners with a team of world-class data scientists, data engineers and data visualization experts leveraging the latest in machine learning and agile technology to provide data-driven transparency and reduce risk in the location selection process for tenants, developers, investor and landlords. He currently services the industrial, office and life science sectors with plans to expand into the data center arena over the next 12 months.

Celeste Tanner co-founded Confluent Development with Marshall Burton in 2014, creating a new perspective on development within the industry. With more than 15 years of experience in development and real estate, Tanner currently serves as Chief Development Officer of Confluent, where she oversees the organization’s diverse development platform of senior living, multifamily, office, industrial, and retail development, representing a current cumulative development pipeline in excess of $400 million. Tanner was previously Director of Real Estate Development for Opus Development Company and led the real estate project team for the Denver office of Opus. In her career she has played a key role in the ground-up development of more than 5 million square feet of commercial and multifamily space, and has represented the industry both locally and nationally through her leadership in organizations such as NAIOP.

Ben Waber, Ph.D., is the president and co-founder of Humanyze. He is a visiting scientist at the MIT Media Lab, previously worked as a senior researcher at Harvard Business School and received his Ph.D. from MIT for his work with Alex “Sandy” Pentland’s Human Dynamics group. Waber’s work has been featured in major media outlets such as Wired, The Economist, and NPR. He has consulted for industry leaders such as LG, McKinsey & Company, and Gartner on technology trends, social networks, and organizational design. His book, People Analytics, was published by the Financial Times Press in 2013.

Tim Walsh is partner and chief investment officer for Dermody Properties and is responsible for overseeing all origination activities for this national logistics real estate firm. His primary focus is working with Dermody Properties’ team of regional partners to identify and target the best value-added industrial investment opportunities available. He has more than 33 years of experience in real estate investment management and is based in the company’s Chicago office.

Breana Wheeler became BRE's director of operations in the U.S. in 2016, launching BREEAM USA in the U.S. market. BREEAM is the world’s first green building rating system and today is the most widely used program worldwide with over 2.3 million registered buildings and over 600,000 certificates issued in more than 89 countries. She oversees the development of the BREEAM programs for the U.S. market, ensuring the program delivers sustainable real estate value to investors, owners, managers and tenants. Prior to joining BRE, Wheeler worked for 10 years as an internal advisor on environmental and sustainability risk management for large, multinational corporations and was based in London.

Mark Wheeler is responsible for Zebra’s warehouse and supply chain solutions global strategy. He collaborates closely with customers’ supply chain operations teams, solution partners, and Zebra’s product development teams to align emerging technology solutions with customer needs. Wheeler has held numerous positions in supply chain execution throughout his 30-year career, including strategic consulting, automated warehouse design and build and complex systems integration. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from Carnegie-Mellon University.

Shahin Yazdi is a managing director with George Smith Partners and the COO of AXCS Capital. Since starting his career at GSP in 2007, Yazdi and his team have secured over $10 billion in financing for all asset types including multifamily, office, industrial, retail, hospitality, self-storage facilities, land, RV parks, assisted living, skilled nursing facilities, and student housing projects. Yazdi possesses a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is actively involved in multiple charitable organizations.