Meet the 2016 Jury

Tara Carter Hernandez
Jury Chair
President
JCH Development
New Orleans, Louisiana

JCH Development is an urban development company that specializes in delivering urban lifestyle experiences through the conversion of underutilized real estate into “cool,” creative spaces. Tara Carter Hernandez oversees the real estate development activities of the company, manages corporate and project strategy, project selection, and financial relationships for the development of residential, commercial, and mixed-use urban redevelopment projects. She has been directly responsible for or participated in the development of over $ 330 million in mixed-use, mixed-income, and commercial development projects throughout Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri.

Hernandez is a graduate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a Master of Science Degree in Real Estate Development and a graduate of Loyola University New Orleans with a degree in Finance. She currently holds a Louisiana Real Estate Brokers license. She is an Advisory Board Member of Aries Capital’s Urban Development Fund (NMTC Fund), a Trustee of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival Foundation, an Executive Board Member of Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO,Inc.), and a member of Loyola’s College of Business Visiting Committee, and a board member of the New Orleans Louisiana Angel Network (NO/LAAN). She was selected by the Young Leadership Council of New Orleans as a 2012 Role Model and awarded a 2012 Business Leader Award by the New Orleans Business Alliance. She is a former Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, former Chair of ULI Louisiana, and former Trustee of the Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans.

Brian Berry
President
Oak Point Investors
McLean, Virginia

Brian Berry is President of Oak Point Investors, a commercial real estate investment and advisory firm based in Washington DC. Over a 25 year career, Mr. Berry has been instrumental in completing over $8B of capital transactions. He has extensive investment, joint venture, finance, operating and development experience. Brian successfully led management teams during significant expansion periods at leading public and private real estate companies.
As Managing Director and Regional Director at Tishman Speyer, Brian was responsible for the company’s investment, development and operations in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Over the course of a decade at Tishman Speyer, he led the growth of the company’s regional property portfolio and operating business to become one of the largest and most respected in the Washington, DC region. Before joining Tishman Speyer, Brian served as Senior Vice President of Trizec Properties and as Director of Acquisitions for The JBG Companies. Prior to relocating to Washington DC, he was Vice President at Richard Ellis in Chicago.
He holds a BBA from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Brian is a member of ULI’s Washington District Advisory Board and its IOPC Green Council. He currently serves as Vice President of the University of Wisconsin Real Estate Alumni Association and as a Director of the Economic Club of Washington DC. He is a member of Capital Markets Committee at DCBIA and also a member of NAIOP.

Constance Callahan
First Vice President
SunTrust Community Capital
Atlanta, Georgia

Constance Callahan is with SunTrust Community Capital where she is responsible for originating and underwriting loans for multifamily housing including both market rate and affordable tax credit housing. Constance’s experience is in the areas of urban planning, economic development, public policy and finance. Over her career, she has worked in the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
Prior to joining SunTrust, Constance was Vice President with COPA (Centennial Olympic Park Area), Inc. whose mission was to facilitate development around Centennial Olympic Park. From 1993 to 1997, Constance was policy advisor to the Governor’s Economic Development Council chaired by Governor Zell Miller. Prior to arriving in Atlanta, Constance worked in city planning for municipalities in Massachusetts and North Carolina specializing in areas of land use development and strategic planning.

Constance is an active volunteer in professional and civic organizations. In 2013 she received the President’s Silver Service Award for her volunteer work. Her ULI involvement includes serving on the Advisory Board of ULI Atlanta and was past chair of the Technical Advisory Program, Urban Plan, Programs Committee and Trends Day. She is a past Trustee of the GA Tech Alumni Association, President of Ulster Project Atlanta, and Board Member of Theatre Gael. Constance is a graduate of Leadership Atlanta – Class of 2013 and a graduate of the Regional Leadership Institute 1996.

Constance received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of North Carolina, at Greensboro, received a Master of City Planning from Georgia Institute of Technology and Graduate Certificate of Real Estate from Georgia State University.

Jo Ann Chitty
Senior Vice President
Selig Enterprises, Inc.
Atlanta, Georgia

Since 2005, Jo Ann has been Senior Vice President of Acquisitions, Development, and Project Finance for Selig Enterprises. During this time, Jo Ann has acquired more than $90 million of land and improved properties; sourced more than $300 million in project financing; and is in the process of leading Selig’s partnership interests in developing $270 million in new projects, including a joint venture between Selig and Carter to transform Sandy Springs through the retail and multi-family development portion of the new Sandy Springs City Center project.
Jo Ann is very involved in the company’s strategic operations and planning. Each year she plans and leads the company’s off-site strategic planning meetings, which include a full portfolio review and identification of financial resources to implement the company’s new investment efforts.

Prior to coming to Selig, Jo Ann served as the founding Executive Director and President of the University of Georgia Real Estate Foundation, a 501(c)(3) none-profit created to acquire, development and finance real estate projects to enhance the university. In only five years, her team acquired 16 properties totaling 90 acres, completed $200 million in tax-exempt financing, and developed more than 1 million square feet of new properties on campus.

From 1985 to 1999 Jo Ann was Senior Vice President and COO of TriNet Corporate Realty Trust and iStar Financial [NYSE:SFI] the successor company of the 1999 merger of TriNet and Starwood Financial Inc. During Jo Ann’s tenure she was responsible for all asset management and operations responsibilities including leasing, dispositions, risk management, and acquisition underwriting of the company’s 30 million sf equity portfolio valued at approximately $2.5 billion.

Jo Ann is an active volunteer in the community. She currently serves as Chair of the Kennesaw State University Foundation. Previously, she served as Chair of the Nominating and Governance Committee, Chair of the Real Estate Committee, and Vice Chair. Jo Ann is past Vice Chair of the Capital Improvements Committee for the Piedmont Park Conservancy and was a member of Piedmont Park Conservancy’s Executive Committee.
Jo Ann serves on the Managing Board of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) of Atlanta. From 2011 to 2014 she served as Chair of ULI’s Urban Land program. Jo Ann also is serving as a council member on the Capital Markets Committee for ULI in 2016.

Dennis Dornan, AIA, LEED AP
Senior Associate, Studio Director
Urban Design and Planning
Perkins+Will
San Francisco, California

Dennis Dornan has distinguished himself by his ability to lead large teams and complex projects involving extensive community and agency outreach. He is adept at both urban design and architectural projects and has been responsible for a wide range of projects, including master plans; revitalization projects, civic and community facilities; and large, pedestrian-oriented retail/mixed-use projects to which he brings a sound understanding of city, developer, and end-user needs, as well as extensive experience in the fields of constructability and sustainable design.

Prior to joining Perkins+Will he worked in London for 14 years on several high profile projects that gained international recognition. The first nine of those years was with Sir Colin St. John Wilson and Partners as the Senior Project Architect for the New British Library in London, helping to see this major national institution through to completion. This was followed by five years with Sir Terry Farrell and Partners, working on high-profile international projects, including the conversion of a historic baroque orphanage, built in Edinburgh in 1832, into a modern art gallery for the National Galleries of Scotland and the conversion of the world’s longest running power station on the River Thames into a mixed-use residential and community center.

Dornan is also an accomplished watercolorist who exhibits regularly and is featured in many public and private collections, including The Royal Academy in London and The National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.

Melissa Frawley
Senior Vice President
Wells Fargo
Atlanta, Georgia

Melissa Frawley is a senior vice president and regional manager for the Atlanta region within Wells Fargo Commercial Real Estate. She is based in Atlanta, Georgia and has responsibility for leading a team of relationship managers who cover commercial real estate developers and owners based in the Georgia region. Melissa also serves on Wells Fargo’s Student Housing Council, which serves as a resource to Wells Fargo team members on the Student Housing industry.

Melissa joined the Commercial Real Estate Group of Wachovia Bank, a predecessor to Wells Fargo, in 1996 and has served as a Relationship Manager/Sr. Relationship Manager covering the Atlanta and West Coast markets for the company. In 2007, Melissa was promoted to manage the Atlanta origination effort. Melissa started her banking career in Florida at Barnett Bank, where she completed credit training and served as a credit analyst.

Melissa earned a bachelor of arts degree in finance from the University of Florida and a master’s in business administration from the Terry College of Business at The University of Georgia, graduating with highest honors.

Melissa has been a featured speaker at the Urban Land Institute- Atlanta (ULI), Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW), the Atlanta Business Chronicle industry roundtable, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (NAREIM), BisNow Atlanta, Cushman & Wakefield Atlanta, and at the Southern California Development Forum. She led a roundtable discussion on construction finance at a past NAIOP National Convention and has been a repeated award presenter and jury panelist for the Urban Land Institute- Atlanta’s Development of Excellence Awards. Melissa currently serves as a Board Member of the Atlanta Children’s Shelter and previously served on the board of the Wachovia Foundation in Georgia. Past and present memberships include the Urban Land Institute, the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties (NAIOP), Atlanta Apartment Association, the Georgia 100 Women’s Leadership Group, the Woodruff Arts Center’s Real Estate Committee, and Commercial Real Estate Women- Atlanta. Melissa resides in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta with her husband and three children.

Kyrus Lamont Freeman
Partner and LEED AP
Holland & Knight
Washington, DC

Kyrus Lamont Freeman is a partner and LEED AP attorney in the Washington, D.C., office of Holland & Knight. He is involved in numerous aspects of real estate development with a focus on land use, zoning, and municipal law. Freeman advises property owners and residential, commercial, hotel, and mixed-use developers in the regulatory review and approval processes. In addition, he frequently represents clients before the Board of Zoning Adjustment, the Zoning Commission, and the D.C. Council to obtain approvals for special exceptions, variances, planned unit developments, zoning map amendments, alley closings, and street dedications. He also has experience preparing zoning opinion letters, as well as drafting and negotiating land disposition agreements, easements, covenants, lot consolidation, and transferable development rights agreements and construction management agreements.

As a LEED AP, Freeman assists clients with legal and policy issues related to sustainable development, including advising on “green” building requirements and compliance methods. He is also a member of the Green Technical Advisory Group to the D.C. Construction Codes Coordinating Board, which reviews, recommends and votes on changes to the D.C. Construction Codes.

Freeman is a member of the Board of Commissioners of the Prince George’s County Housing Authority, which is responsible for the oversight of all of Housing Authority’s functions, including the development and implementation of the annual budget; provisions of services for residents; and the solicitation, award and monitoring of funds for modernizing and upgrading the Housing Authority’s properties. He serves as chair of the Development/Modernization Committee and as a member of the Finance and Education Committees.

Freeman is an adjunct professor at The Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. He also frequently speaks at programs designed to foster diversity in the legal profession and to enhance the related practices. Within the firm, he serves as the chair of the Diversity Committee in D.C. Before joining Holland & Knight, Freeman was a litigation associate with a large firm in Philadelphia, where his practice included litigation of complex real estate, intellectual property and breach of contract disputes.

Matthew Hopkins, AIA, AICP, LEED, BD+C
Director of Architecture & Sustainability
StreetSense
Bethesda, Maryland

Matt Hopkins has planned, designed, detailed, and contracted over 5 million square feet of built architecture and development projects and fully designed another 10 million square feet of development under entitlement.

A design architect and certified planner and a LEED certified designer with extensive experience in preliminary site analysis, development criteria, neighborhood/site/shell/ interiors/detail design, building and zoning code analysis, budgeting/estimating, value comparisons, construction management, LEED analysis, and implementation and community/neighborhood planning, Hopkins combines his wide ranging experience to push every project to achieve its greatest potential benefit to the community.
In addition, Hopkins currently serves as a Planning Commissioner in the Maryland suburbs of D.C. This experience of intensive involvement in the planning process from all sides of the development table continues to add to his understanding of a city’s growth process. From infill zoning policy to form-based mixed-use guidelines to the details of signage ordinances, he has worked on the entire mix of a city’s planning needs and has experienced the ramifications of enforcement and continual refinement of those policies.

Katherine Molyson
Vice President
Cousins Properties Incorporated
Atlanta, Georgia

Ms. Molyson is responsible for capital improvements, office and retail tenant coordination at Cousins’ Class A Office properties. She is currently managing redevelopment opportunities at NorthPark Town Center, Fifth Third Center, Greenway Plaza and Post Oak Central. Ms. Molyson is a LEED Accredited Professional. Significant projects include the Commerce Club at 191 Peachtree, Greenberg Traurig and Kids II at Terminus, and the Promenade, 2100 Ross, and 3 Greenway capital redevelopments. She is a member of Cousins’ Leadership Council, Sustainability task force and the Future of Workplace task force.

Ms. Molyson serves on the Technical Advisory Panel for the City of Atlanta Office of Buildings. She is a graduate of the 2013 class of LEAD Atlanta and was the Chair of ULI Atlanta 2014 Center for Leadership. She chairs the Les Societe des Tetes Grandes (“The Big Heads”), supporting Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. She is a member of the Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2014. She serves on the Dad’s Garage Improv Theater Executive Board of Directors and leads the Building Task Force.
Ms. Molyson holds a B.S., Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, where she graduated with Highest Honors in 2001. She was a participant of the L’Ecole D’Architecture de la Villette study abroad program in Paris. Ms. Molyson continues to sponsor the Spirit of the Studio annual scholarship program for Georgia Institute of Technology students.

Betsy del Monte, FAIA, LEED BC+C
Principal
Transform Global
Dallas, Texas

Betsy del Monte, FAIA, is the Founding Principal of Transform Global, formed to engage communities through collaboration, advocacy and education, while protecting the environment and natural resources. As a registered architect, Betsy’s experience and expertise includes high performance building design, sustainable and resilient community design and fully integrated project delivery. She was formerly a Principal Architect and Director of Sustainability for The Beck Group.

She helped create and teaches a Masters in Sustainability and Development at the Lyle School of Engineering of SMU. She has been a visiting lecturer at University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas at Arlington, Rice University, University of Virginia, and University of North Texas. Betsy is past President of AIA Dallas, and North Texas Green Building Council. She sits on the boards of Habitat for Humanity, bcWorkshop and The Trinity Commons Foundation. She is involved at national, state and local levels with the ULI, AIA and other groups focused on sustainable environments. Betsy has been named a Fellow by the AIA and as a Senior Fellow in the Design Futures Council.

Betsy received her Bachelor of Science degree in architecture from the University of Virginia, and a Master of Architecture degree from Rice University. Her experience includes work at architecture firms in Atlanta and Houston, as well as nine years with Philip Johnson and John Burgee in New York.

Teresa Ruiz, AIA, LEED BD+C
Vice President, Associate Principal
SB Architects
San Francisco, California

Teresa Ruiz, AIA, LEED AP, joined SB Architects with over 15 years of architectural experience with a strong focus on multifamily and residential projects. In her role as an Associate Principal, Teresa is responsible for advancing the firms’ multifamily practice in the Bay Area, nationally, and internationally. Throughout her career, she has worked on multifamily and mixed-use projects that have received numerous national awards, including the ULI Jack Kemp Workforce Housing Award. Teresa was recognized in 2012 as a winner of ENR California’s ‘Top 20 Under 40.’
Teresa is a hands-on architect with interests and areas of responsibility go far beyond that of the ‘typical’ architect. She is immersed in evaluating best practices as they relate to the design efficiency, performance, scheduling and optimization of the design team and of her projects. She works closely with the development team to ensure that goals are aligned, and that development objectives are met or exceeded.

Teresa’s interest in home design led her to volunteering for Habitat for Humanity, both in hands-on construction work and in providing design services. Throughout the past two decades, she also volunteered for Christmas in April, now known as Rebuilding Together.
She is fluent in English, Chinese and Spanish, something that came in handy during her volunteering as an architect-in-residence/instructor with Leap…Imagination in Learning in the San Francisco Public School District in 1998. Teresa received her undergraduate degree in Architecture from UC Berkeley, and Master of Architecture from University of Oregon.

Byron Stigge
Director
Level Infrastructure
New York, New York

Byron Stigge is the founder of LEVEL Agency for Infrastructure, a creative infrastructure design and planning practice based in New York City. LEVEL provides public and private sector clients comprehensive infrastructure planning advice for energy and climate change planning, water and wastewater management, integrated transportation planning, and solid waste management. His work in over 20 countries has focused on issues of sustainable development in rapidly urbanizing cities in developing countries where the needs for infrastructure are overwhelmingly intense. Recently he has turned his attention to researching, designing, and writing on the issues of resiliency and how both social and technical aspects of infrastructure investment provide lasting value to communities.

Stigge is on the Board of Directors of the Forum and Institute for Urban Design. He has lectured and taught at Harvard Graduate School of Design, MIT, Yale, Washington University in St. Louis, and Columbia University. He earned an undergraduate dual degree from Washington University in St. Louis in Civil Engineering and Architecture, a Master of Building Technology from MIT, and a Master of Design Studies in Environmental Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.