JURY CHAIR

DIANA REID
Independent Director
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

For 40 years, Diana Reid has been a forward-thinking, customer-centric real estate and financial services leader, and currently is a member of the board of directors of Welltower Inc. (NYSE: WELL), an S&P 500 company headquartered in Toledo, Ohio driving the transformation of health care infrastructure.

From 2007 to 2019, Diana Reid served as executive of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.’s commercial real estate business, PNC Real Estate.  During her tenure, Diana navigated the business division through the financial crisis to emerge and thrive, experiencing significant growth, industry leadership and profitability.  During her two decade tenure at First Boston / Credit Suisse (1983 to 2002), she honed expertise in risk management, and a strong understanding of what it takes to lead a P&L in high-pressure situations and volatile markets, succeeding in trading, capital markets and advisory roles.  Influential, dynamic, and known for her integrity, Diana is committed to the advancement of under-represented groups in business and the real estate industry through initiatives in her companies, and within industry associations.  In 2003, Diana founded Beekman Advisors, providing CEOs, owners, and directors of privately held real estate finance companies with strategic advice and sell-side representation.

Throughout her career, Diana has been a voice and leader in the securities and real estate industries. For more than a decade she served on the Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial/Multifamily Board of Governors and was a founding governor of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council. Diana served on the Urban Land Institute’s global board of directors from 2013–2016 and was elected Trustee in 2012 and ULI Foundation Governor in 2015. Diana Reid served on the Hines Award 2020 Jury and is currently Chair of ULI Urban Development Mixed Use Product Council.

LYNN CARLTON
Vice President, Regional Leader of Planning
HOK
Kansas City, Missouri

Lynn Carlton has over 20 years of experience in urban planning and design. As the Regional Leader of Planning for HOK, Lynn Carlton oversees the planning group in Kansas City, which includes planning, landscape architecture and urban design disciplines. She is responsible for the group’s financial success and integral to business development for both planning and architecture. She enjoys mentoring younger staff, sharing best practices and encouraging their growth.

Lynn also serves as the lead on all Kansas City-area master planning efforts, giving her the opportunity to work on diverse projects across our city and leave an indelible mark – from the Kansas City Downtown Corridor Strategy to the recent Gallerie development at 27th and Gillham. These projects are each complex – but Lynn is passionate about building consensus among stakeholders, resolving barriers to a project’s implementation and encouraging collaboration that results in districts that change our city.

Since the earliest stages of Lynn’s career, giving back to the community has been incredibly important. Lynn is involved in a wide array of Kansas City-area organizations, volunteering her time to support causes she is passionate about including:

• Downtown Council – Chair of the Board
• KC Chamber – Board of Directors
• Urban Land Institute Kansas City Chapter – Governance Board, former District Council Chair
• Lead to Read – Founding Board Member
• Kansas City Design Center (KCDC) – Advisory Board
• Kansas City Missouri Municipal Art Commission, 2018-2020
• Kansas City Missouri Enhanced Enterprise Zone Board, 2020-present
• Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art – Ambassador
• Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey – Membership Committee and 35th Anniversary Co-Chair

Each of these organizations have played an important role in Lynn’s personal and professional growth, allowing her to build relationships and see first-hand the tremendous impact of our city’s non-profits and organizations. In 2019, Lynn was selected as one of the Kansas City Business Journal’s Women Who Mean Business and appeared on the Business Journal cover in December 2019 for her article on leadership.

Additionally, Lynn helped to start two initiatives that have helped welcome women and next-generation leaders. Lynn helped co-found and co-chair the Urban Land Institute’s national NEXT Leadership Initiative. This effort aims to engage individuals between the ages of 35 and 45, providing them opportunities for training, networking and career growth. She also had the opportunity to start the ULI KC Women’s Leadership Initiative. The group aims to raise the visibility and number of female leaders in the real estate industry providing highly valuable programming to help women in pivotal stages of their careers grow into impactful leaders.

JOHN GILMORE
Managing Director
Walker & Dunlop
New York, New York

Managing Director John Gilmore brings more than a decade of commercial real estate experience to Walker & Dunlop’s Multifamily Finance Group. Mr. Gilmore is focused on the affordable multifamily space and has extensive experience sourcing loans for execution through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Mr. Gilmore is also highly experienced in complex deal structures including structured credit facilities, tax-exempt bonds, and federal and state tax credits.

Prior to joining Walker & Dunlop, Mr. Gilmore was a Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager in the Community Development and Investment group within KeyBank Real Estate Capital. While at KeyBank, he was a member of the management team tasked with expanding the bank’s affordable housing activity to all 50 states. He originated almost $1 billion of new mortgage debt in this position. Mr. Gilmore served many additional functions throughout his career at KeyBank, including working in the bank’s Income Property Group, Asset Recovery Group, and Private Equity Group. Mr. Gilmore began his career in the commercial real estate industry at Hartford Mezzanine Investors, LLC, where he was responsible for structuring real estate investment transactions for various levels of the capital structure with a primary focus on mezzanine positions.

Mr. Gilmore attended Morehouse College where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in finance and a minor in economics with cum laude honors. Beyond the company, he is active in industry associations and is a member of the MBA’s Affordable Rental Housing Advisory Council as well as the Urban Land Institute’s (ULI) Affordable & Workforce Housing Product Council. Mr. Gilmore also serves on the board of Bridge Street Development Corporation and the steering committee of the Real Estate Associates Program.

RONNE HACKETT
Principal
The Clarett Group
New York, New York

Veronica (Ronne) Hackett is a New York real estate developer focused on urban projects. She is the co‐founder of The Clarett Group, which completed 11 acclaimed ground‐up high-rise residential projects in NYC, ranging in size from 100,000 to 500,000 square feet. In addition to developing projects for its own account or with partners, the company also provides development advisory services for select clients. As previous development head for two large companies, Brookfield and Park Tower, she oversaw development projects in major US cities and London, developed signature office buildings for such companies as IBM and JPMorgan, worked on Hudson Yards and played a key role in the transformation of Times Square. Additionally, she has been a corporate and retail real estate executive in the U.S., Europe and Japan, a real estate pension fund asset manager, a real estate lender and executive banker with a major money center bank, a Wall Street financial analyst and a CIA economic analyst.

Mrs. Hackett has been the recipient of several awards and honors, including New York WX Woman of the Year award, AREW’s 25th Anniversary Women of Achievement award and the YWCA business leader’s award. Named one of New York City’s “100 Most Influential Women in Business” by Crain’s New York Business, as well as “One of the 100 Most Important People in Real Estate, she has held leadership positions with a number of prestigious organizations, including the Board of the Committee of 200, the organization of the country’s leading businesswomen. She was a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute, a member of the Executive Committee of the NYU Real Estate Institute’s Advisory Board and was on the Executive Committee of Board of Governors of the Real Estate Board of New York. She has also served as a member of the board of WX (New York Women Executives in Real Estate) and Girls Inc. She received an MBA in Finance from New York University and a BA in History and Economics from Notre Dame Maryland University.

STEVE KENAT
Principal
GBBN
Cincinnati, Ohio

Steve Kenat is a registered Architect and Principal at GBBN and Director of Community Development. He specializes in projects that celebrate the vibrant, authentic, (and often messy) urban condition of the cities in which GBBN practices.

He’s actively involved in a variety of projects for commercial developers, cultural institutions, and non-profits for projects across GBBN’s domestic offices in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Louisville and Minneapolis. Passionate about projects in that are transforming our cities, he leads GBBN’s projects teams for urban design, transit-oriented mixed-use, market-rate affordable and mixed-income housing, social profits and cultural institutions. His recent projects include the restoration of Cincinnati Union Terminal – a National Historic Landmark and now a museum, and a recent expansion establishing Cincinnati’s as the world’s largest Ronald McDonald House.

Steve is the current Chair of ULI Cincinnati’s Advisory Board and served as the DC Chair of ULI Cincinnati from 2016-18. He is a current member of the ULI Urban Revitalization Council (URC Gold) Product Council, and was a founding member of ULI’s East Central Regional Product Council. He served on the national Jury for the 2019 ULI Hines Competition, several ULI TAP’s in Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and on ULI Cincinnati’s Management Committee since 2012.

He is the current Chair of the Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce, a Past-President of AIA Cincinnati, and serves on Advisory Boards for the YWCA, CABVI. and LISC Cincinnati.

Kenat graduated from the University of Cincinnati’s College of DAAP with a BArch. He and his family reside in downtown Cincinnati.

SUSAN MEANEY
Senior Advisor
KSL Capital Partners
San Francisco, California

Susan Meaney was a Managing Director at Makena Capital Management from 2006 through 2019.  She was a member of the firm’s Management Committee, and one of the firm’s founding partners.  Ms. Meaney was responsible for managing the firm’s real estate investments as well as overseeing the real assets portfolio.

Prior to joining Makena Capital, she was the Director of Real Estate and Real Assets Investments for the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation from 2002-2006.

She served as a Managing Director at the Stanford Management Company from 1993-2001, where she co-managed the real estate group.  Prior to that, she was responsible for the development and management of the Stanford Research Park, where she oversaw the development of over 1 million square feet on behalf of the University.

She currently serves as a Senior Advisor to KSL Capital Partners.  She is a member of the Board and Investment Committee at The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, chairs the Stanford Bing Overseas Study Program Advisory Council, and serves as a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute.  She previously served on the Tuck School Board of Overseers and the Dartmouth College Investment Committee.

Ms. Meaney graduated from Stanford University in 1982 with an A.B. in Economics, with Honors, and earned her MBA from The Tuck School at Dartmouth in 1986.

GEETI SILWAL
Principal
Perkins&Will
San Francisco, California

Geeti Silwal is the Urban Design Principal at Perkins&Will. As the Head of the West Coast Urban Design practice, Geeti brings vision and design leadership that establishes the foundation of transformative changes for livable and sustainable environments in cities. She strongly believes that urban designers hold the responsibility to inspire integrated, multi-purpose design solutions of innovation and beauty that create healthy and inclusive cities. Designing cities around the fundamental organizing principle of ‘people first’ delivers a more humane, inclusive, socially connected and a healthy city. Everyday city spaces that have the power to instill dignity and build memorable experiences for the common man are of primary interest to Geeti.

Building and revitalizing communities, she lays deep emphasis on placemaking, connectivity, accessibility, and social justice. Her experience covers a vast breadth of scales, including regional transit-focused planning, downtown revitalization, waterfront redevelopments, urban mixed-use infill projects, research/innovation district planning, and public realm enhancement along heavily challenged infrastructure corridors.

Geeti is currently leading multiple projects that leverage transportation investment to deliver high-density, mixed-use, vibrant communities around transit stations. Prioritizing low-carbon modes of travel in these transportation projects, to connect people and communities seamlessly is important to deliver on the aspiration of an equitable city.

Geeti is also deliberate in her design approach to reveal the unrealized potential of Nature and natural processes. This lies at the core of her push to deliver regenerative solutions that address climate change issues of water scarcity, food security and social equity. Her research on the Resource Infinity Loop discusses a solution for a closed-loop water and nutrient infrastructure within our cities. She believes that the pursuit of carbon neutrality is, at its heart, a clarion call for a culture change—one that heeds our delicate relationship with nature and gives back to the environment more than it takes.

LAUREN STANDISH
Vice President
HGOR
Atlanta, Georgia

Lauren Standish is a nationally recognized planner and landscape architect, bringing award-winning, innovative design solutions to the urban landscape for more than twenty-five years. She is currently leading urban design and mixed-use efforts at HGOR, an Atlanta-based planning and landscape architecture collaborative focused on the re-imagination of the physical environment to support the sustainability of people and place.

In 2017, Lauren became a Principal and has since accepted the role as Vice President of the firm (2020). Her design philosophy celebrates urban form – optimizing a balance between the built and natural environment. Lauren’s approach to complex, multi-layered developments is founded on an assimilation of components – art, technology, culture, programming capacity, living infrastructure – to leverage adaptability as a function for creating destinations of underutilized places and the spaces in between. From campuses and civic spaces to city parks and urban master plans, Lauren has crafted an exceptional body of work that reflects a deep commitment to memorable placemaking, including Atlantic Station Central Park (a Hines Development), Georgia World Congress Center’s Pedestrian Mall, and The Battery Atlanta at Truist Park. In the past five years, two projects to which Lauren has contributed leadership have received national recognition as major contributions to the Southeast’s infrastructure.

Lauren’s understanding of the capabilities of transparency within the natural landscape strengthens form with function – resulting in impactful places that speak to a site’s history, context and aspirations. She has utilized her expertise in performance-based landscapes as a mentor for neighborhood legacy residents and non-profit organizations to layout frameworks that support the public agenda from an individual and organizational standpoint. Recently Lauren worked with Park Pride to develop trail connectivity and space activation and create conceptual park designs for a historic neighborhood in Atlanta.

Lauren is known for culturally significant design that serve as a powerful tool to showcase community character and improve quality of life. Connecting the individual experience with urban systems requires a high touch and loose fit design programming. Lauren has served on the ULI Atlanta’s Technical Assistance Programs (TAPs) Committee as a project manager for the Atlanta Community Schoolyards pilot program since its inception. She is also assisting in reimagining the Atlanta City Detention Center in Downtown Atlanta. She has been a member of ASLA and the Society for College and University Planning for over a decade.

LEAH FITZGERALD
MANAGING DIRECTOR
CBRE
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Leah FitzGerald is the Managing Director and Market Leader in CBRE’s Kansas City office. Ms. FitzGerald oversees the operations of the company’s Kansas City office and drives its growth strategy for all Advisory Services lines of business, including Advisory & Transaction Services, Investment Sales, Debt and Structured Finance, Property Management, Valuation, and Advisory Services. Her broad base of industry experience combined with her forward-thinking delivers exceptional client outcomes.

Ms. FitzGerald joined CBRE with more than 25 years of commercial real estate experience most recently serving as Director of Development Services at VanTrust Real Estate, managing projects throughout the country. She is a licensed General Contractor with over 10 years of experience in estimating and project management. Prior, her work with Disney Imagineering as a Project Development Manager instilled in her the importance of “story-telling through design and architecture” while navigating high-stakes projects in Venice, Italy. Her background in corporate real estate, development, architecture, and construction gives her a holistic and varied perspective on the industry.

SHALAUNDA HOLMES
DIRECTOR OF REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT
URBAN NEIGHBORHOOD INITIATIVE
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

Shalaunda Holmes is the Real Estate Director at Urban Neighborhood Initiative Inc. a 501c3 community development corporation in Kansas City, Missouri’s urban core. She is responsible for leading all real estate development activities of the organization to develop quality mixed income communities.   

Prior to joining UNI in the fall of 2019, Ms. Holmes was a Senior Project Coordinator for the City of Minneapolis, Community Planning Economic Development Department (CPED) for 4 years focusing in multifamily new construction and the rehabilitation of existing multifamily housing developments. While in the role Ms. Holmes closed 585 units of housing of that 408 were affordable rental units.   

Before joining the City of Minneapolis, Ms. Holmes was a Project Manager for Project for Pride in Living Inc. for 10 years PPL is a 501c3 housing developer serving Minneapolis and St. Paul Minnesota.  Ms. Holmes closed and developed 102 units of low-income multifamily housing in 3 separate deals all with creative capital stakes.   

Ms. Holmes has a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture (BLA) with a minor in Design Studies, emphasis Community & Regional Planning from Iowa State University College of Design and a Masters in Urban & Regional Planning (MURP) with an emphasis in Housing & Community Development from University of Minnesota Humphrey School of Public Affairs. 

JASON ROMERO
VICE PRESIDENT AND Associate General Counsel
PLATFORM VENTURES
FAIRWAY, KANSAS

At Platform Ventures, Jason is involved in all aspects of the business, including acquisitions, leasing, joint ventures, financing, project development and construction, asset management, fund formation, regulatory compliance, marketing, and strategic planning for investments in real estate assets, real estate operating companies, and real estate technologies throughout the United States.