The Building Healthy Places Initiative is delighted to announce and congratulate the participants in the third cohort of the ULI/Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Program, which is generously supported by ULI Foundation Governor Randall Lewis. We received applications from many outstanding students and mentees were chosen based on a highly selective evaluation process.

The selected graduate students are: Stefan Bird, Natalia Chavez, Jasmine Jones-Bynes, José López, and Emma Stockton.

This program supports learning and sharing about health and real estate among graduate students and ULI members. In addition to being matched with a ULI Full Member mentor based on professional interests, mentees earned the opportunity to attend the 2019 ULI Fall Meeting in Washington, DC and the 2020 ULI Spring Meeting in Toronto, where they will experience Product Council meetings and health-focused programming alongside their mentors.

Read more about the five Cohort 3 mentees and their ULI member mentors below. Follow the links below to read about each of their experiences at the ULI Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Stefan Bird
Master’s Student, Real Estate Development
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Stefan Bird has a vision for developing innovative spaces that generate long-term value for investors, the natural environment, and community stakeholders. He currently is finishing a Master of Science in Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge where his focus has been on climate resiliency, health in the built environment, and utility-scale solar development. Prior to MIT, Stefan resided in Fort Lauderdale where he most recently worked as a Development Associate for ZOM Living, a market rate multifamily merchant developer. Prior to ZOM, Stefan worked for four years as a Lead Estimator for Moss & Associates, an award-winning construction manager. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Construction Management and a minor in Sustainability Studies from the University of Florida in 2010. Stefan is a LEED Accredited Professional for Building Design + Construction. In his free time, Stefan enjoys sailing on the Charles River, hiking, and travel.

Mentor: Jon Wallenstrom, principal, Alaka’i Development (Sustainable Development Council)

Jon Wallenstrom is a principal with Alaka‘i Development and is working to create a smarter future for Hawaii through innovative development. Alaka’i is advancing a 340-unit apartment community in West Oahu in partnership with the Reinsurance Group of America. Alaka’I’s new community, The Element, will have a solar program that will generate as much electricity as the project consumes making The Element one of the largest net-zero communities in the country. Prior to forming Alaka’i, Jon Wallenstrom was the President of Forest City Hawaii and lead the company’s efforts on several fronts. Jon also served as managing member and Chief Operating Officer for Forest City’s Hawaii-based partnership with the Department of the Navy. The $1.7B development was conducted on a portfolio of 6500 homes with the majority being demolished and replaced. In addition to the new construction, hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on historic renovations, energy efficiency, and other improvements. Jon holds an AB from Princeton University.

Read Stefan’s Fall Meeting Reflection

Natalia Chavez
Master’s Student, Public Administration
Harvard University

Natalia Chavez is a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School and recently received her master’s degree in city planning from Boston University. She is the Co-Founder and Community Relations Director for Urbanability, a non-profit organization which aims to build livable and equitable urban communities by designing actionable strategies anchored in community engagement, research, and data analysis. She was recently a fellow for the Boston Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics, where she looked at commercial displacement in Boston. Before moving to Massachusetts for graduate school, Natalia worked as an Asset and Property Manager for a small real estate company and as a Research and Policy Analyst at Covered California, the health insurance marketplace under the Affordable Care Act. Working in the healthcare and real estate industries shaped Natalia’s interest in the built environment’s role on health and well-being.

Mentor: Belinda Sward, founder and CEO, Strategic Solutions Alliance (Community Development Council, Silver Flight)

Belinda Sward is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Strategic Solutions Alliance. She has over 20 years’ experience providing market and consumer intelligence and customer-based strategies for real estate, working with developers, homebuilders and investors. Prior to founding Strategic Solutions Alliance in 2008, Belinda was Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for Newland, the largest community development company in the U.S. Her role included oversight of all consumer intelligence, market research and community strategies. Belinda also brings experience as a Managing Director with RCLCO, where she led consulting services for top developers, homebuilders and investors. This included development, market and consumer strategies, financial optimization analyses for planning and product segmentation, and builder sales strategies for thousands of mixed-use and single use real estate projects in 44 states. Belinda is a full member of the Urban Land Institute and CDC Product Council and does and has held various leadership positions on Product and District Councils.

Read Natalia’s Fall Meeting Reflection

Jasmine Jones-Bynes
Master’s Student, City and Regional Planning
Georgia Institute of Technology

Jasmine Jones-Bynes is a Master of City and Regional Planning student at Georgia Institute of Technology focusing on transportation and health/environmental planning. Jasmine graduated with high honors from Rutgers University Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy with a B.S in urban design. Jasmine is passionate about the impact of the built environment, particularly parks and streets, on health disparities among low-income and minority communities. She is a graduate research assistant at the Healthy Places Laboratory within the College of Design at Georgia Tech. In this role, she provides data analysis and project management support to research and publications on issues of built environment and health. Jasmine is a volunteer health coach with Grady Hospital’s Walk the Line program. In this role, she co-leads a weekly walking group on the Westside Trail of the Atlanta Beltline. Prior to serving as a mentee with the ULI Randall Lewis Health Mentorship Program, Jasmine interned with the Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Planning, Environment, and Realty assessing NEPA compliance. Jasmine aspires to start a joint urban planning and public health consulting firm after graduation.

Mentor: Lynn Jerath, president, Citrine Investment Group (Urban Development and Mixed-Use Council, Purple Flight)

Lynn Jerath is the President & Founder of Citrine Investment Group and has over 20 years of experience in real estate institutional investment. Lynn is responsible for setting firm strategy, capital raising and investment decisions. Prior to founding Citrine, Lynn spent seven years as a Senior Vice President and partner at GEM Realty Capital, a real estate securities and private equity firm. Lynn worked with GEM’s securities team to value public companies for its hedge fund, sourced and closed private equity investments for GEM’s opportunity funds, and assisted in managing the firm’s acquisition team. Prior to GEM, Lynn was a Vice President at The Carlyle Group and worked at Goldman Sachs (The Whitehall Funds). Lynn is a magna cum laude graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a Trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, Overseer of the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, and a member of the Trustees Council of Penn Women.

Read Jasmine’s Fall Meeting Reflection

José López
Master’s Student, City Planning
University of California, Berkeley

Jose Lopez is an MCP candidate, concentrating in Environmental Planning & Healthy Cities and Transportation Planning. For over a decade he has worked advancing health equity as well as addressing social determinants of health as a community organizer and researcher. Currently, Jose is the Healthy Economy Intern with San Mateo County Health, where he is identifying opportunities to advance inclusive community hiring policies. Jose holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from UC Berkeley. As a planner, he looks forward to continuing promoting health equity for vulnerable residents and bring diverse stakeholders together to collaboratively address the issues of our time. Jose finds comfort in cooking and spending time outdoors, in nature.

Mentor: Jose Bodipo-Memba, director of sustainable communities, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (Public Development and Infrastructure Council)

Jose Bodipo-Memba is the Director of Sustainable Communities for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s (SMUD). Jose has spent over 18 years managing development projects associated with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Jose is the program manager for SMUD’s Long Range Asset Management Plan and as the environmental compliance coordinator for the 5000 acre Solano Wind Project in Rio Vista, CA. His development projects have covered a range of technical areas including greenfield specific plan development, infill development, school and facilities planning, site feasibility analysis, wind energy, and infrastructure improvement. Jose is active in the community, serving on the Sacramento Planning and Design Commission, the Center for Fathers and Families Board of Directors, Chair of the ULI Sacramento District Council, and a member of the ULI National PDIC. He was a 2010 recipient of the Sacramento Business Journal 40 under 40 award, the 2012 Drexel University Oxholm Award for Community Leadership, and the 2015 Drexel University 40 under 40 Distinguished Alumni award. Jose holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California at Berkeley and an MBA from Drexel University.

Read Jose’s Fall Meeting Reflection

Emma Stockton
Master’s Student, City and Regional Planning/Public Health
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Emma Stockton received her bachelor’s degree in Global Development & Public Health at the College of William & Mary. While studying abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark, she not only experienced the personal joy of living in a bike-, pedestrian-, and transit-friendly city, but also learned about the city’s deliberate emphasis on equity and commitment to human and environmental health in its planning process. This experience led her to pursue public health through the built environment. She is interested in the social determinants of health and plans to create environments that promote health and a high quality of life for everyone. This summer, Emma is working on developing pedestrian and bicycle plans for cities throughout the country for Alta Planning + Design. Before graduate school, she worked in the D.C. metro area in both the planning and public health fields. Currently, Emma is pursuing a dual degree at UNC Chapel Hill studying transportation in the Department of City & Regional Planning and health behavior at the Gillings School of Global Public Health.

Mentor: James A Moore, PhD, principal – Buildings and Infrastructure, Jacobs (Urban Revitalization Council, Blue Flight)

James A Moore is a principal with Jacobs, where he is helping expand the company’s international planning and urban design practice. James has a deep understanding of cities as complex “systems of systems” in which all component elements are integral to planning, design, development, and operations. He promotes a comprehensive and integrated process, balancing the physical development of the built and natural environment with sustainable economic growth and continual sociocultural advancement. He has significant experience with and expertise in organizing and managing complex urban redevelopment projects, including those focusing on urban revitalization and the creation of walkable, bike-friendly, transit-oriented mixed-use environments. Recent work has emphasized the integration of data-informed technologies into the planning and design process as well as a focus on the emerging fields of “smart” cities and urban resilience. At present, James is leading projects in the United States, Australia, and Saudi Arabia. A member of ULI for 25 years, he is the past chair of ULI Tampa Bay and the ULI Urban Revitalization Council.

Read Emma’s Fall Meeting Reflection