JURY CHAIR

GEETI SILWAL
Principal
Perkins&Will
San Francisco, California

As the head of the West Coast Urban Design Practice, Geeti brings vision and design leadership to lay the foundation of transformative changes 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 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. 

Working with cities, institutions, regional transit agencies, and private developers her work includes delivering well-connected, mixed-use, vibrant communities around transit corridors and stations; and focuses on visioning and planning successful innovation ecosystems. The primary focus being the interrelatedness of economic, cultural, and physical dimensions that combine to deliver a complete community and instills an authentic and lasting sense of place. Geeti is currently leading multiple projects in San Jose, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Portland, Austin, and Salt Lake City, that leverage transportation investment to deliver livable, mixed-use, vibrant, equitable communities. Prioritizing low-carbon modes to connect people and communities seamlessly is important to deliver on the aspiration of an equitable city.  

Geeti holds a Master of Urban Design degree from the University of California, Berkeley. She is a Board member of Perkins&Will’s AREA Research 501c3, a member of the ULI Public Development and Infrastructure Product Council, and was a jury member of the ULI Hines International Design Competition in 2021 and 2022. 

BINA BHATTACHARYYA
Partner
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
New York, New York

Bina Bhattacharyya brings a cosmopolitan perspective and artistic sensibility to her work at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and landscape design. 

With expertise in mixed-use master planning, residential community developments, and resort and hospitality design, Bina leads many of RAMSA’s most transformative international projects. She thinks about the impact of her work at every scale and specializes in crafting landscape strategies that complement a building’s design while bolstering the surrounding urban fabric. Her projects are rooted in research and analysis, and strive for timelessness. She studies the history and traditions of the places she builds alongside the latest ideas and technologies to find innovative solutions that enrich the way people live today. 

At RAMSA, Bina has designed several award-winning and widely recognized projects, including Heart of Lake, a 200,000-square-meter garden suburb in Xiamen, China that synthesizes classical western traditions and regional vernacular. In the growing city of Jinjiang, China, she led the design of AVIC Uptown, an 825,000-square-meter mixed-use development designed to accommodate a changing urban landscape. Her Hong Kong residential tower St. George’s Mansion is setting a new standard for design–and for a living–in the Kadoorie Hill neighborhood. Bina’s ongoing projects include a 20-hectare, sustainability-minded seaside resort and a residential tower that integrates architecture and landscape to create a unique, holistic living experience. 

Bina Bhattacharyya, AIA, is committed to furthering her discipline and expanding her knowledge as an active member of several professional organizations, including the Urban Design Forum and the Congress for the New Urbanism. She plays a key role in advancing the Urban Land Institute’s mission to shape the future of the built environment as a member of the ULI Americas Community Development Council, a panelist for ULI Advisory Services, juror for the 2022 ULI Hines Student Urban Design Competition, and as a member of the ULI New York Chapter Housing Council. At RAMSA, Bina is making the firm stronger as co-founder and Partner Advisor of the Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity Alliance (IDEA). 

TERENCE COOPER
Director of Investments
Foxgate Capital
Houston, Texas

Terence Cooper has 20 years of acquisitions, development, and investment management experience in residential (student apartments, multifamily rental, condominium), office, retail, industrial, and hospitality real estate. Terence currently serves as Director of Investments for Foxgate Capital, a real estate private equity firm based in Houston, Texas. Prior to joining Foxgate Capital, Terence led a four-person team at Cushman & Wakefield that advised clients in a range of occupier and investment alternatives, including new leases, renewals, headquarters relocations, lease vs. ownership comparisons, build-to-suits, synthetic leases, development assignments, and asset dispositions. Terence previously was Director of Investments for Campus Apartments. He participated in deal sourcing, market analysis, underwriting, due diligence, and portfolio management for several significant student housing investments. His experience included managing the underwriting of the $256M First Worthing portfolio acquisition—then considered the largest student apartment portfolio acquisition held by a private firm. Prior to Campus Apartments, Terence worked for Keating Partners, LLC where he led the underwriting of real estate development and investment projects that included: $324M historic, mixed-use redevelopment, $120M condominium conversion project, and $53M hotel refinancing. Terence started his career with Arthur Andersen, LLP as Tax Senior Associate where he was on track for early promotion to Tax Manager before taking leave for real estate graduate school.  Terence earned his MBA in real estate and B.S. in finance and accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He earned his Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Texas School of Law. He is a Certified Public Accountant, a licensed attorney, LEED Green Associate, and a Texas-licensed real estate salesperson.

ALEX FRASER
Managing Director
RCB Development
Charleston, South Carolina

Alex is responsible for overseeing capital markets, acquisitions, development and asset management activity on behalf of RCB Development and its partners. Previously, Alex started his career with Edens, a Real Estate Investment Trust, working in both Washington, DC and Columbia, SC, and was a part of Teach For America in Stuttgart, Arkansas. Alex is currently a member of the Clemson Masters of Real Estate Development Advisory Board and has served as the Regional Chair of the Urban Land Institute for Coastal South Carolina. Alex received a B.S. in Financial Management from Clemson University. 

KAREN HORSTMANN
Head of Acquisitions
Allianz Real Estate
New York, New York

Karen Horstmann has 24 years of global real estate investment experience, developing scalable, long-term investment strategies and managing portfolio assets. She most recently served as the Head of Acquisitions for Allianz Real Estate of America. As one of the world’s largest real estate investors, Allianz Real Estate (ARE) manages a globally diversified real estate equity and debt portfolio totaling $96 billion, with US real estate assets under management of more than $20 billion. 

Previously, Karen launched the US real estate platform for Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), Norway’s $1.3 trillion Government Pension Fund Global. Between 2011 and 2019, Karen secured the Norwegian government’s mandate to directly invest in US real estate, established the US investment team and developed the Fund’s gateway city portfolio, comprised of $22 billion of gross assets under management across 24 million square feet. 

Prior to NBIM, Karen co-founded Meyer Bergman Capital Partners’ real estate private equity fund between 2006 and 2011. She began her real estate career in 1999 with Goldman Sachs’ Real Estate Principal Investment Area based in London. 

Karen earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and Bachelor of Science in Finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She serves on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee as ex-Chair of the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate (AFIRE), on the Americas Executive Committee and Governing Board of Trustees, Foundation Investment Committee, DEI Committee and Urban Development Mixed Use Councils Bronze (National) and Blue (NY) of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and on the New York Women Executives in Real Estate (WX) Scholarship Committee. 

CHARLES LONG
Principal
Junction Properties, LLC
Oakland, California

Charles A. Long is a developer specializing in mixed-use infill projects, including acquisition, entitlement, and public private partnerships. He has recently completed two multi-family projects in Oakland, CA, one at 78 units, the other at 97 units. 

He served for eight years as city manager in Fairfield, California and has held interim positions for several cities in finance, redevelopment and management, including Interim Town Manager of Mammoth Lakes and Interim City Manager of Pinole and Hercules, California. His assignments have been diverse including negotiating development agreements, writing redevelopment plans, pro-forma analyses, strategic planning, economic development, organizational development, capital and financial planning, budget reform, base reuse and alternative energy development. He has overseen over $800 million of public financing in his career. Mr. Long is a full member of the Urban Land Institute and a member of the Public Private Partnership Council. He is a faculty member of the ULI Real Estate School, teaching both in the US and internationally. He has served on eighteen ULI Advisory Panels, chairing panels in Salem, OR, Boise, ID, Dallas, TX, Buffalo, NY Pasco County, FL, and San Bernardino, CA. He received the 2012 Robert M. O’Donnell Award for distinguished service in the advisory program. He recently completed organizing and delivering 11 webinars for ULI titled Pillars of Community Renewal. He is currently delivering workshops around the country in public-private partnerships, most recently in Honolulu and in Reading, PA. He is the author of the book, Finance for Real Estate Development, published by ULI in April 2011, and the winner of the 2012 National Association of Real Estate Editors Silver Award. Mr. Long has a BA in economics from Brown University and a Master’s in Public Policy from U. C. Berkeley. He served in the U.S. Army as an infantry platoon sergeant. 

TODD RICHARDSON
Principal and Co-Founder
Synchronicity
Charleston, South Carolina

Todd Richardson is the Co-Founder & Principal of Synchronicity…a multi-disciplinary architectural design firm located in Historic Downtown Charleston.  Synchronicity focuses on quality urban infill & redevelopment at the human scale by providing innovative land & building solutions that yield smart density through applications of master planned neighborhoods, integrated mixed-use villages, urban parks & amenity spaces, hospitality districts, and the adaptive reuse of historic structures.   

A practitioner in Land Planning and Landscape Architecture for over 23 years, Todd has accumulated vast experience in residential, commercial, municipal, and institutional land development.  He is a Registered Landscape Architect in GA, NC & SC.  

In his current role with ULI, Todd serves as the Regional Vice Chairman for ULI South Carolina’s Coastal Region. He is a member of the Statewide Management Committee, Chairman of the Coastal Executive Committee, and Co-Chairs the ULI SC Annual Golf Tournament.    

Todd is a Trustee & Executive Committee Member of the Clemson Architectural Foundation.  He has previously served as Vice-Chairman of the Mount Pleasant Planning Commission, Chairman of Pecha Kucha Charleston, and is a graduate of Leadership Charleston.    

Todd received his BLA in 2001 from Clemson University’s School of Architecture and his MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation in 2021 from Clemson University’s School of Business.

SOFIA SONG
Global Cities Lead
Gensler
New York, New York

Sofia leads cities research cities at the Research Institute, where she leads a cross-disciplinary team that includes designers, architects, planners, economists, and technologists, to generate new insights and knowledge that extend beyond a single building to communities, neighborhoods, and cities. She positions Gensler as a cities thought leader to influence change at the city scale. Sofia also represents Gensler as a Strategy Officer at the World Economic Forum where she works closely with others from globally recognized organizations to explore how industries can catalyze change in order to solve the biggest global challenges facing us today. She was formerly the head of research at various proptech/real estate companies such as StreetEasy.com, Compass, and Douglas Elliman. With a background in economics and urban planning, Sofia began her career in transit planning in Los Angeles, community planning in Pasadena, and in public space planning and transit-oriented development in New York City. She is based in New York.