My name is Brett Kalpakjian and I am a current MBA student at University of Colorado Boulder and an employee at Archway Communities. After gaining 4 years of experience as an analyst at a technology company, I decided to go back to school to pursue a career in urban revitalization focused on mixed-use and transit oriented developments. I believe it is vital for American cities to create and rebuild vibrant urban areas with high density housing to help solve the affordability crisis and loneliness epidemic that is plaguing my generation, and want to be at the forefront of this movement.

In my MBA program, I hold three leadership positions where I hope to improve the quality and diversity of the program, and enjoy forming lasting friendships and collaborating in group projects with my classmates. This past year I helped raise $25,000 for a diversity scholarship benefitting multiple incoming students. I grew up in Boise, Idaho and attended Georgia Institute of Technology for my Industrial Engineering undergraduate degree. Outside of work, one will often find me skiing, mountain biking, and watching soccer.

Michael Bernard is a class of 2025 full- me MBA student at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. Prior to atending Haas, he served in the United States Navy for six years as a Hospital Corpsman. The first por on of his career was spent in Rota, Spain where he led a team of Navy EMTs in the Emergency Department. Michael was then sta oned in Oahu, Hawaii and Okinawa, Japan, where he served as a combat medic with a Marine Corps infantry unit.

He entered business school with a goal of pivo ng in commercial real estate and used his first year of studies to take advantage of Berkeley’s strong real estate program. He currently serves as the VP of academics for the real estate club and is the appointed peer advisor for students seeking to land real estate internships. Michael has also tailored his coursework towards the industry. He is on the path to earning the Interdisciplinary Graduate Cer ficate in Commercial Real Estate upon gradua on. He will be gaining professional experience this summer in San Francisco as an intern in asset management with Oxford Proper es.

Outside of work and academics, Michael tries to exercise and travel as much he did in the military. He enjoys hiking and surfing in the Bay Area and tries to convince himself that he doesn’t miss living in Hawaii. Michael’s claim to fame is that he has never had an Instagram or TikTok account. He instead tries to stick to reading books, although he has a bad habit of buying two books for every one that he reads

Devon Rogers is a second-year Master of City Planning candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, concentrating in Public-Private Development, and is receiving a certificate in Real Estate Design and Development. While at Penn, he serves as the co-president of the Weitzman Real Estate Club.

Devon is interested in equitable and impact-driven development that boosts economic and social growth in cities. Before starting at the University of Pennsylvania, Devon received an undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester, where he studied Urban Studies. During his studies, we held many municipal planning and business consulting internships. In his free time, Devon enjoys photography, walking through the city, and antiquing whenever possible.

Hang Nguyen serves as an Assistant Project Manager at Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation (TNDC). Her primary focus lies in the rehabilitation of TNDC’s historical properties within their portfolio to safeguard and maintain affordable housing units in San Francisco. Prior to her tenure with TNDC, Hang Nguyen played a crucial role in launching the Keys to Equity program at Richmond Neighborhood Housing Services. This initiative aimed to support homeowners in the Oakland area by facilitating the construction of new accessory dwelling units in their backyards. Hang Nguyen’s academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.

Jamie Saunders is an MBA Candidate at Colorado University’s Leeds School of Business, with dual emphases in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship. At CU, Jamie sits on the board of directors for the Graduate Real Estate Association as the VP of Events and Community Engagement. She is interested in studying what makes certain assets and communities more resilient, in hopes of applying those features to future developments. Prior to CU, Jamie worked as an architectural designer, specializing in multifamily and K-12 education facilities. She is honored to join the rest of the ULI Graduate Fellows and is thankful to Bruce Etkin and the team at ULI Americas for their support.

Bernice Yu is currently a full-time master’s degree candidate in the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell University, where she serves as a Co-President of the Association of Cornell Women in Real Estate (ACWIRE).  After more than seven years as a corporate lawyer, Bernice seeks to apply her deep knowledge of dealmaking and deal structuring and her experience leading large teams to execute complex, multilateral transactions to a new context: real estate development for hotels and other hospitality properties. 

Prior to pursuing graduate education in real estate, Bernice was a lawyer at Helbraun & Levey LLP, a boutique law firm in New York, where she counseled entrepreneurs and established players in the hospitality industry on a wide range of transactional legal matters.  Previously, Bernice led multi-billion-dollar, cross-border private equity fund formations in the New York and Hong Kong offices of the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.  She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from Pomona College and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.  Bernice is a current Goldie Scholar with the Goldie B. Wolfe Women Leaders in Real Estate Initiative, an organization dedicated to developing the next generation of women executives in the commercial real estate industry. 

Dahlia Idris is a first-year master’s candidate in the Baker Program in Real Estate at Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business. At Cornell, Dahlia is an Editor for the Cornell Real Estate Review and the Vice President for the Association of Women in Real Estate (ACWIRE). Prior to Cornell, she worked as a Development Analyst for S P Setia Berhad, managing integrated mixed-use high-rise developments. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder in Civil Engineering. She also earned her certificate in Real Estate Economics and Finance from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 2019.  

Originally from East Los Angeles and now based in San Francisco, Esmeralda Jardines joins the Urban Land Institute (ULI) while pursuing the Abbey Master of Real Estate Development + Design (MRED+D) degree at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design (CED), where she previously received a B.A. in Urban Studies, after careers in both Architecture and City Planning.  

Esmeralda has joined ULI and is pursuing the Abbey MRED+D because she is interested in the intersection of real estate investment, finance, urban design, and land use law as well as the role that all aforementioned have in the built environment. She is motivated to learn to how to develop and build affordable, equitable, and climate-resilient buildings, neighborhoods, and cities. She hopes to utilize and access the multifaceted networks at ULI; Esmeralda is grateful and feels humbled, honored, and indebted to have been selected as a ULI Chamberlin Graduate Student Fellow. She recognizes that ULI will provide her with the resources needed to meet, expand, and invest in a network of like-minded real estate development professionals that are trying to make a difference, one crisis at a time, with the tools at their disposal, the built environment. 

She would like to convey her tremendous gratitude and appreciation to the Urban Land Institute! 

Ezra McPhail is a motivated, ambitious Master of Business Administration candidate at the University of Colorado – Boulder Leeds School of Business pursuing his passion for Real Estate with an emphasis in Finance. Prior to embarking on his pursuit of an MBA, Ezra worked in the media/advertising industry building and implementing his client’s strategies for their advertising campaigns. During his tenure, Ezra interpreted his client’s campaign goals and translated them into an actionable media placement strategy to accomplish their KPIs. He hopes to leverage the skills and experience gained at CU to pivot into the commercial real estate industry. Currently, Ezra has a full-time internship as an acquisition analyst and asset management analyst at a boutique multifamily investment shop in Denver. In this role, he’s tasked with underwriting multifamily assets nationwide along with preparing deal presentations for the investment committee. He also is tasked with keeping the asset management tracker updated with 12 properties in the recently closed Fund I as well as the new acquisitions in Fund II. Ezra hopes to continue down this path in either acquisitions or asset/portfolio management. In his free time, Ezra can be found adaptive sit-skiing at one of many Colorado ski resorts, backpacking with his dog in Lost Creek Wilderness, or preparing a new dish in the kitchen.