Real Estate Development Advisory Board
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BOARD CHAIR |
Alfonso Costa Jr. serves as Executive Vice President and Head of Public-Private Partnerships (P3) for the Falcone Group, where he is responsible for leading the company’s workforce housing division and P3 opportunities. Headquartered in South Florida, the Falcone Group is a real estate development & investment firm that has developed and acquired more than 30,000 multifamily apartments, 15 million square feet of commercial space, and 30,000 single-family homes throughout the country. Costa previously served in the Federal Government as Deputy Chief of Staff and Opportunity Zones lead for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). In this public service role, Mr. Costa was responsible for overseeing policy for the $50 billion annually-budgeted Cabinet agency, which maintains a wide range of housing and community development programs, a $1.3 trillion mortgage insurance portfolio, and approximately 7,000 employees across 57 offices nationwide. As an expert on the bi-partisan Opportunity Zones (OZ) program, Mr. Costa held the title of Chairman’s delegate and HUD’s lead representative on the Federal Government's inter-agency Opportunity and Revitalization Council, and for his efforts has been recognized as the Opportunity Zone Magazine’s “Top 25 OZ Influencers” list for both 2020 and 2021. A former 5th-grade teacher with Teach for America, Mr. Costa is now an active social advocate through philanthropic and academic volunteer work at the national and local levels. Nationally, he serves as an Ambassador for the Fitwel® Certification System, Public Sector Fellow of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, Housing Advisory Council Member of the Bipartisan Policy Center, Full Member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and Emerging Leaders Council Member and basketball alumnus of New Heights Youth (New York City). In his home State of Florida, Mr. Costa is the Program Chair of ULI Florida’s Affordable & Workforce Housing Council (AWHC) and recent Member of the City of West Palm Beach Affordable Housing Advisory Committee (AHAC). Mr. Costa earned his law degree from Harvard University, master's degree (MSc) from the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), and bachelor's degree (BA) from Yale University. At Yale, he played both Division-I basketball and Division-I lacrosse while serving as Chair of the Yale Athletic Department’s Thomas W. Ford Community Outreach Committee. |
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VICE-CHAIR |
Mark Peterson began his banking career in 1982 in Fort Worth, Texas after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a senior client manager in commercial real estate with Bank of America starting in 1983, working out of the Fort Worth, San Antonio, Dallas, Washington, DC, and South Florida offices. He spent over 7 years in DFW and DC in the real estate special asset group. He has been based in Broward County since 1993. In July 2014, he joined Fifth Third Bank in his current role. He is responsible for helping grow Fifth Third's brand in the real estate sector by delivering the full range of financial services to real estate developers. He is the current past chair of Urban Land Institute (ULI) Southeast Florida/Caribbean District Council and is presently chair of the Governance Committee. He is a past board member and is still actively involved with the Greater Ft Lauderdale Alliance. He serves on the Broward County Water Advisory Board representing the Alliance. He is on the board of Jack & Jill's Children Center. He is a past board member of the Museum of Discovery and Science, Make A Wish Foundation of Southern Florida, and Community Financing Consortium. |
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Jessica Abramson |
Jessica Abramson is a Senior Development Manager for Stiles, where she is an owner representative for retail real estate development projects. Her responsibilities include project planning and coordination, due diligence, obtaining government approvals, budgeting, and scheduling. Jessica has worked with clients including Publix, The Fresh Market, Trader Joe's, Rooms to Go, Chase Bank, SunTrust Bank, and Starbucks. Abramson holds a Master's in Real Estate Development, where she graduated Alpha Sigma Gamma, and a bachelor's degree from the University of New Orleans in Marketing and Business Administration. She is active on the Advisory Board for the NSU MSRED program and previously served as chair of the program's Alumni Association from 2012 — 2016. She is a graduate of Leadership Broward Class XXXVI. |
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Joshua M. Atlas, Esq. |
Joshua M. Atlas, Esq. brings over 15 years of legal and construction experience and serves as KL’s chief legal officer responsible for the company’s legal affairs in both Florida and North Carolina. Atlas, who is Board Certified in Construction Law by the Florida Bar, was most recently a partner in the West Palm Beach office of Saul, Ewing, Arnstein & Lehr, LLP, and served as the Vice Chair of the firm’s Construction Practice Group. Throughout his career, Atlas has represented contractors and developers in both litigation and transactional matters, including trying construction claims in state and federal court and negotiating complex construction and design agreements for residential and commercial projects. Atlas received a Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida and a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School. |
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Jeff Burns |
Jeff Burns is the Founder and CEO of Affiliated Development, a real estate development company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Burns has more than 15 years of experience in the acquisition, development and finance of a wide array of property types in markets across the United States. With an extensive background and longstanding relationships, Mr. Burns has a proven track record to see real estate opportunities from conception through to reality. Mr. Burns has been involved in the development of over 2.5 million square feet of commercial and residential real estate with a combined cost of a half a billion dollars. Included in that is over 1,600 residential apartment units that serve a wide variation of tenants, from luxury market-rate occupants to low-income housing residents. Every project has been a public-private partnership and has incorporated a substantial public finance component, such as Tax Increment Financing (TIF), Tax Improvement District financing (TID), Neighborhood Improvement District financing (NID), Community Redevelopment Agency financing (CRA), Special Assessment financing, Tax Exempt Bonds, Low Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC), Department of Housing & Urban Development financing (HUD), and local government general revenue bonds. Mr. Burns is a Kansas City native and got his start in the real estate industry as a commercial real estate lender with a role of project origination for BB Syndication Services, Inc., a national syndicate lender out of Wisconsin, where he originated, underwrote and funded construction loans for development projects across the country ranging in size from $11 million to $200 million in total cost. In 2006, Mr. Burns left his role as a lender to partner on a development project named The Moderne, a 30-story high-rise residential tower located in downtown Milwaukee. Mr. Burns and his partners successfully closed on the financing of the $65 million project during the height of the US financial crisis in 2010 by utilizing local and federal government funding programs. The partnership completed The Moderne in 2012 and went on to develop other projects utilizing similar financing strategies. Mr. Burns moved his family to Fort Lauderdale in 2010 and eventually shifted the company’s development focus to South Florida by partnering with Boston Capital to develop a 90-unit affordable housing project in downtown Miami, FL. Mr. Burns teamed with South Florida native, Nick Rojo, to expand Affiliated Development’s presence in Florida. As a result of the partnership, Affiliated Development has gone on to undertake numerous mixed-use multifamily projects in various Florida markets and has earned a reputation as one of South Florida’s most dynamic and impactful development firms. Mr. Burns graduated from the University of Missouri Business School. He is actively involved in a number of local boards and charities and spends his free time with his wife and three daughters. |
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Gloria Fernandez is Chief Operating Officer for HB Capital, a privately-held, real estate owner, investor, and developer based in Miami, Florida. The firm focuses on the acquisition, asset management, and development of value-add real estate assets in primary and secondary markets in various markets throughout the United States Previously Gloria served as Managing Director of Asset Management for Elion Partners, a real estate investment firm headquartered in Aventura, Florida. Elion provides real estate equity for best-in-class developers and experienced operators in various strategic markets throughout the United States. Gloria oversaw Elion's asset management activities and administered strategies to enhance yields and reduce risks. Her responsibilities encompassed overseeing all aspects of the management process for the Elion portfolio, including qualifying assets with the acquisitions group, executing asset performance plans, and managing leasing and property management teams. Gloria also served as Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Finance at Ross Realty Investments, a South Florida-based commercial real estate doper and owner. In that role, she was active in the management, acquisitions, financial, and development operations of the company. She represented ownership interests before municipalities and community organizations. Before Ross Realty Investments, she worked for Swerdlow Real Estate Group in a financial capacity. During her tenure, she was part of the team that established a private Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and was responsible for financial pr Gloria earned a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree from the University of Miami and is currently a Trustee of Broward College, and was past chair for Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School. She is a member of various professional organizations including the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) and is licensed by the State of Florida as a Broker. |
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Evans Gedeon |
Evans Gedeon is Senior Director of Multi-Family for Codina Partners LLC, a real estate investment and development firm based in Coral Gables, Florida. He is responsible for directing the operations of the company’s portfolio of multi-family properties. Previously, Mr. Gedeon was a consultant at Eden Multifamily where he developed property and portfolio level operational strategies. Prior to that, he was a Senior Associate at Trez Forman Capital where he focused on originating acquisition and construction real estate loans. Mr. Gedeon has successfully structured, underwritten and managed acquisitions with various complexities and capital structures for office, retail, multi-family, apartments, hotels and mixed-use properties totaling over $350 million dollars in several cities across the state of Florida. He has assisted in the acquisition, asset management, and disposition of office, industrial, and retail assets totaling over 2 million square feet on behalf of developers and other real estate investors. Mr. Gedeon holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Florida Atlantic University and a master’s in real estate development from Nova Southeastern University. He is a licensed real estate agent, licensed mortgage loan originator and a certified commercial investment member (CCIM) candidate. |
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FASLA Principal, EDSA |
Principal of EDSA, with 24+ years of experience, Kona Gray has been involved in many planning and landscape architectural projects, ranging from large-scale master planning to detail site design with emphasis on hotels/resorts, government, healthcare, and campus planning since he joined EDSA in 1997. Site heritage, history, community interface, implementation, and sensitivity to each property’s unique cultural, physical and environmental characteristics factor strongly into his work. Kona's team of design professionals have worked on projects in Florida, Virginia, China, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and Egypt. In addition to leading a design studio, he has contributed his time and expertise to organizations such as the American Society of Landscape Architects, The Landscape Architecture Foundation, and the Urban Land Institute. Kona’s leadership involvement with ASLA has included the Professional Awards Jury, chairing the Student Awards Jury, and participating in the Diversity Summit. He is the past president of the Landscape Architecture Foundation. Kona studied architecture at the Boston Architectural College, Savannah College of Art and Design, and received a BLA degree from the University of Georgia School of Environmental Design in 1997. |
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Steven Guasch |
Steven Guasch is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of Defined Companies, a full-service real estate investment and development company. He is responsible for the financial feasibility and management of the overall development process of residential communities and mixed-use projects throughout South Florida. Steven received his B.A. at Florida Atlantic University, where he majored in both Finance and International Business & Trade, graduating Cum Laude. In 2013 Steven joined a Class-A multifamily developer, Altman Development, as a Financial Analyst and quickly expanded into his role of Development Manager. He was responsible for managing the financial feasibility, entitlement, design, acquisition, construction, and disposition of multiple apartment developments across South Florida, Orlando, and Texas, representing a capital investment in excess of $350 million. His involvement ensured the projects stayed on schedule, on budget and reached the investors' expectations. Steven holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development from Nova Southeastern University (NSU) where he was inducted into the International Honor Society, Sigma Beta Delta. During his experience at NSU, Steven received mentorship from Terry Stiles and met his business partner, Noah Leon. Steven is actively involved with students by participating in the classroom setting. |
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Erin Ladd |
Erin Ladd is the Director of Planning & Development at Brizaga, bringing her significant planning experience to the team and leading the growth of Brizaga’s resilient and sustainable development practice. Her strong urban planning and real estate development background is highly sought after by landowners, investors, design teams, and communities in facing the challenges of the overall real estate development process – bringing these skills to the resilience and sustainability space. Her prior project experience includes leading multi-disciplinary teams and clients through the technical aspects of design, entitlements, pro-forma modeling, construction management, contract negotiation, and community outreach for projects ranging from $3 million to $200+ million across all asset classes, including large-scale commercial, lifestyle mixed-use, vertical multi-family, hospitality, and industrial development projects. She has successfully received approvals for well over one million square feet of entitlements and counting. Erin previously worked for multi-disciplinary engineering, architecture, and development firms. Erin holds a Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) from Nova Southeastern University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning from Florida Atlantic University. Erin is involved with the community and serves in appointed positions with the Management Committee for the Urban Land Institute’s Southeast Florida/Caribbean District and the Advisory Board for Nova Southeastern University’s MSRED program. She is also active with the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce’s Real Estate & Construction Committee and the American Planning Association. |
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Dhaima Lindo |
Facilitating real estate business sales valued at over $100 million and over 20 years of experience, Dhaima Lindo managed Fort Lauderdale-based Southeast Business Partners before launching her own firm, Zenith Realty Group. Since 2017, her investment firm Zenith Investment Group has acquired more than a dozen extraordinary projects across the US and internationally, building over 1,500 properties. Their current projects total $698 million in gross sales and $408 million in profits. As a marketing professional, Ms. Lindo secured and managed campaigns for clients including Starbucks, Checkers and the Miami HEAT. Her experience in both sales and marketing is what makes the difference in getting the best outcome for her clients. She founded Credit Chess, which bridges the gap to get funding and improve business credit. Business partners and clients say she has an outstanding “make it happen” reputation and describes Ms. Lindo as a strong communicator, negotiator and problem solver. She is now a member of the Advisory Board at Nova Southeastern University's (M.S.R.E.D.) Program. |
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Jason Morjain |
Prior to his work with Dragonfly Investments, Jason Morjain worked with Beacon Investment Properties. During his 5-year tenure, he became the Acquisitions Manager where he spearheaded the purchase of more than 3 million square feet of office buildings across the country. He then took over as the asset manager of all Florida properties in Beacon’s portfolio. Prior to his work with Beacon Investment Properties, he was a mortgage broker with City First Mortgage and an assistant property manager for Rok Enterprises. Mr. Morjain holds a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Maryland. He also holds a Florida Real Estate license and a Florida Mortgage Broker License. |
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Glen Mowatt |
Glen Mowatt is the Co-Owner of Up, Up & Away ABA Therapy, a behavioral consulting agency that provides in-home & clinic-based applied behavior analysis (ABA) services for young children (15 months to 10 years of age) on the autism spectrum and related disabilities. Before Up, Up & Away ABA Therapy, Glen was the Director of Acquisitions for Altis Cardinal LLC, a full-service real estate investment, development, and management firm based in Miami, Florida with $1.4+ billion in real estate assets. At Altis Cardinal LLC, he played a vital role in the acquisition, development, asset management, and disposition of the Altis Cardinal real estate portfolio. Mowatt's acquisition responsibilities were to perform financial analyses, prepare debt/equity memorandums, oversee the due diligence process and assist in the closing of potential development and acquisition opportunities. He was also responsible for working with property managers, leasing brokers, and lenders to maximize returns for the portfolio. Prior to joining Altis Cardinal, Mr. Mowatt was the Director of Acquisitions for TMSA Florida, a Canadian-based real estate private equity fund. In this role, Mr. Mowatt was responsible for sourcing and evaluating new real estate investment opportunities in the Florida market providing market research analyses, investment underwriting, and performing due diligence and asset management of the company's portfolio. Prior to joining TMSA Florida, Glen worked as a senior analyst and market consultant at Integra Realty Resources. In this role, he provided research, analysis, and reporting to real estate investors and developers of various property types on market trends, opportunities, marketability of development projects. Glen's experience includes assessing the market drivers, economic and demographic trends, supply and demand, and financial feasibility in South Florida. Other responsibilities involved conducting feasibility analyses and providing litigation support for a variety of clients and property types. Mowatt earned a Bachelor's Degree in Real Estate from Florida State University and a Master's Degree in Real Estate Development from Nova Southeastern University. He is a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), a member of the Economic Roundtable for the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, and has been appointed to serve as co-chair of the NSU MSRED Alumni Association. |
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Debbie Orshefsky, J.D. |
Debbie M. Orshefsky is a shareholder in Greenberg Traurig and a partner with Holland & Knight, operating out of offices in Fort Lauderdale and Washington, D.C. She practices in the areas of land development and environmental law with specific experience in planning, infrastructure planning, and financing, zoning, subdivision controls, and community redevelopment, as well as state, regional and local roles in land use decision-making. Debbie has represented private developers and government agencies as special counsel and has intimate knowledge of the land use planning process. In addition, she is a frequent speaker at state and national seminars on the land development process, as well as infrastructure planning and funding. |
| Harry Posin Founder and President, Label & Co. Developments, Inc. |
Harry Posin is the Founder and President of Label & Co. Developments, Inc. Prior to forming Label & Co. Developments, Inc., Mr. Posin served as President and Executive Vice President of Minto Communities, one of Florida’s largest private builders. He was also on the Canadian-based parent company’s Board of Directors. Harry’s vision has been responsible for the development and building of over 20,000 units in every imaginable residential format including large-scale master-planned communities, recreational/resort communities, high-rise, and rental. He was also Senior Vice President at Goodkin Research, a leading real estate research firm where he provided market consultation services to developers, builders, and lenders throughout America. Harry is an insightful industry leader with a lengthy record of successful projects over the past 35 years. He is a frequent guest lecturer at industry panels and universities. He holds a degree in Construction Management from Pratt Institute. |
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Andrew Remick |
Andrew Remick is a Principal at Highline Real Estate Capital which is a Florida based, value-focused real estate investment company that acquires and operates office and retail properties throughout the Southeast. Andrew is responsible for acquisitions and asset management of properties owned by Highline and its Joint Venture partners. In this role Andrew formulates and executes Highline's strategic initiatives including sourcing, underwriting, capital market activities, dispositions and asset management. Remick has executed on more than $350,000,000 of acquisitions, representing more than 1.6 million square feet of office and retail assets during his career. Prior to joining Highline, Remick was Senior Vice President of Acquisitions and Asset Management at Continental Real Estate Companies (CREC) where he focused on sourcing acquisitions and overseeing the asset management of CREC’s portfolio. Andrew originally started at CREC in the brokerage department where he supported CREC’s third party brokerage department, specializing in multifamily and land. During this tenure Andrew worked with the firm’s clients including Lubert Adler Real Estate Funds, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, 13th Floor, Melo Development and Bank United among others, and closed on more than $375 million of brokerage and financing assignments. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science in Business with a concentration of Finance from St. John’s University, and a Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) from Nova Southeastern University. |
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Kenneth Stiles |
Kenneth Stiles took the helm as CEO of Stiles Corporation in 2017 as Terry Stiles transitioned to Chairman. The move followed the company’s long-established leadership succession plan that paved the road for its long-term growth and sustainability. Prior to becoming CEO, Ken served for two years as Co-CEO with Terry. As CEO, Mr. Stiles serves on the company's board of directors, executive committee, investment review committee, and business development committee. As part of his chief responsibilities, he manages the company's ongoing communication with financial services partners and works directly with the investment team to identify new business opportunities. As a board member, he works closely with the family and fellow members in the development and implementation of the company's 50-year sustainability and growth plans. In addition, Mr. Stiles oversees the Stiles family office. Mr. Stiles' passion for real estate began at an early age through years of watching his father Terry build the corporation from only two employees in 1951 to more than 300 today. With a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Elon University in North Carolina, Mr. Stiles began his career as an assistant development manager gaining experience on many of Stiles' most prominent office projects, including Lake Shore Plaza I in Sunrise. After advancing through several projects, he then shifted his focus toward the financial services and investments division. An active participant in local charity, Mr. Stiles is Board Chair of the Museum of Discovery and Science and serves as an advisory board member of the NSU School of Real Estate. He is a graduate of the Leadership Broward Class XXXI and maintains an extensive history of involvement with the Broward Alliance and Young Presidents Organization, amongst others. Mr. Stiles is a native of Fort Lauderdale and currently resides in the Las Olas area with his wife Brittany and two sons. In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, fishing, and golfing. |
Gloria Fernandez
