2020 Housing Innovation Summit

Nicole Godfrey is Global President of Runway. Established in 1997, Runway Proptech is a privately owned company, founded in Melbourne, Australia, Runway is recognised as the leading software solution provider for the Australian builder and property development sector. Nicole relocated to Dallas, Texas with company founder and husband, Rowan Kelly last year to establish a branch office and is working with builders and developers nationally to streamline back-end operations and create cutting edge front-end consumer journeys. Runway employs more than 45 technicians and developers across Australia, India and the USA.

Daniel is an experienced executive and consultant with over 20 years of background driving growth through innovation, strategy, and business development. Over the course of his career focused on innovation in the construction and building products industry, he has become adept at overcoming complex challenges and creating opportunities through new products, applications, markets, and partnerships. Holding engineering and MBA degrees, Daniel offers unique value in synthesizing the technical and commercial aspects of a business to create innovation that sells. With training in Jobs-To-Be-Done and Systems Thinking and certification in Outcome-Driven Innovation®, he has a deep passion for helping his clients turn innovation into a science and create explosive growth. Daniel is also an accomplished and impactful public speaker and trainer—having delivered thousands of hours of speeches, presentations, and classes. Comfortable and effective in both the boardroom and the factory, Daniel confidently solves a wide variety of commercial and technical problems for his clients. Daniel has worked with companies ranging from startups to Global 100 multinationals and is recognized for aligning cross-functional teams at the intersection of business and technology—producing top- and bottom-line results. His work has resulted in millions of dollars in new product and service development, market share gains and profitable revenue increases for his clients.

Ophelia Yeung has more than 20 years of experience leading research and consulting assignments for business, government, universities and nonprofit organizations around the world. Her recent work has focused on the wellness industry. As senior research fellow at the Global Wellness Institute, Ophelia co-authored numerous studies covering topics from the global wellness economy to healthy built environments and wellness tourism. She has presented at major industry events, written for industry publications, and given global media interviews on these topics. Previously, she was director of the Economics Program and co-director of the Center for Science, Technology & Economic Development at SRI International, where she led industry strategy and regional economic development projects in dozens of countries and regions. Ophelia received a B.A. in economics from Smith College and an M.P.A. from Princeton University.

Brendan is an Associate Partner with McKinsey & Company, based out of New York City. He is a leader in McKinsey’s Engineering, Construction, and Building Products practice, where he has a particular focus on serving investors. Brendan is a firm believer in the massive potential role that innovation can play in the future of the construction industry, and is passionate about helping his clients uncover and tap into that potential. He has supported numerous clients across the construction value chain understand the market outlook for their sector, build winning strategies, evaluate investments, and define the value that innovation and disruptive technologies can bring to their business. In addition to this, Brendan works with investors to shape their investment themes in the space, evaluate potential investments through commercial and operational due diligence, and maximize the performance of companies in their portfolio. As well as his client work, Brendan is an author or contributor to much of McKinsey’s thought leadership in the space, including pieces on strategic outlook for the industry, mapping the developments in construction technology, and the impact of disruptions on the industry.

Brian comes from an innovation and corporate venturing background and has worked with corporations in diverse industries on their growth and startup engagement strategies. As a senior associate, he creates value for and strengthens relationships with Shadow Ventures' corporate partners and startups.  Shadow Ventures invests in startups that bring innovation to the built environment. Brian works across the industry to identify, validate, and manage promising seed-stage startups. Brian also manages strategic relationships with corporate partners to develop investment theses in emerging categories and opportunity areas.

As a member of the Alliance's board of advisors, Mollie represents the innovative partners and practitioners who help builders and developers better understand the market and help deliver the better home.  Mollie is a leading strategist with a career spanning 25+ years as a builder, developer, and consultant in the residential real estate industry. Her experience includes conducting markets studies throughout the country, land acquisition strategies, business planning for future growth, competitive product research, and even tactical marketing planning and design. Most notably, she has been a thought leader with consumer insights and product research throughout the nation. Since 2011, Mollie led one of the largest consumer survey efforts for the new home building industry with 10,000 to 20,000+ home shoppers. The survey effort revealed what consumers value and what they will pay for in their next community and home. Prior to joining Zonda, Mollie was a Principal with John Burns Real Estate Consulting for almost 10 years. In addition, Mollie served as Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Lennar and Kovach Marketing, Regional Vice President of Strategic Marketing for Pulte Homes/Del Webb for the California Region, and Vice President of Residential Product Planning for The Irvine Company.

Douglas Gilliland is the Managing Director of land development activities for Taurus Investment Holdings, and President of Taurus of Texas Holdings with regional offices in Austin, and North Richland Hills, Texas. Over his 45- year career, Douglas has entitled and developed over 10,000 SF and MF units in 31 master-planned, mixed- use and niche developments in Central Texas, North Texas, Colorado, and Kansas City. As part of Taurus Investment Holdings, an international investor, operator and developer of mixed use, residential and commercial properties across the globe, Douglas and his partners bring vast experience, resources, and a global perspective to real estate development. Headquartered in Boston MA, Taurus is currently active in regional markets in North America, South America, Europe and India.  Taurus is committed to developing sustainable commercial and residential communities.

Thorson’s 35-year career includes years spent at both Beazer Homes and Trammell Crow Residential. At Trammell Crow he was building multi- family for sale and Crow owned apartment communities throughout Connecticut and New York. Deliveries to the management company ranged from 6 to the acre garden style apartment communities to densities of over 20 units to the acre on multi-story apartments over retail and parking within metropolitan centers. While at Beazer Homes, Thorson rose to the level of Sr. Regional President for the South Atlantic Region where he managed 8 Division Presidents in 9 cities, across 6 states with more than 600 employees delivering in excess of 3,000 homes annually. Construction types included single family homes, townhomes, and multi- story condominiums. Thorson started the Beazer Metro division in early 2000 and delivered over 2000 Public Housing units across 6 states in 4 years. In 2010 Thorson and partners started Citizens Homes, a homebuilding company in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia. Citizens sold in 2014 to UCP (Benchmark Homes) based in San Jose, CA. Thorson has served as Chief Operating Officer for Oakwood Homes for the past 5 years delivering 1,300 to 1,500 homes annually. During his tenor, he played an integral role in the launch of two additional Oakwood Homes affiliates; the Colorado Home Building Academy, a non-profit construction school which trains and develops students for careers in the construction industry, and Nest Home Lending, a joint-venture, full-service mortgage company. Thorson holds positions on the Board of Directors for both entities. Thorson is also proud to have played an integral leadership role in the largest and most notable transaction in Oakwood Homes history with the sale of Oakwood to Clayton Properties Group, a Berkshire- Hathaway company. Thorson serves on the NAHB’s Housing Finance Committee, Freddie Mac Housing for Tomorrow Council, the National Mortgage Roundtable and the Capital Markets and Institutional Investors Sub Committee of the NAHB. Thorson graduated with a BA in Business Administration from West Virginia University.

Katherine Johnston is a Senior Research Fellow at the Global Wellness Institute (GWI). Since 2008, she has conducted pioneering research on the global wellness economy, work that has become the leading resource for wellness sector data and insights among media, industry, and government. Ms. Johnston conducts in-depth analysis of the forces shaping the future of wellness, along with deep-dive research into key industry sub-segments, including: wellness communities/real estate, physical activity, workplace wellness, wellness tourism, spas, and thermal/mineral springs. Previously as a Senior Economist at SRI International, Ms. Johnston led dozens of studies on economic competitiveness, industry cluster and workforce development, economic development program evaluation, and economic impact analysis/modeling—both across the United States and in countries around the world. She holds a B.A. from Sweet Briar College in Virginia and an M.S. from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

Rodney has been in the residential real estate development, construction and finance industry for 27 years. Prior to forming RAM, he was the Managing Director of Mountain Real Estate Capital where he was responsible for new business origination and capital market needs. Before Mountain, he started a real estate investment platform at Cantor Fitzgerald to take advantage of distress opportunities that occurred in the recession that started in 2008. From 1996 to 2008, Rodney was partner at Spectrum Communities where he ran the land acquisition and development group and coordinated the company’s sale to WCI Communities in 2004. He was a key member of the management team that grew Spectrum from a $25M local homebuilder to a $250M regional subsidiary of a public company. He spent the first 10 years of his career building and developing apartment buildings in New York City for Procida Construction and Development Rodney graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in Architecture and is a member of the Urban Land Institute.

Luke is the co-founder of ICwhatUC which is an industry-leading virtual service delivery platform built specifically for home builders and construction.  Luke comes from a family of General Contractors and grew up around the job site, so he understands the industry acutely. Luke is an award-winning entrepreneur, selling his first company in the property technology space shortly after graduating from College. Luke went on to launch a social business accelerator while living in Asia and subsequently co-founded Valhalla Private Capital. Currently, Luke serves as a program mentor for the Founders Institute, SWO Tech Alliance, New Ventures BC when he isn't leading Growth for ICwhatUC. ICwhatUC has been named as one of the top 25 companies to watch by the National Angel Capital Association.  

Fearing urban sprawl in 2000, Steve led the effort to create the Chattahoochee Hills Country Alliance to bring together landowners, developers and conservationists to find a mutually-agreed upon solution of balanced growth for 40,000 acres on Atlanta’s edge. This effort resulted in the largest land use change in the metro area’s recent history. Compared to the 15 county metro Atlanta’s model over the last three decades, this land plan provides for 20% more housing while saving 70% of the land for agriculture and recreation. In 2004, the Nygrens began development of Serenbe the community to demonstrate these concepts. The result is reminiscent of century-old communities connected to current technology. Steve has chaired many local and state board and currently serves on three national boards dealing with environmental issues. He also serves on the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Board and chairs the Task Force for Comprehensive Planning for Georgia.

Fred Cooper joined Toll Brothers in 1993 to establish its Finance and Investor Relations departments. As the Company's in-house investment bank, the team he leads is responsible for our capital markets, investor relations and financial planning activities as well as our partnering relationships with major U.S. and international institutions. Since formation, the group has raised over $20 billion from banks, the public capital markets, and institutional partners. In addition to capital raising, the group advises on complex project structuring, joint ventures, corporate mergers and acquisitions, and major property acquisitions. Fred has been financial point for the creation of Toll Brothers City Living, which has now built over 5,000 urban condos in 45 buildings, Toll Brothers Apartment Living, which has developed over $3 billion of urban and suburban rental assets nationally, and several other start-up initiatives. From 1989 to 1993, Fred was Director of Corporate Finance and Planning at DKM Properties Corp., the real estate arm of a Forbes 50 private company. From 1984 to 1989, he was Senior Vice President and a member of the Executive Committee of the NYC Financial Services Corporation, New York City's economic development bank. From 1980 to 1983, he worked in community-level affordable housing and economic development in the South Bronx and Brooklyn, New York. Fred received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University and a Master of Public Policy degree focused on finance and international development from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government.  Fred is an active mentor and lecturer at a variety of graduate-level real estate programs, including the Wharton International Housing Finance Program.  He is President of the U.S. Friends of the Kenya Community Development Foundation and an advisor to REALL International, which provides capital and technical assistance to affordable housing developers in emerging markets globally. As a volunteer consultant with the Stanford University SEED Program, he works with African entrepreneurs in the real estate development sector. He serves on the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board, and the University of Wisconsin Graaskamp Center Real Estate Advisory Board and is a member of the ULI Global Exchange Council.

Brad Hunter is a housing market economist with 35 years of experience analyzing builder projects, master-planned communities, rental developments (multifamily and SFR/BFR), and mixed-use projects nationwide. His company is Hunter Housing Economics, a market advisory firm serving developers, builders, and lenders/partners. In a prior career position, Brad was chief economist and national director of consulting at Metrostudy, a housing research firm specializing in tracking residential markets around the country. At Metrostudy, where he worked for 20 years, he directed work on hundreds of market studies on sites all around the country. He advised the investment community in setting strategy, analyzing the potential of real estate, and determining economic value. Prior to joining Metrostudy, he was president of Powers-Hunter Group, a real estate consulting firm based in Fort Lauderdale. From 1988 to 1991, he was vice president and chief economist for Goodkin Research Corporation. During the 1980s, he served as a regional economist with Data Resources (DRI)/McGrawHill, producing all of the firm’s forecasts regarding population, employment, and housing for the southeastern United States.  While at DRI, Hunter authored several chapters of a book called Metro Insights, published by McGraw-Hill, covering all key aspects of the Top 100 MSAs in the country.

Margaret Whelan has been CEO of Whelan Advisory, LLC since 2014. In this role she provides strategic and financial counsel to leaders of both public and private companies in the U.S. and Canada. She is a seasoned executive and industry expert with a deep knowledge of industry drivers, players, valuation and financing alternatives. She serves on the boards of three companies: TopBuild (NYSE: BLD), privately held Mattamy Homes, and John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Whelan was a Managing Director and senior coverage partner in the Real Estate and Lodging group within the investment bank at JPMorgan from 2007 to 2013, advising clients on strategic and capital initiatives through the housing industry’s biggest boom and subsequent downturn. From 1997 to 2007, she worked at UBS as a Managing Director and highly regarded stock analyst covering more than 30 stocks including homebuilders, manufacturers and retailers. She was also the Global Head of Housing Research. More recently, from 2013 to 2014, she ran the finance group of a fast-growth, publicly traded real estate private equity firm and, as its CFO, oversaw budgeting, financial reporting, capital raising, investor and media relations, human resources and regulatory compliance. She started her career in the equity research department at Merrill Lynch.

Freddy cofounded Watermark Equity Group to create and build residential communities that offer a living experience superseding anything currently in the marketplace. His investment philosophy is rooted in risk management and value creation. As Managing Partner, Freddy co-chairs the Investment Committee, manages capital structuring, and acquisitions for Watermark, where he has allocated millions in private equity and commercial debt. Prior to forming Watermark Equity Group Freddy spent time with JP Morgan Chase working in finance. He also helped launch Chicago Hope Homes in 2011, a non-profit real estate investment firm missioned to provide financial support to the underserved, inner city youth of Chicago’s West Side. Freddy graduated from Wheaton College with a business/economics degree. When he is not meeting with partners or overseeing development projects, Freddy enjoys an active lifestyle full of many outdoor hobbies and CrossFit. Freddy is married to his wife Despina.

CJ Edmonds is an accomplished, client-driven executive with over 24 years of executive-level management experience. His main focus has been working with companies in new markets growing them from almost zero revenue to greater than $200 Million in recurring revenue. He currently leads the revenue growth for SmartRent through new customer acquisition, customer expansion, and customer retention. Prior to joining SmartRent, he ran the sales organization at G5 for nine years, delivering digital marketing solutions to the real estate sector. Mr. Edmonds holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Economics from Saint Mary’s College of California.

Chris has been with the company since 2005, starting off in business development and progressing to increasingly more senior roles. He came into the homebuilding world via degrees in computer engineering and business administration – and launched his career with a formative five-year period as a computer engineer at Microsoft. His path has been a unique one, allowing him to connect dots that others might overlook. Today, he manages the homebuilding software division of Constellation Software Inc., with a portfolio of builders across North America. Under his leadership, the team has developed more new features and products than anyone else in the industry. He brings tremendous product development skills to the table, but his success has also been based on a dedication to transparency, strong relationships – and a genuine desire to improve our industry. Chris connects with homebuilders to understand their pain points and ensure we solve them. Through early adopter programs, focus groups, trade shows, user groups and more, his team ensures we don’t just keep up with industry trends – we go beyond them, always looking to the future.

Christopher is Vice President of Architecture & Building Science for the Van Metre New Homes Architecture Team and has been with the company since 2005, helping them transition from predominantly site built housing incorporating roof trusses to a fully componentized solution. He is now experimenting with modular and cartridge based construction. Chris focuses on the overall building structure, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, efficiencies and comfort of the single family, townhomes and condominiums designed and built by Van Metre. The Van Metre Architecture Team designs and permits all projects in-house with a team of eleven architects. Chris is licensed to practice Architecture in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia and is a member of AIA and NCARB. He has received two degrees in Architecture from Catholic University of America in Washington DC and has practiced architecture professionally for 23 years in the Boston and Washington, DC areas.

Deana is focused on helping the housing industry navigate residential design trends, community design trends, and product innovation to help home innovation accelerate across the nation. She is experienced in research, business strategy, architectural design, and consumer insights with a rich history of helping businesses and startups worldwide develop consumer profiles and research strategies to understand consumer needs and desires.

George was appointed as our first chairman of the board due to his track record of innovation within the industry as a homebuilder, developer, finance expert and consultant, as well as his leadership experience within the Urban Land Institute, a similarly organized, results-focused industry community. George serves as Alliance champion for the industry, facilitates input from the other stakeholder groups, and helps oversee the Alliance strategic plan and program.  Author of the Builder Magazine's popular “By George!” blog, George Casey has more than 40 years experience in residential building and development as an operating executive (chief executive officer, chief financial officer, and division president), consultant, and board member for both private and public builders. George has also been part of two senior management teams for companies selected by Professional Builder Magazine as the National Builder of the Year (Toll Brothers and Realen Homes). The President and CEO of consulting firm Stockbridge Associates, George also serves as the Chair of a Vistage private peer advisory group for chief executive officers in the Portland, Maine area, and as the Executive Champion for the Housing Innovation Alliance.

For more than 20 years, Betsy Scott has excelled at helping people think differently by taking complex ideas and concepts, analyzing them from the perspective of others, and translating the results into action. If you want to meet people bringing innovation to the housing industry, or know what’s new, she’s your ticket. A natural collaborator with a great social sense, she connects the dots between smart people, forward-thinking companies and big ideas. With Betsy in your corner, everyone wins. That’s why she helms the Housing Innovation Alliance, a passion she’s pursued since 2008 with founding partner IBACOS and now as the Executive Director, Program + Engagement of an independent entity focused on bringing business and technical innovation to housing. Her responsibilities for strategic planning, member and sponsor engagement, and programming speak to her fierce attention to detail, creative mind, and ability to make complex subjects tangible, relevant and actionable.  She adds depth to ideas, finds and shares new opportunities, and conveys greater understanding to business issues. Armed with a degree in Marketing from the University of Pittsburgh, Betsy cut her teeth in the agency world and as an independent B2B and B2C marketing consultant before joining IBACOS in 2006. In her off-time, she’s either feeding her farm-to-table foodie jones, working on her century-old house, or spending time with her husband and fur children, Watson and Finnegan, at one of Pittsburgh’s many parks and rivers.

Rich Binsacca is Pro Builder’s editorial director. He has served as an editor and frequent contributor to several housing and building construction-related print and online publications, and has reported and written about all aspects of the industry since 1987.

Dennis is a catalyst. An expert at driving market transformation programs, he knows people, money and how to get things done. As president of the Alliance, he leads our strategic vision and smart growth of our community. Prior to the Alliance, Dennis helped change the face of the housing industry in Saudi Arabia through two key initiatives: the Ministry of Housing’s Building Technology Stimulus Initiative (BTSI) and SABIC’s Home of Innovation™ program. In BTSI, Dennis helped to create a nationwide program to develop a modular housing industry—modeling 26 strategic initiatives that would jumpstart the creation of a robust construction ecosystem, evaluating 200+ global technology providers, and securing initial approval for $4B in government investment. Within one year, the commitment grew to $40B. Dennis was also a key player in SABIC’s Home of Innovation program, a $30M+ multi-year market engagement program focused on encouraging collaboration among the housing value chain and ensuring that better construction practices are adopted throughout the region. Together with his team, Dennis established and managed a global ecosystem of more than 1,000 subject matter experts, including 46 leading manufacturer partners. The program resulted in the Middle East’s first LEED platinum home, a pilot community of 1,200 LEED Silver homes and a LEED gold interactive exhibition center, which has become the epicenter for collaboration in the region. As of 2016, the program yielded 40+ business opportunities with more than $200M in new value creation. Before and after going global, Dennis acted as a consultant to and developer of residential and mixed-use real estate projects in southwestern PA, several of which are considered pioneering examples of placemaking in North America—including Venango Trails, Edgewater and Newbury. In his spare time, he enjoys big adventures with his wife and sons on the water and in the mountains and supports the efforts of other entrepreneurs—advising and investing in their startup companies.

Towle brings more than 30 years of experience in land entitlement and development, large scale residential homebuilding, commercial construction, and renewable energy development to ESS. In his previous role, Towle was the Chief Operating Officer of Safari Energy, an industry leading commercial-scale solar developer and EPC working throughout the US. At Safari Energy, Towle created numerous proprietary systems focused on bringing standardization, consistency, and performance optimization to hundreds of complex projects. Currently serving many of the nation’s largest retail and storage REITs, Towle built a start-up company into one of the industry’s most successful operations.  Prior to his role at Safari Energy, Towle held a leadership position at Centex Homes, a national homebuilder. Towle holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Planning and Design from Rutgers University.