student profiles 2018-19 - priceschool.usc.edu · héctor aréchiga de león – mred (full-time)...

Student Profiles 2018-19

Héctor Aréchiga de León – MRED (Full-time) Before attending USC, Hector was the Financial Manager at ARHEA Property Development in Mexico City, Mexico. He had a lead role in financial feasibility, land acquisition, capital raising, legal structuring and treasury management of a portfolio consisting of several residential projects, with $115M of equity investment and over 1,000 units in Mexico City and Cancun. During his industry involvement, Hector had the opportunity to be a founding member of AVER, the first industry association focused towards institutional multifamily development in Mexico, being part of the Investigation Committee of the association. Hector holds a bachelor degree in Civil Engineering form the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico).

Shy Assar – MRED (Part-time, Second-year) Shortly after earning his MBA from Babson College in May of 2014, Shy interned as an Acquisition Analyst at BKM Capital Partners (Newport Beach), a private equity group specializing in acquiring value-add multi-tenant industrial parks in the western US. In October of 2014 Shy transitioned into brokerage working with Voit Real Estate Services. He pursued local industrial brokerage in the Inland Empire. Shy has gained exposure to tenant demand, market migration, buyer and seller representation, investment transactions, and, most importantly, development opportunities. Shy has sourced and transacted on each of the aforementioned transaction types. His time in the Inland Empire has allowed him to develop expertise in a geographic region and property type as well as acquire transactional experience with the various types of tenants, users, sellers, and both private and institutional investors & developers competing in the industry.

Madison Baker – MBA/MRED (Full-time, First-year) Prior to attending USC, Madison worked for four years as an architect and project designer at DLR Group in the Los Angeles and Dubai offices. Madison has a range of experience in design and planning for different project types, but primarily contributed to the designs for large-scale commercial and mixed-use projects. In addition, Madison has a great amount of international work experience, having lived and worked in Dubai for a year and a half as an integral part of the team to start DLR Group’s Dubai office. While in Dubai, she also worked as a project manager, coordinating and managing project delivery on various projects in the Middle East region. Madison received a B.Arch and M.Arch from Tulane University in 2014.

Steven Bohbot – MRED (Part-time, First-year) After graduating from the USC in May of 2009 with a BS in Policy, Planning, Development (Real Estate Development track), Steven immersed himself in the world of construction and development beginning with overseeing and assisting in the construction of over 400 units in New York City. After a few years in New York and starting a new family, Steven returned to his roots in Los Angeles and took the helm of his family's real estate business, The Standard Oil Investment Group. With a keen eye for growth and development, Steven has been the general contractor for a handful of projects valuing over $30 million in hard construction costs as well as the broker and manager for over $100 million worth of real estate transactions. Steven has also spear headed the acquisition, construction, leasing and disposition of over 415,000 square feet and over $285 million of residential, commercial, and industrial properties and is currently completing his newest gem, 257 North Canon in the heart of the Golden Triangle in Beverly Hills.

USC Dollinger Master of Real Estate Development Student Profiles 2018-19

Josh Brodsky – MBA/MRED (Part-time, First-year) Prior to and while attending USC, Josh has worked in the asset management division of American Realty Advisors, an institutional capital manager with over $8 billion under management. As an associate Josh has been handled assets owned by both Core and Value-Add, open-ended commingled funds, as well as for the separate account clients of ARA. His current portfolio comprises over 2.5 million square feet of retail, industrial, and office assets within Denver, Texas, Northern California, Chicago, and the Mid-Atlantic. Josh’s main responsibilities include overseeing the property management, leasing, and construction teams as well as performing quarterly valuations, crafting annual business plans, and working with acquisitions to help underwrite potential deals in markets he covers. Josh graduated with a BA in Geography from UCLA in 2015 and is an active member in

NAIOP and ICSC. Clem Butler – MBA/MRED (Full-time, First-year) Since 2015, Clement (“Clem”) has been a key member of the asset management and acquisition teams at CS Capital Management, Inc. (“CSCM”), a Registered Investment Advisor registered with the SEC, specializing in institutional real estate investment management and advisory services. His asset management responsibilities for CSCM’s $1+ billion of real estate AUM primarily include managing CSCM’s property managers, accounting teams, and client reporting for a large separate account on behalf of a sovereign wealth fund. As a member of the acquisitions team, Clem spearheads the underwriting and due diligence process for nationwide opportunities in the office, industrial, and multifamily sectors. Clem also directly supports the CEO for advisory services provided to Taft-Hartley pension plans, including portfolio management, strategy formation, and investment manager oversight, with direct reporting to the clients’ Board of Trustees. Clem began his career at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in an investment banking group, and followed that as an operations manager for McMaster-Carr. Clem received his BA in Economics from Davidson College in 2012.

Dookee Cho – MRED (Full-time) Dookee is a Korean Certified Public Accountant. Since 2012, he has been working for Kim & Chang, the largest law firm in Korea. He was responsible for disposition of overseas distressed assets in disputes while managing execution process as a project manager, and he has experienced in obtaining government incentives including tax exemptions for qualified foreign direct investment in real estate industry. Prior to his current role, Dookee has spent over 6 years in Samil PwC, the largest accounting firm in Korea and a member firm of PwC. He audited distinguished multinational companies, performed feasibility studies on various types of commercial real estate, and advised for infrastructure development projects. Dookee received a BS in Business Administration from Seoul National University in 2003 and a MS in Business Administration (Accounting) from Seoul

National University, Graduate School of Business in 2006. Euimin Chung – MRED (Full-time) Since joining Mirae Asset Daewoo in 2011, I have been part of global asset allocation team as a fixed income analyst. I was primarily responsible for analyzing overseas bond markets including developed countries such as the U.S., Europe as well as some of emerging countries including Brazil etc. Alongside I extended my role into analyzing real estate securities including U.S. mortgages and REITs. Prior to working at Mirae Asset Daewoo, I received my Bachelor degrees of Applied Statistics/French Language & Literature from Yonsei University in August 2009. I had completed my course requirements and passed the qualifying examinations for the master’s degree in applied statistics in the graduate school of Yonsei university in August 2011.


José Augusto Daux – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) In 2014, a few months before José earned his BA in Civil Engineering from Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina, he began directing his first real estate development project through his company Politécnica Engenharia e Construção LTDA. He was responsible for planning, contract negotiations, and construction quality from the project design phase through completion. Along with construction José, as an associate manages over $15 million dollars in real estate and invests over $1.5 million dollars annually. Prior to this, he worked with surveying and appraisal of low-income housing for one of the biggest engineering consulting firms in Southern Brazil. He also has experience overseeing infrastructure modernization and facilitating international business negotiations in the hospitality industry.

Oliver Fries – MBA/MRED (Part-time, Third-year) Oliver is the owner/founder of The Paloma Group, Inc. a boutique commercial brokerage based in Venice beach and specializing in tenant representation, landlord representation, and investment sales. Prior to starting The Paloma Group, Oliver was on the Development team at The Oxnard Shores Co. – Key projects include entitlement of a 70 unit town home project in the Oxnard Shores beach community and the acquisition/development of a 45,000 square foot commercial center in Dickinson, North Dakota. Oliver also has experience in various start up/seed investments including Saint Archer Brewery, which was sold to Miller Coors in late 2015. Oliver has a BA from University of California San Diego where he majored in Urban Studies and Planning.

Jeremy Geng – MRED (Full-Time) In 2008, Jeremy became a UCLA medical student apart of the UCR/UCLA Thomas Haider Medical Program. A year into the medical school he saw the real estate market crash and decided to drop out to start investing in real estate in Southern California. He has since purchased and still owns over 200 single family houses in Southern California with valuation of around $50 million, maintains an active house flipping business, and has purchased over 200 defaulted mortgages with an unpaid balance of $15 million. Jeremy is a graduate from the University of California - Riverside with a degree in Biology in 2007.

Navid Ghatri – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Navid has been working in the retail and real estate sectors for five years as a business development consultant and real estate adviser in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD Metropolitan regions. His specializations include medical/dental office, retail, investment properties, and development projects. He has worked on and invested in over $10,000,000 worth of leases, sales, and development deals. He has engaged with seasoned brokers in his office as a partner, as well as with newer agents as a mentor. Prior to real estate and consulting, Navid earned a BBA in Finance with a concentration in European Business from James Madison University in 2012, where he spent one semester studying business in Belgium at the University of Antwerp’s MBA program. He is a licensed agent in VA, MD, and DC, a LEED Green Associate, is currently pursuing his CCIM designation, and manages his own single-family and multi-family development projects.


Armen Haroutunian – MBA/MRED (Part-time, Second-year) Armen is an Associate at Freddie Mac Multifamily, where he underwrites senior, construction take-out, supplemental and value-add mortgages. Since starting at Freddie Mac in 2015, Armen has underwritten $2B of multifamily and mixed-use mortgages, primarily in the western United States. His responsibilities include underwriting, drafting and negotiating loan commitments, presenting and obtaining credit approval from the loan committee and facilitating the origination process. Prior to Freddie Mac, he was a property manager with Centrium Properties, where he managed an investment portfolio of over 500,000 SF of retail and office space. Armen is a Los Angeles native and graduate of California State University, Northridge where he obtained a BS in Finance in 2013. He currently serves as an Alumni Board Member of the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate (“FIRE”) chapter

at his alma mater. Armen was also recently elected to the executive board of the Marshall Graduate Student Association for Professionals & Managers and will serve as the VP of Finance for the upcoming 2018-19 academic year. Sarah Ifrah – MRED (Full-time) Prior to attending USC’s Price, Sarah worked for Auerbach Realty Holdings, LLC, as an Asset Manager where she participated in the underwriting of retail properties in their multi-state portfolio. She met regularly with architects, the property owners, and their contractors to plan the redevelopment of a 60,000 SF suburban shopping center. Sarah also worked with the Auerbach finance team collaborating with a mortgage brokerage firm on the refinancing of two grocery anchored shopping centers, 94,000 and 29,000 SF respectively. After her experience at Auerbach Realty Holdings, Sarah pursued her MBA at the University of Chicago Booth. During Business School, she interned her first year at the Lighthouse Group where she assisted the acquisitions team in the financial modeling of multi-family submittals across the United States. Her second year she interned at HFF where she worked on the investment sales side as an analyst. Sarah holds a Bachelors of Arts from USC in Biological Sciences, and her MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business in Finance, Economics, and Strategic Management.

Spencer Ingram – MRED (Full-time) Prior to attending the University of Southern California, Spencer was a real estate broker for four years with the firm of Cushman & Wakefield-working in both their Orange County and downtown Los Angles offices. At Cushman & Wakefield, Spencer was primarily a Tenant Representation Broker, where he managed the real estate portfolios for a number of Fortune 500 companies, including; Wells Fargo Bank, Fluor Corporation, Mediterranean Shipping Company, and Diebold Nixdorf, Inc. Additionally, Spencer originated 65 lease and sale transactions during his time at Cushman and consulted numerous business entities regarding their real estate requirements. Spencer fulfilled his undergraduate studies at Oregon State University, graduating Cum Laude, with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science.

Andrew Jung – MRED (Full-time) Since 2010, Andrew has been a deputy director in Ministry of Land, Transport and Infrastructure, Government of South Korea. He has been responsible for devising policies related to real estate industry including formulating the City Region Development Policy (2013), improving fairness and objectivity on appraisal of real estate (2015), fostering REITs (2016) and promoting various public development projects including regeneration of outworn industrial complexes (2012) and Saemangeum Special Economic Zone (2014). Prior to that, He worked for Samsung C&T, participating in Busan New Port Construction Project (2003-2006). As an assistant manager, He was in charge of contracting with more than 20 subcontractors and managing construction procedures. Andrew received his Bachelor of Architecture (2003) and Master Course Certificate of Urban and Regional Planning (2010) from Seoul National University.


Matthew J. Keenen – MRED (Full-time) Since June 2015 Matthew Keenen has been on the acquisitions team at SunCal, a national land development firm. Mathew is responsible for deal origination, project acquisition, feasibility analysis, underwriting, and pre-development. Keenen previously served as a Broker at Capacity Commercial, a Portland, OR based commercial brokerage firm, with a focus on investments sales for multifamily land. During this time he also worked with several partners on the acquisition and pre-development of mixed use sites in the Portland area. Keenen has also served as director of acquisitions for a Portland, OR based Private Equity firm specializing in the repositioning of multifamily assets in the southeastern US. Keenen’s background includes experience in public policy research and lobbying in the state of Oregon. Keenen has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Portland State University.

Arthur Lin – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Prior to attending USC, Arthur served 5 years in the U.S. Army as an engineer officer. In his first assignment, he commanded a team of 40 Soldiers in Afghanistan and oversaw construction and demolition projects. He has also worked as a property manager at a military installation in Savannah, GA where he was responsible for 1.8 million square feet of office, residential and warehouse space. As a first year MBA, he interned at Strategic Development Solutions where he helped underwrite a hotel project worth $20 million and a value add industrial project worth $7 million. Arthur received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at United States Military Academy at West Point in 2012.

Jacob Lorson – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Prior to attending USC, Jacob worked for five years in corporate finance - including two years in GE Capital’s Financial Management Program. As part of GE Capital’s program, Jacob had the opportunity to rotate amongst four business units including Energy Services and GE Capital Real Estate. Among his responsibilities, Jacob managed the reporting for a $400M P&L and helped develop an application to monitor troubled debt in the firm’s $36B real estate portfolio. Upon completing GE Capital’s Financial Management Program, Jacob went to work for Ares Management, in Los Angeles, where he spent two years on the corporate finance team creating the company’s yearly budget. Jacob graduated Summa Cum Laude from Northeastern University, in 2012, with a B.S. degree in finance and a minor in economics.

Jackson S. Losey – MRED (Full-time) Prior to attending USC, Jack worked in multifamily investment sales at Berkadia in Los Angeles. Working in a two-person team, he helped manage the entire transaction process for existing multifamily buildings and development sites, from underwriting and creating proposals, to overseeing escrow and closing. Since joining in July of 2017, his team sold 18 properties, including six development sites, comprised of over 385 units for a total of over $78 million. Before joining Berkadia, Jack worked as a commercial broker specializing in tenant representation in San Diego, leasing nearly 800,000 square feet and producing over $4 million in volume. In 2015, he earned a B.S. in Real Estate from the Fowler College of Business at San Diego State University and is a licensed real estate broker in California.


Dennis Allen Lowe – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Dennis graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2012 with a B.S. in Political Science. He served five years as an active duty Army officer where he led a tank platoon, a scout platoon, and served as a planner. He deployed twice to Kuwait and once to Eastern Europe where he planned military training exercises and coordinated the development of modular base camps. Dennis left the military as a Captain in March 2017 and enrolled at USC to pursue an MBA/MRED dual degree. His professional interests include sustainable urbanism and multifamily affordable housing.

Will McGraw – MRED (Full-time) Prior to attending USC, Will helped to found and operate Inland Harbor LLC, a family owned real estate company. Inland Harbor’s primary focus lies in industrial development and its ancillary components in the Inland Empire region of Southern California such as entitlements, infrastructure and parking/storage. Inland Harbor’s portfolio has grown to currently include +/- 100 acres of ongoing projects. Will later joined Real Estate Development Associates ("REDA"), an industrial development firm focused on building e-commerce/logistics distribution centers and warehousing throughout Southern California. At REDA, Will was responsible for sourcing, underwriting and performing analysis on potential deals as well as project management, research and marketing initiatives for ongoing projects totaling over 5 million square feet in industrial space. Will received his BA in International Relations from USC in 2008.

Robert Miller – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Prior to attending USC, Robert was a retail leasing executive for DJM Capital Partners, a private equity investor and developer with a total asset value of $1.5 Billion. His primary duties included sourcing, negotiating and closing lease transactions for DJM’s largest shopping center assets. Robert was responsible for 1.84M square feet of institutional retail space, representing nearly 75% of the total DJM retail portfolio. Robert closed over 80 lease transactions on behalf of DJM, creating in excess of $125 Million in value for the portfolio. Robert received a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley in 2010.

Julian Nan – MRED (Part-Time, First-year) Julian is the Land Acquisition Manager for Shea Homes, a national residential home builder and developer. Since 2013, he has been responsible for sourcing, underwriting, and negotiating land transactions in Southern California, and more recently became involved in entitling undeveloped land or repurposing existing commercial centers for residential use. During this time, he was responsible for the acquisition of 538 lots totaling $90.2 million in Orange, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Riverside Counties. These acquisitions varied in structure from cash purchases, seller financing, staged takedowns, fee builds, and joint ventures. Julian received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance, Real Estate, and Law from California Polytechnic University, Pomona in 2012.


Christine Nguyen – MRED (Full-time) Prior to attending USC, Christine was a Senior Investment Analyst at BioMed Realty, a subsidiary of Blackstone. As part of the BioMed Investments Team, she provided financial analysis, modeling, and research in support of potential life science real estate opportunities including acquisitions, dispositions, developments, and structured finance. Prior to BioMed Realty, Christine worked as an Acquisition Analyst for Brixton Capital, a private equity firm that focuses on value-add investment opportunities throughout the United States and Europe. Christine worked on acquisitions ranging from distressed loan acquisitions to commercial and residential transactions. Christine graduated in 2013 from the University of San Diego with a B.A. in Economics.

Minsuk Oh – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) After majoring finance and statistics at Yonsei University in Korea, Minsuk started his career at RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland) as an equity research associate, covering the construction and steel industry. Joining LIG Asset Management as a portfolio manager, he operated $20 Million fund, targeting companies that hold undervalued properties. In addition, he involved in many deals, to redevelop defunct factories in Seoul, as an analyst at IMM Investment, a private equity firm in Korea. Besides his professional careers, including as a managing director of Samsung Electronics’ vendor or a co-founder of a start-up, Minsuk made private investments in diverse types of estates like apartments, retail, and lands at Pyeongchang.

Phuoc Quach – MBA/MRED (Part-time, Second-year) Since 2014, Phuoc has worked as a Senior Credit Analyst at Mutual of Omaha Bank. He has experience underwriting all classes of CRE loans (multifamily, office, industrial, retail). He works collaboratively with Bankers to manage a portfolio of loans that exceeds $500MM in value. Phuoc has underwritten approximately $270MM of CRE loans; these transactions included construction projects as well as stabilized assets. He is also involved in managing underperforming properties to maximize the probability of full collection. In this role, he was responsible for creating two cash flow models (student and senior housing) that incorporates future lease-up and cash flow projections and compares them with existing operating activities. Prior to this, Phuoc worked as a Credit Analyst at The Walt Disney Company. In this role, he was responsible for conducting financial evaluations of Disney customers

to approve/deny the extension of credit. While at Disney, he led two automation projects to strengthen data integrity and reduce tedious tasks. The successful implementation of the automation tools saved approximately 200 labor hours, annually. Phuoc received a Bachelor’s degree in Business Marketing at California State University, Long Beach in 2010. Jack Robson – MBA/MRED (Full-time) After being promoted from a Purchasing Project Manager to the Director of Purchasing at his family’s real estate development business, Robson Homes in the San Francisco Bay Area. Jack managed the buy-outs and construction of over one hundred single-family homes, a 28-unit apartment complex, as well as a 30,000 square foot senior living facility. In total, Jack was responsible for nearly $75 million in construction related expenditures per year. Jack’s experience has provided him invaluable knowledge of the construction and project management process as a whole. Jack is currently the Vice President of Industry Outreach in USC’s Graduate Real Estate Association (GREA) and an active member of the Urban Land Institute. Jack received his BS in Business Administration from the University of Southern California in 2013.


Andrew E. Rodriguez – MRED (Part-time) Andrew currently works as a land use planner with Art Rodriguez and Associates, an alcohol license and zoning consulting firm. Prior to joining ARA, he was elected to the Walnut, California City Council in 2016. At 23 years old, he was the youngest individual serving in municipal government in the state of California at the time he was elected. On the City Council, Andrew and his colleagues make critical decisions on land use policies and the city’s $20+ million operating budget. Andrew’s previous work experiences include time at a public affairs firm in New York City and a non-profit redevelopment organization in New Jersey. Andrew received his B.A. in Political Science with a Minor in Planning and Public Policy from Rutgers University, New Brunswick.

Glen Rosic, CFA – MRED (Full-time) Glen is a seasoned real estate professional with over 12 years of experience in commercial real estate acquisitions, asset management, and development working at Cadillac Fairview - one of Canada’s largest owners, operators and developers of best-in-class office, retail and mixed-use properties with a portfolio valued at more than $29 billion. For the past 5 years he has been managing retail-focused re-development projects leading the development team from concept to completion. These projects, valued at over $350 million, have included many of the top retail destinations in Canada where he also led the negotiation of leases comprising over 500,000 sq ft with national and international retail and entertainment tenants. Glen graduated from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business with Honours in 2004, majoring in Finance. He is also a CFA Charterholder and member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).

Jake Sachse – MRED (Part-time, First-year) Prior to attending USC, Jake worked in investment sales brokerage as a Senior Associate at Kennedy Wilson Properties. He led his team in due diligence and risk management and assisted his team with financial analysis, market research, business development and client relations. Jake transacted over $350M of commercial real estate with experience across multiple product types including retail, office, multifamily, hospitality, industrial and raw land. Jake earned his B.S. at the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 2013.

Omer Samiri – MRED (Part-time, Second-year) Possessing a deep passion for real estate and drawing from his previous experiences working within a family-owned design and build firm in LA and as an investor in commercial real estate projects, Omer is transitioning to commercial real estate as a full time endeavor with the goal of pursuing a career in private equity. Omer currently interns at IRA Capital where he is immersed in all aspects of the business process including due diligence, acquisitions, asset management, assessing debt options and helping to raise equity capital from investors. Omer has combined 20 years of entrepreneurial experience as both a pioneer in mobile technology and a leader in Los Angeles nightlife production. Having launched a startup software company, Omer has grown annual revenue to nearly $2M with over 20k system users. Omer earned a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration with an emphasis on Marketing from California State University, Northridge, in 2001.


Andre Soroudi – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) After graduating from USC Marshall School of Business in May 2014, Andre joined G.H. Palmer Associates, a fully integrated real estate development company that focuses on acquiring and building investment grade luxury multi-family and mixed-use properties. As an Associate at G.H. Palmer, Andre worked with both the acquisitions and development team to acquire and build over 3,000 apartment units in Southern California with total budgets exceeding $750 million. Working with the acquisitions team, Andres responsibilities included sourcing, underwriting, due diligence, transaction management, and financing. Andre also functioned as a part of the development team, taking on the project management role for an adaptive reuse project, converting a 1913 built office building in Downtown Los Angeles into lofts and retail.

Sadé Tavangarian – MRED (Full-time) Since graduating Emory University with a BA in Political Science in 2015, Sadé has worked at CBRE as an Associate on one of the top performing full-service retail teams in the country. During her time at CBRE, she was responsible for leasing over 1,900,000 square feet of retail space in some of the most high-profile development projects in Southern California. Her responsibilities included negotiating leases, portfolio maintenance, project merchandising, assisting with the development and construction process, and market analysis. Working with many of the industry’s largest developers, private equity funds and REITs, some notable projects Sadé has leased include USC Village, Rialto Renaissance Marketplace and Plaza El Segundo. Sadé is a licensed Real Estate Broker in California and is an active member of ULI, CREW LA, ICSC and NAIOP.

Annie Tavetian – MRED (Full-time) Annie has worked in both estimating and project management. She began her career as an Estimator at L.E. Waters Construction located in Los Angeles. After gaining 2 years of experience in estimating projects ranging in size from $200,000 to $45 million, Annie made the transition to working in the field as an Assistant Project Manager for Whiting-Turner where she worked with clients such as Target and the Irvine Company on new construction as well as retrofit projects. Annie has 4 total years of experience in construction and a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture from the University of Virginia which she will use as a foundation on which to build her career in real estate development.

Michael Tessler – MRED (Part-time, First-year) Michael founded Responsive Homes, a real estate development company, to confront and reverse the negative ecological impacts of buildings in Los Angeles. Responsive Homes builds for the region’s Mediterranean climate with site specific attention to building orientation, window placement, material usage, color and form to reduce both environmental footprints and cost for occupants. A prototype house in Northeast Los Angeles was completed in 2018. With 9 years of experience in brokerage and single family development, Michael’s passion has shifted to the construction of mixed-use, mixed-income projects that intersect real estate, ecology, building science, urban planning and social justice. Michael received his Bachelor’s degree in Spanish and Linguistics from UCLA in 2009 and completed the Ross Program at USC in Winter 2016


Spencer Tsai – MBA/MRED (Part-time, First-year) Since 2014, Spencer has been working for Greatland Development, a real estate investment firm, mostly involved with raising funds from oversea investors and investing in real estate in Southern California. Spencer has been assistant project manger for several custom beachfront properties total value over $50 million, responsible for everything from dealing with municipal permitting, negotiating contracts and day to day activities at building sites. Having been promoted to project manager he is currently working on two custom 10,000+ sq. foot properties in a private golf community. Daily responsibilities include coordinating with architects, engineers and contractors, negotiating and budgeting for all proposals and contracts and disbursement of funds. Spencer received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2014.

Jason H Velázquez – MRED (Full-time) Prior to enrolling at USC, Jason worked as a project designer at Michael Folonis Architects, a Santa Monica based award winning architectural firm. In the past four years, Jason has been largely involved on a number of projects of varying scales ranging from a 6,000 SF 3-unit condominium project, to a 27,000 SF 43-unit fully affordable senior housing project, to a 60,000 SF 95-unit mixed-use commercial multi-family project. In developing the designs, he’s managed the process for obtaining various city and state entitlements and approvals, working closely with government officials, project consultants, contractors, and clients (developers). His experience spans through all phases of the design process, from program feasibility, building design, municipal and state building code compliance, and entitlements, through construction documents, permitting, and construction administration. Jason earned his Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) professional degree in 2014 from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Barry Wilkins – MPL/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Barry graduated from USC Price’s School of Public Policy in 2014 with a B.S. in Policy, Planning, and Development (Real Estate Development track) and a minor in Architecture Studies. Soon after graduating, Barry joined Hathaway Dinwiddie’s construction management team as Plan Room Coordinator for the USC Village, before being promoted into the role of Assistant Project Engineer. After 8 months on the project, Barry departed to work for Caruso Affiliated as Project Coordinator for Tenant Improvements. Since 2015, Barry has coordinated with Caruso’s Leasing, Development, Architecture, and Marketing teams on tenant build outs across the company’s properties, including The Grove, The Americana at Brand, and the Commons at Calabasas. Barry is currently focused on the company’s Pacific Palisades Village project, and volunteers with the Martin Luther King, Jr. CDC in

redeveloping Charles Drew University’s South LA medical facilities. In pursuing the MPL/MRED degree, Barry’s biggest goal is to improve socio-economic conditions through mixed-use P3 developments. Ryan Wynn – MRED (Full-time) Since 2013, Ryan worked as a licensed architect at Gensler, specializing in commercial office buildings and high rise residential projects. As an integral member of the Los Angeles office, Ryan worked on the design, development and construction of multiple high profile projects throughout the region. Most notably he worked on a 450,000 SF creative office building in Culver City, a 300,000 SF luxury residential tower in Mid-City and a 400,000 SF public agency headquarters in Riverside. Ryan’s responsibilities varied by project, allowing him to be involved in many facets of the development process. His experience includes program validation, site planning, helping clients navigate the entitlement process, making presentations to key stakeholders and council members, consultant coordination, code analysis, preparing bid documents, and project closeout through the construction administration process. Ryan received his Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) in 2013.


Jiansheng (Jarvis) Xu – MBA/MRED (Full-time, Second-year) Prior to attending USC, Jarvis worked as a general manager in Zhejiang Sanyu Real Estate Co., Ltd in Wenzhou, China to construct and open a five-star luxury hotel. In that position, Jarvis was involved in of all the processes a real estate development program may need to complete to be built. He hired and directed a corporate team of five executives to examine and optimize the drawings of civil engineering structure, mechanical and electrical system, and intelligent system to ensure the construction built can meet all quality expectations. He also carefully selected all building construction materials to guarantee all materials are cost-effective. People reported to his executive team included 800 field employees, contractors, and subcontractors. Jarvis obtained his Bachelor of Business Administration in 2015 from University of Washington.

Jeffrey Zychowski – MRED (Part-time, Second-year) Jeffrey works with USC’s Real Estate & Asset Management Department as Housing Administrator coordinating residential purchase transactions for the university’s faculty and staff. He has taken key roles on large scale property acquisitions made by the university. Prior to USC Jeffrey was with J.P. Morgan Chase and J.P. Morgan Securities leading a Chase Private Client team. He also held positions at the consumer bank in residential lending and small business development. Prior to J.P. Morgan Chase, Jeffrey worked in specialized lending leading a team of up to ten loan officers. Jeffrey completed a MBA program with a finance concentration from California State University Dominguez Hills in 2016 and completed a BS in Marketing from San Diego State University in 2004.

student profiles 2018-19 - priceschool.usc.edu · héctor aréchiga de león – mred (full-time)...

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