Housing the Bay 2025 Summit Speakers

2025 Summit Speakers

Jim Heid
Founder
CRAFT DnA and UrbanGreen

In an industry focused on dollars and square feet, Jim’s approach to real estate is measured in impact. As a built environment entrepreneur, he focuses on real estate development as a vehicle to create positive change and environments for people to thrive. His infill projects have won national and local awards for their innovation, creativity and contextually responsive approach.

Over a decade ago Jim launched the Small Scale Developer’s Forum (SSDF) as a way to elevate the visibility and capacity of entrepreneurial real estate developers working to build community, not commodity. The projects and people the Forum brought together led to Building Small: A Toolkit for Real Estate Entrepreneurs, Civic Leaders and Great Communities; published in 2021 by the Urban Land Institute (ULI). The book is now used widely in emerging developer and graduate school programs to train real estate entrepreneurs to think beyond the spreadsheet.

An active member of ULI since 1993, Jim played early advocacy roles in many of ULI’s pioneering efforts, serving as an instructor and/or author for subjects such as Sustainable Community Design, Making Mixed Use work, Resilience Across the Rural to Urban Transect, and recently Small Scale Incremental Development. Serving on 16 Advisory Service and Technical Assistance Panels, Jim has chaired efforts as diverse as Resilient Infrastructure in Fort Lauderdale (2024), Zero Carbon + Affordability for Residential Towers Renewal ,Toronto, Canada (2019); Place Branding Strategies for Napa’s Oxbow District (2018), and The Value of Relocating the Federal Government, Moscow, Russia (2011) (yes, you read that correctly).

Trained as a landscape architect at the University of Idaho, Jim went on to receive a Masters in Real Estate Development from MIT as way to more effectively integrate economics, development and design thinking. He lives in Healdsburg, CA the food and wine epicenter of Sonoma County, with his wife, daschund and the everyday challenges that come from owning and running a boutique coworking space.
Swathi Bonda
Senior Vice President, Development
Lendlease

Swathi Bonda is a Senior Vice President of Development at Lendlease. Prior to working at Lendlease, Swathi worked at led affordable housing development for Forest City’s New York office, including nearly 800 units of mixed-income housing at Pacific Park Brooklyn (formerly Atlantic Yards). Before becoming a real estate developer, Swathi was a Senior Consultant with Booz Allen Hamilton and an Economist with Fannie Mae. Swathi earned both her B.S. in Economics and MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves on the the Kelsey’s Board of Directors, ULI San Francisco’s Housing the Bay’s Steering Committee.
Xiomara Cisneros
Senior Program Officer, Housing Affordability
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Xiomara is senior program officer of housing affordability for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, where she supports CZI’s commitment to ensure everyone has access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Her experience includes various roles in community outreach and project management in the land use and commercial real estate industry, both in the nonprofit and private sector. Prior to joining the CZI, she was director of Bay Area Council’s housing policy initiative. Her experience also includes overseeing the public affairs program and entitlement strategy for some of the largest mixed-use developments in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is a graduate of Lorry I. Lokey School of Business at Mills College and of University of California, Los Angeles. She is co-vice chair of the Housing Action Coalition, and board member of San Mateo County’s Housing Leadership Council, ULI Executive Committee and vice chair of Housing the Bay Steering Committee, San Francisco’s Community Investment Fund Advisory Board, and City of Alameda’s Planning Board.
Natalie Sandoval
Executive Director
ULI San Francisco

Natalie Sandoval is Executive Director at the Urban Land Institute San Francisco (ULI SF) and has over 15 years of experience in real estate, economic development, urban planning, and landscape architecture. She has been with ULI SF since 2016 and a member of ULI since 2007.

Over the last eight years, she led all of the organization’s public sector work, was instrumental in launching and directing its Housing the Bay initiative and ULI’s Diversity Equity and Inclusion efforts, and has touched nearly all of its programmatic work during her tenure.

Natalie’s experience in the industry includes leadership positions around the country. Prior to joining ULI, she worked in the New York office of HR&A Advisors, an economic development and real estate consulting firm, as the Director of Marketing and Business Development. Prior to HR&A, she was the first Marketing and Business Development Manager for SWA Group, an international landscape architecture and urban design firm. Natalie received her MBA from the Presidio Graduate School and holds a BA from Bard College.
Margot Kushel
Professor of Medicine, Division Chief
Signature Development Group

Margot Kushel, MD is a Professor of Medicine at University of California San Francisco, and Division Chief of the Division of Health Equity and Society and Director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations and the UCSF Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative. She is a practicing general internist at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Dr. Kushel’s research focuses on the causes and consequences of homelessness, with the goal of preventing and ending homelessness and ameliorating the effects of homelessness on health. She is the Principal Investigator of the California State Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH) and of multiple NIH studies, including the HOPE HOME Study, a longitudinal cohort study of homelessness in older adults Homelessness and a study of advance care planning in permanent supportive housing. Dr. Kushel serves on the board of Housing California and the National Homelessness Law Center and the Steinberg Institute. She is a member of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. She speaks at a local, state, and national level about issues of homelessness, and frequently provides testimony to legislative bodies. She received her AB from Harvard College, her MD from Yale and completed residency, chief residency, and fellowship in internal medicine at UCSF.
Detra Harris
Founder and Principal
Strive Real Estate LLC

Detra L. Harris, Founder and Principal of Strive Real Estate LLC, a real estate investment and development firm. She is a Bay Area native, locally born and raised in San Francisco, a real estate investor, landlord, property manager, and mentor that carries over 35 years of experience in the real estate industry. Her management portfolio collectively includes more than 15,000 units of conventional and affordable housing communities, over $128 million in asset management.

She holds several housing certifications and accredited credentials. Her real estate development and rehab portfolio includes (19) completed single family homes; (45) condominium units, (99) fully renovated units and (96) affordable housing units in the pipeline. Additionally, Mrs. Harris has also completed (113) affordable housing rehabbed units in the Bay Area. Her housing portfolio includes 728 units with a goal of ownership, development and management of 2,000 units by 2030.

She attended Laney College and San Francisco State University with a major in Business Administration, IREM credentials, a member of ULI, Board Director of the City of El Cerrito Chambers of Commerce, AHLN CORO alumni and more. She is also married with two sons that reside in Nevada and California.
Tomiquia Moss
Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
State of California

Tomiquia Moss was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to serve as the Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency in November 2023 and was sworn in on February 14, 2024. As Secretary, Tomiquia leads and oversees 12 entities, including 40 boards and bureaus, collectively responsible for the preservation and expansion of safe, affordable housing, efforts to prevent and end homelessness, protect consumers, and safeguard Californians’ civil rights.

Tomiquia brings more than 20 years of leadership experience in the nonprofit and public sectors with deep expertise in housing and homelessness, public policy, civil rights, and community development. She is a dynamic and visionary leader, known for her ability to bring people together to tackle complex problems in a strategic and collaborative way.

In 2019, Tomiquia founded All Home, a Bay Area organization advancing regional solutions to disrupt the cycles that perpetuate homelessness and poverty. In its first four years, All Home convened the Regional Impact Council that developed two ambitious regional plans, and built a team to implement those plans to increase housing and economic security for people with extremely low incomes in the Bay Area. They have advocated successfully for state and local policy change, launched multiple new programs, and granted millions of dollars to nonprofit and local government partners to prevent homelessness and create economic mobility for the people who need it most.

Before founding All Home, Tomiquia served as the CEO of Hamilton Families, which offers emergency, transitional, and permanent housing services for families experiencing homelessness in San Francisco. From 2014 to 2017, she served directly under the mayors of both San Francisco and Oakland, including as Chief of Staff for Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. Previously, she was the Executive Director of the HOPE SF Initiative, a public housing and neighborhood revitalization effort with the office of the late San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee. Tomiquia also served as the founding project director of the San Francisco Community Justice Center of the Superior Court of California.

In 2022, Tomiquia was appointed by Senate Pro-Tem Toni Atkins to serve as a member of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness. As BCSH Secretary, she now serves as co-chair of Cal ICH. Tomiquia is a former board president for both SPUR and the Nonprofit Housing Association of Northern California, former co-chair of the Bay Area Council’s Homelessness Committee and of the Black Leadership Council, and former board member for Oakland Promise. She served as an Advisory Committee member for the Bay Area Housing Finance Authority from its inception until her appointment as Secretary. She remains a board member of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation.
Tatiana Hodapp
Senior Vice President
JLL

A Bay Area native, Tatiana Hodapp leads JLL’s Northern California Land

practice with a particular focus on sales and capitalizations of large

mixed-use sites, ranging from master planned communities to resort

developments to repositioning of industrial and office campuses. Tatiana

has a deep understanding of the regulatory, market, and political

dynamics that impact a site’s development potential, enabling her to

evaluate a site’s development value. Tatiana markets entitled and

unentitled sites owned by corporates, developers, and legacy land

owners. The typical buyer profiles that she works with are private equity,

master developers, infill developers, and homebuilders.

Prior to joining JLL, Tatiana worked for HR&A Advisors in Manhattan, a

real estate consultancy specializing in market studies and highest and

best use analyses. Tatiana is a member of the ULI – Community

Development National Product Council, black flight, which specializes in

master planned community development; the Treasurer of Luna Dance &

Creativity; and nursery school director for St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal

Church in San Francisco.

Tatiana received her MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of

Business and did her undergraduate at UNC- Chapel Hill.
Paul Steidl
Co-Founder
BuildCasa

Paul is the Co-Founder and CPO of BuildCasa, an Oakland-based startup that identifies and develops properties primed for recent housing reforms, such as SB 9 and SB 684 in California. BuildCasa helps buyers identify high-potential properties, provides development services, and has units in development which will be sold to homeowners in the 80-120% AMI range in Sacramento, the Bay Area, and San Diego.

Paul is a licensed architect and urban planner with experience across multiple building sectors, focused on leveraging regulatory change to unlock new distributed housing supply in our communities. Prior to starting BuildCasa, Paul worked at HOK in the San Francisco corporate commercial architecture studio. He holds a dual Master of Architecture (M.Arch) and Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) from Georgia Tech.
Kunal Modi
Chief of Health, Homelessness, and Family Services
City of San Francisco

Kunal Modi is San Francisco’s Chief of Health, Homelessness, and Family Services. In this role, Kunal coordinates the following departments on behalf of the Mayor’s Office: Public Health, Homelessness & Supportive Housing, Human Services, Disability and Aging, Children, Youth, & Families, and Early Childhood. He also serves as the administration’s point of contact with SFUSD and City College.

Previously, Kunal was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, serving technology and public sector clients. His work included scaling public health infrastructure, delivering new technology solutions, and improving operations. Kunal has been an active community volunteer in San Francisco over the past decade, including board service with St. Anthony’s, Larkin Street Youth Services, Generation Citizen, and leading McKinsey’s Bay Area pro bono efforts. Kunal has also worked across the public and social sector, including roles at the Obama Foundation, Teach For America, and as an AmeriCorps service member, working at a drop-in resource center to help low-income families navigate support services.

Kunal holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from Northwestern University, MPP from Harvard Kennedy School, and MBA from Harvard Business School. Kunal is a sports fan, an avid runner, and enjoys spending time outdoors with his wife and three school-aged children.
Lisa A. Hillier

Senior Vice President

MRB Enterprises

Lisa Hillier serves as Senior Vice President, Real Estate for MRB Enterprises, a family office that oversees investments on behalf of a prominent family that has been active in the Bay Area real estate market for the past 100 years.

Lisa began her career at Kenneth Leventhal & Company (now part of Ernst & Young), where she wrote the business plan for her next move – Zenith Realty Investments, a startup real estate investment fund focused on boutique redevelopment projects in Florida. Once investments in the original fund matured, Lisa joined Capri Capital Partners, an emerging manager, in Chicago to pursue mezzanine and equity investments nationwide for the firm’s two opportunistic and value-add real estate funds.

Upon leaving CCP, Lisa returned to Miami to join The Related Group where her investment and asset management role evolved along with the company’s investment parameters – from distressed commercial and residential deals, to land for development, and ultimately covered land bank plays. She left Related after eight years to move to San Francisco and launch the expansion and operations of Truss (a prop-tech start up) into California.

Prior to joining MRBE, Lisa most recently oversaw acquisitions (Western US) and dispositions (nationwide) for Apartment Investment & Management Company, a publicly-traded real estate investment trust.

A graduate of Babson College, Lisa holds a Bachelor of Science in management degree with a major in accounting and minor in economics. She enjoys spending her free time photographing wildlife, hiking, and skiing.
Liz Probst
Director of Real Estate Development
East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation

Liz has nearly 20 years of experience working on public-private partnerships, with a focus on mixed-use infill developments. She is responsible for affordable, multifamily buildings of varying scales and complexities, including major master plans on City, County, and BART land. For the past decade, she has helped grow EBALDC’s real estate development pipeline to 7 projects under construction (700 units) and 13 in pre-development (900 units) throughout the East Bay. Over the course of her career, her projects have received state awards in Illinois, Georgia, Iowa, Wyoming, and Texas, in addition to numerous awards at the local and national levels.
Hazel L. Wetherford

Deputy City Manager
City of Dublin

Hazel L. Wetherford serves as the Deputy City Manager for the City of Dublin, where she oversees Economic Development, Finance, Communications, and Civic and Strategic Affairs. In this role, she leads the development and implementation of key policies, initiatives, and priorities, working across departments to advance the City’s economic vitality and fiscal sustainability. She also manages the City Council’s strategic priorities, including the Downtown Dublin Preferred Vision and the Fallon Road Economic Development Zone.

With more than 20 years of experience in local government, Ms. Wetherford began her public service career with the California State Legislature, later serving the City of Brentwood before joining the City of Dublin. She holds a Master of Public Administrations from the University of San Francisco and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis.

A dedicated leader in the public sector, Hazel serves as Co-Chair to the Urban Land Institute’s Technical Assistance for Communities, Board Member of the Local Government Hispanic Network, and is the immediate Past President of Cal-ICMA.
Stew Cedarleaf
Director of Aquisitions
Westlake Realty

Stew is the Director of Acquisitions at Westlake Realty, a single family office with a 50 year track record of successful real estate investments. Stew leads the company’s acquisition efforts and works with the Westlake team to execute multifamily ground up development projects. Prior to Westlake, Stew served as a Managing Director at Gemdale USA where he led the company’s acquisition and disposition activity across Northern California and played a key role in capital markets, leasing, and overall investment strategy. While at Gemdale his team delivered nearly 500 apartment units. Prior to joining Gemdale USA, Stew had his own consulting and investing business where he focused on industrial outdoor storage and multifamily land acquisitions, development, and financial analysis for clients and investors. Mr. Cedarleaf has 20 years of real estate experience and has held positions at Prologis Inc., FivePoint Holdings, Poly Global, and the real estate advisory practice at EY. He has been directly involved in over $10 billion of transactions, ranging from small single asset investments to entity-level mergers and acquisitions. Stew holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with dual majors in real estate and finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a licensed real estate salesperson in California and he is the Vice Chairman of CREATE, a nonprofit that prepares college students at Bay Area schools for a career in the real estate industry (https://www.createworkforce.org/).
Linda Mandolini
President & CEO
Eden Housing

Linda Mandolini has served as President of Eden Housing since 2001. In her role at Eden, Linda oversees affordable housing production, resident support services, and property management components of the organization, and a staff of more than 500 employees. She is guided in her work by Eden’s active volunteer board of directors.

Under her leadership, Eden Housing has become one of the most productive and successful nonprofit affordable housing developers and owners in California and is nationally recognized for its work. To date, Eden has developed or acquired more than 11,000 affordable rental apartments in communities throughout California, completed three portfolio mergers and acquisitions, and has launched a number of initiatives to increase affordable housing preservation and to promote sustainable practices.

Linda has received a number of awards, including being inducted into the Alameda County Women’s Hall of Fame in 2017, and being named to the San Francisco Business Times’ Forever Influential Honor Roll in 2016.

Linda is a leader in housing policy on the local, state and national level. She was one of the affordable housing leaders who worked tirelessly for the passage of California Housing bonds that collectively generated $10 billion for housing.

Prior to relocating to California in 1996, Linda held various community development positions in Boston. Linda received her AB degree from Wheaton College in Massachusetts and earned an MBA at Boston University.
Joe Kirchofer

Senior Vice President

AvalonBay

Joe Kirchofer serves as Senior Vice President of Development for AvalonBay, with responsibility for all of the company’s development activity in Northern California. The company is a leading developer, owner, and manager of multifamily and mixed-use developments in the region, and has completed major recent projects in San Francisco, the East Bay, and the South Bay. Mr. Kirchofer joined the company in 2013.

Prior to joining AvalonBay, Mr. Kirchofer led complex residential and mixed-use projects for one of the Bay Area’s top nonprofit affordable housing developers, MidPen Housing.

Mr. Kirchofer is a Bay Area Council board member, a former member of the Executive Committee of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition, and a member of the SPUR Housing Policy Board, the Fisher Center Policy Advisory Board, ULISF, and SPIRE. Mr. Kirchofer received a degree in Urban Studies from Stanford University.
Melissa Stevenson Diaz
City Manager
City of Redwood City

With over 30 years of professional local government management experience, Melissa has served as City Manager in City of Redwood City since 2015. She is passionate about public service and building organizations and communities where every person can thrive. As City Manager, she directs the work of City staff to provide effective public services and ensure fulfillment of the City Council’s policy priorities.

Prior to joining Redwood City, Melissa was the Assistant City Manager for the Cities of Mountain View and Fremont. She has substantial background in budgeting and financial management, and led strategic initiatives, continuous improvement efforts, and human resources and organizational development. Additional experience includes managing the functions of housing and redevelopment, information technology, and city communications, as well as coordinating the development of City-owned property. She also worked for the City of Morgan Hill in a variety of capacities including Assistant to the City Manager and Acting Human Resources Manager.

Melissa received her Bachelor’s Degree in History from Mills College, and her Master’s in Public Administration from San Jose State University. She is a Credentialed Manager through the International City/County Management Association and serves on the board for the Center for Public Safety Excellence. She is on the leadership team for NextGen Silicon Valley and is an active coach and champion for public sector talent development.
Daniel Simons

Principal

David Baker Architects

Daniel Simons, FAIA, LEED AP, is a Principal at David Baker Architects, a collaborative architecture and urban design firm based in San Francisco and Birmingham, Ala., that creates acclaimed communities in diverse environments. Formed in 1982, DBA is known for innovative housing, creative site strategies, healthy design, and integrating new construction into the urban realm.

With more than 25 years of architectural experience, Daniel has focused on the field of multifamily housing, using his extensive knowledge of green building practices and progressive city planning to minimize buildings’ environmental impact while improving the quality of life for residents. His work elevates affordable housing by using design as a “multiplier of good”—repairing the urban fabric, championing sustainability, and uplifting communities.

Daniel recently co-authored 9 Ways to Make Housing for People, the firm’s framework for high-quality, community-oriented housing. Under his leadership, DBA has been recognized with the AIA California 2020 Firm Award and as the 2012 Distinguished Practice. In 2018, Daniel was elevated to Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, recognizing his exceptional work and contributions to architecture and society.

Daniel sits on the board of the Bay Area Housing Action Coalition, where he co-chairs the Design Review Committee, and is an ongoing lecturer at the U.C. Berkeley College of Environmental Design.

Contact Daniel at [email protected].
Lindsay Haddix
Executive Director
East Bay Housing Organization

Lindsay Haddix (she/her) is the Executive Director at East Bay Housing Organizations.Lindsay has dedicated her entire career to solving the dual crises of homelessness and housing affordability, centering social equity and environmental sustainability in her work.

She was most recently the Housing Initiative Program Manager at Meta, formerly known as Facebook, where she focused on advancing the investment and policy priorities associated with the company’s $1 billion commitment to help address the affordable housing crisis in California.

Before Meta, Lindsay was at San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH), overseeing the real estate development of housing, shelters, and service sites, the San Mateo County Department of Housing, and nonprofit affordable housing developer BRIDGE Housing. She started her affordable housing career in New York City at the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and later at the Housing Authority (NYCHA).

Lindsay also served as an environmental education volunteer with the Peace Corps in Guatemala.

She earned a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Brown University and a Master’s in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lindsay has been a renter her entire adult life and lives in San Francisco where she enjoys running along the Embarcadero, supporting local restaurants, and frequenting the SF Public Library.
Kasheica McKinney

Director

BART

is the Director of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), where she leads the District’s initiatives to transform land around BART stations into vibrant, inclusive, and transit-connected communities. With a background in development, law, and community engagement, she brings a multidisciplinary lens to advancing equitable development across the Bay Area.

At BART, she leads a team of experienced property development officers that oversee BART’s TOD portfolio—including policy development, ground lease negotiations, and partnerships with public and private developers—to support affordable housing, economic opportunity, and climate resilience. Her work prioritizes alignment with state housing goals, regional planning frameworks, and meaningful community engagement, especially with historically underserved communities.

Prior to joining BART, Kasheica worked at the intersection of urban policy, environmental justice, and development, and has played a key role in advancing large-scale development projects that reflect the needs and aspirations of diverse communities. She is passionate about creating accessible spaces that connect people not just to transit, but to opportunity.
Gloria Bruce
Program Director
Crankstart Foundation

Gloria is the Program Director of Housing Security and Public/Private Partnerships at Crankstart Foundation, overseeing grantmaking and investments to address homelessness and housing affordability in the San Francisco area. Before joining Crankstart in 2023, Gloria was Executive Director of East Bay Housing Organizations, a leading local advocacy coalition promoting affordable housing. A long-time Oakland resident, Gloria has over 20 years of experience in social justice and community development in the Bay Area, Boston, and Washington, D.C. She has a graduate degree in City and Regional Planning from UC-Berkeley, and a B.A. in History from Harvard and RadcliffeColleges. She chairs the Alameda County Measure A1 Oversight Committee. Originally from Maryland, she lives in Oakland with her wife and two sons.