May marks the beginning of the annual month-long observance and celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. AAPI Heritage Month is a time to both reaffirm and uphold the historical importance and influence of the AAPI community in the United States and beyond. The AAPI community is extremely diverse: AAPI is an umbrella term that embraces the entire continent of Asia, including East, Southeast, and South Asia, as well as the Pacific Islands of Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

In honor of AAPI Heritage Month, ULI is excited to celebrate this month by spotlighting three leaders in the San Francisco District Council Community: Jane Lee, Eric Tao, and Randy Tsuda.

Jane Lee has lived and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for the better part of the last two decades. Throughout this time, she has contributed to the design and delivery of a variety of large-scale projects across many sectors that have shaped the skylines of several cities within the region and in North America. Her project portfolio includes: mixed-use multifamily residential, transit-oriented development, civic and cultural institutions, commercial office buildings, research facilities, academic institutions, government buildings, and retail. She is currently a project manager at Flad Architects, focusing on the science and technology sector.

Tell us about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the real estate industry.

Community provides cohesiveness, depth, and richness to successful neighborhoods and cities; therefore, it is vital that different voices are heard and heeded in the process of creating and developing the built environment. Having a diversity of perspectives seated at the table increases the probability that decisions are made together with instead of for the people who are meant to be served by what we do.

How has involvement with ULI has impacted your career?

ULI programs and events are incredibly content-rich and fun. I have gained substantial industry-based knowledge over the years by attending ULI events, which frequently offer opportunities to meet new people baked into the structure of each program, making it easy to create new connections.

Because ULI membership draws from such a broad casting of the nets across all sectors of real estate development, it allows me to broaden my perspective about what is going on in the entire ecology of the industry. This helps me be much smarter and more strategic with how I engage in my work and how it plugs back into the broader community context. 

Eric Tao is a managing partner at L37 Partners and managing principal at AGI. Originally hailing from Hilo, Hawai’i, Eric landed in San Francisco to attend UC Hastings College of Law.  After practicing with Hanson Bridgett he, like many of his peers, felt the pull of the “Dot.Com” revolution and joined a startup, aptly named Startups.Com.  Also like many of his peers, the startup ended but having felt the pull of being an entrepreneur he joined a colleague at AGI and entered the world of real estate.  For the past 20-years Eric has worked in the San Francisco Bay Area developing multifamily, commercial and industrial projects, from apartments in the Mission, to industrial space in San Jose to condos in Oakland.

Tell us about the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the real estate industry.

The real estate industry by its nature impacts the environs where people interact.  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area we celebrate diversity, equity and inclusion, it is not only a draw for those that may feel excluded elsewhere but a zeitgeist that promotes the cultural and economic richness of our region.  The real estate industry should recognize this foundation of what makes us unique and serve to perpetuate it.  Being a person of color myself – I firmly believe that the SF Bay Area’s embracing of diversity allowed me to accomplish much more as a developer than I could have in a less diverse, equitable and inclusive environment.

How has involvement with ULI has impacted your career?

At ULI I have found fellow professionals, civil servants and academics who share a profound commitment towards excelling in ensuring that the built environment is sustainable, economically feasible and humane – simpler said than accomplished.  ULI allows for an honest discourse that helps me grow as a real estate professional as well as develop lasting friendships.

Randy Tsuda is the CEO of Alta Housing, a non-profit that develops, manages, and provides resident services for affordable housing in Silicon Valley.  His career includes experience in the non-profit, private, and public sectors, and spans real estate, city planning, affordable housing, and economic development. Before Alta Housing, he served as the Director of Community Development for the City of Mountain View for over ten years and the Director of Corporate Real Estate for a technology company.  He is also on the Board of Directors for the Nonprofit Housing Association and the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce.

Thank you, Jane, Eric, and Randy, for your leadership within the ULI San Francisco district council and our communities!