Advisory Council

Joseph Aamidor is an experienced product leader and expert in smart buildings, real estate technology and facility operations. He provides product and market strategy guidance to building owners/operators, established building management firms, technology providers, investors, and early-stage innovators. Previously, he served as Director of Product at Lucid Design Group and was a product manager at Johnson Controls.

Kimberly Bertz is a change management, organization strategy and operations leader. She leads Wells Fargo's Workplace Services and Experience. Her team delivers leading edge workplaces that integrate digital innovation and responsive services and tools and environments to support a collaboration-rich environment. Her team is also responsible for critical back-end services and systems supporting lease/records management, digital platforms for real estate, properties-related help desk and enterprise event centers.

Cedar Blazek is a program analyst within BTO’s Commercial Buildings Integration program. Her work at BTO focuses on field validation of promising commercial building technologies, partnerships with private-sector building owners, and strategies to accelerate Advanced Building Construction.

Clayton Broemsen is VP of IT Infrastructure for Cousins Properties, a REIT based in Atlanta, GA. He is responsible for all aspects of Cousins’ IT Infrastructure as it applies to the Corporate Office and Property Infrastructure including Networks, End User Devices, Security, Data Centers and Disaster Recovery.

James Brogan, AIA RIBA NCARB, is currently a Principal / CIO with Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF), responsible for the overall strategy and integration of digital technologies in KPF’s nine global locations, including Digital Practice, information, data and knowledge management, advanced modeling and immersive technologies, the KPF intranet.

Charles Buscarino is a recognized leader in the design and implementation of integrated smart building systems. He founded The Clarient Group (TCG) in 2002 and under his leadership, TCG has developed innovative solutions for more than 100 clients and 55 million square feet of properties, including many well-known signature projects.

Jon Clarke is Head of Smart Building Technology and responsible for overseeing the strategic deployment of Building Technology, Proptech and Innovative solutions across the portfolio. He leads the building technology team who research and trial emerging technologies with a focus on solving real problems with scalability to deliver the next generation of cutting edge digitally enabled buildings.

Scott Cochrane is President and CEO of Cochrane Supply & Engineering, overseeing six branches throughout three states and one in Canada. He is an advisory council member for multiple industry manufacturers such as Honeywell, Johnson Controls, and Tridium.

Emmanuel Daniel is responsible for building and delivering the Digital Transformation strategy for campuses across Microsoft and leads a global multidisciplinary team of architects and experience designers. He builds experiences that merge technology with the built environment, leading to the formation of spaces that respond to the needs of its users. He is also accountable for identifying, building and implementing the next generation of products that will make smarter and sustainable buildings.

Kunal Desai is a Engineering Programs Manager at Google. He leads Google's coveted Facility Engineering Programs including the Digital / Smart Building Program. Kunal is responsible for developing and executing Smart Building Program strategy with strong focus on user experience and facility operations. With over 14 years of experience in Design, Sustainability, Energy Efficiency, and Building Management Systems, Kunal has always been a strong advocate of technology actively assisting in solving for current day real estate problems.

James Dice, PE, CEM, CMVP is the founder of Nexus Labs, a weekly blog, podcast, online school, and consultancy striving to create smarter, more efficient buildings. Its goal is to help tell remarkable stories that will educate and move the industry forward. Nexus Labs provides a free weekly newsletter and podcast covering the latest trends in smart buildings technology. James holds a professional engineering license and has a background in energy management, data analytics, commissioning, and HVAC design.

John Dulin is a 30-year global telecom and enterprise executive and has held senior positions in product management, marketing and sales in the areas of fiber optics, wireless and new technology development. Currently with Corning, John is focused on introducing its fiber optic and wireless innovations to the commercial real estate market.

Maureen Ehrenberg, FRICS, CRE, LAI is CEO of Blue Skyre, Innovation in the Built Environment. She is n internationally recognized expert on real estate business transformation, strategic redesign for the future of work and facility management. With more than 25 years’ experience, she has deep expertise in providing real estate advice and services to companies around the world. Before founding Blue Skyre, she was Global Head of Real Estate Operations and Strategic Services for WeWork. She has also held global executive roles with JLL, CBRE and Grubb & Ellis Company.

Marlene Farias joined Triovest in 2002. She has over 25 years of senior building operations and property management experience and is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of approximately 10 million square feet of industrial and commercial real estate in the Greater Toronto Area.

Robert Fitzgerald is the Regional Technology Director for JLL Technologies. In this role, Robert helps clients shape their digital transformation strategy. He and his team provide advisory and consulting expertise to clients to help identify, select, implement, and sustain workplace technologies, bringing fit for purpose solutions that deliver targeted business outcomes supporting workplace experience, portfolio optimization, operational efficiency, and carbon footprint reduction. Prior to his current role, Robert held several leadership roles with Nokia Workplace Resources helping transform their portfolio, organization and digital landscape globally.

Jonathan (JP) Flaherty is the Director of Sustainability at Tishman Speyer, one of the leading owners, developers, operators and fund managers of first-class real estate worldwide. In this role, he manages sustainability certificates, investor communications, worldwide performance tracking, and technological innovation implementation.

Michael Frazee is the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) of Lendlease, a globally integrated real estate and investment group committed to the creation of communities which thrive. With over 28 years of IT experience at Lendlease, Michael is a trusted leader in building global teams and large-scale security programs that address cybersecurity, technology risk and enhance operational resilience. Michael also serves on the Leadership Board of the Real Estate Cyber Consortium (RECC), an organisation focused on elevating awareness across the real estate community about cyber security preparedness for buildings and facilities.

Alex is responsible for developing a smart building strategy and framework to execute across one of Australia’s largest property portfolios. He has held various roles in Information Technology, with over 20 years’ experience in organisations including Dexus, Deutsche Bank and the University of New South Wales (UNSW). One of his specialties is in-building connectivity.

David Gallagher leads the Digital Buildings team at Oxford Properties, an owner, manager, and developer of commercial real estate with a portfolio of over 300 buildings around the world. David is responsible for the strategy and the execution of Oxford’s digital building technology initiatives. Key projects include digital twinning and the data driven optimization of buildings.

John is COO/EVP/CTO of Rudin Management Company (RMC which manages 15 million square feet of commercial and residential space, the largest privately owned real estate company in NYC owned by the Rudin Family. John has been involved in every major project the company has developed over the last 24 years. As a co-inventor of Nantum® building operating system and Executive Chairman of Prescriptive Data, his vision is to future proof real estate by giving all buildings a 'brain'.

Mark Golan is a seasoned executive with extensive experience in real estate, finance and technology. Currently in his role as VP Real Estate & Workplace Services (REWS) at Google, he oversees the organization's business partnerships, central facilities services, events & guest services, transportation, and all facets of design and construction.

Arv Gupta is an accomplished operations executive with over 25 years of experience in leading business renewal, and building sustainable customer value propositions with a number of major retail organizations. Arv is currently responsible for driving national operational efficiency and effectiveness, while maintaining a standard of excellence in customer experience across all Cadillac Fairview properties.

As a key member of Stanford University’s Sustainability and Energy Management (SEM) team, Gerry Hamilton oversees the department’s long-term energy use planning; designs, implements, and directs assessment and outreach for sustainability programs; oversees business systems and analytics initiatives; and steers academic integration to aid program implementation.

Dean Hopkins is currently COO of Oxford Properties. He draws on over 25 years of experience as an entrepreneur, public company CEO, change agent, and thought leader to organizations seeking to leverage technology to achieve their global ambitions.

As the leader of one of Hepta Systems’ fastest growing departments, Jason Houck is in charge of the design and implementation of smart building networks. He has over fourteen years of experience implementing and servicing Building Automation and Security Systems. His responsibilities include project management, programming, network design, and verification of building systems for both retrofit and new construction projects. Jason also has an extensive IT background which allows him to fully appreciate the importance of a properly designed network.

Thomas Kaufman is the Senior Director, Corporate Real Estate at United Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of innovative products to address the unmet medical needs of patients with chronic and life-threatening diseases. He is responsible for managing the entitlement, design and construction of the company’s new headquarters, the largest commercial site-net zero building on the East Coast.

Sabine Lam is the Building Operating Systems (BOS) Global Lead for Google's Real Estate and Workplace Services (REWS) organization. In this role, she focuses on bringing the connected building vision to the forefront of Google real estate and facilities operations teams and equips them to deliver next generation services and workspaces to enhance employee's security and productivity.

Bayron Lopez is the Director, Operational Technology responsible for managing and innovating Kilroy Realty's smart buildings systems. He helps determine policies and processes from security to maintenance and growth to increase building efficiency and tenant experience. Kilroy is a leading West Coast landlord and developer globally recognized for sustainability, building operations, innovation and design.

Lachlan MacQuarrie oversees Epic’s Canadian real estate management services which includes property management operations, leasing, customer experience, sustainability and innovation programs. With over 20 years industry experience, he is a visionary, influential leader with international oversight experience in the global institutional real estate industry.

James McHale is CEO & Founder of Memoori, an independent analyst company based in Stockholm providing market research, business intelligence and advice on Smart Building technologies.

Lawrence Melton is the CEO and President of The Building People. With market offerings that include Real Estate Services, Facilities Management, Energy & Sustainability, Project Management Services and Information Technology, the company offers its clients program management and strategy solutions, integration and innovation management, and operational support and service. With over 20 years of Federal Executive Service, Lawrence established the company in 2012, and found early success in its global reach to drive greater efficiency, investment, and performance for their clients. Their client portfolios represent over 500 million square feet of real estate across the U.S.

Richard Newberry is the Strategic Advisor to the Board of Directors of KMC Controls, a leader in energy management and building automation solutions. Newberry, formerly President and CEO at KMC, has led corporate development, new product innovation, and competitive strategy for the company since 2014. With more than 30 years of executive and general management experience in energy, oil and gas, technology manufacturing, and building automation segments, Newberry applies a total solution view to guiding innovation and forging strategic partnerships with industry-leading technology firms.

Brian Oswald is Managing Director for CBRE focused on professional services, remote facility operation and system integration. He is responsible for daily business operations of CBRE and assist account teams and clients with identifying and implementing portfolio-wide smart building technology solutions. Brian brings more than a decade of smart building technology and implementation experience to his role, including a proven record of delivering multi-site applications.

David is the Sustainability Manager for Mirvac’s $9 billion investment portfolio. He leads a team of in-house sustainability professionals who are responsible for the delivery of Mirvac’s This Changes Everything sustainability strategy across the Office, Industrial and Retail portfolios.

Marc Petock is a pioneer in leading the Intelligent/Smart Buildings and M2M movements pushing the industry forward and has contributed to transforming and changing the Intelligent Buildings and M2M (now IoT) industries. As Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for Lynxspring, Marc leads corporate and product marketing, strategy, brand management, public relations and communications that support the company’s strategic and growth initiatives.

John Petze is a partner and co-founder at SkyFoundry, the developers of SkySpark™, an analytics platform for building, energy and equipment data. John has over 35 years of experience in building automation, energy management and M2M, having served in senior level positions for manufacturers of hardware and software products.

Scott Phillips is Senior Director, Global Workplace Solutions for Salesforce where he is responsible for Occupancy Planning, Workplace Strategy, and Change Enablement for a global portfolio of nearly 8M square feet, across 140 locations, supporting 52,000 employees. Prior to Salesforce, Scott has held Corporate Real Estate leadership roles with McDonald's, State Farm Insurance, and U.S. Cellular.

Rudy Reagin is the Global Programme Lead for Deutsche Bank's Corporate Services. With more than thirty years of experience in IT, Rudy is currently responsible for the application architecture that supports lease administration, facilities management, space management, security operations, and a wide range of business services. In recent years, Rudy has driven a data warehousing and BI project that successfully integrates information from a range of sources to facilitate performance monitoring and decision support.

Francisco Ruiz is the Global Infrastructure Strategist and Director of IoT for Real Estate and Facilities at Oracle. He leads a global team that’s responsible for the strategy, design, security and implementation of enterprise IoT Solutions across a 19 million square foot Real Estate Portfolio. Francisco is a recognized as a thought leader and subject matter expert in all things IoT and is a frequent speaker on related areas of expertise.

With 35 years of experience, Kay is a recognized expert on workplace design and strategy issues. She is an award-winning designer who has worked with several Fortune 500 companies to optimize their global real estate portfolios and create innovative work environments. She is director of HOK’s WorkPlace team, a practice that supports organizations undertaking multiple projects in various locations, and a member of HOK’s Board of Directors.

Brian Schwartz is responsible for Smart Building Infrastructure at over 50 centers portfolio wide. He oversees the installation and support for CCTV, Wi-Fi, Energy Management, shopper counting, and DAS. Brian supports digital marketing initiatives including digital signage and property websites.

Tom Shircliff is a co-founder and principal of Intelligent Buildings. Intelligent Buildings was founded in 2004 and provides managed services and advisory services that reduce operational risk and lower cost structure in commercial real estate. Their services support smart building design development, contractor cybersecurity and facility public health solutions.

Mike Smith is a real estate technology expert with more than 15 years of experience focused on technology, operations, infrastructure, innovation and energy-saving solutions for the real estate industry. He launched WhiteSpace in 2015 to provide a single source of building technology solutions for the real estate market.

Craig Stevenson is President of AUROS Group, who pioneered the use of technology to bridge the gap between building science and data science. Craig is co-author of the recently released book, “The Power of Existing Buildings—Save Money, Improve Health and Reduce Environmental Impacts” and the often-referenced ASTM article, “Project Case Studies and the Lessons they Teach about Whole Building Envelope Air Leakage Testing.” Finally, Craig holds two United States’ patents in the field of data science for the built environment.

Ben is an architect who is compelled by his belief that architects are stewards of the built environment, with the power to enhance people's lives through the quality of design. Ben has served as a Director with Gensler since 2006, leading the design process for many of the firm's foremost projects, such as the 632-meter Shanghai Tower, The Tower at PNC Plaza, and the new headquarters for NVIDIA.

Brian Turner, CEO of Buildings IOT, is leading the disruption of how mart building systems are viewed, maintained, and reported. For more than two decades, he has worked with some of the world’s largest property owners and facility managers in developing lasting strategies for complex integrations and enabled solutions to the problems found, fuels his passion for making smart buildings as they should be to show the world what they can be.

Clayton Ulrich is the firm’s Senior Vice President, Corporate Operations and Engineering Services and also serves as Global Sustainability Officer. He is responsible for the firm's industry-leading standards in operations and maintenance, environmental policy, equipment efficiency, energy management and engineering employee development. His experience with building operations, technologies, equipment, components and systems is instrumental in optimizing performance and minimizing risk for the assets Hines manages.

Donny Walker leads Newcomb Boyd's Intelligent Building Systems group. He has over 20 years of engineering, project management, and partner-in-charge responsibilities in communications, security and integrated building automation systems. His experience includes aviation facilities, health care buildings, judicial facilities, advanced technology developments, military installations, data centers, mixed-use developments, performing arts facilities and college campuses. With prowess designing technologically sophisticated campuses, his background encompasses over 150 projects specializing in an integrated design with network-enabled systems.

Theresa is SVP, Retail at KingSett Capital, Canada’s leading private equity real estate investment business co-investing with institutional and ultra high net worth clients through a series of growth, mortgage, urban and income funds. Theresa is responsible for the operations, execution and value creation strategies across KingSett's Real Estate portfolio, primarily focusing on the retail assets. In addition, her responsibilities include the execution of KingSett’s sustainability and building technology strategies across the portfolio.

Charles Whiteley is VP, Global Digital Leader, B+P at AECOM. He has 15+ years of experience driving digital and business transformation efforts for Fortune 100 companies across a variety of industries. Charles is responsible for defining global digital strategy for AECOM’s B+P (Buildings and Places) business line and acts a key technology and strategy advisor for key client and government pursuits tied to smart cities, digital twins, smart campuses, common data environments, sustainability and large scale master plans and urban revitalization efforts.

Leighton Wolffe is the co-founder of NorthBridge Energy Partners, an independent consulting organization with expertise and perspective on US energy markets and works with retail energy companies, institutional energy consumers, technologists and investors providing strategic business development, market research, and technology development services. Previously, he was VP Strategy for Constellation NewEnergy where he formed the NewEnergy Alliance, an industry association that advanced awareness between building owners, energy management and equipment manufacturers and systems integrators with emerging US Demand Response programs.

Terry Wood is VP, Real Estate at Kaiser Permanente, one of America’s leading healthcare providers, responsible for executing real estate services for Kaiser Permanente’s over 70 million square foot real estate portfolio, including more than 1,000 facilities, with a replacement value of over $32 Billion. He is accountable for developing industry leading tools, implementing strategy, and establishing industry best practices for all key functions within the Real Estate Division. Terry has more than 25 years of experience in all facets of domestic and international corporate real estate, including strategic planning, real estate transactions, facilities management and construction.

Leon Wurfel is the CEO of BUENO. Leon founded BUENO in partnership with Airmaster Australia with the aim of utilising current and emerging technologies to drive innovative sustainability and operations solutions.