2017 Summer Alumni Profiles

Born and raised in Oklahoma; spent childhood fishing and playing baseball.  Graduated early from Coweta High School to join the Marine Corps, then in 2001, after three he transferred to the Navy. Scheduled to retire in Feb of 2021.

Looking forward to pursuing a career in real estate development on the West Coast.  Graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in 2013 and currently pursuing an MBA at The University of Southern California. Enjoy swimming, fishing, cooking, and spending time with my wife Melissa and two children.  

Email: lawrendoyle@gmail.com

Ron Duong is a highly-regarded top agent in the retail investment real estate industry. Over the years, Ron's reputation for his extensive market knowledge, comprehensive pricing analysis, and strategic execution in the marketing of retail real estate investments has made him a valuable resource to some of the top names in the retail space for commercial real estate. These factors have resulted in record prices for his clients as well as closings on some of the most challenging deals in the marketplace ranging from environmental contamination to substantial deferred maintenance.

Ron ranks amongst the top retail agents nationwide, having personally listed/closed approximately $1 billion in retail investments. Ron was a Top 10 Agent at his prior firm's Orange County office since 2008. and was a multiple recipient of the firm's highly regarded Chairman's Club Award. In 2017, Mr. Duong ranked 33rd firm wide amongst over 1,800 agents and $42 billion in sales.

As one of the most active and knowledgeable retail agents in the field, Ron is frequently interviewed and quoted by the leading publications including Globest.com, CoStar.com, and Real Estate Weekly. Ron’s track record of closings represents some of the highest prices and most aggressive cap rates in the marketplace. Most importantly, Ron prides himself on servicing his clients and working with them to achieve their short and long-term goals.

Ron received a B.A. in Finance from California State University Fullerton in 2001. His specialites include Anchored Neighborhood Shopping Centers, Unanchored Shopping Strips, Single Tenant NNN Leased Investments.

Ron has been honored by several Sales Recognition Awards over the years as well as a National Achievement Award and Chairman’s Club Award recently. He is a Senior Director, National Retail Group and a member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) since 2004.

Email: Ron.Duong@cushwake.com

Daniel is a dedicated professional to affordable housing in California. Prior to his start in real estate development in 2009, Daniel conducted field studies in Peru for rural communities in consultation for local mining corporations. Being in the service of others with a desire to leave a physical impact on the places in which we live ultimately led him to become a Master in City and Regional Planning from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2012. Motivated by a desire to help reduce the high cost of housing for low-income, working-class individuals and families in California, Daniel is drawn to the mission of nonprofit affordable housing development.

He has worked in both Los Angeles and San Francisco building supportive housing for families and occupied rehabs of senior buildings. Presently, Daniel works for the Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Corporation where in just over two years as a project manager, Daniel led the acquisition of more than 350 units from the San Francisco Housing Authority through the Rental Assistance Demonstration program, and closed $91 million of construction financing for three rehab projects.

At the moment, Daniel manages his time between obtaining entitlements and CEQA approvals to build 108 units of new construction for families and individuals, and a seismic retrofit of an existing 179-unit SRO in anticipation of the limited partner’s exit.

In his free time, Daniel enjoys the outdoors by exploring different neighborhoods by foot. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife and nine-month old. 

Email: dfindley@tndc.org

Jordan was born and raised in Calabasas, California and attended high school in the Los Angeles metro area. After graduating high school, Jordan spent a gap year in Israel immersed in Middle Eastern culture and Judaic studies. In 2011, Jordan attended University of Arizona where he earned his bachelors in Business Finance.

Jordan has held several positions in Finance and Real Estate throughout his career. While going to school, Jordan worked for a language services company as a financial analyst, specializing in data management and financial modeling. After, he worked in Tucson for a family real estate trust focusing on property and portfolio valuation. In 2015, he took a position with City National Bank as a Real Estate Analyst. Jordan provides financial, property, market, and guarantor analysis for the bank. He also underwrites construction and bridge loans for the Real Estate lending group.

An avid sports fan, Jordan regularly plays and watches basketball. He is an active participant in philanthropic organizations such as the Israeli American Council (IAC).

Email: jordan.goldstein@cnb.com

Akintunde “Kin” Hardy is an emerging commercial real estate professional with over 15 years of professional sales, account management, and consulting experience.  Most recently Mr. Hardy is very proud to be known as the “Mayor” of the 2017 Project REAP – Atlanta graduating class. 

Prior to this professional development, Mr. Hardy worked as a consultant and top performer within multiple pharmaceutical companies such as Novo Nordisk and Johnson and Johnson.  Other accomplishments include fund development and management of 1M+ for national non-profits including the National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) - HQ, the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) New Orleans Region, and the American Heart Association (AHA) covering northern Louisiana.

Akintunde Hardy is a proud graduate of Xavier University of Louisiana located in New Orleans.  Mr. Hardy is an active member of various commercial trade associations including: BOMA, ICSC, NAIOP, and the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB) - Empire Board of Realists. 

Akintunde Hardy plans to fully transition into commercial real estate partnering on various public-private sector projects or a representative for client-based commercial real estate services. Akintunde Hardy currently resides in Atlanta, GA.

Email: hardyak@yahoo.com

Lacey M. Johnson is a dedicated Community Development Professional who is guided by the principle that society can “build great people by building great places”.

Ms. Johnson currently works as an Assistant Deputy for Community Development to Los Angeles County Supervisor and Board Chairman Mark Ridley-Thomas, serving approximately two-million constituents throughout the greater South Los Angeles region.

In her role, Ms. Johnson aids in the management of a capital project portfolio of over 150 projects in excess of $2 Billion, and serves as a liaison between several County Departments and the Board including the Departments of Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Community Development Commission, Metro and others.  She also leads the office’s community engagement efforts related to land use and community development.

Ms. Johnson is also a proud alumnus of several fellowship and professional programs including the UCLA Anderson School of Management’s Riordan MBA Fellowship, the Democratic National Committee’s Hope Institute, the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs, the Public Policy and International Affairs Fellowship at Princeton University, among others.

Born and raised in Bakersfield, CA, Ms. Johnson moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where she received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science with honors and with specialties in Public Affairs and Urban Planning. While at UCLA, Ms. Johnson’s research focused on political development and resource distribution in majority-minority suburban communities.

In her spare time, Ms. Johnson enjoys mentoring others, exploring new destinations by foot and reading the latest issues of her favorite print magazines. 

Email: LJohnson@bos.lacounty.gov

Aaron Kohanim is from Los Angeles, CA and graduated from UCLA in 2015 with College Honors in Political Science and a minor in Public Policy.

After graduation, Aaron entered law school seeking a specialty in Business and Real Estate Transactions. During his time at law school, Aaron has been involved with multiple professional clubs, such as the Business Law society and seeks to obtain the Real Estate Law and Business Law certificate. To further this goal, Aaron obtained his Real Estate salesperson license and wants to pursue a broker’s license.

Outside the classroom, Aaron has been active with his Jewish community; he is the current vice-president of LedorVador (a young professional group) and sitting outreach director for several Jewish organizations in Los Angeles. Aaron won the Jewish Leadership Appreciation award for his outstanding service to his community. He hopes to pursue a career in Real Estate transactions for the next few years and then potentially transition to the development/investment side of Real Estate.  

Email: Akohanim@live.com

Joseph began his career at Marcus & Millichap in July of 1998 as an office assistant in the Long Beach branch where he began learning the basics of Investment Real Estate and the value of technology that Marcus & Millichap had to offer. In 1999 he became an agent of the firm where for the next 5 years he specialized in Retail Investment sales throughout Orange County with an emphasis on Northern Orange County and eventually transitioning to the Newport Beach Office of Marcus & Millichap.

He ventured out into working with other commercial real estate firms having spent 1 year with CBRE and 1 year with Hanley Investments learning and developing valuable leasing relationships before returning home to Marcus & Millichap. Before his return, he also spent some time discerning a vocation to the priesthood residing 2 years in Boston in prayer and contemplation as well living the monastic life with the Norbertines in Orange, CA.

In 2010 he rejoined Marcus & Millichap in Newport Beach as a Senior Associate successfully ranking in the top 30 Multi-Tenant Retail Agents nationwide by June of 2012. His strength in Investment Real Estate is combining art with science to produce innovative and viable solutions in helping his clients create and preserve wealth.

He holds his Bachelor's degree from the University of California, Irvine in Philosophy.

Email: joseph.lising@marcusmillichap.com

Ryan Oliver Torres is transitioning into the world of corporate real estate with a technology lens and focus. Ryan has spent his career as a software engineer at major US tech companies like Warby Parker and BuzzFeed, as well as several growing startups, focus on front end and design UX work.

In his time at Warby Parker, he focused on campaign launches, partnerships and supported the marketing organization and at BuzzFeed his team helped created a 3x faster mobile website used by over 200M people per month.

His passion for Puerto Rico and for technology have led him towards a project building a startup campus in his hometown of San Juan.

Ryan received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering at University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus and is an active member in the local tech community.

Email: ryan.n.oliver@gmail.com

Fernanda Oppermann is a Brazilian architect practicing in California. Her work as an architect is rooted in the desire to rethink cities’ challenges through a contemporary design perspective centered in the human experience. Fernanda sees her projects as catalysts for positive change in neighborhoods and cities. 

Fernanda received a Bachelor degree in Architecture and Urban Design from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and a Master degree in Architecture from the University of Southern California. She has worked for Eric Owen Moss Architects in Los Angeles and is currently a principal at Mutuo, a Los Angeles based firm that designs innovative contemporary architecture. Mutuo has been involved in a variety of architectural projects, including projects for social impact as well as its own real estate developments. 

Email: fe@thisismutuo.com

Roxley Pratt was born and raised in Sierra Leone where he received his primary and seconddary education in Sierra Leone. Toward the end of elementary school war broke out in the neighboring country; Liberia and spilled over to his country.  While completing high school he saw an opportunity to start a business selling ice. This was a lucrative venture.

Pratt’s initial success encouraged him to look forward with plans to open a cab business, a fishing boat company and hopefully later a hotel chain. Unfortunatley, the continued conflict directly affected his family in May 1997 and forced them to flee to Gambia as refugees. Following a year of processing through the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) the family resettled to the United States.

Pratt realized his dream of enlisting in the US Marine Corps in 2000 after one year in the U.S. He was activated after the September 11 attack and was deployed for about two years in Iraq.

Upon his return from his tour, he completed an Associates degree at West Los Angeles College and a Bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University. He returned to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment and completed an Associates in Theater Arts at Santa Monica College. He was accepted to the University of Southern California (USC) in the Master of Business for Veterans program at the Marshall School of Business and has less than one semester to complete his graduate degree in business.

Pratt enjoys traveling to indigenous locations, acting, writing and business as well as the beach and adventurous activities. He has dabbled in stand-up comedy and hopes to do more in the future.

Pratt is enthusiastic about completing the USC Ross Minority Program in Real Estate as he has been searching for this type of real estate training for some time and looks forward to gaining as much knowledge as possible from the instructors and practitioners as well as from the networking opportunities. More importantly, he looks forward to completing the course and receiving his certificate to make a socio-economic impact in communities locally and nationwide.

Email: Roxley.Pratt@gmail.com

Adrian Solis is currently a part of Wells Fargo Multifamily Capital Finance team ("WFMC"). WFMC finances real estate development, multifamily and healthcare transactions utilizing FHA, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, balance sheet and direct bond purchase programs. Adrian underwrites loan applications, conducts market research, estimates operating cash flow in accordance with program parameters using historical and/or operating budget and drafts loan applications. While he continues to grow and establish himself in the commercial real estate industry, he has acquired a well-rounded knowledge of finance, business banking, C&I, real estate lending and real estate development financing. He completed the real estate development program at the University of Southern California (USC) and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance, Real Estate and Business Law from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal Poly).

Email: adriandelgado1919@gmail.com

Pamela Thornton is a Real Property Agent with Southern California Edison. Prior to her career within the utility industry, Ms. Thornton’s professional career was in local government, which spanned over 15 years combined, working within the County of Los Angeles and the District of Columbia jurisdictions. Ms. Thornton guided land use and planning activities, utilizing community and economic development concepts.

Over the last several years, Ms. Thornton has been a change agent, involved with the strategic and long range planning within the City of Los Angeles by serving as Board President of the Harbor Gateway North Neighborhood Council. In addition, Ms. Thornton serves as Chair of the Planning and Land Use Committee, where the focus is to advocate for sustainable planning and land use, with the emphasis on the environment, economic development and social equity.

Ms. Thornton holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from San Diego State University, a M.B.A. from the University of Phoenix.

Email: Pamela.Thornton@sce.com