Ben Brewer serves as the President of Downtown Alliance/San Antonio and as President of the Centro San Antonio Management Corporation, the downtown Public Improvement District. The Downtown Alliance is a membership organization of property and business owners in San Antonio’s Central Business District. Centro San Antonio provides supplemental maintenance, information and streetscaping services within the District’s boundaries seven days a week throughout the year. Downtown Alliance and Centro San Antonio works with its membership and downtown property owners to promote businesses and the development of downtown with a concentration on maintenance, security, streetscaping, planning, public relations and general advocacy issues.

Bill Shown is the Managing Director---Real Estate for Silver Ventures, Inc., a San Antonio-based investment firm. In that position he oversees a team that is responsible for the redevelopment of the historic Pearl Brewery, an emerging culinary and cultural destination on the banks of the San Antonio River. Bill is a strong advocate for central city development and toward that end also serves as Vice-Chairman of the Hemisfair Park Area Redevelopment Corporation, a local government corporation created by the City of San Antonio to master plan and redevelop eighty acres in the heart of the city. Before coming to Silver, Bill was Vice President---Acquisitions & Development for twelve years at Hixon Properties Incorporated, a San Antonio real estate investment firm, and was a commercial real estate lawyer for nine years prior to that. Mr. Shown is a 1980 graduate of Texas A&M University, and obtained a law degree from St. Mary’s University in 1983.

David M. Adelman is the Founder and Principal of AREA Real Estate, LLC. Mr. Adelman oversees development and asset management for a portfolio of mixed-use, industrial and office properties. David is also involved with other investment ventures, including a variety of private equity investments. While having a strong emphasis on industrial properties, mixed-use housing and office buildings, his experience is broad-based, including land, traditional multi-family and retail deals. A native of San Antonio, Mr. Adelman is known for his vast knowledge of the city and for his ability to close even the most complicated deals. Having purchased his first rental property while in high school, David officially began his real estate career in Austin, Texas in 1989 while attending The University of Texas and continues to be a devout Longhorn fan. He has been married to wife Sharon since 1995 and has two young daughters, Katherine and Ally. Mr. Adelman is involved in numerous community-related activities. David is a founding member and Chair of the local chapter of the Urban Land Institute (ULI San Antonio) and a former board member of the Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce. He has a strong interest in public education and is currently serving as the Vice Chair of the Citizens Oversight Committee for the $515M SAISD Bond Program. Additionally, David has significant involvement with KIPP San Antonio and currently serves as the Chair of the Facilities Committee. He has recently served as a Trustee for Temple Beth El and is an active member of the Temple Beth El Brotherhood, a men’s organization dedicated to serving many different needs of the congregation. He is also a member of the Investment Committee at Temple Beth El, which stewards all of the endowments. Consistent with his strong views on environmental sustainability, David is a member of the local advisory board of the Nature Conservancy.

Mike Frisbie, P.E., was named City Engineer/Director of the Capital Improvements Management Services Department (CIMS) in September 2007. During his 25-year career, Frisbie has been involved in many programs and projects and has fostered much teamwork amongst agencies, consultants, and contractors. In San Antonio, Frisbie works with the engineering, architectural, and contracting community to produce excellent, long-lasting projects. He oversees the 200-employee CIMS Department, which was created in 2007 to focus on managing and substantially completing the 2007-2012 Bond Program by June 2012. The $550 million, 150-project bond program is the largest in the City’s history. The Bond Program is improving or constructing new local streets, bridges, sidewalks, drainage facilities, parks, athletics facilities, libraries, and public health centers. Many projects address infrastructure needs in a specific area while several have a regional or citywide benefit for all residents.

John Dugan was appointed the Planning and Community Development Director in January 2012. He has more than 30 years of executive experience leading the planning and development functions for various local, county, and state public agencies. For the past two years, he served as the Development and Planning Director for the City of Fresno, California. He also served as the Deputy Director of Planning for the City of Los Angeles, the Director of Planning for the City of Oklahoma City and held director-level planning and development positions in the cities of Topeka Kansas, Washington D.C., Norfolk, Virginia, and Aurora, Colorado.

Richard Milk is SAHA’s Director of Policy and Planning. The Policy and Planning department provides data gathering, reporting, analysis, advocacy and a planning-oriented perspective to support the Agency’s mission and strategic goals. Richard has led the Agency's strategic planning efforts and Moving to Work (MTW) planning and reporting, as well as serving as SAHA's representative to co-lead SA2020's Neighborhoods & Growth Management cause area. Under his policy activities, he has represented SAHA at local, state and national forums, advocating for affordable housing issues. Prior to joining SAHA, Richard served as a Community Development Manager for the City of San Antonio.

Brian joined VIA in September 2010 as the Vice President of Bus and Rail Strategic Planning and Project Development. In this role, he is responsible for the day to day efforts of VIA’s project planning, environmental planning, long range planning, real estate and engineering staff. Prior to joining VIA, he was the Director of Design and Construction for METRO in Phoenix, AZ. In this capacity, he oversaw the final design and construction of the 1.4 billion dollar twenty mile Phoenix light rail system that opened in December 2008. This project was funded with multiple city partners and the Federal Transit Administration through Federal New Starts grant funding. Prior to this, Brian worked for a civil engineering consulting firm and held a position with CSX Transportation while going through college at the University of Cincinnati. Brian holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Victor Boyer brings more than 25 years senior level experience in chamber of commerce, economic development, and government relations work to SAMCo. He presently serves on the Board of Directors for the Transportation Advocates of Texas, Inc. (TAoT) a statewide transportation funding advocacy group. Prior to the start of his tenure with SAMCo in 2004, Vic organized and managed the San Antonio, Inc. economic development partnership consisting of more than 70 public and private sector entities working on common economic strategies for San Antonio's future. Vic has also served as either the executive director or as a government relations liaison for the Greater Dallas (TX), Brownsville (TX), Ann Arbor (MI), Mount Pleasant (MI), Tawas City/East Tawas (MI), and Janesville (WI) chambers of commerce - with primary focus on transportation, infrastructure, and economic development issues. Vic holds an MBA from the University of North Texas in Public Administration, and a BA from Midwestern State University in Political Science and Economics.

Andrés Andújar keeps a tight ship. As Chief Executive Officer of HPARC, he oversees all planning, development, construction, management, maintenance, and financing of the 10-year reinvigoration of Hemisfair’s 80-plus acres. Get ready to be impressed. Truly a visionary leader, this Colombian-native has participated in the development of numerous properties throughout his career in structural engineering, design, and construction management. As a regional executive of a multinational engineering corporation, Andrés led a team of 100 architects, interior designers, master planners, engineers, and project and construction managers, executing projects in dozens of U.S. states, Central and South America, Europe, and in the Middle East. Andrés’ multibillion dollar experience includes large mixed-use, complex, urban developments, and encompasses several markets such as hospitality, residential, retail, education, industrial, healthcare, and aviation for local, state, and federal governments. For his work creating River North District, Andres was recognized by the San Antonio American Institute of Architects, San Antonio Magazine in 2008, and as Downtowner of the Year in 2006.

Jeffrey C. Arndt was selected for the position of president and chief executive officer of VIA Metropolitan Transit in June 2013. VIA provides service to the fast growing city of San Antonio, identified as the 7th largest city in the United States. Arndt’s expertise encompasses transit service and capital facility development, training and safety, financial management and planning, labor relations, special event transit/traffic management, and transit operations. He is working to bring innovations to VIA and San Antonio, and he led the final stages in the implementation of Primo, VIA’s signature bus rapid transit service and the agency’s first foray into multimodalism.

As Vice President of Transportation Planning, Kerri leads Pape-Dawson’s efforts in promoting and managing transportation planning services consisting of performing comprehensive transportation planning and operations studies featuring corridor and intersection operations analysis, multimodal quality level of service analysis, the development of complete streets concepts and the evaluation of transportation alternatives for compliance with NEPA requirements. She has completed detailed studies identifying traffic impacts, safety deficiencies and capacity needs for a wide array of public- and private-sector clients. Kerri’s experience in planning and engineering enables her to develop creative concepts that successfully combine function and design. A key value is her ability to clearly communicate those concepts to the community. Recent project experience includes the City of San Antonio’s Downtown Transportation Study, development of the Complete Streets Checklist for Bond Projects, the Complete Streets Study and the HemisFair Park Complete Streets Traffic Analysis. Kerri is active in the Institute of Transportation Engineers South Texas Section, most recently serving as the Section Representative and in the Women’s Transportation Seminar (WTS) for which she currently serves as the Immediate Past President. Kerri has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Architecture and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering.

Appointed CEO of Centro Partnership in August 2012, Mr. DiGiovanni leads Centro’s efforts to foster a vibrant and prosperous downtown that benefits the entire San Antonio community. He will focus on guiding and leading development in the center city. Prior to his appointment to Centro, Mr. DiGiovanni’s career spans 30 years in local government, most recently serving as Deputy City Manager for the City of San Antonio. He started in municipal management in 1982 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania as the city’s Finance Director. He and his family then moved to South Carolina in 1984 where he served as the City of North Myrtle Beach Revenue Director before accepting his first chief administrative officer position in Surfside Beach, South Carolina, in 1986. His major accomplishments in Surfside Beach include a successful recovery from Hurricane Hugo in 1989 and the establishment of the town’s first road and drainage infrastructure program. Mr. DiGiovanni began a 14-year tenure with the City of Kalamazoo, Michigan, when he was appointed Assistant City Manager of operations in 1991 and then promoted to Deputy City Manager in 1993. He became City Manager in 1997. His accomplishments include: the development of a business, technology and research park in conjunction with Western Michigan University; the development of a life science incubator; and various neighborhood redevelopment projects. He is credited with the revitalization of downtown Kalamazoo and creating Partners Building Community, a comprehensive community development model. Under difficult economic and fiscal challenges, Mr. DiGiovanni was able to meet the core service demands and capital needs as well as maintain the city’s financial credit rating. He also served as Director of Economic and Community Development for Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, Michigan for a brief period before accepting the Deputy City Manager position in San Antonio. During his seven years with the City of San Antonio Mr. DiGiovanni oversaw almost every one of the thirty departments in the City at one time or another. He oversaw key code revisions to support the City’s “No “Kill” animal care goal, implemented a non-profit model for golf operations, and facilitated efforts to help secure vital military missions in San Antonio as well as the protection of two endangered species. Mr. DiGiovanni negotiated countless real estate and economic transactions and championed the redevelopment of downtown San Antonio drawing roughly $346 million in investment to the city’s core.

Mrs. Mattingly is currently the Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of New Braunfels. Prior to her tenure with the City she was the Director of Planning and Regional Services/MPO Director for the Central Texas Council of Governments and was the former City Manager and Director of Planning and Community Development for the City of Leander. Shannon is a graduate of Texas A&M University, with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science and a Master of Urban and Regional Planning. She has been a member of the American Planning Association, since 1992 and in 2001 she received her certification with the American Institute of Certified Planners.

Rebecca Leonard, a Principal of Design Workshop, has outstanding experience in the areas of community planning, urban design, redevelopment, tourism planning, regional planning and site design. Rebecca is a graduate of the Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning where she received her Master’s Degree in Urban and Regional Planning. She focuses on projects that represent the heart of the community. Through her strategic initiative, she integrates in-depth knowledge of the area’s environment, community and economy with strong physical design and public spaces. Rebecca’s experience in both the public and private sector of planning has given her insight not often found in the design profession. Her projects have been recognized as solving some the toughest public/private dilemmas facing communities. Rebecca believes than an excellent design is one that considers its context in all facets – environment, community, art and economy. Excellent designs lead to great communities!

Suzanne Scott was appointed General Manager of the San Antonio River Authority (SARA) in September 2007. As the chief executive officer of SARA, she is responsible to an elected Board of Directors, directs SARA’s programs, projects and efforts and manages the agency’s annual budget. She oversees and works with a talented staff of over 220, including engineers, scientists, environmental managers, field crews and a host of other professionals to extend SARA’s environmental leadership, stewardship and expertise and broaden appreciation for the San Antonio River and its ecosystem. Scott began her career with SARA in May of 2000. She established the agency’s first intergovernmental and public information office to increase SARA’s presence in the community and enhance its partnerships with local, state and federal governments. Her efforts led to an intergovernmental partnership among 24 governments known as the Bexar Regional Watershed Management (BRWM) program to collaboratively address flood control and water quality programs on a watershed basis. She currently serves as chair of the Senate Bill 3 Guadalupe – San Antonio Basin and Bay Stakeholder Committee that has been charged with developing recommendations regarding environmental flow standards and strategies for the basin. Under Scott’s leadership, SARA has advanced its mission to sustain and enrich life in the San Antonio River Watershed by working closely with a multitude of governmental partners, citizen stakeholders and private sector contributors. She has led the agency’s efforts to plan, develop and secure funding for the on-going $358.3 million San Antonio River Improvements Project to enhance access to and restoration of 13 miles of the San Antonio River. In addition to this highly visible project, Scott is equally proud of the lasting improvements SARA has made in the health and appreciation of the San Antonio River through its nationally accredited water quality laboratory; the creation of nature parks and paddling trails throughout the agency’s four-county district; the development and implementation of holistic watershed solutions designed to promote sustainability throughout the San Antonio River Basin and an emerging community visioning process to explore an ecosystem restoration project for 14 miles of previously channelized creeks on the Westside of San Antonio. Scott’s distinguished career in public service began in 1987 when she became the Community Relations and Trustee Relations Director for VIA Metropolitan Transit. In 1996, she became the Planning and Policies Manager for Bexar County. During her tenure serving the citizens of Bexar County, Scott worked to build interdepartmental and intergovernmental relationships and managed various special studies and public participation projects sponsored by the Commissioners Court, including the creation of a public involvement program associated with the San Antonio River Improvements Project.

Gus’s primary focus is to secure sponsors and supporters of the b-cycle bike share program. He graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Business and Economics in December of 2012 from Southwestern University. Originally from San Antonio, Gus received pre-graduate schooling from Alamo Heights. B-Cycle provides the opportunity to work at implementing a valuable asset for San Antonio’s residents to address health, transportation, and the environmental needs of our city"

Mukul Malhotra is the Principal & Director of Urban Design at MIG, Inc. Mukul has over 15 years of experience in urban design and architecture. His projects range from downtowns and historic districts to new communities and university campuses, addressing issues related to urban development and revitalization, transit-oriented design, sustainable environments, community connectivity, and preservation of neighborhood and city character. Mukul leads the Streets Studio at MIG. He has worked with an array of cities, agencies and community groups in efforts to redevelop urban and neighborhood corridors and streetscapes in California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, and Massachusetts. From large arterials to small neighborhood streets, he has managed projects from community visioning to design to construction drawings, resulting in award wining streetscapes that are multifunctional, sustainable and green, and cost-effective to maintain.

Lisa is responsible for financial feasibility analysis, building and site design, and construction coordination at Pearl, an emerging culinary and cultural redevelopment. Prior to joining Silver Ventures, Lisa served as Vice President of Crow Holdings, the investment office of the Trammell Crow family. In this capacity, Lisa directed investment activity encompassing property acquisitions and development joint venture opportunities in the United States. Her real estate experience spans a range of asset types including land, office, retail, hotel, and multi-family. Lisa graduated from The University of Texas in Austin with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute and the University of Texas Real Estate Finance and Investment Center Associate Council.