2019 Program

/ Introduction:

Dr. Soraya M. Coley/  Cal Poly Pomona

Dr. Soraya M. Coley, a veteran administrator with more than 20 years of experience in higher education, became the sixth president of Cal Poly Pomona in January 2015.

Coley came to Cal Poly Pomona from Cal State Bakersfield, where she was the provost and vice president for academic affairs from 2005 to 2014. She served as interim vice president for university advancement in 2011-12.

Her experience includes serving as Cal State Fullerton’s dean of the College of Human Development and Community Service, as administrative fellow, and professor and department chair for the human services department. She was the system-wide provost and vice president for academic affairs at Alliant International University, from 2001 to 2003.

Coley’s career has been marked by efforts to eliminate obstacles that prevent people from reaching their potential and fully participating in society. She worked as a research assistant for the Child Welfare League of America, as the national director of the Child Abuse Prevention Project at the National Urban League, and as a survey manager at a policy research institute in Princeton, New Jersey.

Coley is a member of the American Council on Education Women’s Network, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Pasadena Bioscience Collaborative, and the Los Angeles Coalition for the Economy and Jobs. She is a former member of the board of directors for Children and Family Futures as well as the Kern County Schools’ “Ready to Start” program. In 2000, she was recognized as “One of Ten Women Making a Difference” by Orange County Metro Magazine.

Coley earned a bachelor’s in sociology from Lincoln University, a master’s in social planning and social research from Bryn Mawr, and a doctoral degree in social planning and policy from Bryn Mawr.

/ Master of Ceremonies:

Frank Mottek/  CBS

Frank Mottek is the voice of business news in Los Angeles. He is the Senior Money Anchor on CBS all-news station KNX 1070 Newsradio anchoring the morning drive business updates. He also hosts Mottek On Money at 11am Saturdays and 8pm Sundays on KNX. Mottek On Money is also podcast at Play.it Frank is an award winning broadcaster with more than 30 years experience in radio and television news including KCAL-9, CBS-2 and KTLA Channel 5 in Los Angeles as well as The Nightly Business Report on PBS.

In 2016, he received the Distinguished Journalist Award from the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Frank has also appeared as the newscaster on major motion pictures including 10 Cloverfield Lane and The Nice Guys. For many years he was on radio and television in Miami. While in Florida, his experience included broadcasting the live descriptions of more than 20 space shuttle launches on the CBS Radio Network. He was an eyewitness to the 1986 Challenger disaster at the Kennedy Space Center. On KNX, Frank closely follows the financial markets and economic news on a daily basis. He extensively covered the financial crisis as it unfolded in 2008 on the KNX Business Hour. He was also on the air during the Great Recession and so-called "Flash Crash" in 2010 as it happened. Frank leads some of the highest profile business discussions and events in Southern California for groups including the Southern California Association of Governments, LA Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. LA Business Journal CEO Conference and the Association for Corporate Growth. He is past-president of the Greater L.A. Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. Frank also serves on the executive board of the Concern Foundation for Cancer Research and on the board of directors of the Radio Television News Association of Southern California. He previously served as President of the Florida AP Broadcasters.

/ Economic Forecast Speakers:

Barbara R. Bagley /  US Trust

Barbara R. Bagley is a managing director and senior portfolio manager at U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. In this role, she is responsible for creating and maintaining personalized investment solutions utilizing a broad range of wealth management services including financial planning and wealth strategy. This includes assisting clients with establishing goals and objectives, working towards developing an appropriate overall strategy, formulating and implementing potential solutions, and conducting periodic reviews to help clients monitor progress toward reaching the initial goals and strategies set forth. In addition, she supports clients in navigating through changing market environments to provide traditional guidance in the areas of asset allocation, tax-minimization strategies, retirement, and multi-generational strategies from risked-based strategies to banking and lending needs.Prior to joining U.S. Trust,Barbara worked as a portfolio manager for equity-based boutique investment firms including DohenyAsset Management and Lewis Capital Management based in Los Angeles.She began her investment career at J.P. Morgan.

Barbara earnedher B.A. degree in Literatureand Philosophy from Columbia Universityin New York City. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst®(CFA®) designation and is a member of the CFA® Institute and CFA® Society of Los Angeles.

Somjita Mitra, Ph.D./  Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation 

Dr. Somjita Mitra is the Director of the Institute for Applied Economics at LAEDC. Her focus is in regional analysis, economic impact studies and the industrial and occupational structure of local economies. Dr. Mitra received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles and her Master of Arts in Politics, Economics and Business as well as her Ph.D. in Economics from Claremont Graduate University.

/ Keynote: • New Faces, New Spaces: How Shifting Demographics are Changing Housing

Pete Reeb/  John Burns Real Estate Consulting

Pete Reeb uncovers emerging housing market trends and advises homebuilders, private equity firms and pension funds on opportunities in the real estate industry. Pete has been involved in over 3,500 real estate deals, using his insights and expertise to help his clients build desirable and profitable new home communities. Pete is a Principal with John Burns Real Estate Consulting, a nationwide advisory group to the new home industry.

/ Panel Speakers
"Housing Development Opportunities and Challenges in Southern California"

Steve PonTell/  National CORE

Steve PonTell is the President and Chief Executive Officer of National Community Renaissance (National CORE), one of the nation’s largest nonprofit developers of affordable and senior housing. National CORE owns, operates, and/or manages nearly 9,000 units serving more than 27,000 residents in Arkansas, California, Florida, and Texas.

Mr. PonTell is a respected national voice on the affordability and availability of housing, and the need for collaborative solutions to the housing crisis. Under his leadership, National CORE and its Hope through Housing Foundation have earned wide acclaim for their proven and effective approach to building and preserving affordable housing that positively impacts communities.

In 1996, Steve founded the La Jolla Institute, a California-based nonprofit think tank that advances a better understanding of the critical elements necessary for both communities and corporations to achieve sustainable economic competitiveness. He is a nationally recognized authority on community development and creating forward-thinking organizations to maximize evolving market environments. Steve has a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in City and Regional Planning and an Executive MBA from Claremont Graduate University’s Drucker School of Business.

Brett Whitehead/  Brandywine Homes

Brett Whitehead is President of Brandywine Homes. He had just earned his MBA at Pepperdine University with his sights set on Wall Street when he decided to lend his financial expertise to Brandywine in 1998. His background in finance has played a large role in Brandywine’s development of an impressive network of construction lenders and equity partners in the face of a very challenging building and development market. Brett oversees land acquisition, entitlements, forward planning and finance. He has been an integral part of the acquisition and planning of over 25 developments and almost 800 residential units.

He works closely with a variety of redevelopment agencies and was primarily responsible for assisting the City of Stanton in developing the Stanton Plaza Specific Plan as a guide for future development within the city. His hands-on approach in developing community land plans allows Brandywine to create unique and innovative communities that complement surrounding neighborhoods and help complete the vision of the cities that welcome them in.

Brad Jensen/  San Gabriel Valley Economic Partnership

Brad Jensen oversees political advocacy for the Partnership and serves as the liaison with local elected officials in the California State Legislature, United States Congress, and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors. He also represents the Partnership with regional business organizations and political coalitions.

Prior to joining the Partnership, Brad was a Research Associate at the Rose Institute of State and Local Government at Claremont McKenna College where he worked on polling research and economic impact analysis, including the annual Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey, a national survey of business taxes and fees in cities across the country. He also has served as administrative analyst for the City of Norco and was an Assistant to the Majority Staff for the Arizona House of Representatives, where he wrote speeches and op-eds for legislators. He holds a dual bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Russian from Brigham Young University and has a master’s degree in Political Science from Claremont Graduate University.

Gerd Welke (Moderator)/  Cal Poly Pomona College of Business Administration

Dr. Gerd Welke is the CBA Professor of Real Estate Analytics in the Finance, Real Estate, and Law Department at Cal Poly Pomona. He received a Ph.D. degree in Physics from Stony Brook University in 1990, and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in Real Estate Finance in 2006. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on real estate startup companies, consulted on the valuation of financial instruments, and appeared as an expert witness on real estate capital markets in FINRA arbitration cases. As the executive director of the Real Estate Research Council of Southern California, he regularly speaks at their quarterly meetings, and at various Southern California conferences and meetings on housing. He is a board member of the National Housing Law Project and the CSU RESIG program.