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Sustainability and Resilience Initiative Council First Meeting of the FY21 Year
On September 23rd, the Sustainability and Resilience Initiative Council (SRIC) met for the first meeting of the FY21 year.
ULI Washington Announces the FY21 ULI Rising Leaders Scholarship Program Winners
October 8, 2020
We are proud to announce the winners of our second ULI Rising Leaders Scholarship Program, supported by the ULI YLG Member Engagement Committee. Bobby Boone, Alex Deng, Lloyd Grosklags, Liudmila Katsiak, Luke Koczela, and Anna Leigh Turner were selected over many qualified candidates based on their prior involvement in ULI, their professional goals and how this scholarship will help them to advance their contribution to ULI. The goal of this program is to increase involvement in the ULI Washington community by affording the recipients the ability to attend several signature events throughout the year to build relationships. For more information on the winners, please see their bios below!
The following ULI Washington events and activities are included in the scholarship program package. You can follow the winners’ experiences after each event through blog posts on ULI Washington’s website and on Linkedin.
- ULI Membership
- ULI Virtual Fall Meeting
- Annual Mentor Program, September 2020 – May 2021
- Trivia Night
- Learn from the Best
- Trends related- Programs
Congratulations again to the recipients of this year’s scholarship program. Please reach out to ULI’s Membership Engagement Committee with any questions you may have about the scholarship.
2020 ULI Rising Leaders Scholarship Program Scholarship Winners:
Bobby Boone
Founder + Chief Strategist
&Access
With nearly a decade of experience immersed in retail real estate, Bobby is impassioned about empowering engaged tenants, developers, and cities to create community-serving retail. He ensures the viability and sustainability of retail environments with tailored solutions that draw on his market analysis, planning, and strategic merchandising expertise.
Prior to founding &Access, Bobby led a citywide effort to attract and maintain small businesses in Detroit and tackled wide-ranging retail challenges as a senior strategist at Streetsense—from repositioning Fortune 500 brands and malls of yesteryear to crafting expansion strategies for emerging brands and commercial corridors.
Bobby shares his love of retail with others as a University of Maryland and Harvard University lecturer and speaker at conferences across the nation. He received a Bachelor of Science in architecture from Florida A&M University and a Master of Community Planning from the University of Cincinnati. He holds certifications from the American Institute of Certified Planners and LEED-Neighborhood Development.
Alex Deng
Manager, Capital Markets and Finance
Combined Properties, Inc.
Alex is responsible for capital structuring, asset/portfolio strategic planning, executing financing transactions for Combined Properties’ portfolio on both the East and West Coasts. He is also responsible for monitoring over $1 billion loan obligations at Combined Properties. Alex graduated from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law with a B.S. in Finance and earned an M.S. in Real Estate from University of Florida. Alex is a CFA Level II candidate and has been actively involved in local non-profit organizations. He has recently served as youth mentor at AALEAD to support underserved youth.
Lloyd Grosklags
VP Asset Management
West End Capital Group
Lloyd is the Asset Manager for West End Capital Group, a small, real estate focused private equity group based in Washington, DC. His responsibilities include portfolio operations, construction and renovation, investor relations, and day to day property operations. Lloyd and West End have built a portfolio of multifamily and commercial assets in the Mid-Atlantic totaling roughly $400M in value.
Lloyd has previously worked in asset management for the US Army, and at a Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Developer, Telesis. He is also currently developing ground-up affordable housing, acting as a third-party asset manager for private ownership groups, managing a small portfolio of multifamily assets funded by friends and family money, and enjoys advising Real Estate Capstone students at Georgetown University.
When not in excel or emailing, Lloyd likes to head to the family farm in south eastern Virginia to help out with the family business of making hard cider.
Mila Katsiak
Senior Feasibility and Strategic Insight Analyst
Host Hotels and Resorts
Mila Katsiak is a Senior Feasibility and Strategic Insight Analyst at Host Hotels and Resorts, where she works on different aspects of hotel underwriting projects, including acquisitions, dispositions, and value enhancements. Mila is also actively involved in different strategic insight projects related to supply, demand, and market analysis. Prior to joining Host, Liudmila worked in the Finance and Revenue Management departments at Four Seasons Hotel in Miami. Mila holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Hospitality Management from Florida International University and a Master’s in Real Estate Finance at Georgetown University.
Luke Koczela
Senior Associate, Real Estate Development
EJF
Mr. Koczela joined EJF in 2020 as a Senior Associate and has over 7 years of real estate and investment industry experience. Prior to joining EJF, Mr. Koczela was an Associate at McCaffery Interests, Inc., responsible for financial analysis, underwriting, and capital structuring of real estate acquisition and development transactions. Prior to joining McCaffery, Mr. Koczela worked at a boutique wealth management firm McAdam Financial, LLC, with a focus on real estate investments. Mr. Koczela received his BA in Geography and History at the University of Wisconsin, and a Master’s of Professional Studies in Real Estate at Georgetown University. He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and has served on multiple Young Leaders Group committees.
Anna Leigh Turner
Designer
LandDesign
As a landscape architect, Anna Leigh believes in creating places that matter. She earned her Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree at The University of Georgia, and in August of 2019 joined the multidisciplinary firm LandDesign, becoming a Designer within a collaborative team of landscape architects, civil engineers, urban designers, visionaries and problem solvers who seek to build value in every place they create. Anna Leigh assists on a variety of project types including large scale master planning, urban open space design, mixed use developments and hospitality focused master plans contributing to a unique balance of creativity and logic. As a LEED Green Associate, Anna Leigh views her work through a lens of environmental stewardship, designing for resilience wherever capable. While she uses her innovative visionary skills to develop and curate authentic spaces, it is her passion of positively connecting people to the built environment that grounds her design.