John is a Partner in PwC's asset & wealth management practice specializing in audit and other assurance services for REITs and private equity real estate funds. He has experience serving a wide variety of clients in the asset management arena focusing on real estate and real estate related finance companies. John has provided audit and IPO prep services for private real estate funds, commercial real estate finance companies as well as public mortgage & equity REIT's. John has substantial experience in advising clients undergoing initial and secondary public offerings and has a deep understanding of SEC accounting and reporting technical issues. John's experience extends to a variety complex issues advising real estate asset management clients including: private equity real estate investor reporting, structuring considerations & operational complexities, real estate valuation and accounting issues, SEC registration, open ended private equity funds and commercial real estate finance structuring and securitizations

Doug Sams is editor-in-chief for Atlanta Business Chronicle, overseeing the newsroom and editorial staff. He joined Atlanta Business Chronicle in 2007 to cover health care. He moved into the role of real estate editor and then news editor before being named EIC in 2022. He is an Atlanta native and graduate of the University of Georgia. He has worked in journalism since the late 1990s, beginning his career with Athens, Ga.-based Community Newspapers Inc.

Heather Lamb is the Atlanta Division Head and a Senior Vice President for Highwoods Properties. In this role, Heather is responsible for leading the Atlanta division and serves as an officer of Highwoods Properties, Inc. Heather provides strategic direction and executive oversight of the leasing, development, acquisition, property management and construction management teams for the metro Atlanta office building portfolio of over 5.5M SF. Heather is an active leader in the community and real estate industry serving as a board director for the Buckhead Community Improvement District, board director for the Atlanta Commercial Board of Realtors and board director for the Atlanta Womens Foundation. Prior to joining Highwoods, Heather was a commercial real estate broker who generated more than $2B in completed transactions across 15 million square feet during her real estate career. Heather previously led the office agency leasing team at Colliers International as a principal and Executive Vice President of the Atlanta office, was a Senior Vice President at CBRE, Inc and a Director at Lavista Associates. Heather is consistently recognized as one of Atlanta’s top real estate leaders.

Melissa Frawley is a senior vice president and regional manager for the Atlanta region of Wells Fargo’s Commercial Real Estate business line. She is based in Atlanta and has responsibility for leading a team that covers private real estate developers and owners based in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama. Melissa was promoted to her current position as a Regional Manager when Wachovia merged with Wells Fargo in 2009. Prior to the merger, she managed Wachovia’s Atlanta origination effort. Melissa joined Wachovia Bank in 1996 as a relationship manager for the Commercial Real Estate Group in Atlanta, covering Atlanta, and later West Coast markets. She started her banking career in Florida at Barnett Bank as a credit analyst. Melissa also serves on the Executive Committees of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Children’s Shelter in the position of Board Secretary and as a board member of Central Atlanta Progress. She is a member of the HouseATL Task Force, the Urban Land Institute’s Capital Markets Council, and Wells Fargo’s Student Housing Council. She has been a featured speaker or panelist at wide ranging events sponsored by ULI, Emory University’s M.B.A. program, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers, BisNow Atlanta, InterFace Student Housing, Commercial Real Estate Women, and the Southern California Development Forum. Melissa earned a B.A. in finance from the University of Florida and an M.B.A. from the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. She resides in the Virginia Highland neighborhood of Atlanta with her husband and three children.

Joe Martinez is the President of Vida Companies. Vida leads multifamily, single-family for-sale and rental (BFR), and mixed-use development projects from site acquisition and entitlements, through financing, design and construction, to delivery and stabilization. Joe has over fifteen years of experience in developing over 6,000 housing units totaling over $1.2B in total capitalization, along with large-scale retail and office projects. He holds a BA in Architecture from UNC Charlotte, an MBA in Real Estate from Georgia State, and an MDES in Real Estate from Harvard University.

Mazeen joined Pattillo Industrial Real Estate in 2019 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to arriving at Pattillo, Mazeen was a Vice President within Wells Fargo’s Commercial Real Estate Group and served as Pattillo’s banking relationship manager for 10 years. Mazeen oversees the Company’s financial reporting, accounting, treasury, tax planning, equity and debt functions. In addition, he is involved with Pattillo’s acquisition, disposition, development and new investment strategies and underwriting.

Geoff Koski owns and operates the 10-person, Atlanta-based, real estate and economic development consulting firm KB Advisory Group. Geoff has over 25 years of experience researching, analyzing, and reporting real estate and community development trends across the U.S. His expertise facilitates clients’ wide-ranging real estate and economic development advisory needs. Geoff’s has managed hundreds of successful interdisciplinary teams and directed assignments that led to crucial development implementation strategies and tactics for cities, counties, and community improvement districts (CIDs) throughout Georgia. He is also known as one of Georgia’s foremost experts on Tax Allocation Districts (TADs). Geoff co-authored ULI Atlanta’s important 2018 regional housing study, and since then, has directed much of KB’s housing work for communities throughout Georgia and Alabama. Geoff is frequently cited in the press and at professional events as a local real estate development expert. He has also participated as the market analyst on prestigious Urban Land Institute (ULI) Advisory Service Panels in Montgomery County, MD, Georgetown, SC, Denver, CO, Edmund, OK, and Indianapolis, IN. Outside of leading KB Advisory Group, Geoff is a member of the ULI Atlanta Advisory Board, ULI Atlanta Livable Communities Council, ULI National Redevelopment and Reuse Product Council, the Atlanta Regional Affordable Housing Forum Advisory Board, and is a 2016 graduate of ULI Atlanta’s Center for Leadership. Prior to joining KB, formerly Bleakly Advisory Group, Geoff was Director of Consulting at Robert Charles Lesser & Co. (RCLCO), founded two companies: Market Transects and Decatur News Online, and a lifetime ago, taught at the high school and post-secondary levels.

Tate Davis joined KB Advisory Group in 2022 as a Director. She applies her urban planning experience and interest in developing healthier cities as a senior contributor to the firm. At KB, Tate has directed numerous housing-related projects including city-wide housing studies for communities in Georgia and Alabama, as well as market analyses for downtown master plans, economic development strategic plans, and Tax Allocation District (TAD) plans. Tate’s experience includes promoting balanced and responsible growth through policy analysis, public engagement, and membership input at the Council for Quality Growth. There she engaged with regulatory issues related to land use, planning, development, and growth throughout metro Atlanta. Prior to her work at the Council, Tate worked on consulting projects throughout the nation as a real estate market analyst at Noell Consulting Group. Tate is a graduate of Georgia Tech’s School of City & Regional Planning and Oglethorpe University. Outside of KB, she volunteers her time with Shepherd Center, one of the nation’s top hospitals for rehabilitation.