The Mentorship Program was designed to provide undergraduate members of the Real Estate Association with real world connections in the commercial real estate industry. Through the Program, students have the opportunity to have one-on-one conversations with industry leaders and expand their network while receiving invaluable career advice. The goal of the Real Estate Association is to facilitate this relationship and provide our members with tools they need to succeed as young professionals. Applications for the program will open Week 1 of Fall Quarter, 2020.
- Meet the Mentors
Andrea Angell
Jay Bechtel
Jay has been a Real Estate Project Executive at Google since 2005. joined Google in 2005. Before joining Google, Jay worked for more than 11 years at Cisco Systems directing real estate and construction projects across the United States, Europe and Asia. He started in real estate as a broker for CPS (now part of Cushman & Wakefield) in San Jose. Jay is a native of San Francisco and graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Economics.
Hopkins Carley
Maria Bellafronto
Maria is an attorney and shareholder at Hopkins & Carley law firm. She focuses on real estate litigation and dispute resolution, trust and estate litigation, and complex litigation. She has an undergraduate degree in sociology from UC Davis and a Juris Doctor degree from Santa Clara University's School of Law.
Marty Chiechi
Couch Investments
Mike Couch
Mike has been the owner of Couch Investments since November of 1985. The company primarily invests in residential property, but Mike is also interested in commercial real estate. He attended University of Oregon and University of San Francisco before receiving an MBA degree from Santa Clara University.
Jeffrey Cushman
DiNapoli Capital Partners
Matt DiNapoli
Matt is the President and CEO of his own company, DiNapoli Capital Partners. He has worked with some of the most well known developers such as Lew Wolff. He graduated from USC with a degree in Political Science in 1987, and then continued on to Columbia for an MBA in Finance/Real Estate in 1989.
Edwards Company
Steve Edwards
Steve is the owner/CEO of The Edwards Company since late 2012. His company specializes in commercial real estate, specifically the representation of the retail industry’s most respected tenants and landlords. He graduated California State University, Sacramento in 1988 with a degree in Communications.
The Coast Group
Tom Hoban
Tom Hoban is Chairman and co-founder of Hoban Family Office and The Coast Group of Companies, a diversified group of property management, facility services, construction and investment firms with specialty focus on mixed-use, multi-family, commercial, retail, industrial, self-storage, and flex income properties in the Puget Sound and Pacific Northwest. Tom has over twenty years of experience as a property manager, real estate advisor and investor. Before founding the Coast Group of Companies, Tom spent three years as a commercial lending officer at a major national bank, located in Seattle.
Washington Holdings
Brent Lower
Brent is a founding partner of Washington Holdings, a real estate investment firm located in Seattle, WA. He has over 30 years of experience in all aspects of institutional real estate, including acquisitions, development, finance/lending, dispositions, leasing, and asset management. Brent is the managing director for Washington Holdings research and development branch, which owns 40 single story R&D buildings comprising of 1.4 million square feet in the Silicon Valley.
Private Portfolio Group
David Mandley
David has been a managing member at PrivatePortfolio Group since 1999 and is a member of Almon Investment Group. David has over 43 years of investment business experience including the syndication, acquisition, and development of real estate. Prior to pursuing real estate, David spent 9 years at IBM. David graduated from the University of Washington in 1967 with a degree in Business Administration.
Jones Lang LaSalle
Mike McRoskey
Mike is a Managing Director for Jones Lang LaSalle, a leading professional services firm that specializes in real estate and investment management. He leads a team of four professionals in the development and execution of advising tenants on their lease, acquisitions and sales of commercial properties. In the past 33 years, he has completed several of California's most significant real estate transactions including Discovery Communications and headquarter locations for Legalzoom and Herbalife.
MCM Diversified
Martin Menne
Martin is the President and Founder of MCM Diversified. He is responsible for asset management and development of commercial buildings for several projects in the Bay Area. Prior to forming his company in 1994, Martin served for eight years as Director of Marketing and Asset Manager for the Sammis Company, now known as the Sares/Regis Group. Martin graduated from the University of Southern California.
Brian Murphy
Trinity Management
James Sangiacomo
James is a Broker Associate and has been with Trinity Management Services for over 16 years. Strictly San Francisco, Trinity was founded in 1949 with a singular purpose—to become The City’s premier apartment provider. In the spirit of quality design, Trinity developed its award-winning Mid-Market headquarters, One Trinity Center, in the 90s, and gradually developed a commanding retail position in Union Square’s Grant Avenue corridor. The next two decades marked a period of progressively more and larger developments.
Carrick Young