ZETA team

Inside ZETA are industry experts in real estate, building sciences, design, engineering, green technology, modular housing, material science, manufacturing, business, and sustainable community planning. Working as an integrated team, we provide every ZETA partner with a turnkey solution to zero energy home development.

zLab - In-house Innovators

ZETA also created zLab - an in-house research and innovation group - to help advance product development, production, and performance. ZETA currently holds four pending patents related to structural integrity and transportability, thermal control, HVAC systems, and streamlined fabrication and installation. Through zLab, ZETA will continue developing novel approaches to optimizing efficiency, quality, and cost while reducing our impact on the environment. And, by participating in the U.S. Department of Energy's Building America research program, we're bringing advanced residential building energy systems and sustainable building materials to the mass market at zero additional cost.

Click on the links on the left to learn more about individual team members.

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ZETA has assembled an integrated, multidisciplinary team of experts from four industry sectors.

Howard Koenig

Howard is an experienced executive in technology and software-as a service companies. He has held executive positions at ADP, Oracle, and Accenture. Howard has a strong track record of accelerating growth and profitability of both mature and early stage companies. Howard recently led, as CEO, the financing, growth, and liquidity events for a large construction centric, SaaS company. Howard's domain expertise in software/SaaS solutions includes Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC), business to business collaboration, workflow solutions, and workforce optimization. Howard hopes to add technology as another growth pillar to the ZETA Communities differentiation. Howard has an BA and MBA from the State University of NY at Buffalo. Howard serves on the Deans advisory committee for the University of Buffalo.

Naomi Porat

As President of ZETA Communities, Naomi Porat directs the company's sustainability priorities, high performance building and quality standards and vision for the proliferation of affordable net zero energy buildings and communities. Naomi has contributed to setting a high bar in the green building sector through ZETA's award-winning net zero energy projects and lectures in numerous forums including Fortune Green Brainstorm, Urban Land Institute, Stanford University Department of Engineering, West Coast Green and AIA.

Naomi is a national expert in sustainable real estate development and experienced executive level manager of socially responsible business enterprises. She contributes twenty years of experience with portfolio of projects across the U .S, focusing on large, mixed-use development; affordable housing; university housing, hospitality projects, reuse of military bases; and other urban revitalization projects. Naomi earned an MBA from Yale University, a Masters in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley and a BA from Stanford.

Shilpa Sankaran

As Co-founder of ZETA, Shilpa has contributed social entrepreneurship best practices to the company's formation and ongoing operations. Contributing over 15 years of experience in communications planning, marketing strategy and management consulting, Shilpa is establishing ZETA's brand as nationally recognized for pioneering efficiently produced net zero energy modular buildings.

As a private sector industry expert in scalable business models for energy efficient and net zero energy buildings, the California Public Utilities Commission appointed Shilpa to their Zero Net Energy Action Plan Champions group. Leading the "Path to Zero" campaign she will help to drive the execution of the plan to help California meet its 2020 and 2030 NZE goals.

Prior to ZETA, Shilpa advised a range of organizations from start-ups to Fortune Global 1000 companies. As a management consultant, she worked with executive leadership, in a range of industry sectors including real estate, finance, telecommunications, and retail, automotive and health care. During her tenure at PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Sapient Corp., Shilpa provided management consulting to General Motors, Wells Fargo Bank, AAA, Nike, Verizon Wireless, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

Jodi Clinesmith

A highly skilled controller, Jodi has more than 30 years of experience in accounting management, primarily in the manufacturing sector. Her previous experience includes management reporting, sustainability management, cost accounting, SEC reporting, ERP installation and cash management. Jodi also has experience in both Human Resources, including payroll administration and payroll benefits management, and sales experience in POS wooden displays.

Sarah SoRelle

Sarah has more than 15 years of experience in Administrative Support and Office Management with a background in Real Estate and Technology. She has provided C-level support in research, data analysis, human resources administration, and training for Building Materials Holding Corporation, Herth Real Estate, Dolby Laboratories, and Nestlé. She is experienced in assisting new and existing teams with updating office processes, software migrations, and office expansions.

Karl Tarango

ZETA's General Manager (GM), is a twenty year veteran of the factory-built housing industry and has managed the fabrication and installation of more than 15,000 modular housing units. His leadership brings in-depth experience and expertise in the industry, including multifamily, single family, commercial and urban infill structures. As General Manager of Genesis Homes, the largest producer of modular homes in the US , Karl was the builder of choice for several national events including the International Builders' Show and Urban Land Institute Expos.

Karl's vision and leadership guided one of the most successful factories in the country, as part of Champion Enterprises - a $1.3B public company (in 2007). He expanded operations covering markets in ten US states and two Canadian provinces.

Melissa Barce

Melissa has over 9 years experience in the manufacturing and construction industry with emphasis in materials costing, financing, procurement, and customer relations. With her computer and finance skills, she has been involved in the implementations of medium to high-level MRP and ERP systems for companies in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Prior to joining ZETA, Melissa worked for Silvercrest Western Homes Corp., a residential manufacturing home builder, in their accounting, sales and marketing departments. She received her BS from Notre Dame de Namur University. After college, she joined Kagan World Media as a Research Associate and later as Associate Analyst for the media and cable industry division. As an Associate Analyst for Kagan, she was involved in media mergers and acquisitions analysis and cable networking financial and viewership forecasting. She was also the cofounder and Controller of WCP Systems, a US distributor for digital training systems.

Contributing to ZETA's zero energy and environmental conscious attitude, Melissa is assisting in implementing lean manufacturing practices into the company's production operations.

Jeremy Fisher

Jeremy has worked in the construction industry for 16 years. He is a LEED accredited professional and certified green builder. Over the last three years, he has managed two LEED platinum projects in both commercial and residential construction. In addition to project management for Canyon Construction, one of the most renowned green building firms in the Bay Area, Jeremy has worked with Architecture for Humanity, Kleiwerks International, and other nonprofit organizations to develop low-income sustainable housing solutions. Jeremy has extensive construction experience in both conventional and alternative construction techniques, and brings product innovation, building and material science, and an overall sustainable building expertise to the ZETA team.

Factory Staff

ZETA is a proud provider of high quality, green collar jobs in a clean-tech production facility. We provide competitive wages, excellent benefits, a healthy work environment, cross-functional training and an opportunity for every employee to own a part of the company.

ZETA is interested in working with local employment and economic development organizations to ensure our workforce is diverse and representative of the region. Social justice and environmental equity are driving principles for ZETA's workforce development and projects.

Andrew Silverman

Andrew contributes 20 years of experience in real estate development, including project management, financing and strategic planning for a national portfolio of residential, commercial, and industrial properties. Working with Community Builders, Webvan, Constructa, Work Force Housing Associates, Sedway Group, and others, he has completed $250 million in residential and mixed-use development, with a focus on infill housing. Other projects include design and construction of distribution facilities, a 600-home retirement community, a 12-story industrial warehouse, office buildings, and new and renovated hotels. He is a licensed general contractor and real estate agent.

Laura Blair

As a marketing and project development director, Laura is involved in strategic positioning of residential and education products, outreach to architecture, school, and developer clients, and pre-construction project coordination. Laura has been with ZETA since its inception. For the previous 10 years, Ms. Blair worked for Sedway & Associates and EPS, two large real estate consulting firms where her work ranged from market analyses for reuse of large-scale public and private properties to financial feasibility studies for high-density, pedestrian-oriented housing. Her prior experience includes work as a city planner and for an affordable housing ownership program.

Taeko Takagi

Taeko Takagi has been a designer and product developer for nearly 20 years and has specialty experience in real estate development, construction document preparation, project management. Her extensive knowledge of a wide range of architecture practice has led her to specialize in sustainable housing, including affordable, mixed-use, senior, urban in-fill and custom homes.

After working with the award winning architecture firm, David Baker + Partners, Architects she founded 49Mile Design and Development in 2005 to lead a firm specializing in sustainable architecture and real estate development creating the first Gold LEED certified homes in downtown Sacramento, CA within the first year.

Sandra Slater

Sandra's environmentally sustainable interior design style and projects have been featured in numerous national and international journals, books and television programs. Her design experience spans a range of styles in both residential and commercial projects and she has been lauded as a leader in environmental design for more than 10 years. Sandra's aesthetic utilizes the natural environment to inform the built environment, creating calm, enticing and livable spaces that are celebrated by those who inhabit them.

Marc Porat

Marc Porat is a veteran founder and leader of pioneering companies in information technology and energy. Currently, he is the Chairman of ZETA Communities, and Founder and Board Director of Serious Energy and CalStar Products.

Marc began in information technology, founding three leading-edge companies: Private Satellite Network, direct-broadcast satellite; General Magic, mobile computing and communication; and Perfect Commerce, B2B sourcing and procurement platform. In 2002, Marc moved into the built environment, founding three category-leading cleantech companies: Serious Energy (formerly Serious Materials), providing products and services for high performance buildings; ZETA Communities, providing manufactured buildings that are built faster, better and at lower cost; and CalStar Products, providing low-energy building materials. Marc is working with GTCR, the Chicago-based private equity firm with more than $8 billion in private equity and mezzanine capital, where he focuses on M&A at the intersection of information technology and energy efficiency and smart buildings.

Marc earned a Ph.D. in Economics and Communication from Stanford University. His dissertation, The Information Economy, was awarded with distinction. He also earned two M.A. degrees from Stanford, and a B.A. from Columbia College.

Mr. Surace, a noted speaker and writer on climate change and the built environment, is on a mission to drive energy efficiency in the built environment, and bring green jobs and manufacturing back to the US. As CEO of Serious Materials, Kevin leads the company in its mission to reduce energy usage and CO2 generation of the world's largest contributor, our buildings. By developing new materials and processes that require little energy to manufacture, and advanced products which dramatically improve the insulation and comfort of homes and offices, climate change can be minimized and the US can lead the world in the next industrial revolution.

Before joining Serious Materials in 2002, Mr. Surace held executive and technical positions with Perfect Commerce, General Magic, Air Communications, National Semiconductor, and Seiko-Epson. He received his degree in electrical engineering technology from Rochester Institute of Technology where he currently serves on the Board of Trustees, and has been awarded 9 patents. Mr. Surace also serves on the boards of Array Converter, and Arch Rock; and was recognized as 2009 Entrepreneur of the Year by Inc. Magazine.

Walter retired in 2003 after 13 years as Chairman, CEO and President of Champion Enterprises, the largest manufactured home builder in the U.S. (selling over 25,000 homes in 2003). Previously, he was with The Budd Company, The Henley Group and BF Goodrich. Mr. Young has completed 23 domestic and international organization turnarounds in a variety of industries (tire, chemical, automotive, foundries, machine tools, manufactured housing) and over 75 successful mergers, acquisitions and divestures. In addition to ZETA, he is an active board member for NRG Energy, Accuri Instruments, Inc., Eagle River Homes LLC, Weathershield LLC, and Muskingum College. Mr. Young was one of the top 19 business leaders in the 1990s.

Basil is with North Bridge Venture Partners, an active, bi-coastal, early-stage venture capital firm based in the Boston, Massachusetts and San Mateo, California areas. Basil came to North Bridge Venture Partners from Austin Ventures in Texas, where he was a General Partner. He spent his early career at Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Oak Investment Partners. Basil is active up and down the hardware stack, from materials, tools, and manufacturing equipment up to systems, semis, and devices. His companies have sold into network, enterprise, consumer, industrial and healthcare markets. Basil has started two companies, and successfully incubated four others. He primarily works in the early stages of getting companies up and running, but will also works with selective later stage opportunities.

Basil is a graduate of MIT with a BS in Computer Science, a BS in Economics, and an MS in Operations Research. He received an MBA from the University of Chicago, and is still hoping to finish his PhD in Industrial Organization.

Christian Zabbal is the Managing Director of Black Coral Capital. Christian helped set up the fund in late 2008; prior to that, he was a partner at ghSmart, a management consulting firm specialized in talent assessment and development for the private equity industry. At ghSmart, Christian grew and managed several offices for the firm, including the California, Canadian practices.

Prior to ghSmart, Christian was a junior partner at McKinsey & company, a management consulting firm. He was a leader in the media practice and worked in the New York, Amsterdam and Montreal office. Christian also published several thought-leadership articles on broadband deployment and the evolution of new media while at McKinsey, and occasionally still speaks at various events on these topics.

Christian started his career as a cancer researcher, developing new types of cancer therapy. He founded and then sold a small research company before doing an MBA and joining McKinsey & Company.

Rob Day is a Partner with Black Coral Capital, based in Boston. He has been a cleantech private equity investor since 2004, and acts or has served as a Director, Observer and advisory board member to multiple companies in the energy tech and related sectors.

Formerly a consultant with Bain & Company, Rob has worked with companies and evaluated private equity transactions in the energy/ utilities, telecom, IT, medical/pharmaceutical, and retail industries. Earlier in his career, Rob was a member of the World Resources Institute's Sustainable Enterprise Program, where he co-authored the report The Next Bottom Line: Making Sustainable Development Tangible.

Rob received his MBA at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management (Northwestern University), and his BA at Swarthmore College.

Gerry is one of the pioneers in the greening of the built environment and one of the most successful green entrepreneurs. He was named "Industry Entrepreneur of the Year" in 2003 by Ernst & Young.

Prior to ZETA, McCaughey was the Founder and Chief Executive of Century Homes in Ireland, and later named Chief Executive of Kingspan Century following the $100 million acquisition of Century by the European building materials giant Kingspan Group Plc (KSP on the Irish Stock Exchange). By focusing on sustainability and automating construction processes, McCaughey propelled Century from a small start-up operation of four employees into one of Europe's largest producers of offsite, wood-frame buildings and oversaw the development and launch of one of the world's first zero-carbon houses.

John is a semiconductor industry veteran who has led numerous startup companies in the field. Currently at Mayfield, John is focusing on development-stage companies in the semiconductor, MEMS and EDA sectors. He is also a Venture Partner at GSR Ventures.

Previously, John was chairman and interim CEO of ARC International, a semiconductor intellectual property company. Prior to that, he served as CEO of Synergy Semiconductor, a maker of high-speed bipolar ICs and Stream Machine, an MPEG-2 codec maker, and was founder and CTO of SVision. John's prior experience includes VLSI Technology, where he was a VLSI Fellow and co-created the PC Chip-Set Division of VLSI, and ARM Ltd., a UK-based processor design and intellectual property licensing company.

John holds a B.E.S. degree in nuclear and electrical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Wally brings 30 years of experience in the residential and commercial construction industry. As an 18-year veteran and Vice President of Pankow Special Projects, L.P., Mr. Naylor is responsible for the overall management, administration, and coordination of tenant improvements, building renovation, redevelopment, renewable energy and modular building projects for their San Francisco office.

David Mar

David is spearheading sustainable design in structural engineering. He specializes in high performance seismic and lean construction methods of residential construction, including prefabricated housing, medium density wood-frame over parking podium housing and high-density post-tensioned concrete housing. Among his recent projects is the LEED Platinum David Brower Center in Berkeley. His work has received top honors from the National Council of Structural Engineers Association and the American Institute of Steel Construction. David also lectures at the engineering departments of UC Berkeley, Stanford University, and the Lean Construction Institute.

Daniel Smith

Dan is an architect with more than 30 years of experience in sustainable design and alternative building systems development, with an emphasis on net zero energy buildings, passive solar design, renewable materials, and LEED certification. With DSA Architects, Dan has designed more than 400 residential, community and commercial projects, including three net zero energy houses, the AIA award-winning Presentation Center in Los Gatos, and the ZETA Lancaster St. net zero townhomes.

John Straube

Dr. Straube is an internationally recognized expert in sustainable, energy efficient and durable buildings. He focuses on building enclosure design, moisture physics and whole building performance as well as development of new building systems and products. Dr. Straube is a lead consultant for DOE's Building America program and a founding principal of Building Science Corporation, a building science consultancy. He holds a joint appointment as Associate Professor in both the Department of Civil Engineering and the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo and Director of the Building Engineering Group.

Marianna Leuschel

Marianna specializes in communications strategy, identity/brand positioning and graphic design for sustainable land use developments and companies. She works with the ZETA team to frame the company's communications objectives and translate its vision into compelling identity, print and electronic marketing tools. With 25 years of experience in the field, Marianna also contributes valuable insights into the latest thinking in planning, architecture, real estate trends, market cycles and sustainable development. She collaborates with a range of organizations working to improve the quality of the built environment, the livelihood of people and the health of the environment. Among her clients are Calthorpe Associates, Forest City, Hart Howerton, Hines, Holliday Development, Pacific Union, the National Park Service, San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, Passport Resorts, TMG Partners and Urban Green.

Nandita Geerdink

Nandita is a principal and co-founder of Resolution Communications, a public relations and communications agency focused on sustainable and socially responsible businesses. As an experienced strategic account lead, she has effectively driven and managed global campaigns for clean tech, energy efficiency, corporate, business-to-business, consumer and start-up PR clients. Previous and current clients include Next Step Living Inc., Palo Alto Research Center, ARM, IBM, NXP Semiconductors (previously Philips) and PayPal.

Demonstrating expertise in energy efficiency, industry issues, competitive landscapes and media and analyst relations, she specializes in driving thought leadership campaigns. Nandita co-founded Resolution Communications to better serve forward thinking companies that are leading clean tech, green building, sustainable services and socially responsible industries.

Roderick Bryant

Rod has 25 years experience in department management, architectural design and drafting, and CAD system administration and development in the modular, log, systems, and traditional architectural environments.

While pursuing his Masters of Architecture degree, specializing in the development CAD and computer systems, Rod entered the modular industry with then modular giant Cardinal Industries as an architectural systems designer responsible for the development and implementation of automated state submittal system. Rod continued to broaden his architectural and CAD skills accepting diverse architectural design and CAD/BIM management assignments, culminating in design and engineering management positions at several modular and log home companies. Accomplishments include conversion to 3D BIM architectural documentation from the traditional 2D, development of "floorless" steel moment frame modular building structural system for slab-on-grade applications, and "crossing over" as a county plans check engineer.

As Modular Designer, Rod will oversee and coordinate the conversion and implementation of external and internally developed building designs for modular manufacturability, net zero compliance, and ultimately client satisfaction.

Tom Kelley

As ZETA's Procurement Manager and a seasoned executive in the home building industry, Tom Kelley brings 15 years of procurement and project management experience to the company. Overseeing ZETA's procurement department, Tom contributes exceptional supply chain management processes to procurement of quality materials, vendor relations, just-in-time delivery and green building material selection to ensure efficient and effective delivery of ZETA's precision-built projects.

Tom is a licensed general contractor and was named a top purchasing executive by Builder Executive Magazine. He has worked with Meritage Homes and Richmond American Homes throughout the Western US , where he aggressively introduced green building measures into the production housing markets for the past decade.

Gary Eagleton

Gary L. Eagleton has been involved in the modular building industry since 1987. His years of experience have given him a comprehensive understanding of building and system-built construction. Gary has proven his expertise in the areas of plant operations, manufacturing, on-site installations, training, client support, code compliance and quality assurance across the United States and other countries.

Gary designed and coordinated facility startups, plant relocations and production line expansions to meet market demands while working with companies such as New Era Building Systems, Manorwood Homes and Details Homes. He has incorporated products and lean processes that have been on the cutting edge of building technologies. Gary excels at building a workforce that can meet the needs to build mixed products on the same manufacturing line such as custom, residential, commercial, multi-family, schools and specialty units.

Prior to joining ZETA, Gary ran a successful consulting business serving clients in the modular construction world, as well as completing courses in Lean Manufacturing, Penn College Modular Construction, General Motors Total Quality Management and Leadership Effectiveness Training.

Gary Wohl

Gary is an experienced executive with significant financial and administrative knowledge. Most recently he was the CFO of DPR Construction Inc., a $1.8 billion dollar national construction company. DPR focused on building health care, advanced technology, life science and office facilities. Prior to joining DPR, Gary was CFO of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman an international law firm which is headquartered in San Francisco, with offices around the world. Gary was CFO of Citigate Cunningham, a public relations and communications company. During his tenure at Cunningham the company was successfully sold to a UK public company. Gary was the initial Executive Director of the law firm Gunderson Dettmer, during a time that the law firm experienced significant growth, and quickly establishing the reputation as one of the primary law firms representing emerging growth companies.

After receiving his MBA, Gary started his career at Carnegie Hall, then went on to work at the Oram Group, Inc. a management consulting company in NYC.

Michael Greenberg

A nationally recognized, 32-year veteran of the residential real estate industry, Michael R. Greenberg is known for dynamic leadership and innovative, strategic thinking. He has been involved in the sales and closing of over 25,000 homes worth over $10 billion dollars during his career.

As a senior executive, he has an excellent record of proven results for many corporations, including WCI Communities, Toll Brothers, and Avatar Properties. Greenberg served in the top leadership of these public companies over 18 years, where he was a key leader in building and executing the platform for significant growth, profitability and shareholder return. His expertise includes a track record of success in the development of single and multifamily homes, large scale amenitized golf and marina sustainable master plan communities, business and industrial parks, asset management turnaround, and restructuring of community development district bond debt.

Greenberg has been involved in several large and successful corporate M&A efforts, and initial public offerings of equity and debt. He has received many national awards, including National Home Builder of the Year, America's Best Builder and National Housing Quality Gold Award and Green Building Awards. He is also a "go-to" advisor for many Wall Street investment firms.

He is a leader in volunteerism and has served on advisory boards for the University of Florida and Florida Gulf Coast University real estate graduate programs. He has also been involved with Big Brother/Big Sisters, Habitat for Humanity, and the American Red Cross. He is a member of the National Association of Homebuilders, Urban Land Institute and has been a guest speaker at many Builder 100 and Investor Relations conferences.

Greenberg is a graduate of Temple University College with a B.S. in Civil/Environmental Engineering with a minor in Urban Planning.

Lydia Tan

Lydia Tan is Executive Vice President and Director of Related California's Northern California office, with more than 25 years experience in the real estate and building industry. Prior to joining Related in 2010, Ms. Tan was Executive Vice President for BRIDGE Housing Corporation, where she oversaw real estate development and finance operations that resulted in the development of 7,900 homes and $2.4 billion added to BRIDGE's portfolio over a 13 year period. While at BRIDGE, she also co-led an investment partnership with CalPERS, California's public employee pension fund, through which the company invested $113 million in equity to leverage into a $500 million real estate portfolio. She also led several large scale redevelopment efforts in Oakland, San Francisco, and Palo Alto and was Interim CEO in 2009. Prior to joining BRIDGE, Ms. Tan was a development consultant at Tsen & Associates, providing a range of real estate advisory and project management services. Her early professional career is as an Architect, including principal of her own firm, Fleming + Tan Architects in Oakland.

Ms. Tan holds a Masters of Business Administration degree from Stanford University, and an AB Architecture degree from the University of California at Berkeley. A registered architect, she served on the Santa Clara County Planning Commission for 8 years. Ms. Tan currently is a member of the Board of Directors of the Northern California Community Loan Fund, where she is Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee. In addition, she is a member of the Board of Governors of the California Housing Consortium and a member of its Housing Policy Committee. Ms. Tan also sits on the Board of Directors of SPUR (San Francisco Planning and Urban Research), where she co-chairs the Housing Policy Committee; and is a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of Build-It-Green, which established and maintains a residential green standards system adopted by many California cities.

Gaye Quinn

Gaye has extensive experience in all facets of real estate development including: site selection, land acquisition, entitlements, project and asset management and debt and equity financing. Prior to her career in commercial real estate development and consulting, Gaye served as Planning Director for several Bay Area cities including San Mateo, Emeryville, and San Leandro. She also served as Vice President & Director of Development for Venture Corporation where she was responsible for the design, development and governmental entitlements for approximately one million square feet of commercial real estate projects and helped pioneer the creation of commercial condominiums with the development of over 600,000 square feet of these properties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gaye holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Cheryl A. O'Connor

Cheryl O'Connor is the acting Chief Executive Office of the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area. In 2008, O'Connor served as the first woman Regional Chair of the BIA. As Regional Chair, she was successful in launching the first Sustainability Initiative by a home building association that endorsed mandatory green building standards.

O'Connor has thirty-two years of experience in sales and marketing of new home communities in Northern California. O'Connor was most recently Senior Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for SummerHill Homes in Northern California. In her career, she has also worked with Warmington Homes, Taylor Woodrow, Ponderosa Homes and The O'Brien Group. She is the recipient of various homebuilder awards including Sales Manager of the Year and Marketing Director of the Year at the Northern California Marketing and Merchandising Excellence Awards.

Bruce Bean

Bruce brings 30 years of experience in commercial real estate including project management, commercial design and cooperate facilities planning. Working with The Trafton Group, Cushman & Wakefield and Beavers, Bean and Hale Associates, he has completed hundreds of transactions from Texas to California. Other projects include design and project management for First National Bank of Colorado Springs, 23 branches for Midland Federal Savings and the sale of 21 properties for Greensprings Trust. Bruce has been on the Board of Crystal Springs Uplands School for over nine years and has taught public speaking at Stanford University with James Wagstaffe for 10 years. He is currently the Vice President of the Board of Trustees for HIP Housing, a non-profit affordable housing organization based in San Mateo, California.

Maryann Pearson

Maryann has over 30 years real estate sales experience in residential, commercial, industrial and land development. Maryann owns RE/MAX of Southern Marin and has sold modular residential projects in Marin, CA. She obtained an MBA in Finance at Golden Gate University.

Sandra Slater

Sandra has been lauded as a leader in environmental design and green building for more than 15 years. Her projects have been featured in numerous national and international journals, books and television programs. Sandra designed the interiors and collaborated on the overall architectural design of ZETA's first LEED Platinum, net zero energy townhome. The project received numerous awards including GreenBuilder's 2009 Home of the Year Award, AIA - Energy & Sustainability, and PCBC's Gold Nugget Grand Award for Net Zero Energy Homes.

Mark Wintz

Mark was former President and founder of Details, a modular manufacturer of energy efficient housing. He brings 25 years of general contracting experience and six years of modular experience to his work. A fourth generation California builder, Mark has been at the forefront of introducing high quality, energy efficient and architecturally distinctive modular housing to change the building industry. Recognition of Mark's work includes four Gold Nugget awards he has received from the building industry for outstanding work as a developer and builder. Mark received a BS degree in business from the University of Idaho.

Randy Duggan

Randy brings more than 20 years of experience as a sales manager for modular housing companies, including Guerdon Enterprises, Timberland Homes and Stratford Modular Homes. Randy began his career in the modular industry in 1976 at a retail outlet in Washington State, with the belief that offsite construction is a better way to build. Randy has been a developer of real estate in the Pacific Northwest for many years in addition to continuing his involvement in factory technologies. Prior work includes principal owner of real estate and investment company including acquisition and development of $10M in office buildings, industrial buildings, mobile home parks and raw land. Randy has been both a manager of retail modular facilities as well as a factory representative in the true modular industry. From small single family infill to large multi-family projects he can assist with a solution to a developers particular needs.

Sales Executives

Bruce Bean

Bruce brings 30 years of experience in commercial real estate including project management, commercial design and cooperate facilities planning. Working with The Trafton Group, Cushman & Wakefield and Beavers, Bean and Hale Associates, he has completed hundreds of transactions from Texas to California. Other projects include design and project management for First National Bank of Colorado Springs, 23 branches for Midland Federal Savings and the sale of 21 properties for Greensprings Trust. Bruce has been on the Board of Crystal Springs Uplands School for over nine years and has taught public speaking at Stanford University with James Wagstaffe for 10 years. He is currently the Vice President of the Board of Trustees for HIP Housing, a non-profit affordable housing organization based in San Mateo, California.

Phil Johnson

Phil brings over 25 years in real estate including home construction, condo conversions, land subdivision and multi-family syndications, He is currently a senior partner with Pacific Regional Equities, a real estate corporation with ownership and management of over 1,000 apartment units in Sacramento and Reno ranging in size from 80-300 units. He has negotiated the purchase, sale, and debt/equity financing for large syndicated investments. He has senior management oversight of the property management team with a focus on cost efficiency including many "green" enhancements. He has led land developments projects, responsible for the purchase and sale, entitlements and final mapping processes. Phil has also worked successfully in large (i.e. Hewlett Packard, Andersen Consulting, Price Waterhouse) and start-up technology environments in sales, strategic alliance/channels and marketing positions. Phil is also active in community projects, being the co-chair of the Feist Park construction in Granite Bay, President of the Eureka School Foundation and recipient of the Placer County Heroes award.

Alex Kent

Alex Kent develops new business for ZETA as a complement to his Education and Faith-Based Real Estate Brokerage practice at Symphonic Investments in Burlingame, CA. Symphonic Investments has earned the #1 market share of closed education and faith-based real estate transactions in the Bay Area in the last 12 months, with a pipeline of over $70M in acquisitions, dispositions and leases pending. Alex Kent started his commercial real estate career as a Vice President at Cornish & Carey in 2005, after graduating from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management with an MBA in Finance, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.

Cheryl A. O'Connor

Cheryl O'Connor is the acting Chief Executive Office of the Building Industry Association of the Bay Area. In 2008, O'Connor served as the first woman Regional Chair of the BIA. As Regional Chair, she was successful in launching the first Sustainability Initiative by a home building association that endorsed mandatory green building standards.

O'Connor has thirty-two years of experience in sales and marketing of new home communities in Northern California. O'Connor was most recently Senior Vice-President of Sales & Marketing for SummerHill Homes in Northern California. In her career, she has also worked with Warmington Homes, Taylor Woodrow, Ponderosa Homes and The O'Brien Group. She is the recipient of various homebuilder awards including Sales Manager of the Year and Marketing Director of the Year at the Northern California Marketing and Merchandising Excellence Awards.

James Pardun

James is currently a Green Business Consultant for the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency. His mission is to survey all green energy employers in the six-county region to assess their hiring and training needs and to identify programs and incentives that can support their growth and success. Until his retirement in 2010, James was a manager in Sacramento County's Department of Economic Development and Intergovernmental Affairs. His responsibilities included business attraction, expansion and retention and workforce development.
 
Prior to his tenure with the County of Sacramento, James was Chief of Operations for the Sacramento Works Employer Services Department at the Sacramento Employment and Training Agency, where he coordinated the resources of the Sacramento Training and Response Team (START) to meet the hiring needs of area businesses.
 
James earned his B.A. in English from the University of Southern Colorado (now Colorado State University, Pueblo) and his M.A. in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Kathy Pardun

Kathryn has been a Realtor with Lyon Real Estate since 1987 and has extensive knowledge of real estate contracts, disclosures, escrow, probate, real estate law, energy efficient loan programs, bank foreclosures, and is certified in short sales. In addition, Kathryn's real estate team was the top producer in all of Lyon Real Estate in 2008 and is consistently the number one agent for Lyon's Downtown Office. She has an extremely high client satisfaction and referral network. Memberships include Sacramento Association of Realtors, California and National Real Estate Associations.
 
Prior to entering real estate, Kathryn was Assistant to the Chief Deputy Director of the State of California Employment Development Department where she worked closely with the Director, Governor's office and various legislative agencies.
 
Kathryn's education includes an A.A. Degree from Sacramento City College in General Education. She attended California State University, Sacramento majoring in English. Kathryn also studied art and design at Heald Architectural Institute in San Francisco for two years.

Maryann Pearson

Maryann has over 30 years real estate sales experience in residential, commercial, industrial and land development. Maryann owns RE/MAX of Southern Marin and has sold modular residential projects in Marin, CA. She obtained an MBA in Finance at Golden Gate University.
 
 

Gaye Quinn

Gaye has extensive experience in all facets of real estate development including: site selection, land acquisition, entitlements, project and asset management and debt and equity financing. Prior to her career in commercial real estate development and consulting, Gaye served as Planning Director for several Bay Area cities including San Mateo, Emeryville, and San Leandro. She also served as Vice President & Director of Development for Venture Corporation where she was responsible for the design, development and governmental entitlements for approximately one million square feet of commercial real estate projects and helped pioneer the creation of commercial condominiums with the development of over 600,000 square feet of these properties in the San Francisco Bay Area. Gaye holds a Bachelor of Science degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

Sandra Slater

Sandra has been lauded as a leader in environmental design and green building for more than 15 years. Her projects have been featured in numerous national and international journals, books and television programs. Sandra designed the interiors and collaborated on the overall architectural design of ZETA's first LEED Platinum, net zero energy townhome. The project received numerous awards including GreenBuilder's 2009 Home of the Year Award, AIA - Energy & Sustainability, and PCBC's Gold Nugget Grand Award for Net Zero Energy Homes.

Mark Wintz

Mark was former President and founder of Details, a modular manufacturer of energy efficient housing. He brings 25 years of general contracting experience and six years of modular experience to his work. A fourth generation California builder, Mark has been at the forefront of introducing high quality, energy efficient and architecturally distinctive modular housing to change the building industry. Recognition of Mark's work includes four Gold Nugget awards he has received from the building industry for outstanding work as a developer and builder. Mark received a BS degree in business from the University of Idaho.

Stephanie McFadden

Stephanie provides financial and development consulting services for housing developers throughout the western United States. She has experience in a wide variety of multifamily affordable housing financing tools including low income housing tax credits, tax exempt bonds, HUD rental assistance, HOME, FHLB and other grant funding. In addition, she has a broad knowledge of financing structures, utilizing Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac, HUD, letters of credit and conventional bank loans/placements. Stephanie's affordable housing development expertise encompasses new construction and acquisition/rehabilitation projects for both for-profit and non-profit entities.

Wayne Hungate

Wayne has worked in the modular housing industry for more than 13 years in ten states across the U.S. He has extensive experience with multi-family housing, including apartments and single family subdivisions, in addition to commercial buildings. Wayne provides excellent client services, always meeting and exceeding expectations. Wayne joined ZETA to provide the highest quality building solutions to builders and developers. As Sales Manager, Wayne is the interface between the ZETA factory and the client. He spends significant time on site in the field to ensure the highest quality standards for ZETA's turn-key projects. He has deep knowledge of the construction process and facilitates the intricacies of coordinating scheduling, scopes of work, staging and project close out between the factory and the project GC.

Stephen Doctors

Since founding CM+ in 1984, Steven I. Doctors has maintained hands-on responsibility for a broad range of projects for building owners, tenants, financial institutions, educational groups, and non-profit organizations. As a project manager, architect, contractor, architectural historian, and educator, he brings diverse perspectives to the entire design and construction process, from initial program development through construction and project close-out.

Steven received a Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell University and both a Master of Science and Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of California (Berkeley). He is an adjunct professor in the Department of Art + Architecture at the University of San Francisco, where he teaches courses in architectural history and professional practice. His research interests include the history of architectural practice, design theory and methods, project management methodologies, project delivery strategies, early 20th century Italian architecture, and sacred spaces. Steven is a member of the American Institute of Architects, the AIA Practice Management Knowledge Community, the Society of Architectural Historians, the American Society for the Advancement of Project Management, and the International Project Management Association.

Bill Kalff

Bill brings over 25 years of international and domestic experience in commercial construction and international business management. As COO, Bill oversees project execution, from preconstruction through project completion. He provides the integration of offsite modular construction with the traditional commercial construction process to ensure flawless execution of every ZETA project.

Prior to joining ZETA, Bill was Senior Vice President for Webcor Builders and then COO of BCCI Construction. In addition to overall corporate strategy and management responsibilities, as project executive, for clients such as Charles Schwab, Tishman Spyer, Six Continents, and Bloomberg, he managed construction teams from design through project close-out. Industry experience includes high-density residential, education, hospitality, seismic and structural rehabs, and commercial interiors.

Lynn Sedway

Lynn M. Sedway, CRE, principal and President of Sedway Consulting, has consulted in the field of real estate and urban economics for over 30 years. She was the founder of Sedway Group, which was acquired by CB Richard Ellis. She remained there for 10 years as Executive Managing Director of CBRE Consulting.

Ms. Sedway is a national leader in the field. She is a member of the Counselors of Real Estate and a member, former Trustee, and Executive Committee member of the Urban Land Institute, serving on the Urban Development and Mixed Use Council. She is a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Fisher Center for Real Estate at the University of California Berkeley, and a member of the year of the Golden Gate Chapter of Lambda Alpha, the international honorary land economics society. She is a Hoyt Fellow and a member of the International Women's Forum.

Scott Wade

Scott brings over 20 years of construction/manufacturing experience with 10 years in modular manufacturing and 10 years in construction. He has engineered and produced high quality, on-time projects for a variety of markets: Commercial, Residential, Educational, Parks and Recreation, and others. Scott has an extensive background in producing structures that must meet the needs of extreme environmental conditions and building code requirements throughout the world, including Alaska, Canada, Iraq, Mexico, Africa, and across the United States.

Scott has directed and managed Operations, Production, Quality Control, Safety, and Engineering departments utilizing Lean Manufacturing concepts, and places heavy importance on the necessity of effective teamwork and clear communication. In each position that Scott has held throughout his career, he has seen significant improvements in efficiency and has successfully implemented changes to the manufacturing environment and culture.

Mario Sandri

Mario began his career in Germany 20 years ago, where he completed an apprenticeship program in architectural/construction drafting.

Mario has developed a deep expertise in managing educational and other projects with architectural firms in the Sacramento region. He has developed K-12 and higher educational projects ranging in size from simple accessibility upgrades to multi-building campus projects and works closely coordinating all consultants, contractors and the DSA for successful, on-time, on-budget project delivery. As a LEED AP, Mario has managed several LEED certified projects and other sustainable developments. He has participated as a mentor in the ACE Mentor Program and the CSI Student Design Competition for the past three years.

Eric Lind

With a background in architecture, Eric specializes in building information modeling using the latest software to virtually construct entire projects, coordinating all building elements and systems, and ensuring quality sets of construction documents and shop drawings for each project.

Prior to running his own design firm, Eric worked with multiple design+build firms collaborating with a broad spectrum of building industry professionals. Eric has a Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, is a BPI Certified Building Energy Analyst and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

Chris Taylor

Christopher Taylor has managed over 20 commercial LEED projects and has prepared dozens of candidates for the LEED Accredited Professional exam over the last several years. With his Masters degree in Environmental Science & Management from UC Santa Barabara and with his Certificate in Green Building and Sustainable Design from the UC Davis Extension in Sacramento, he brings a wealth of green building and sustainability knowledge and experience to the ZETA Communities team.

Christopher has been a LEED Accredited Professional since 2006 and has managed the LEED component of green building projects for City libraries, higher education, K-12, California rehabilitation facilities, and Native American casino building projects, among others. He brings his research and communication skills and experience to ZETA Communities to help align the company with its green building and sustainability goals for all projects and to standardize the green building production and sustainable material selection processes.

Patrick Smith

Patrick brings over 18 years of manufacturing experience and 7 years in the modular industry. He has a long history of building high quality projects, commercial and residential. Patrick has managed all aspects of production, quality control, safety and shipping operations. He has a strong background in continuous improvement and lean manufacturing. Patrick has implemented production improvements and initiatives that have resulted in an outstanding quality reputation.

Gwen Pol

Gwen comes to ZETA with more than 20 years of experience in Administrative Accounting Support and Office Management and a background in Office Management in Roofing and Landscape Construction, Personal Tax Preparation, and Product Sales. She is experienced in job costing, payroll, account reconciliation as well as file management, office organization and sales. She excels in working with the public and her communications skills have helped earn her many awards and acknowledgments with Jackson Hewitt and Star Seeker Sales. Gwen has a passion for sustainability and embraces ZETA's core values - including efficiency as she brings great value to an efficient factory operation.

Steve Ayers

Steven Ayres comes to ZETA with over 9 years of progressively responsible Project Management and Estimating Experience in Commercial Construction throughout California. Steven approaches every aspect of construction with high energy, focus and the need for cost effective solutions throughout the project. Over the past 9 years, Steven has worked on a diverse variety of projects ranging from fast paced design-build projects, State Hospitals, and commercial Tenant Improvement projects. Steven appreciates all aspects of the construction process and hopes to expand the energy conscious building that ZETA performs. He understands the big picture in the construction process with the necessary eye for detail and possesses strong inter personal management skills.

Malcolm Davies

Malcolm was born and educated in the United Kingdom and gained a B.Arch (Hons) degree in Architecture and a Ph.D. in Architecture & Building Science from the Building Performance Research Unit at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, specializing in computer aided design. He is a licensed architect in the UK.

He practiced architecture in the UK, working on housing, schools and medical facilities before becoming R&D Architect at Cheshire County Council. He was also Chief Architect of a prefabricated home building company in the UK before accepting a position as Assistant Professor in the school of Architecture & Planning at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia where he taught and practiced, designing banks and palaces for five years.

In 1982, he was recruited by General Electric and became a Vice President within its Calma division. In 1986, he joined Autodesk where he became Executive Vice President.

Since then, he has held executive positions in American, Canadian and German technology companies, including CEO of Cadkey, CEO of EA Systems, COO of Hyprotech and CEO of Nemetschek USA. He served as CEO of Frank Gehry's technology company before joining Michelle Kaufman Designs' modular design-build company as CEO in 2007.

Malcolm's interest is in driving the building design/construction industry to higher levels of automation and efficiency through the use of advanced computing and prefabrication, while embracing the highest standards of sustainability.

Lee Mullinax

Lee's role at ZETA is to provide leadership and direction of our Sales Team and to help our Clients realize cost and time efficiencies within both their existing projects and proposed new developments.

With his primary focus on urban redevelopment and master-planned resort communities, Lee Mullinax's career in the building industry has spanned more than 35 years. His vast experience includes providing project design consulting, marketing, and sales services for new developments, condominium conversions, adaptive re-use projects, senior housing developments, and hotels in 22 major markets throughout North America.

He was President of Vertical Properties from 2002 through 2011 and Senior Vice President of Prudential New Homes from 1999 through 2002. With more than $1.4 Billion of new project development and sales since 2000, Lee's extensive industry knowledge and first-hand experience with a wide variety of projects, product types, and market conditions enables him to provide ZETA'S Clients with the benefit of his unique insight and expertise during their project's critically important planning and design phases.

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