MTEC Advisory Board

Jonas is an innovator with 20+ years of experience making multifamily and other real estate companies more efficient, resilient and profitable.

Most recently, he led a centralized operations group at Essex Property Trust where he brought a wide range of operational enhancements, new technologies and process enhancements to Essex while overseeing Marketing, Training, Sourcing & Procurement, Ancillary and more.  Prior to Essex, Jonas headed a group at Bentall Kennedy that spanned Marketing, Corporate Communications, Human Resources and the Corporate Strategic Plan.

Earlier in his career, Jonas founded the real estate management consulting practice at FPL Associates and worked at the Boston Consulting Group.  While with those organizations, he advised more than 70 companies on growth strategy, strategic planning, mergers & acquisitions, organizational design and succession planning.

Jonas earned a B.A. from Vassar College and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.  

Vice President, Operational Services, Essex Property Trust

Executive experience building successful new products, new businesses, sales teams and marketing programs. P&L responsibility.

Specialties: Mergers and acquisitions, branding and identity, staying out of other people's way. Multifamily industry, vacation rental industry, real estate, M&A, sales leadership. Financial planning expertise.

Senior Vice President at RealPage

Connie Chan is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz where she focuses on consumer tech investments. Since joining the firm in 2011, Connie has worked on the investment team sourcing consumer tech deals including Pinterest and Lime and worked closely with startups across the portfolio. She also spearheaded the firm’s Asia network to bridge the gap between Silicon Valley companies looking to navigate Asia opportunities and companies in Asia seeking to better understand Silicon Valley.

Before joining Andreessen Horowitz, Connie worked at HP leading its webOS efforts in China. She started her career as a private equity investor at Elevation Partners, investing in media and entertainment. She has been named a LinkedIn NextWave Top Professional 35 and Under, Wired's Next 20 Tech Visionary, Fast Company's Most Creative People 2017, she won a Sidney award for her writing on WeChat, and is a Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum. Connie received her B.A. in Economics and M.S. in Management Science and Engineering from Stanford University.

General Partner, Andreessen Horowitz

Brian Gagan is a season multifamily profession with almost 30 years of experience. He cut his teeth at Prometheus Real Estate Group in the 90s and used that experience at top companies like Picerne Real Estate Group, ConAm, BlackRock and Greystar.

Mr. Gagan current lends his expertise and talents t0 AvalonBay Communities where he is responsible for the multifamily operation in Northern California. He likes long walks on the beach, cold beer and red wine.

Vice President of Operations at AvalonBay Communities

As a founder and investor, Ryan brings over 20 years of global financial services expertise spanning payments, remittances, credit, security, and compliance to Propel Venture Partners. Ryan represents Propel on the boards of Guideline, EaseCentral, Steady, Charlie Finance and Grabango. He serves as the executive chairman of SmartBizLoans, a small business lending marketplace that he founded as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Venrock; a director of bKash, Bangladesh’s leading remittance network; and a director of River City Bank in Sacramento. His prior roles include co-founder and CEO of real estate payments company PropertyBridge (acquired by MoneyGram International), an early investor in Eventbrite, and a founding advisor to Square. Ryan graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is member of the State Bar of California.

Partner at Propel Venture Partners

Mark Groner joined Sopris Capital in 2010 and is a Principal. He has been involved in principal investing and investment banking since 2004.

Prior to graduate school, Mr. Groner was an Associate at Linden LLC focusing exclusively on buyout investments in the healthcare industry. Mr. Groner began his career in the Investment Banking Division of Citigroup Global Markets, where he focused on mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions in the industrial, consumer and automotive industries.

Mr. Groner received a bachelor's degree in Finance from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and an MBA from The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Principal, Sopris Capital

John is the Managing Director of a venture capital investment firm (RETV) located in Park City, UT that is focused on investing in companies that provide technology and services to the real estate industry.  The firm’s strategic partners include major REITs and private owner/managers of multifamily properties that collectively own/manage approximately 900,000 units.   John serves on the boards of RETV Investments Lexicon, Smart Rent, Amenify and Moved Observer.  He also sits on the boards of Nestio, and Next Gear Solutions.  

John was a Venture Partner with DN Capital in Europe from 2012-2016, where he co-invested in 13 deals including Auto1, which has attained Unicorn status, and PurpleBricks, a UK online flat fee residential brokerage company that went public in 2015. Previously he was the founder and CEO of two venture-backed startups in the online real estate space in the United States. He sold his most recent company, MyNewPlace, to RealPage (NYSE:RP) for $78.5 million in the summer of 2011. 

Partner at RETV Management

Jessica Itzel is the Vice President of Marketing for Strategic Property Partners, the real estate development firm behind Water Street Tampa, one of the largest mixed-use developments in the country. In her role, she is focused on strategic marketing and brand development efforts for the 50-acre, $3B waterfront district, which will feature retail, offices, homes, hotels, and cultural spaces.

Prior to joining SPP in 2019, Itzel served as Senior Director of Brand Development and Marketing for The Bozzuto Group, based in Washington DC. At Bozzuto, she led a team of award-winning marketers in bringing more than 50 new real estate brands to market and oversaw marketing strategy and execution for an urban portfolio of 30,000 multifamily units across the country.

Jessica has also held digital marketing roles at publicly traded wellness company Medifast and at a Baltimore creative agency, MGH Inc. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Emory University.

Bio coming soon!

Vice President, Marketing at Strategic Property Partners

Jeffrey D. Kok serves as the Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer for Mill
Creek Residential. He is the chair of the Innovation Committee and a member of the Audit
and Administrative Committee. In his role, Mr. Kok is responsible for overseeing Innovation,
Building Technology, Information Technology, and Cybersecurity with the goal to transform
how Mill Creek leverages technology as a competitive advantage and increase the value of Mill
Creek’s communities.
Mr. Kok joined Mill Creek in December 2015 and has developed a robust team with the goal to
use technology to drive innovation, automation, investment value, net operating income, and
operational efficiencies across development, acquisitions, construction, property management,
asset management, and the national services functions. He believes the foundation for leading a
team is remembering three principles:
• People Matter Most – always remember we are here to enhance people’s lives
• Simplicity – make things simple to drive adoption and operational efficiencies
• Empower – empower people to succeed

Chief Innovation Officer and Chief Information Officer, Mill Creek Residential

Nat is the Vice President of Product for Appfolio. He works on a daily basis with property management professionals to identify industry trends and product features that are included in AppFolio’s property management software.

VP, Product, AppFolio Inc.

Georgianna W. Oliver is the founder of Tour24, the exciting new product that offers self-guided tours for apartments.  She is a serial entrepreneur and a corporate executive that has built several businesses in the apartment space. These innovations include EverGreen Solutions, AptBudget both sold to RealPage, Inc. (Nasdaq: RP) and Package Concierge® which sold in 2017 to Gibraltar Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROCK). Her passion for turning roadblocks into efficiencies has resulted in a 19-year track record of building and launching successful businesses fueled by innovation. Her impact to the multifamily industry can be measured in a variety of metrics, but the only one that matters to her is making the lives of the people who live and work in these communities better.

In addition to her role as founder of Tour24, she serves as an executive for Gibraltar Industries, and overseas the growth and management of Package Concierge®.  Georgianna serves on the Multifamily Technology Entrepreneur Conference Advisory Board, and is an Advisory Committee member of National Multifamily Housing Council. She is also the founding board member of the National Leased Housing Association Education Fund.

Founder, Tour24

Over the last 26 years, Carie has worked in just about every role in the industry, from maintenance technician to Vice President of one of the nation’s largest privately held property management companies. She owns and invests in a diverse range of income properties and founded a Bay Area property management company in 2008. She recently founded a company that builds internal property management systems for owners/developers seeking to control their investment assets.

Carie's companies are innovative. Her approach is unique. Her accomplishments nationally and locally recognized by the California State Senate and CAA, IREM and RHO. Carie has been featured in national industry publications, local news programs and frequently speaks at national industry conferences sharing her story to encourage others to go after their dreams.

President at Aeris Partners

Andrea is part of the Residential Operations team as the Director of Business Process at Waterton.  In her role, Andrea will enhance operational processes and customer solutions through process definition, application requirements and configuration of end user transaction processing systems and tools. This role is also responsible for the management of multi-family ancillary services.

Andrea was most recently with Village Green as Director of Ancillary and prior to that Executive Manager, Ancillary.  In those roles, Andrea was responsible for providing a robust library of revenue streams, affinity partnerships and technology solutions.  In addition, she was involved in launching a proprietary mobile app for residents, allowing for service requests, rent payment and access to deals and discounts. 

Andrea holds a Bachelor’s Degree from Michigan State University.

Director of Business Process, Waterton

Ms. Trapp is responsible for Sequoia’s investment activities, from on-boarding equity, capital allocation, acquisition, and stabilization. She originally joined Sequoia in 2007.  Throughout her career, she has been responsible for numerous activities including portfolio operations vis a vis marketing, business technology, investor relations, and revenue management in addition to asset management and acquisitions.  Ms. Trapp has been directly involved in developing the investment thesis, proforma, procurement and business planning of more than $2B of real estate across the country. 

Prior to re-joining Sequoia, Ms. Trapp was Vice President of Marketing at CWS Apartment Homes in Austin, Texas.  She received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Communications and has served on numerous industry boards; to include, the Rental Housing Association and the National Apartment Association’s Global Outreach and Communications Advisory Board.  Ms. Trapp is a member of the Urban Land Institute, National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts, and holds a real estate license in the State of California.

General Partner, Senior Vice-President, Sequoia

Taylor Wiederkehr is a Technological Innovation Veteran with experience in system architecture, system integration, and the development and maintenance of complex and critical business systems and networks. During Taylor's previous tenure working with Ford Motor Company, he successfully architect-ed, led development of, and coordinated the national implementation of what is now considered to be the standard for how Ford captures, manages, and distributes consumer information to its network of dealerships nationwide. 

Prior to working with Ford, Mr. Wiederkehr established himself as an accomplished entrepreneur selling his first technology company EET, a subsidiary of Eagle Eye Advertising, a text message based advertisement firm, while in college pursuing a BS degree in Computer Information Systems from Tarleton State University. In his previous role as the leader of the ARC Innovations Team at Alliance Residential Company, his team successfully negotiated and announced their national partnership with Google, Nest, and Dwelo, to deploy 25,000 smart apartments across the nation, the largest smart home technology adoption ever conceived at that time.

In his newest role as the Director of Innovation Services at BH Management Services, LLC., Taylor is responsible for driving innovative projects & research, the vetting and piloting of new and emerging technologies, and continuing to drive productive collaboration between emerging start-ups and fortune 100 vendors within the multifamily industry.

Director of Innovation Services, BH Management