Douglas Farr

Douglas Farr is an architect, urbanist, author, and passionate advocate for  sustainable design thinking. Doug is the founding principal and president of Farr Associates, a Chicago‐ based firm that plans and designs lovable, aspirational buildings and places. 

 

Doug co-chaired the development of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED_ND) and has served on the boards of the Congress for New Urbanism, Bioregional, EcoDistrics, and Elevated Energy. 

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In 2007, Doug wrote Sustainable Urbanism: Urban Design With Nature. In 2018 he wrote 

Sustainable Nation: Urban Design Patterns for the Future, which was named by Planetizen as 

one  of the top 10 Urban Planning Books of 2018.  

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Christopher Lee

Christopher Lee is the CEO and President of CEL & Associates, Inc., one of the nation’s leading advisors to the real estate industry. In this role, he brings clients more than 30 years of experience in strategic and long-range planning, performance improvement, compensation and organizational development within the real estate industry. His background encompasses diversified experience in real estate development, land-use economics, strategic planning, investment analysis, workouts, mergers/acquisitions, compensation, finance, and performance benchmarking, all of which enable him to contribute an interdisciplinary approach to the intricate process of analyzing and guiding real estate organizations and project teams.

 

 

Rick Carter

Rick is the CEO in LHB’s Minneapolis office where he utilizes his 38 years of experience to lead the firm’s Integrative Design Team, a group of 100 architects, mechanical and electrical engineers, landscape architects, planners and interior designers serving five market sectors. An early adopter of healthy building principles, Rick has led LHB’s focus on high-performance design since the early 1990s.

 

He is recognized as an expert in sustainable design and speaks regularly at regional and national conferences on this topic. Rick works extensively on design for efficient resource use and occupant well-being, leading efforts for LHB to be visible experts in regenerative design and research. His projects range from the building to regional scales with the goal of contributing to achieving Minnesota’s greenhouse gas emission reduction goals.

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Brandon Champeau

Brandon Champeau, senior vice president, United Properties leads project teams in the development and acquisition of commercial properties in the Twin Cities and select markets nationwide. Brandon joined the United Properties Retail Brokerage group (now Cushman & Wakefield/NorthMarq) in 2004, working on tenant representation and landlord listing services. During this time he represented such retailers as Hollywood Video, T-Mobile, Fidelity Investments, FedEx Kinko’s and Pier1 Imports with on-site selection and lease negotiations.

 

Brandon is currently serving as the 2019 president of NAIOP’s Minnesota Chapter. As an active member of NAIOP, Brandon also served as chair of the Minnesota Chapter’s Public Policy Committee from 2013-2016. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), and actively participates in ULI’s Urban Plan initiative. He is a past member of the ULI Young Leaders executive board, and past chair of the Commercial Real Estate Diversity Challenge.

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Monte Hilleman

Monte Hilleman joined the Saint Paul Port Authority in 2005 after several years of local community development and state-level environmental work. His peers named him the 2010 Person of the Year for Brownfield Renewal Magazine and a Forty Under 40 by the Minneapolis Saint Paul Business Journal in 2012.

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For the past decade, Monte has led the redevelopment of the former 3M headquarters on Saint Paul's East Side, which is now known as the Beacon Bluff Business Center. The project returned 1,000+ jobs to the site.

 

He also leads Port Consulting, which falls under the Capital City Properties umbrella. Capital City Properties is the nonprofit arm of the Saint Paul Port Authority. Monte is also responsible for, and speaks nationally about, the Port Authority's Green Design program, which incorporates sustainability metrics into building performance tracking and Next Generation Stormwater Management on brownfield sites.