Principal Member Profile

Alexia Shahvekilian, Director of Operations Vanbarton Group LLC

In her role as Director of Operations, Alexia Shahvekilian oversees the operations and the property management team for Vanbarton Group’s West Coast portfolio, which includes properties in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Seattle. “Going into 2023, ESG is a major focus for both myself and for Vanbarton Group, especially for the West Coast portfolio,” she says. “We are working towards ensuring our portfolio maximizes energy efficiency where possible and maintains their Energy Star and WELL certifications. We are also very focused on providing internal and external engagement and training for the team on ESG topics.”

Shahvekilian began her commercial real estate career in a customer service focused property administrator role. “My almost 23-year adventure started from there,” she says. “In that role, I learned the foundations of property operations from the ground up, and I was promoted a couple of years later to a property management role. I was fortunate to be working in a company that understood the value of promoting from within and taking a chance on its employees. From there, I grew my role and responsibilities and cultivated relationships with JV partnerships to further my career trajectory.” The industry’s variety continues to inspire her. “You don’t know what you will walk into on a daily basis — everything can be business as usual or a situation can take your entire day to resolve,” she observes. “Our business is all about change. Our assets are either part of a disposition or we are acquiring and growing our portfolio, adding new team members, completing upgrades/overhauls to building systems, not to mention designing spec suites and tenant improvement projects.” Through BOMA Shahvekilian participates in educational opportunities with RPA courses, seminars, government forums and social events. “BOMA has done a wonderful job of building not only a platform for everyone who is or wants to be in our industry, but also a community,” she adds. “This organization provides a backbone of support for what will be coming down the pipeline for our industry. My teams are all encouraged to take part in activities.”

Off hours, Shahvekilian finds joy spending time with her family. She avidly supports her two sons, who are busy student athletes. In addition, she says “I love to make time for travel and hope 2023 will hold a couple of adventures for us all.”

Associate Member Profile

Jesse Horgan, Director of Operations at ACE Parking, leads a team of seven managers and 35 parking ambassadors who provide parking and transportation solutions for a range of clients. “Each day I work with the team to maximize parking assets for commercial property managers, provide valet service at hotels and restaurants, and offer parking enforcement for retail and municipal management,” Horgan says.

ACE Parking is committed to technology and innovation to address evolving “mobility solutions” which Horgan says is “thinking how people will travel in the city of the future. EV charging, concierge service, staging for ride share and delivery vehicles, shuttle services in tandem with public transportation, online coordination of shared parking spaces, gateless parking lots with video enforcement, and community outreach to maximize the use of parking spaces in the evenings and weekends. The list goes on, and we are working to adapt the best systems for our partners to do so much more than gates, tickets, and parking spaces.”

Post-pandemic there are many new parking and transportation challenges. “We have seen a surge in requests for added services as commercial office parkers return to work,” Horgan notes. “Sharing monthly parking spaces, a huge demand for EV charging, renewed focus on safety and security for vehicles, installing touchless systems that eliminate paper tickets or access cards and introducing customers to online reservations have been opportunities for my team.”

As an active member of the BOMA SF Events Committee, Horgan says that “BOMA has been so useful in developing relationships with professionals across the industry. I always appreciate the chance to introduce ACE and explain what we do. One of the best parts of my role with ACE has been mentoring new parking managers, and BOMA has been an inspiration for so many new managers as they embark on their careers.”

In his leisure time, Horgan loves to travel and plans a trip to a new city every year. “As an avid cinephile, I support all of the independent theaters in the Bay Area,” he adds. “During the pandemic, I started to study the art of mixing drinks and have been expanding my collection of spirits in hopes of one day throwing the perfect cocktail party.”

CREATE Highlights

Fundraising

Our generous donors listed at right contributed over $125,000 to support this results-oriented, workforce development program. Additional thanks to our Alliance Partners—BOMA San Francisco, BOMA Oakland/East Bay, NAIOP and IREM—whose members also contributed through voluntary dues contributions and special events.

Fellows Program

Fellows 1.0 —Together the 2022 CREATE Fellows programs offered at SFSU and Merritt College delivered 60 candidates. Some of those students graduated and were ready for full-time employment and some are enrolled in their final year and will seek employment later this spring. The 2022-2023 cohorts are underway at both institutions and are actively engaged in the classroom curriculum as well as the additional resources offered by our Alliance Partners.

Fellows 2.0 —CREATE 2.0 is a series of eight workshops designed to give participants (alums of 1.0) a deeper understanding of commercial real estate (CRE) and how value is created. Fellows 2.0 is intended to allow the most serious students to take a deeper dive into a specific property and expand their vocabulary and understanding of CRE as an investment choice. Instructors Jim Arce and Nancy Gille kicked off the Spring 2023 session on Feb. 7. Career Center | https://jobboard.createworkforce.org/

Employers can take advantage of CREATE’s free job bank portal which connects employers and students for entry-level CRE-related positions and internships. This value-add supports CREATE’s goal of connecting educated and trained students and graduates with local industry employers.

EDUCATE….CONNECT….EMPLOY

Emaan Sharif (shown above) graduated from SF State in December 2022, majoring in Business Administration with a concentration in finance and was a CREATE Fellow in the 2021–2022 cohort. While participating in the Mentor Match program, she met BXP’s Alicia Barr who has served as a mentor for many years. She applied for a Property Management Coordinator position with BXP before graduation and, due to her CREATE experience, she had all of the qualifications to fill the role. Welcome to the CRE industry, Emaan! CREATE delivers results!

To learn more or donate, visit www.createworkforce.org or contact CREATE Director Tory Brubaker at info@createworkforce.org.

$10,000 + ABM

BCCI

$5000 - $7500

CBRE, Inc.

Field Construction

Skyline Construction

Tishman Speyer

Vanbarton Group

$3500-4999

Divco West

Ellis Partners LLC

Thank You 2022 Donors

Metro Services Group

RiverRock Real Estate Group

Rockhill Management, L.L.C.

Russell Hinton

SSL Law Firm LLP

The Swig Company

$1000-3499

Anderson, Rowe & Buckley, Inc.

Brookfield

CBF, Inc.

EQ Office

Essity

Gemdale USA

Bonnie & Fred Kalbrosky

Lubin Olson

Peacock Construction

ProGuard Security

Rossi Builders

Union Property Capital

Western Specialty Contractors

$0-999

Blake|Griggs Properties, Inc.

Eason Communications

Service By Medallion

Transwestern

Tory Brubaker

John Bryant

Stew Cedarleaf

Liz Despins

Glenn Good

Marc Intermaggio

Mark Kelly

Sarah MacIntyre

Kathy Mattes

Colin Shinners

Tawni Sullivan

Julie Taylor

Kevin Whalen