Leadership

Dedicated to Continual Growth and Development

Our team spans development, architecture, design, construction, finance, government relations, community outreach, and communications. 

PATRICK CHRAGHCHIAN

Patrick Chraghchian, founder, president, and CEO of Adept, brings over 30 years of diverse industry experience. He combines his skills in design, engineering, construction, finance, and entitlement to execute various building projects throughout the region.

Under Patrick's leadership, Adept has championed a diverse array of projects, ranging from award-winning multifamily residences and transit-centric mixed-use developments to office spaces, retail hubs, public works, medical facilities, and contemporary assisted living centers. With a portfolio exceeding a billion dollars and another billion in forthcoming developments, Patrick's hands-on approach ensures that each project not only meets but also embodies Adept’s dedication to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) standards.

Patrick earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Southern California. He advocates community involvement and has chaired the Old Pasadena Management District and its Economic Development Committee. He is affiliated with the Engineering Contractors Association and supports the Homenetmen Armenian youth organization's Western U.S. offices. A dedicated alum of the University of Southern California, he serves on several university boards including the Keck Verdugo Hospital Foundation and the Sonny Astani Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. He's also a trustee at Flintridge Preparatory School.

ADVISORY BOARD

  • BMJ Advisors

    Brian M Jones’ career with Forest City Enterprises spanned 30 years and included the development of 17 million square feet of Class A commercial development projects with an estimated value of 3 billion dollars. He is the visionary behind two of the industry’s most unique, innovative and highly honored projects, Victoria Gardens and San Francisco Center, each winning the International Council of Shopping Centers’ highest acknowledgement, the International Design & Development Award – Americas in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

    As Forest City Commercial Group’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer – West Coast Commercial Development, Brian Jones provided senior executive level strategic support to the commercial group and explored new international business opportunities for the company. He oversaw all aspects of the development process from acquisition, entitlements and design to the physical development.

    At Forest City he was President & CEO, West Coast Commercial Division. Jones has been in the commercial real estate industry since the early 1970’s. He joined Forest City in 1978 as vice president and project developer for Charleston Town Center, a major urban, mixed-use project located in Charleston, West Virginia. Moving west, he was subsequently responsible for all of Forest City’s West Coast commercial development including The Galleria at South Bay – Redondo Beach, Antelope Valley Mall, The Mall at Victor Valley, The Promenade at Temecula, Simi Valley Town Center, Galleria at Sunset in Henderson, Nevada, the Northfield Town Center in Colorado, Victoria Gardens, and San Francisco Center.

    Before joining Forest City, Jones worked in a variety of real estate development and construction management positions including for Bovis Ltd. in the United Kingdom and other companies in Canada.

    He is active on the advisory board of the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California. His affiliation with the Urban Land Institute includes a seat on the Los Angeles District Council’s Board of Advisors. Jones also is a member of The Watt Companies Board of Advisors.

    After retiring from Forest City, he has undertaken consultancy assignments with companies in the U.S., Asia, and South America.

     

  • At the intersection of technology, finance, and policy, Stacie Olivares advances equity, economic growth, and environmental protection. Olivares is a member of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, appointed by President Biden to oversee the world’s largest defined contribution plan, the Thrift Savings Plan, on behalf of its 6.5 million participants.

    From 2019 to 2022, Olivares served as a member of the CalPERS Board of Administration, appointed by Governor Newsom to oversee the largest public pension fund in the United States.

    Previously, Olivares was the chief investment officer of a $29 billion ESG fund for the insurance industry and of Lendistry, a leading BIPOC-owned fintech lender, blockchain advisor to the insurance industry, and executive director of the California Commission for Economic Development. Olivares serves on the boards of the Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA), California Endowment, Latino Community Foundation, and the Hispanic Heritage Foundation.

  • John Chiang serves as a member of the board of directors of Apollo Medical Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMEH), Aegis Systems and Zeuss Technologies. In addition, he serves on the corporate advisory boards of Pasadena Private Finance, Calyx Peak and Faraday Future.

    From 2015 until 2019, John Chiang served as California’s 33rd State Treasurer. As the state’s banker, he oversaw trillions of dollars in annual transactions, managed a $75 billion investment portfolio, and was the nation’s largest issuer of municipal bonds.

    Prior to being elected Treasurer, Chiang served as State Controller from 2007 through 2014. During the Great Recession, he took steps to preserve cash to meet obligations to education and bond holders. His cash management decisions —which included delaying payments and issuing IOUs — were instrumental in keeping the state’s credit rating from plunging into junk status, and his actions saved taxpayers millions of dollars. Additionally, Chiang aggressively used his audit programs to identify more than $9.5 billion of fraud, waste and abuse in government programs, the most by any Controller in California’s history.

    In 1998, he was elected to California's Board of Equalization and served two terms, including three years as Chair.

    John Chiang serves as co-chair of California Forward, member of the Board of Councilors at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy, treasurer of the California State Guard Foundation and advisory board member of the Matsui Center at the University of California, Berkeley.

    Chiang served as Aspen Institute Rodel Fellow and Hunt-Kean Leadership Fellow.

    Chiang graduated with honors from the University of South Florida with a degree in finance and received his law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center.

     

  • Kev Zoryan was previously a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, and Head of Real Estate Investing for the Western U.S., for the Firm’s various private equity real estate funds.  He is responsible for the sourcing, execution and asset management of real estate investments in Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada and the Pacific Northwest.

    Kev joined Morgan Stanley in 1997, starting in the Los Angeles office in the private equity investing area of the Firm’s real estate businesses. He has been involved in many of the Morgan Stanley Real Estate investments on the west coast and in Mexico. After returning from business school in 2001, he rejoined the Firm in the Investment Banking Department in Los Angeles as a generalist in Corporate Finance. Kev established the Firm’s Los Angeles real estate investing office in 2005.  Prior to Morgan Stanley, Kev was employed by the JE Robert Companies.

    Kev is actively involved in the California real estate community. He received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS from the University of Southern California. Kev is a member of the Executive Council of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate and the Urban Land Institute Los Angeles Advisory Board.

  • Nadine Watt is CEO of Watt Capital Partners. Nadine brings over 20 years of real estate expertise and an entrepreneurial drive to her position, where she oversees day-to-day activities and strategic planning for all commercial investment activities including acquisitions, development, and asset management for the company’s 6 million-square-foot portfolio.

    Previously, Nadine served as President of Watt Companies. In 2011, she led a strategic reorganization of the company that moved the firm beyond traditional property management and leasing to a focus on acquisitions and real estate development, as well as joint venture opportunities. Nadine played a key role in launching Watt Companies’ acquisition division – Watt Investment Partners – that now actively invests $60 million in a variety of property types across the Western United States.

    Throughout her 20-year tenure at Watt Companies, Nadine has touched all facets of the company’s operations, including the development of thousands of apartment units and numerous shopping centers. Nadine was also responsible for a widely celebrated multi-million-dollar renovation program at Watt Plaza, a 920,000 square foot, Class-A office building in Century City. The building was certified Platinum LEED and was recognized by BOMA International with an award for Outstanding Building of the Year.

  • Richard K. Green, Ph.D. holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is Professor in the Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Marshall School of Business. He recently finished a year as Senior Advisor for Housing Finance at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and as of July 1, 2016 became a Trustee of the Urban Land Institute. Prior to joining the USC faculty, Dr. Green spent four years as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Chair of Real Estate Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He was Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Studies at that institution. Dr. Green also taught real estate finance and economics courses for 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was Wangard Faculty Scholar and Chair of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac. More recently, he was a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and he continues to retain an affiliation with Wharton.

  • Bernard (Bud) Golditch is a partner in the firm's Encino, CA office with over 40 years of accounting experience.

    Bud has primarily been involved in consulting, tax planning, and succession planning for entrepreneurs in industries including manufacturing, distribution, and service organizations. Representation of real estate developers and syndicators has become an area of expertise and the complexity of real estate transactions are often the most challenging part of Bud's practice.

    Previously, Bud was a partner LGSH LLP, one of the largest, full-service accounting firms in San Fernando Valley, whichjoined Citrin Cooperman in 2020.

  • Richard Bruckner is a senior land use specialist in Mayer Brown's Los Angeles office. Richard advises investors and developers involved in residential, commercial and industrial real estate projects on complex land use laws, California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance, state and local government interactions, and other strategic considerations to bring projects through to successful completion.

    Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Richard was director of Los Angeles County's Department of Regional Planning, which provides advance planning, current planning and land use regulation enforcement for the unincorporated area of the county, which has a population of approximately one million. Prior to that, he was the director of planning and development for the City of Pasadena for more than a decade, with responsibilities in citywide economic development, planning, building, code enforcement, cultural affairs, real estate and the management of eight redevelopment projects areas. Previous to his work for Pasadena, he served as the deputy executive director of the Community Development Department for the City of Anaheim, California. Richard’s background also includes serving as vice chair of the Oversight Board of the Successor Agency to the Culver City Redevelopment Agency; serving on the City of Arcadia Planning Commission, and helping to develop the current Hollywood Community Plan and Hollywood Community Redevelopment Plan during his time with the Community Redevelopment Agency.

    Richard serves on the boards of several non-profit organizations, including the Local Advisory Board of the Urban Land Institute, the Advisory Board of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate, and serving as Vice President of Heritage Housing Partners.

  • Lynn King Tolliver is an outcome driven real estate executive with demonstrated success in all areas of institutional investment management including portfolio management and portfolio strategy set, transactions including acquisitions and dispositions, business development in both domestic and international markets, and investor relations. With over25 years of experience she has acquired over 25 million sf of real estate and $5.0 billion in direct acquisitions and joint ventures transactions. She is the founding principal of Archere Investment Management (AIM), a private equity real estate investment platform that specializes in capital placement, GP advisory and the acquisition, repositioning and management of commercial properties in westerns U.S. markets.

    Over the course of her career, Lynn has fostered strong relationships and a stellar reputation among the top institutional realestate investment firms, the brokerage and the intermediary community, and operators across the U.S. across real estateproduct types. Her positions have given her a broad national perspective with experience from Los Angeles to New York,Seattle to San Diego, and several international markets. Her in-depth institutional experience also supports her ability to assess risks at the asset and portfolio levels and to clearly differentiate and articulate the key decision points to drive results.

    Prior to founding AIM, she was a Senior Vice President with Heitman, LLC of Chicago where she headed West Coastacquisitions and joint ventures. During her 5-year tenure with Heitman, she completed approximately $950 million intransactions including a 6 million sf industrial portfolio acquisition and joint venture with domestic and international capitalpartners. Prior to joining Heitman, she was a Strategic Advisor with UrbanAmerica Advisors (UA), a private equity real estate investment firm headquartered in New York where she focused on investor relations and capital raising by calling on UA’s existing institutional investors and building relationships with pension funds and consultants as well as family offices, HNW and endowments.

    From 2002 to 2009, Lynn was a Director with MetLife Real Estate Investments responsible for domestic and internationalbusiness development. She developed the joint venture program for MetLife REI including all internal structuring andcompliance; managed acquisition activities including new joint ventures for 8 domestic offices nationwide and was on the portfolio management team and the investment committee for the $10 billion equity portfolio. Her role as head of international markets included responsibility for new equity investments and asset management in MetLife’s 4 international offices including: Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom and China where she and her team structured, originated and managed 6 programmatic joint ventures that invested approximately $490M in equity, or approximately $2.5B in deal volume. Previously, she held positions with Lincoln Property Company and Spieker Properties.

    Lynn received her bachelor’s degree in Real Estate Finance from California State University at Fullerton and completedexecutive education at Smith College. She holds a California Real Estate Broker license (CA DRE #0137728), is affiliated with ULI, ICSC, NAIOP and CREW and was a founding board member of African American Real Estate Professionals,Los Angeles with whom she maintains as active role on the Advisory Board.

  • Partner, Urban Field Studio

    Frank Fuller is an architect, an urban designer and a Fellow in the American Institute of Architecture, who has practiced in the United States for over forty years. In 2015, he helped his two partners establish a new firm, Urban Field Studio in San Francisco. In addition to architectural commissions, he and his partners perform urban design works which transform downtowns, town and campus centers into active, pedestrian-oriented places. Frank understands the perspectives of public agencies and private developers in building and revitalizing communities. By using a consensus-oriented approach, he integrates multiple interests to create strong public and private realms.

    Frank has conducted charrettes around the US, including the 2014 City of Fairfax and George Mason University charrette in Virginia with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. Frank has served on Urban Land Institute (ULI) Technical Assistance Panels in the Western United States, has served as a member of the ULI Rose Center faculty for Minneapolis, Minnesota, and served as Rose Center faculty co-chair for Louisville, Kentucky. In 2017 he was faculty co-chair for the City of Anchorage, Alaska, with the Rose Center as a joint program of both ULI and the National League of Cities (NLC).

    His numerous public service activities include chairmanship of the AIA California Council Urban Design Committee and Jury Chair for the 2015 National AIA Urban Design Awards. Frank has taught in the Architecture and Urban Design programs at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley and has lectured around the US and in Scandinavia.