Rob is the Development Division Chief for the City of Alexandria, Virginia. He is a certified planner with 20+ years of experience working with communities. Sustainability and comprehensive planning are major focuses of Rob’s planning career, emphasizing the latest growth management, urban design, and circulation strategies. To advance sustainable planning he helped found and lead the APA Sustainable Communities Division. He also served as co-chair of the APA Smart Cities and Sustainability Taskforce. In his current role Rob works with many complex, urban development projects - Landmark Mall redevelopment, the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus, and several mixed-use, waterfront projects along the Potomac River in Old Town Alexandria. His position requires negotiating with developers to implement the City’s many progressive planning goals, such as green building, affordable housing, and public art, while working cooperatively with development teams to achieve optimum results.

Caitlin Sugrue Walter, Ph.D., is Vice President of Research, with primary responsibility for conducting NMHC's research on apartment industry trends. Prior to working at the Council, Caitlin was an analyst at a real estate advisory firm. Caitlin has a B.A. and B.S. (Planning and Public Policy, Criminal Justice) from Rutgers University. She also holds an M.A. in Urban and Regional Planning and a Ph.D. in Planning, Governance and Globalization with a concentration on metropolitan economies and development from Virginia Tech. She is an active member of the National Association for Business Economics, a member of Up for Growth’s Advisory Board, and is a member of the Eastern Panhandle Advisory Council for Girls on the Run of the Shenandoah Valley.

Nicholas G. Brumback, MBA is President of Brumback Inc. and Brumback Construction Inc. (Brumback Real Estate & Construction). Nicholas oversees the general management of the businesses and is leading the real estate development, brokerage advising, and construction project growth of the company. The company is highly vertically integrated and its model is to develop, build, lease up, and then manage the properties upon completion. Nicholas grew up around the construction and real estate business, primarily working in the excavation and carpentry trades through school and college. After 3 years in the investment banking business, Nicholas joined the company in 2006 and has since been active in its growth of developing and building multi-family and commercial properties. In his 17 year career in the real estate and construction business, Nicholas has developed and built nearly $100 million in commercial and multi-family projects. And has brokered over $50 million in real estate transactions. The company is currently focused on building multi-family projects with 200 units in development in the Spokane region. The notable project under development is the 508 West project, a 10 story 118 unit adaptive reuse development in the Spokane CBD. Nicholas is licensed in Washington as a Designated Real Estate Broker, is a Journeyman Heavy Equipment Operator, and is certified through the NCCCO as a licensed Tower Crane Operator. Nicholas graduated from Eastern Washington University in 2003 with a Bachelor of Arts in Business Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics. His minor was in Philosophy with an emphasis in ethics. And in 2005 graduated from Eastern Washington University with an MBA emphasized in finance. Outside of formal school, Nicholas has a passion in self studying economics, markets, finance, and real estate. He currently resides in Spokane, WA with his wife Jamie and 4 children. Jack (9), Sawyer (7), Hendricks (5) and Baker (3). Outside of running his businesses, Nick is a passionate songwriter and guitar player and avid hunter and shooting sports enthusiast.

Mark leads the Eastern U.S. for Lowe including acquisitions, development and management, where the company is active in many asset classes including multifamily, office, hotel, and mixed-use properties. Mark also leads Concord Communities, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Lowe, and its efforts to be part of the solution to our nation’s affordable housing shortage. Since joining Lowe in 2004 Mark has been directly responsible for a variety of complex redevelopment and adaptive reuse projects including; • Park + Ford, Alexandria, VA – The adaptive reuse of two 14-story office towers to 435 market rate apartments. • The George, Montgomery County, MD – The office -to-residential conversion of a 5-story office building, including a 7-story addition, to a 194-unit multifamily building with two levels of parking • Gallery 64, Washington, DC – The adaptive reuse of the Historic Randall Junior High School to the Rubell Museum DC, a world-class art museum and construction of 492 apartments • The Washington Hilton, Washington, DC - The renovation and expansion of the historic 1,100 room Washington Hilton hotel • The Hepburn, Washington, DC – The development of a 195-unit luxury apartment tower as an addition to the Washington Hilton. • 1400 Crystal Drive, Arlington, VA – The redevelopment and expansion of a 308,000 SF 1960’s office building to Class A office building. • 2021 L Street, Washington, DC – The redevelopment of an existing 1960’s era office building to a modern office building including the addition of two floors.