The Council of Advisors supports the institute financially, through mentorship, and community outreach. Prominent members of the real estate industry as well as the business, legal, and other communities make up the council.
2023 Council Members
Rod Martin
Chair, Council of Advisors
Senior Vice President
Majestic Realty Co.
Rod Martin serves as Senior Vice President and Director of Development for Majestic Reality, having joined the company in 1992. He is responsible for the development, leasing and asset management of Majestic projects. Under his leadership, the company has developed and owns almost 6 million square feet of industrial and office projects in Southern Nevada.
Before joining Majestic, he served as Marketing Director for Birtcher, a developer based in Laguna Niguel, Calif., which focused on development in the San Gabriel Valley. He serves on the Board of Directors for the YMCA of Southern Nevada. Martin received a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University.
Cassie Catania-Hsu
Vice-Chair, Council of Advisors
Managing Director and Market Leader
Las Vegas – CBRE Group, Inc.
Cassie Catania-Hsu serves as Managing Director and Market Leader for Las Vegas. Cassie oversees all CBRE Advisory lines of business for Southern Nevada, including Advisory & Transaction Services, Capital Markets, Debt & Structured Finance, Property Management, and Valuation & Advisory Services. A nearly 30-year resident of Las Vegas, she has more than a decade of experience in local commercial real estate.
Prior to joining CBRE, Cassie was President and Corporate Broker at Sun Commercial Real Estate in Las Vegas. She oversaw all business operations and brokerage management for the firm, including recruiting, business development and community involvement. She initially joined the firm in 2015 and was promoted to Managing Director and Broker within her first year. While in office sales and leasing at Sun Commercial, Cassie maintained a 450,000+ sq. ft. office portfolio.
Before Sun Commercial, Cassie was Director of Leasing at International Market Centers, the world’s largest operator of premier showroom space for the home furnishings, home décor and gift industries. In this role, she was involved in all aspects of leasing for more than 2 million sq. ft. at the World Market Center Las Vegas campus. She successfully closed over 100 deals totaling more than 235,000 sq. ft. and approximately $20 million in lease consideration.
Her previous experience also includes positions with Commerce Real Estate Solutions | Cushman & Wakefield, Grubb & Ellis | Las Vegas and Prudential | IPG Commercial. At Prudential | IPG Commercial, Cassie served as Managing Director and led the Las Vegas office to become the top producing office in the West region for 2009.
Reed Gottesman
Senior Vice President and Regional Manager
Schnitzer Properties Management
Reed Gottesman serves as Senior Vice President and Regional Manager for Harsch Investment Properties where he oversees a Las Vegas regional team of 50+ seasoned professionals, and a 10 million square foot portfolio of flex-industrial and retail property that leases to over 1,600 businesses within the community. He became a Southern Nevada resident in 2008 when he joined the Harsch Family.
Prior to his move, Mr. Gottesman was an industrial broker with CBRE in the South Bay Port Market of Los Angeles. He began his professional career in New York on Wall Street as a NASDAQ Market Maker in 1997 with Sherwood Securities/NDB Capital Markets, which later became Deutsche Bank Capital Markets.
Reed currently sits on the executive board for NAIOP. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication.
Jay Heller
Principal
Heller Companies
Jay Heller is co-founder of Heller Companies, a real estate development firm that manages and leases almost one million square feet of commercial space in the Las Vegas market. A licensed general contractor who holds a real estate broker’s license and a property management license, Heller was the president of NAIOP Southern Nevada, a commercial real estate development association. He helped form the local chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, serving on its board for 13 years. A big proponent of education, Heller likes to share his experience in the commercial sector with students to help them understand real estate development as a career path. A resident of Southern Nevada for 24 years, Heller graduated from Pepperdine University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance.
Jeff Jacobs, CPA
Chief Operating Officer
LOGIC Commercial Real Estate
Jeff Jacobs is chief operating officer of LOGIC Commercial Real Estate, a full-service commercial real estate firm specializing in brokerage, property management, capital markets, and receivership services. He leads LOGIC’s receivership services division. Before that, he was vice president of receivership services for B&R Property Management for 12 years. Jacobs is a certified public accountant who was born and raised in Las Vegas. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and Accounting from UNLV in 1997 and began his career at Arthur Andersen, a large international public accounting firm. He served on the UNLV Alumni Association board of directors. Jacobs continues to regularly collaborate with friends he made at UNLV and the Lee Business School to share experiences and help each other grow.
Venessa McEvoy
Director of Brokerage, Nevada
Cushman & Wakefield
Venessa McEvoy serves as Cushman & Wakefield’s Director of Brokerage in Nevada, a role she was appointed to in June 2022. Based in Las Vegas, Venessa oversees the brokerage and business operations in the Nevada market, including the firm’s offices in Las Vegas and Reno.
In this role, Venessa leads business development, associate broker training, strategic planning, recruiting, and community outreach while working alongside the firm’s producers and team members as they endeavor to implement and activate winning strategies that bring best-in-class service to clients and help them to achieve their real estate goals.
Venessa joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2019 and previously served as the firm’s Nevada Operations Director. Known for her vision and business planning acumen, she has partnered closely with fee earners to develop revenue growth strategies and has guided support staff to streamline operations and processes within the organization. This combined approach resulted in exponential growth and remarkable market share gains for the firm in Nevada.
She has partnered with Christina Roush, Managing Principal for Nevada and San Diego, in crafting the Nevada market’s resounding success, and has helped to reimagine the business support for brokerage and operations, making Cushman & Wakefield a leading commercial real estate brokerage in the Nevada market.
Prior to joining Cushman & Wakefield, Venessa served as Director of Marketing for national consumer and B2B brands where she led the implementation of national expansion initiatives as well as new product innovation and development. In these roles, she helped companies achieve significant new brand awareness as well as sales growth. She also worked with real estate developer, Harsch Investment Properties, and was instrumental in creating operational models and strategic objectives.
Venessa is a lifelong Nevadan and an active supporter of the local community with a passion for improving the lives of children in underserved communities through education and assistance. She has also been a long-time volunteer with the Las Vegas Rescue Mission, supporting the charitable organization’s food drives, donation collection, and assisting in the kitchen.
She graduated from the University of Nevada-Las Vegas where she holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) degree with an emphasis on Strategic Marketing.
Mike Mixer, SIOR
Executive Managing Director
Colliers International Las Vegas
Moving from California to Las Vegas in 1984 to attend UNLV, Mike Mixer and his college roommate formed Stuart Mixer Commercial in 1993. It is now known as Colliers International Las Vegas, a full-service commercial real estate firm, and Mixer leads its Resort & Gaming and Hotel Services Group. He has been a member of the Urban Land Institute and NAIOP Southern Nevada, a commercial real estate development association.
He is a founding board director of the Bank of Las Vegas and an active member of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the UNLV Hotel College Alumni Chapter. Mixer is cofounder of the Links for Life Foundation, which has raised and donated more than $3 million to children’s charities in Southern Nevada. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Investment Finance and Hotel Administration from UNLV.
John Restrepo
Principal
RCGEconomics
John Restrepo is the Principal of Las Vegas-based RCG Economics. He directs the firm’s economic and financial consulting activities and is an expert in regional economics, including Western U.S. economic and market issues and forecasting. Working and residing in Las Vegas for many years, John is a go-to source for Nevada and Western U.S. business leaders and public policymakers needing objective data and fact-based research and analysis.
DECADES OF EXPERIENCE AS AN INDEPENDENT NEVADA & WESTERN U.S. ECONOMIST
For more than 40 years, John has analyzed regional economic and real estate trends in a number of complex markets, including Nevada, Arizona, California, and Texas. His many years of urban economics experience has given him a broad range of skills and technical expertise in assessing the effects of local, regional and national economic trends on urban economies and their real estate markets. John’s clients include some of the most prominent private and public Western U.S.-based organizations concerned with development and growth.
For nine of those years, John was the Director of Financial Advisory Services of the Las Vegas office of Coopers & Lybrand LLP (now PricewaterhouseCoopers). Before joining Coopers in 1990, he managed the Las Vegas office of Mountain West Research (“MWR”), a regional economics firm based in Phoenix, Arizona. Prior to working for MWR, John was the Chief Operating Officer of a 40-person regional planning and civil engineering firm based in New Orleans.
John speaks regularly before a variety of public and private sector organizations on a wide range of topics related to real estate, lodging/hospitality, economic issues and public policy issues. He has been quoted extensively in the local, regional, and national media on real estate and regional economic matters. John has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Louisiana. He also holds a M.A. in Economics and Latin American Studies from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge.
Tim Robinson
VP Real Estate Strategy
Green Valley Grocery
Tim Robinson has a diverse range of work experience in the performing arts and entertainment industry. Tim has held various management and leadership positions in organizations such as Green Valley Grocery, 12 Corners Management, Las Vegas Philharmonic, Blue Man Group, Paul Taylor Dance Company, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Cirque du Soleil, Ford Center for the Performing Arts – Oriental Theater, and The Joffrey Ballet. Their roles have included VP Real Estate Strategy, Managing Director, Executive Director (Interim), Resident General Manager, Director of Institutional Advancement, Director of Tour Engagements, Producer / Technical Producer, Director of Theater Operations, Assistant General Manager, Artist Management Advisor, Assistant Company Manager, and Theater Manager – House Manager. Throughout their career, Tim has demonstrated expertise in areas such as strategy development, fundraising, government and corporate relations, and event production.
Tim Robinson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Management (Business Administration and Music Performance) from the University of Evansville, which they attended from 1987 to 1991. Tim then pursued a Master of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance at the University of Cincinnati, where they studied from 1991 to 1995. Additionally, Tim obtained certifications as a CELTA teacher of English as a second language from Cambridge Assessment English in 2020. At the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, they completed certifications in Paralegal and Mediation.
LJ Spina, RID
President and CEO
RAFI: Architecture and Design
Laura Jane Spina serves as principal-in-charge with RAFI: Architecture and Design and its sister organization, Fielden & Partners: Space Planning and Interior Design. She specializes in community development and redevelopment issues. She’s helped many public sector clients in Southern Nevada. She has also volunteered for numerous organizations and has been honored with a Woman of Distinction Award from the National Association of Women Business Owners. Spina’s ties to UNLV go back to the 1970s and the design of many campus facilities. Her mom and dad, Jane and Bob Fielden, were often commissioned to do work for UNLV, and Spina would visit the construction sites, frequently installing wall graphics or helping with plantings. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Studies from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Dan Tuntland
President
DJT Real Estate & DJT Enterprises
Dan Tuntland is a Bishop Gorman and UNLV graduate and has held a Nevada real estate license since 1994 starting his own company DJT Real Estate in 2007. His focus is land, investments, brokerage, and development. He recently developed the NAIOP spotlight award building of the year, Boot Barn on Las Vegas Boulevard and Warm Springs.
He is a trustee of the UNLV Foundation and serves on the Real Estate committee.
A NAIOP board member serves on the government affairs committee and program committee chairman.