Event details:
$20.00 LAI Member
$25.00 LAI Member's Guest
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Commercial property assessed clean energy (C-PACE) financing is an exciting program that promotes sustainable building improvements and construction utilizing a creative and competitive financing structure. Anna Maria Kowalik of Inland Green Capital, LLC and Aaron Kraus of Nuveen Green Capital will provide insight to the benefits of C-PACE, provide real world examples of successful C-PACE projects, and will explain how our membership can utilize C-PACE financing within their specific fields of work.
This event's opening remarks will be presented by Mohammed Elahi, Deputy Director of Economic Development at Cook County Department of Planning and Development.
Moderator: Graham C. Grady
Graham C. Grady is a partner in the law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP where he advises real estate developers, investors and property owners on land use entitlements. He is an independent director of The Pepper Companies, Inc. As a former City of Chicago Zoning Administrator, Buildings Commissioner and Ex-Officio member of the Chicago Plan Commission, his practice encompasses zoning, land use, economic incentives, building code compliance, licensing and government and legislative approvals. He is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, the Economic Club of Chicago and is the founder of Chicago African-Americans in Commercial Real Estate (Chi-AACRE).
Panelist: Anna Maria Kowalik
As Senior Vice-President and Director of Business Development, Anna Maria Kowalik is responsible for business development and deal originations for Inland Green Capital LLC, a capital provider for PACE projects and part of The Inland Real Estate Group of Companies, Inc., headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. In this role, she has been instrumental in the closing of the first three C-PACE deals in the State of Illinois, and numerous others since Illinois’ C-PACE Program inception in 2019, as well as across the US.
Ms. Kowalik possesses extensive experience in the commercial real estate and property and asset management industries, including with a publicly traded shopping center REIT, where she oversaw portfolios of over 30 retail properties consisting of 3.4 million square feet with more than 500 tenants and budgets of close to a quarter billion dollars. She has been, and continues to be, an active member of industry organizations and chambers of commerce, and acts as liaison with municipal, county and state governments.
Panelist: Aaron Kraus
Mr. Kraus has more than fifteen years of experience in the energy, finance and policy fields. He currently serves as the Vice President of Market Development and Strategy for Nuveen Green Capital, the largest provider of C-PACE financing in the country. He joined the firm as a young startup in 2016 (Greenworks Lending) and has remained in a senior leadership role through its acquisition in early 2021 by Nuveen. He manages a team charged with leading national market development, early stage project origination strategy, channel relationships, and external affairs for markets across the nation. Prior to this role, he was a Director of Policy and Electricity Markets for SolarCity - then the largest solar and storage developer in North America (now a subsidiary of Tesla Motors) and oversaw all national policy activities for the Commercial and Industrial (C&I) segment of the market. Previous to this, he worked in the defense energy practice at Booz Allen Hamilton where he worked on energy policy matters for numerous clients within the U.S. Department of Defense. He holds a masters degree in government from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor’s degree in government from the University of Maryland.