Odetta MacLeish-White

Managing Director
TransFormation Alliance

Odetta MacLeish-White

Managing Director
TransFormation Alliance
Odetta MacLeish-White is the Managing Director of the TransFormation Alliance, a partnership of nonprofits, government agencies, and businesses working to ensure that opportunities and benefits provided by investment in transit communities are made available to ALL residents. The Alliance’s work is driven by racial equity and seeks to partner with residents of impacted communities in shaping better health, climate, and economic outcomes through arts & culture-based community engagement, and by improving housing, transit and jobs access. Prior to joining the TransFormation Alliance, Odetta was a Senior Program Director with Enterprise Community Partners in their Southeast market. She supported comprehensive community stabilization efforts around the country with a focus on equitable Transit-Oriented Development initiatives and nonprofit capacity building in the state of Georgia and the Southeast. Odetta has also served as a community development specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and was the staff director for Florida's Affordable Housing Study Commission. She discovered her love for affordable housing while working for a developer in Gainesville, Florida. Ms. MacLeish-White earned a juris doctorate and LLM in International Law from Duke University School of Law, and a bachelor’s degree in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard-Radcliffe University.  

Amanda Rhein

Executive Director
Atlanta Land Trust

Amanda Rhein

Executive Director
Atlanta Land Trust
Amanda Rhein is Executive Director of the Atlanta Land Trust, a non-profit committed to creating and preserving housing in Atlanta that will remain affordable in perpetuity. Prior to joining the Atlanta Land Trust Ms. Rhein led the transit-oriented development (TOD) initiative at MARTA, the nation’s ninth-largest public transit system, resulting in the redevelopment of over 35 acres of underutilized surface parking at eight heavy rail stations. Ms. Rhein spent almost 10 years at Invest Atlanta, Atlanta’s Development Authority and the economic development agency for the City of Atlanta. While at Invest Atlanta, Ms. Rhein managed the City’s primary economic development tools which catalyzed over 30 projects, resulting in the investment of $3.5 billion in Atlanta’s most underserved communities. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Ms. Rhein graduated from Boston College with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 2002. She earned a Master of City and Regional Planning from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2004. Ms. Rhein is a regular guest lecturer at the School of City and Regional Planning and has presented at numerous national and local conferences on TOD and economic development and, in 2015, gave a TED talk at the TEDxAtlanta Conference. She has also authored articles in Urban Land Magazine, the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the Atlanta Journal Constitution and contributed to several best practice case studies for the Council of Development Finance Agencies. Ms. Rhein is active in the Urban Land Institute where she is Chair of the Livable Communities Council and a member of the Atlanta District Council Advisory Board. During her tenure as the inaugural co-chair of the ULI Atlanta Center for Leadership, she designed and implemented an innovative leadership program for real estate professionals, which now serves as a national model. Ms. Rhein served on the Board of Directors’ Dad’s Garage Theater Company from 2010 to 2015. She is presently a member of the Board of Directors of Rebuilding Together Atlanta and serves on the Board of Trustees of the Atlanta Preservation Center, for which she also serves as a Downtown tour guide. In 2016, Ms. Rhein was named one of ULI’s Global 40 Under 40 and named to the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s annual 40 Under 40 list. She was also named one of Atlanta’s 40 Power Women in Real Estate and the Atlanta Business Chronicle’s Commercial Real Estate Who’s Who. In 2015, Ms. Rhein received the Longleaf Award from the Georgia Conservancy’s Generation Green for her work to promote and implement sustainable growth and multi-modal transportation options in Atlanta. Ms. Rhein is a member of the Regional Leadership Institute Class of 2017, the Outstanding Atlanta Class of 2011 and the 2006 class of Leadership Atlanta’s LEAD Atlanta program, which she co-chaired from 2008 to 2009 and co-chaired the inaugural Alumni Steering Committee.

Chris Laumer-Giddens

Architect and Custom Home Builder
LG Squared Inc.

Chris Laumer-Giddens

Architect and Custom Home Builder
LG Squared Inc.
Chris is an architect, custom builder, HVAC system designer, and building science expert, a.k.a. Master Builder, creating custom high-performance and off-grid residential projects throughout the Southeast. He is a principal of the woman-owned firm, LG Squared, Inc., and maintains the company's blog and YouTube channel, sharing information and experience with their niche building type.  

Daniel Rochberg

Chief Strategy Officer
Climate@Emory

Daniel Rochberg

Chief Strategy Officer
Climate@Emory

Daniel Rochberg is Chief Strategy Officer of Emory University's Climate@Emory initiative and an Instructor in Emory's Rollins School of Public Health and Department of Environmental Sciences, where he focuses primarily on climate change and sustainable development and is a founding member of the Georgia Climate Project. 

Marilyn Brown

Regents' and Brook Byers Professor
Georgia Institute of Technology

Marilyn Brown

Regents' and Brook Byers Professor
Georgia Institute of Technology

Marilyn Brown is a Regents' and Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems in the School of Public Policy. She joined Georgia Tech in 2006 after a distinguished career at the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, where she led several national climate change mitigation studies and became a leader in the analysis and interpretation of energy futures in the United States. She is a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, 2007, for co-authorship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group III Assessment Report on Mitigation of Climate Change, Chapter 6.

Carol Morgan

President
Denim Marketing

Carol Morgan

President
Denim Marketing
Carol Morgan, president of Denim Marketing, is one of those women who seems to do a million things effortlessly: she runs her own successful marketing firm; she has an award-winning radio show; she’s written four books; she’s served as chair of the  National Home Builders Association’s Professional Women in Building Council; and she’s won multiple professional awards. She also manages a 20-acre farm; rides dressage; and is a mom. And she makes it look easy! Carol speaks on change, leadership, netiquette, social media, marketing, search engine optimization and several other topics. Day to day she focuses on marketing strategy and integrating public relations, social media, content and creative to tell engaging stories for clients that garner measurable traffic and show ROI. Denim Marketing celebrated its 20th Anniversary in 2019. Carol is the author of four books, including her latest “Social Media Marketing for Your Business,” published by Builder Books.  She is the creator of the nationally-ranked and award-winning www.AtlantaRealEstateForum.comSM Atlanta’s most popular real estate news blog. Her Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio podcast launched in 2011 and features the movers and shakers in the Atlanta real estate industry, as well as nonprofits, attractions and things to do on the Around Atlanta edition. Carol served as one of NAHB Chair Greg Ugalde’s advisors in 2019. She is Second Vice Chair of the Associates Council and past Membership Chair and past chair of NAHB’s Professional Women in Building Council; Carol was awarded the prestigious 2016 Woman of the Year from the Professional Women in Building. She is a graduate of Oglethorpe University and the recipient of the 2008 Spirit of Oglethorpe Award, PRSA Georgia Chapter’s George Goodwin Award, the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association’s 2008 Associate of the Year and 2012 Council Chair of the Year. Carol holds the MIRM (Masters in Residential Marketing), CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialist) and CSP (Certified Sales Professional) designations from NAHB. In her free time she manages a 20-acre farm with multiple critters, is the mother of an incredible son, gardens, rides dressage and explores various recipes.  

John Lanier

Executive Director
Ray C. Anderson Foundation

John Lanier

Executive Director
Ray C. Anderson Foundation
Previously, John was an Associate Attorney with the Atlanta office of Sutherland, Asbill and Brennan, LLP, specializing in U.S. Federal taxation. During his time with Sutherland, Lanier represented the interests of various Atlanta-based nonprofits, including the Ray C. Anderson Foundation. He has experience with nonprofit formations, compliance and applications for recognition of tax-exempt status. John is an active member in the Marist School Alumni Association, serving as Vice President for Service and Spirituality. John earned his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and holds bachelor’s degrees in history and economics from the University of Virginia.

Shane Totten

Education and Research Director
Southface Institute

Shane Totten

Education and Research Director
Southface Institute
Shane stewards the education, workforce development and research efforts of Southface and its program areas.

Mike Barcik

Technical Principal
Southface Institute

Mike Barcik

Technical Principal
Southface Institute
Mike Barcik is a Technical Principal at Southface and has been with the organization since 1995. With B.S and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech, Mike is the author of numerous technical resources and has developed and led thousands of trainings for RESNET, BPI, LEED, DOE, EPA and other programs. He's active in energy code development and often leads workshops on the latest code changes. Since 1999, Mike has trained over 1,500 individuals in RESNET's Home Energy Rating System (HERS) program, and in 2010 he helped create the Duct and Envelope Tightness (DET) Verifier program to certify over a thousand individuals for blower door and duct leakage testing, as required by the 2009 and later energy codes. Mike served as LEED Faculty for BD+C, EB O&M and Homes, as well as helped develop and teach the EarthCraft family of sustainable programs. Mike co-authored Decatur Georgia's High Performance Building Ordinance which requires third-party certification for new and substantially renovated single-family, multi-family and commercial projects. During the second week of January, he loves leading MLK Volunteers to weatherize homes for low-income seniors. Mike lives with his much-smarter architect wife and two daughters in a 1920 Craftsmen bungalow that they are lovingly restoring and making more efficient. Thanks to efficiency improvements and a 4kW photovoltaic array, they’ve offset 95% of their electricity consumption and use only a third of the gas originally consumed.

KP Reddy

Founder
Shadow Ventures

KP Reddy

Founder
Shadow Ventures
KP Reddy is a globally recognized authority in the built environment, AI, robotics, automation, collaborative communication, mobile applications, and cloud computing. Over 25+ years he has been a technologist, subject-matter expert, founder, CEO, advisor, investor, professor, author, and coach. KP has exited three technology companies. Cereus Technology Partners which had an IPO on NASDAQ and has since sold to Verso (NASDAQ:VRSO) at a 35x Multiple, RCMS which was sold to ARC (NYSE:ARC), and Ampirix (sold to The Combine). KP formerly ran Enterprise Transformation at Gehry Technologies (started by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry) which exited to Trimble (NASDAQ: TRMB), and he was the General Manager of ATDC at Georgia Tech, one of the oldest technology incubators in the country. KP serves as a Managing Director of the General Partnership and is responsible for the day-to-day operations, including the implementation of the Partnership’s investment strategy and oversight of the Portfolio Investments.