MENTORS
The following is a list of NVBIA mentors and their network usernames.
Diane Cox Basheer has been actively involved in the homebuilding and development industry since 1973, and founded Basheer & Edgemoore in 1995. Diane is a past president of the NVBIA and recipient of the 2004 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Metropolitan Washington Builders Association.
She is a member of the Urban Land Institute and past chairman of its Residential Neighborhood Development Council. In addition, she holds a certified residential brokerage (CRB) designation from the National Association of Realtors and MIRM accreditation from the National Association of Homebuilders. Diane graduated cum laude with a B.A. degree in political science from Colorado College and completed the Advanced Management Program in Business at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
A native of Richmond, Virginia with six generations of family rooted in Middlesex County, she and her husband, B. William “Page” Basheer, reside in McLean and Deltaville.
Tim Bates has been a resident of Loudoun County since 1984. Originally from Maryland, he attended Bishop McNamara High School and received his bachelor’s degree in political science from The University of Maryland College Park. Following college, Tim went to work for a large homebuilder and quickly worked his way up the corporate ladder. At the age of 27, he became the youngest division manager in company history. Since that time, Tim has managed divisions in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia for large, publicly traded building companies. In doing so, he was responsible for managing all aspects of homebuilding operations as well as land acquisition, land development, sales and marketing. After 29 years of working in corporate homebuilding, Tim was approached to start up a homebuilding operation based in Leesburg, Virginia. Tim is currently division president of CalAtlantic Homes, and lives in Upperville with his wife, Stephanie.
Jerry Berman entered the home building industry in 1980. Working with national and regional builders, he has been involved in all aspects of land and home building operations. In addition to his position on the NVBIA board, he serves on the HomeAid board and the Congregation Sha’are Shalom board, where he chaired the building committee.
Jerry also founded and served on the Heritage Charity Classic board, which has donated over $1 million to the fight against cancer. He holds a B.S. degree from Penn State and an MBA from Drexel University.
Jarod Blaney is the chief operating officer (COO) at Stanley Martin Homes. He joined Stanley Martin in 2009 and manages five homebuilding divisions, land acquisition, purchasing and training. Under his leadership, Stanley Martin has grown from a one-market, DC-based homebuilder to a Mid-Atlantic focused homebuilder, operating in Northern Virginia, Maryland, Washington D.C., Richmond, Raleigh and Charlottesville.
Prior to assuming the COO role, Jarod served as the company’s chief financial officer, managing all financial reporting, treasury operations and financial projections for the company. He has 15 years of accounting and financial reporting experience and is a certified public accountant. Prior to joining Stanley Martin, he worked for Lennar Corporation, NVR, Inc. and Deloitte.
Jarod received his MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and his B.S. degree in accounting from Liberty University. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife and three children, golfing, serving on non-profits’ boards and fitness.
Rob Cappellini’s experience as CEO and co-founder at Evergreene and as a vice president and general manager at NVR, a Fortune 500 homebuilding company, enables him to effectively and passionately lead the Evergreene Companies team.
With over 29 years of hard work and extensive training from numerous mentors in the homebuilding industry, Rob has developed valuable skills in design, land acquisition, finance, land development, purchasing, construction and sales.
Rob is originally from the Hudson Valley area of New York, and his educational background includes the University of Pittsburgh, with a dual major in business and political science, Dutchess Community College and the State University of New York at Buffalo. Rob’s construction career began as a carpenter, to pay for his education. When not in the office or on a job-site, Rob enjoys spending as much time as possible with his wife and six children at their home in Gainesville, Virginia.
Brian Davidson graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree from George Mason University in 1989. At that time, he started working with Van Metre Homes as an entry-level accountant and prides himself on the extensive experience he has gained spending his entire career with the Van Metre Companies—now acting as executive vice president.
Brian has over 25 years’ experience in the Washington, DC housing market. Brian is a member of various homebuilder associations in Virginia, and is the current president for HomeAid Northern Virginia.
As a regional partner and vice president, Rick Entsminger acquires and develops residential and mixed-use projects in northern Virginia, with an emphasis on Loudoun County. Rick is on the board for the HBAV and a senior life director for the NVBIA. He served as president of NVBIA’s Loudoun Chapter in 2005 and as the NVBIA Vice President of Government Affairs in 2008. He also was selected as the NVBIA Loudoun Chapter Builder of the Year in 2005.
Rick joined Elm Street Development after receiving an MBA from the Kenan Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He also has a BS in chemical engineering from the University of Kentucky.
Rob Fisher is the principal and builder at Fisher Custom Homes (FCH). He has been building custom homes in the Northern Virginia area for almost 30 years. Rob has overseen the design, development, construction and customer satisfaction for some of the most exclusive communities and reputable builders in the area. He began his career with Foley Custom Homes in Vienna before moving on to serve as a supervisor for NVR. In 1986, Rob joined A&A Partnership in Alexandria. As a construction manager there, he was responsible for Harborside, a waterfront community of luxury townhouses in the heart of Old Town. In 1994, Rob joined Pulte Homes to open StoneRidge Builders, a division offering high end, semi-custom homes to the Mid-Atlantic market. He led Pulte’s efforts in establishing the brand as the undisputed leader in customer satisfaction. During Rob’s tenure as vice president of customer relations and construction for the Mid-Atlantic region, Pulte won an unprecedented five JD Power and Associates New Home Customer Satisfaction Awards.
Rob’s experience and lessons learned in building some of the most exclusive projects in Northern Virginia, while creating an industry benchmark in customer satisfaction, helped create the foundation upon which Fisher Custom Homes was established in 2010. FCH builds spec homes and custom builds on infill lots in Vienna, McLean and Arlington, and averages four to six homes per year.
Rob was born and raised in McLean, Virginia. He graduated with a double major in business and psychology from James Madison University, and has raised his family in Vienna since 1987.
David Flanagan is a principal and president of Elm Street Development, Inc., a privately held land development firm operating in the Washington/Baltimore area. Elm Street has developed over 40,000 residential building lots in 250 communities and over 4,500 apartments during the past 37 years. Elm Street has received the Land Developer of the Year Award for 10 consecutive years from the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association.
David is also a principal of Craftmark Homes, a home building company, and Legend Management, an apartment management company. Craftmark Homes is one of the largest privately held home builders operating in the Washington, D.C. area. David served on the Board of Directors for the Montgomery Housing Partnership, a non-profit housing developer; is a former president of the Maryland National Capital Building Industry Association, former chairman of the Washington Smart Growth Alliance and former president of Robert Trent Jones Golf Club.
He currently serves on the Advisory Board for Urban Land Institute-Washington, the Washington Airports Task Force, the Board of the 2030 Group, the Advisory Board for the Center for Real Estate Development at Kenan-Flagler Business School, and on the Board and Executive Committee of the Georgia Tech Foundation. David received a bachelor’s degree in international economics from Georgia Tech in 1976 and received an MBA from the University of North Carolina in 1978.
Principal and President of Genuario Properties and Wakefield Homes, Louis Genuario is responsible for business development, land acquisition, capital funding, investor relations, marketing, contract administration as well as office and financial management. He holds a B.S. in business administration, finance and management from Virginia Tech, graduating in 1980.
Prior to joining the Genuario Companies in 1984, Louis worked for Bechtel Civil and Minerals, Inc. of San Francisco, California, as a construction field engineer and contract manager.
Louis has held many leadership positions in the home building industry, his community’s athletic association and on advisory boards for Virginia Tech. For the HBAV, he served as president (2013-2014), executive officer and treasurer (2011-2013) and regional vice president (2005-2006, 2009-2010). Louis is also the 2016-2017 Virginia State Representative for the NAHB.
For the NVBIA, Louis is a life director who served as president in 2003, executive officer and treasurer (2000-2002), Alexandria chapter president (1998-1999) and various committee chairmanships. He also sits on the Board for Custom Builders USA-NV.
In addition to the building industry, Louis served on the Fort Hunt Youth Athletic Association Board from 1995-2005, and coached his two sons in baseball and basketball (1994-2006). He sits on Virginia Tech’s Real Estate Program Advisory Board, and the civil engineering department’s Land Development and Design Initiative Program board (2006 to present) as well.
As President of The Christopher Companies, Craig Havenner is responsible for land planning, development, product design, construction and customer service. Craig joined The Christopher Companies in 1993 after nine years with the Artery Organization, where he served as vice president/division manager. Prior to joining the Artery Organization, Craig managed park construction operations for the Fairfax County Park Authority.
Craig is a 1979 graduate of Purdue University with a degree in construction management. During his career, he has managed the development and construction of several thousand condominiums, townhomes, garden apartments and single-family homes in the Washington Metropolitan area. A native of Northern Virginia, Craig is actively involved in professional and community organizations, including the NVBIA, where he is a past president and was named Builder of the Year in 2002; the HBAV, where he currently serves on the Executive Committee; and the NAHB, where he served on the Board of Directors.
Craig also currently serves as a member of the George Mason University School of Management Dean’s Advisory Council, on the City of Fairfax Economic Development Authority and as Legislative Chairman of the HBAV.
Bob Hubbell is a principal and president of Brookfield Washington, LLC, the mid-Atlantic division of the public company Brookfield Residential Properties, a land development and housing firm operating in the Washington/Baltimore area. Since accepting his role in 1997, the firm has developed over 11,500 residential building lots and over 7,500 homes. Prior to that, Bob served as vice president of land development (1987-1990), sales and marketing (1990-1997) and acquisitions (1994-1997).
Before Bob came to Brookfield Residential, he worked with two consulting civil engineering companies, Ben Dyer and Associates and Johnson, Mirmiran and Thompson, starting as a design engineer and becoming a partner (1982-1987).
Bob received a B.S. in civil engineering from Virginia Tech (1981) and continues to lecture for the Land Development Design Initiative (LDDI) within the civil engineering program there. He is currently on the LDDI Advisory Board.
Bob is also a member of the NVBIA and a member of the Building Leaders Group, made up of executives from the top 20 public and private builders in the Washington MSA. He was recognized in 2012 with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the industry in design and leadership. Bob sits on the Board of the Lisa Sechrist Memorial Foundation, which provides scholarship funds for women in higher education.
In addition to being a principal at Brookfield, Bob is an owner/investor in a mortgage company, apartments and three golf clubs in the Northern Virginia area.
Bob lives in Northern Virginia and Upstate New York with his wife of 30 years, Betsy Hubbell, a graduate of Virginia Tech. They have three children, Katie, a Fairfax County teacher, Kelly, an actress in New York City, and Megan, an undergrad at Bowling Green State University.
Joseph Jacobs has been active in real estate development and acquisitions for over 25 years in the Washington D.C. region. His experience includes both commercial and residential development. Prior to joining Elm Street Development, Joseph was acquiring and developing commercial properties for a nationally recognized real estate investment trust and responsible for development in markets including San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta and Boston.
Since joining Elm Street in 2001, Joseph has developed nearly 1,500 residential units in the Northern Virginia market. His broad and extensive knowledge of the entitlement process has enabled him to successfully challenge municipalities at the Supreme Court level on two separate cases. Joseph has also succeeded in obtaining entitlements for rezoning and site plans in multiple jurisdictions. He combines his civil engineering background with his architectural planning degree and his entitlement experience to create highly successful communities.
Joseph earned his degree in landscape architecture from the University of Texas-Arlington with a minor in city and regional planning.
A resident of Fairfax County, Joseph has been actively involved with the building industry in various roles, which include past chapter president, chairman of the legislative committee and building representative for two committees in Prince William County.
Prior to joining Michael Harris Development, Inc. as Acquisitions and Development Director, Howard Katz held the position of vice president, strategic land acquisition for the DC-Metro division of Centex Homes.
With more than 25 years’ experience in planning and development, Howard joined Centex Homes in 1991 and during his 17-year career was involved in all facets of the homebuilding process: initiating and negotiating new acquisitions, managing the land entitlement and development process, reviewing product sales of direct competitors for market share and target market opportunities as well as sales and construction operational duties. Earlier in his career, he worked in local government planning, as a planning consultant and for private developers.
A native of Maryland, Howard earned a B.A. in urban and environmental studies and Master of Community Planning from the University of Maryland.
Howard has served on numerous committees, including MAME, Finest for Family Living, Pros Awards for Construction Excellence and the Volume Business Council. He has also participated in the NAHB Senior’s Housing Symposium, lecturing on active-adult infill and presenting active-adult case studies from neighborhoods built by Centex Homes.
Donald Knutson has 23 years’ experience designing, developing, building and selling all types of residential real estate. Founded in 2012, the Knutson Companies specialize in the development of townhome and condominium projects within walking distance of restaurants, shopping and entertainment.
Prior to starting his own company, Donald spent 14 years as the division and regional president of a top-10 public homebuilder. During his tenure in public homebuilding, he managed the construction of more than 15,000 residences in seven states, including 10,000 in the Washington, DC Metro area. Donald was also named 2001’s Builder of the Year by the NVBIA. He serves on the HANV Board of Directors, and graduated from Wake Forest University with a B.S. in accounting.
Paul Mock has been with NVR, Inc./Ryan Homes for over 28 years and is currently the vice president of Northern Virginia operations. He has held many positions, including both construction and sales.
Paul’s leadership and vision has been instrumental in continued growth of the company, having built thousands of homes in Northern Virginia and managing four divisions. He has also been a member of NVBIA for over 20 years. Prior to his work in real estate, he was an owner of a mechanical contracting business.
Paul graduated with a B.S. in management from the University of Pittsburgh and holds a Master Plumbing license.
Over his 26-year career in the residential homebuilding industry, John Monacci has held a number of executive positions in all aspects of homebuilding management. For more than five years, he has maintained the profit and loss responsibility of operations exceeding $100 million in revenue.
Currently, John is executive vice president for Winchester Homes, Inc., a Bethesda, MD-based subsidiary of the TRI Pointe Group, Inc. He is currently an active board member of HANV. John has been a member of this board for the past 11 years, serving as president in 2011 and receiving the organization’s President’s Award in 2014.
John is an active board member of the Evan Foundation, an organization which funds research for pediatric cancer. He is also the President of the Oak Hill Reserve Homeowners’ Association and a member of the Knights of Columbus in Reston.
John earned a B.A. from Providence College, a Graduate Legal Certificate from Georgetown University and an M.S. in real estate from Johns Hopkins University. He lives with his wife and daughter in Oak Hill.
Russell Rosenberger entered the building industry in 1983 after 10 years of real estate law practice in Northern Virginia. He founded Madison Homes along with his partner, Milton Schneiderman, in 1992, after serving in various capacities with the Milton Company, including as its president from 1989 to 1992. Since its founding in 1992, Madison Homes has developed more than 60 residential communities, including the construction and sale of more than 1,600 homes and condominium units.
Madison Homes focuses on infill developments in urban areas. These developments have included communities in or adjacent to historic districts, and all communities have involved the design of unique product types, in order to fit the new community into the established character of the neighborhood. Russ is intimately involved in all aspects of these community approvals, which typically include obtaining rezoning and other discretionary entitlements.
Russ has been actively involved in NVBIA since the mid 1980s, serving as Fairfax Chapter President in 1991 and NVBIA President in 1993. He was recognized by NVBIA as Builder of the Year in 2006. Russ has also been actively involved in HANV, serving as its president in 2006 and 2013.
Russ is a graduate of Gettysburg College and the Washington College of Law at American University.
In early 1992, Deborah Rosenstein formed her own market research and marketing firm, Rosenstein Research Associates, Inc., which is still active today. The firm has as its primary focus feasibility for rental and for-sale residential sites, specialized marketing and consumer research, and marketing strategies.
From 1978 until the formation of Rosenstein Research Associates, Inc., Deborah served as president of Housing Data Reports, Inc. and vice president of the consulting arm, Housing Strategies (since 1987). In addition to day-to-day management of both companies, she was responsible for new business generation, market analysis of numerous residential sites in the Washington, D.C. MSA and the successful completion of the company’s consulting and feasibility work.
For 14 years, Deborah served as vice president of sales and marketing for The Christopher Companies, a well-respected local building/development firm building in the single-family, townhome, condominium and commercial fields. She handled all aspects of the sales and marketing discipline, including, but not limited to, sales management, marketing management (advertising, merchandising, budgeting, etc.), settlement coordination, product development, market research, HOA management and website management.
Currently, Deborah is with KBHome, a national builder corporately based in California, as the manager of market research. She also maintains her consulting operation as Rosenstein Research Associates, Inc.
Deborah is very active in the building industry. She is currently a senior life director for NVBIA and a past president, and has served as life director and past chair of the Washington Metropolitan Sales and Marketing Council (WMSMC). Deborah’s industry related committee activities include past chair of the NVBIA Communications Committee; past chair of the NVBIA Education Committee; past chair of the Major Achievement in Marketing Excellence (MAME) Committee, past chair of the Finest for Family Living Awards (FFL) Committee and past chair of the Great American Living Awards Committee (GALA). She has served on the NAHB Board of Directors, as a council member of the National Sales and Marketing Council Board of Trustees and as a member of the NAHB Public Affairs Committee.
Currently, Deborah serves on the Board of Directors of Habitat, NOVA. She is a recognized expert in the new home sales and marketing field and serves as an often-requested speaker for the building industry.
A recognized leader in homebuilding, Ronny Salemeh is known for his business acumen and forward thinking vision. He brings a unique blend of nearly 20 years’ national homebuilding experience and strong leadership skills to the Dan Ryan Builders organization. This combined with Ronny’s vast knowledge of operations, especially new home construction and land acquisition in the Mid-Atlantic region, prompted Dan Ryan to call him a “pivotal hire” for Dan Ryan Builders.
Once a top-five national homebuilder executive, and now the SVP and COO of the nation’s top-39 homebuilder, Ronny oversees the company’s profit centers in six states. His leadership has helped grow the organization to approximately 1,500 units, with additional expansion planned.
Barry Schwartz began his building career in the mid 1970s and quickly expanded into new home construction and community development. In 1993, he partnered with Renaissance Housing Corp. with the goal of becoming the area’s most prominent builder of executive, estate and custom homes. Over the next 12 years, acting as the firm’s chief operating officer (COO), Renaissance Housing Corp. grew to become the area’s leading builder/developer of upper-bracket homes and communities, expanding in revenue from $18M to $200M. In 1999, under his leadership, Renaissance Housing Corp. received the America’s Best Builder Award, the homebuilding industry’s most prestigious award.
In 2005, Barry helped successfully orchestrate the sale of Renaissance Housing Corp. to WCI Communities, a Florida-based public homebuilder, whereupon he assumed the role of senior vice president and COO of the Mid-Atlantic division. In 2008, he left WCI Communities to pursue home building, community development and real estate consulting as president of Schwartz Enterprises, Inc., where he continues to passionately build today. Barry has built over 1,000 homes in his career.
Currently serving as Group President for K. Hovnanian Homes, Peter Thompson has 32 years’ homebuilding experience with top-10 national homebuilders in senior management roles.
Peter received his B.A. from Vanderbilt University in 1976, and his J.D. from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis in 1979.
J. Truett Young is the Metro-DC regional vice president of land acquisition for Stanley Martin Companies. He is a 19-year veteran of the site development and homebuilding industry, starting his career in asphalt paving in 1996. He has been with Stanley Martin for 10 years and held many positions in the company, including land development estimator, engineering manager and land contracting manager, before settling into the land acquisition department.
Currently, Truett is managing the acquisition effort for the Northern Virginia and Maryland divisions. He works with the land seller community, land brokers, civil engineers and land-use attorneys to put land deals together that will be eventually be developed as new residential communities. For the most part, Stanley Martin Companies buys raw, undeveloped land, which they take through the rezoning and site-planning process, before actually developing into building lots.
Truett is a past president of the NVBIA and came up through the Prince William Chapter during his tenure at Stanley Martin. His time in the association has allowed him to create a network that he uses on a daily basis to better understand what is going on with the new home sales market, the political climate in the municipalities that his company develops land and the trade base that actually constructs the homes.