Greg Camp

Greg Camp is the vice president of FCL's national cold storage practice. He has over 25 years’ experience working with developers nationally and internationally to deliver design/build state-of-the-art cold storage projects. What matters most to Camp is establishing collaborations, transparency and trust around all sides of the table with the goal of delivering turnkey facilities that exceed expectations while driving business results and life cycle partnerships that continue to feed the world.

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Tyler Cushman

Tyler Cushman is the senior development manager at RLCold, where he oversees cold storage projects from land acquisition through disposition. Since joining the company, he has been a key contributor, consistently delivering exceptional results and driving strategic growth. In his role, Cushman serves as the bridge between business development and real estate, aligning with tenants, securing prime sites, and coordinating across brokerage, construction and investment teams. His work ensures each project is executed seamlessly, advancing RLCold’s presence in high-demand markets nationwide.

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Tanya Dalton

Tanya Dalton is a project manager with Metl-Fab, specializing in insulated metal panel and cold storage construction across the U.S. She has assisted with large-scale distribution center and food-grade facility projects for clients, coordinating complex procurement, logistics and installation schedules. Dalton is known for her collaborative approach and detail-driven project execution. She is also passionate about building strong partnerships with contractors, suppliers and design teams to deliver cost-effective, high-quality results.

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Jake Finley

Jake Finley is the founder and CEO of Karis (est. 2014) and Karis Cold (est. 2019), and Karis Critical (est. 2023) leading one of the fastest-growing industrial real estate platforms in the U.S. He drives strategy, market expansion and pipeline development for a current portfolio exceeding $1.5 billion across more than 10 markets. Since inception, Karis has developed, acquired and sold more than $2.5 billion in industrial assets, specializing in mission-critical facilities such as cold storage and data centers. Through Karis Capital, Finley executed a landmark joint venture with private-equity real estate leader AEW, delivering one of the highest IRRs in AEW’s history upon its 2021 sale.

Before launching Karis, Finley built his career at the Chicago Board of Trade as a commodities broker, transitioned to selling industrial doors and dock equipment, and then became a leading real estate broker focused on logistics and supply-chain infrastructure. Today, he is recognized for his ability to pair deep market insight with bold, profitable execution.

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Kieran Flanagan, LEED AP

Kieran D. Flanagan, Sr., brings over 30 years of leadership in commercial real estate development and construction. His expertise spans the full lifecycle of development – from due diligence and entitlements to design, permitting and full-scale construction. Known for successfully delivering complex, high-stakes projects across every asset class, Flanagan has been a driving force behind the growth and operational success of numerous companies in the industry. He now serves as principal at Saxum Real Estate, where he oversees development and construction for projects nationwide. He is recognized for his strategic oversight of field operations and project delivery teams, ensuring efficient execution and exceptional outcomes.

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Vince Free

Vince Free founded FREEZ Construction in 2019 and is a past-chairman of the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA), a member of the NAIOP Cold Storage Development Forum and a member of the I.CON Cold Storage Planning Committee. With over 20 years of experience in the cold storage construction space, he is known for his hands-on leadership and deep expertise in thermal construction…and having a little fun along the way.

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Sean Gilbert

Sean Gilbert, as principal, spearheads the origination, evaluation and closing activities for all of Saxum’s cold storage investment opportunities. Since joining Saxum shortly after its founding, Gilbert has been instrumental in the growth of the portfolio to include a variety of different asset classes including cold storage, industrial, and multifamily which collectively exceed $4 billion in assets under management. Gilbert has led the start and expansion of Saxum’s cold storage platform, which now totals over 4 million square feet nationally and is recognized among the most active cold storage development platforms in the U.S.

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Scott Guimond

Scott Guimond is a partner and vice president at Fisher Construction Group, with more than 17 years of experience delivering complex distribution (including ASRS), manufacturing, processing and retail facilities. Fisher is a true in-house design-build firm uniquely qualified to manage all aspects of planning, architecture, engineering (civil/structural/MEP), refrigeration integration, and construction under one roof – providing single-point accountability. Guimond helps developers convert program goals into cost-certain, speed-to-market projects through target-value design, early procurement, and constructability-led engineering that reduces change orders and risk. Backed by a deep network of subs, suppliers, and OEMs, he secures preferred terms and priority allocations while providing clear guidance from concept through commissioning; he also serves as Vice Chair of the Controlled Environment Building Association (CEBA).

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Brian Hinkle

Brian Hinkle has spent 30 years working in the energy, power, and industrial automation market, working as an engineer, project developer, and in sales and business development. He currently works as a project developer in the Schneider Electric Microgrid Hub; the team develops projects using renewable distributed energy resources to achieve their customer’s goals to reduce energy costs, increase energy and power resilience, and achieve sustainability goals.

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Matt Hirsch

As president of Primus Builders, Matt Hirsch leads with a sense of vitality and collaboration that encourages innovation and team building. This approach has led to advances in automation, artificial intelligence, and sustainable design and construction practices that set Primus apart from its competitors. As a result, Primus is recognized as one of the nation’s premier cold storage design-build-automate providers, trusted by clients to deliver highly specialized facilities that meet the industry’s evolving needs. Hirsch’s commitment to the industry and outstanding customer service earned him a spot on ENR Southeast’s list of the Top 20 Under 40, a compilation of the industry’s rising stars under the age of 40, as well as Building Design + Construction’s list of the Top 40 Under 40.

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Kevin Lacz

Kevin Lacz is a decorated former U.S. Navy SEAL who enlisted following the 9/11 attacks, completed BUD/S training, and served two combat tours with SEAL Team THREE Task Unit Bruiser, earning a Bronze Star with combat “V” and multiple Navy and Marine Corps Medals. After his honorable discharge in 2010, he returned to academics, including earning a Master of Medical Science from Wake Forest University. Shifting to the civilian sector, Lacz cofounded a functional medicine practice, served as a SEAL technical advisor (and portrayed himself) in the Oscarwinning film American Sniper, and authored the New York Times bestselling memoir The Last Punisher. He cofounded the charity Hunting for Healing.

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Peter Lamas, MAI

Peter Lamas joined National Valuation Consultants, Inc. in 2012 and serves as a senior managing director and the regional manager of the firm’s Atlanta office and Southeast region. He oversees all aspects of the day-to-day operations of NVC’s Atlanta office, including marketing, bidding assignments, appraiser training and internal reviews. In addition, Lamas has extensive experience appraising a wide variety of income producing property types throughout the United States. Specialized areas of expertise include cold storage and food processing facilities, on campus medical facilities and STARK compliance work for hospital operators.

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Kurt Liebendorfer

Kurt Liebendorfer is vice president with Evapco and has been in the industrial refrigeration, process cooling and construction industry for 40 years working for both manufacturing and construction companies. Prior to Evapco, Liebendorfer also worked for Johnson Controls/Frick, Stellar, Haskell and GEA/FES and has participated in some of the worlds larger refrigeration projects. He is currently serving on the board of directors for CEBA and IIAR and is an established leader in refrigeration technology and innovation.

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Kate Lyle, NCARB

A licensed architect in the State of California, Kate Lyle, NCARB, has been involved in the industry since 2005, specializing in complex project types including cold storage, food processing and food distribution since 2011. At her previous company, Lyle coauthored the e-book "Best Practices in Cold Storage Facility Development" for NAIOP and has also assisted in planning NAIOP’s I.CON Cold conference for the past two years. She sits on the Controlled Environments Building Association (CEBA) Board of Directors, is part of CEBA’s Construction and Codes Committee, and involved in subcommittees focused on food safety and requirements for ventilation in refrigerated facilities.

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Ryan Murphy

Ryan Murphy is managing director in the consumer, retail and leisure Group at Lazard, based in Los Angeles, where he focuses on advising private companies and financial sponsors across the food and beverage and food infrastructure sectors. Prior to joining Lazard, Murphy was head of middle-market M&A at Wells Fargo, having begun his investment banking career at Barrington Associates, an L.A.-based middle-market M&A boutique acquired by Wells Fargo in 2006.

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Kevin Rivest

Kevin Rivest is a managing partner at BGO, based in Washington, D.C. Rivest is the portfolio manager of BGO’s U.S. Cold Storage Fund, leads BGO’s U.S. cold storage investment and development team, and serves on BGO’s U.S. Management Committee. Prior to launching the cold storage investment platform and dedicating his time to leading BGO’s investment activities in the sector, Rivest was the Head of BGO’s Eastern U.S. Investments team with responsibility for leading the firm’s acquisition and investment efforts across all strategies in the Eastern U.S.

Rivest has broad experience across all major real estate asset classes, participating in over $7 billion of transactions at BGO with a primary focus on industrial/cold storage investing across development, value-add, core/core plus, and special situations investment strategies throughout the U.S. Over his 21-year real estate career, his focus on real estate investing has included responsibilities in portfolio management, acquisitions/investments, development and asset management.

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Aquiles Suarez

Aquiles Suarez is the Senior Vice President for Government Affairs for NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, where he oversees the association’s advocacy efforts at the federal, state, and local level, and manages the association’s political action committee, NAIOP-PAC. Aquiles joined NAIOP in 2007 as the head of its government affairs office. Prior to joining NAIOP, he held a number of positions in the executive and legislative branches of government, serving on the White House Domestic Policy Council, senior counsel on the Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives, and at the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Aquiles received his law degree from Columbia University Law School, and his undergraduate degree in government from Georgetown University.

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Luke Waite

Luke Waite is a senior project manager at FREEZ Construction with nearly two decades of experience in the cold storage industry. Over his 18-year career, Waite has led complex projects across the food distribution, cold storage and process sectors, earning a reputation for blending technical precision with practical problem-solving rooted in both field execution and project leadership. He is deeply focused on delivering high-performance results with long-term functionality while keeping projects on schedule and clients confident.

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Cassie Wells

With over ten years in the industry, Cassie Wells used her experience as a corporate sales manager for a leading national audio-visual integrator to uncover her deep-seated passion for project and connection hunting. She gained invaluable insights into the essence of business while being immersed in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. She learned that true success in business isn't just about contracts and transactions; it's about fostering exceptional connections, nurturing authentic relationships, and maintaining deep respect for everyone you work with.

Driven by these insights and experiences, Cassie founded Modern Business Development (Modern BD) in 2022. Modern BD is not just a company; it's a solution to a gap she observed in the market. It caters to subcontractors who require expert business development services but may not be ready to make the financial leap for a full-time director of business development.

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