Cal Poly's Second Real Estate Day 2026
Data Centers and Technology Assets
Wednesday, October 28, 12-5pm
Chumash Auditorium
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, California
This event examines what kinds of data centers are needed, what infrastructure do they require, where will they concentrate and why do some communities oppose them? The program traces the full development cycle and emerging models, from modular facilities and on-site power to designs that work better for water and power systems, campuses and host communities.
Local policy makers, representatives from industry, students and members of the community are encouraged to attend.
This event is organized by the Real Estate Initiative, the Orfalea College of Business, the College of Architecture and Environmental Design and the Noyce School of Computing.
Schedule
12:00 - Registration and Networking
12:30 – Opening Remarks
12:45 – ECONOMICS AND GEOGRAPHY OF DATA CENTERS: A 30-minute framing talk on market drivers, infrastructure and regional implications
1:15 – DATA CENTER TRENDS: Current trends in cloud, AI, hyperscale and colocation markets and what they mean for site needs, infrastructure and investment.
1:45 - DATA CENTER SITING, CONSTRUCTION AND FINANCING: Site selection, power, design, construction, financing and deals.
2:45 – Networking Break
3:00 – SHOULD WE BUILD DATA CENTERS ON THE CENTRAL COAST? Regional benefits, infrastructure readiness, public value and local tradeoffs.
4:00 – DATA CENTERS ON EDUCATIUONAL CAMPUSES: INNOVATIVE APPROACHES: Renewable energy, recycled water, research facilities, community service and modular data centers.
4:15 - Closing Discussion
5:00-7:00 – Social Hour
Participant Registration
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER AS A PARTICIPANT
Registration Fees:
Early Bird Registration (until October 1st): $80
Regular Conference Registration: $100
Cal Poly Community Registration: $20 (Use discount code at checkout)
To receive special registration rates, please enter your coupon when checking out.
Conference registration is limited and is offered on a first come, first serve basis.
Sponsorship opportunities are available. Please contact REI Director Dr. Hamed Ghoddusi for details
Andy Pollin
Real Estate Executive and Educator
College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Master of Ceremonies
Andy Pollin is a real estate executive and educator with more than 25 years of experience in real estate investment, finance, development, and construction. He teaches real property development at Cal Poly and the University of San Diego, bringing a practitioner’s perspective to project feasibility, capital structure, entitlement risk, and delivery. As Master of Ceremonies, he will guide the program and connect the day’s discussions across panels.
Marc Swackhamer
Dean
College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Opening Presentation: Sustainability, Community Integration, and New Approaches to Data Center Design
Marc Swackhamer is Dean of Cal Poly’s College of Architecture and Environmental Design. His work and leadership connect architectural education, design research, digital fabrication, sustainability, and environmentally responsive design. Through his collaborative research practice, he has explored interdisciplinary design, material experimentation, and the relationship between biology and architecture. His opening remarks will frame the day’s data-center discussions within Cal Poly’s broader built-environment mission.
Gilbert M. Bareng
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
Bareng Corporation
Gilbert M. “Gil” Bareng is the founder and chief executive officer of Bareng Corporation, a real estate investment and development company focused on building infrastructure for human potential. With more than two decades of experience in architecture, public-school facilities, planning, and community-centered development, he connects land, housing, education, workforce, finance, culture, and community needs into integrated development strategies. His work emphasizes relationship-based, long-horizon projects that create value beyond the property itself and strengthen local opportunity.
Hamed Ghoddusi
Director, Cal Poly Real Estate Initiative; Associate Professor of Finance
Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Presentation: Economics and Geography of Data Centers
Hamed Ghoddusi is Director of the Cal Poly Real Estate Initiative and a finance professor at Cal Poly's Orfalea College of Business. His research spans housing, natural resource economics, technology, and risk management. Before entering academia, he worked as a management consultant, model builder, and analyst with national and international organizations across three continents. He brings a cross-disciplinary, data-driven perspective to land-use and local economic development challenges, and teaches courses in Housing Development Finance and Advanced Analytics.
Scott Collins
Assistant City Manager (former Morro Bay City Manager)
City of San Luis Obispo
Scott Collins serves as Assistant City Manager for the City of San Luis Obispo. He oversees the City’s Community Services group, including the Community Development, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and Utilities departments. Before joining the City in December 2024, Collins was executive director of the Housing Authority of San Luis Obispo and previously served for five years as city manager of Morro Bay. He brings extensive experience in local-government administration, housing, infrastructure, land-use implementation, and coordination across public agencies and community partners.
Jeremy Cook
IntegrEn
Jeremy Cook works at the intersection of sustainable infrastructure, energy systems, and data-center development. Over more than 15 years, he has worked across renewable energy, carbon capture, distributed energy-resource management, virtual power plants, energy-market forecasting, data centers, and water and wastewater infrastructure. Public biographies note prior leadership roles at Noya, GridBeyond, and ENGIE Impact, where he established a renewable-energy advisory practice. He brings a practical perspective on turning land into infrastructure-ready platforms and coordinating landowners, utilities, developers, regulators, and communities.
Karen Houston Tillman
Associate Executive Director of Economic Development and Advisor to the President; Interim Executive Director, Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Moderator, Panel #2
Karen Houston Tillman leads economic-development and entrepreneurship initiatives at Cal Poly, serving as Associate Executive Director of Economic Development and Advisor to the President, as well as Interim Executive Director of the Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. She brings nearly three decades of technology-sector leadership, including senior communications roles at Oracle, Cisco, GoDaddy, and Brex. Her experience spans global communications, crisis management, corporate strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. At Cal Poly, she connects university capabilities with regional priorities in technology, energy, aerospace, workforce development, and community-centered economic growth.
Brett Earnest
General Manager, Mission Critical and Advanced Manufacturing
Suffolk Construction
Brett Earnest is Suffolk Construction’s General Manager for Mission Critical and Advanced Manufacturing. He brings more than two decades of construction and operational leadership to complex, schedule-intensive projects. Before joining Suffolk, he led major teams and project portfolios in the Pacific Northwest, including aviation, convention-center, and healthcare work. At Suffolk, he focuses on the delivery of mission-critical and advanced-manufacturing facilities, combining construction execution, client relationships, trade-partner coordination, safety, and technology. His perspective is especially relevant to the cost, schedule, labor, and constructability challenges of data-center development.
Erica Garaffo
Strategic Energy Customer Development Lead
City of San José
Erica Garaffo is a public sector innovator focused on building resilient, sustainable cities through technology and data-driven infrastructure planning. At the City of San José, she leads strategies integrating energy and utility systems with economic development, advancing civic partnerships that unlock innovation and investment. With a background in Industrial Engineering and a Master’s in Public Policy from Cal Poly SLO, Erica brings a systems-thinking approach to complex urban challenges—bridging technical analysis with policy design. A San José native, she is passionate about co-creating solutions that leave her community stronger and more connected for future generations.
Russ Levanway
Chief Financial Officer
REACH Central Coast
Russ Levanway is chief financial officer of REACH Central Coast, where he leads financial strategy, budgeting, contracting, board-committee work, and organizational sustainability. Before joining REACH, he founded and scaled a nationally recognized information-technology firm and developed a record as a trusted business adviser. At REACH, he helps translate regional economic-development ambitions into disciplined financial and operating plans. He brings a Central Coast perspective on investment attraction, infrastructure readiness, workforce development, and the long-term regional value that major technology and energy projects can create.
John Miranda
Lecturer, Management, Human Resources, and Information Systems
Orfalea College of Business, Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Presentation: Data Center Trends Lecture
John Miranda is a lecturer in Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business and a research fellow with Nemertes. He retired from Intel in late 2025 after more than three decades, most recently serving as a senior director in the Corporate Strategy Office. His work has spanned corporate foresight, competitive strategy, data-center and AI markets, software transformation, and sustainability; he also co-chaired the launch of the Open Compute Project’s sustainability tenet. Miranda now teaches client consulting at Cal Poly and brings a technology-industry perspective grounded in strategy, energy efficiency, and data-center systems.
Dawn Ortiz-Legg
District 3 Supervisor
County of San Luis Obispo
Dawn Ortiz-Legg represents District 3 on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors. The Board’s responsibilities include land use, natural-resource stewardship, economic development, public safety, social services, and public health. Before elected office, Ortiz-Legg built a career in energy infrastructure and efficiency, helped develop nearly two gigawatts of utility-scale solar, and spent almost a decade overseeing electric transmission and distribution maintenance. She holds a master’s degree in international public policy from Johns Hopkins SAIS and brings a distinctive combination of local governance, land-use, and energy-infrastructure experience.
Nick Prescott
Verrus Data Center Development
Nicholas “Nick” Prescott is affiliated with Verrus Data Center Development and brings more than two decades of experience in commercial-property markets. His public professional profile emphasizes creative leadership, entrepreneurship, and the development of new real-estate and investment platforms. He brings a market-oriented perspective to data-center development, including the commercial judgment required to evaluate sites, structure opportunities, assemble partners, and move emerging infrastructure projects toward execution. Publicly accessible information about his current role is limited; the affiliation shown here follows the event organizer’s confirmed speaker list.
Thomas Fowler IV
Professor of Architecture; Director, Design Collaboratory
College of Architecture and Environmental Design, Cal Poly
EVENT ROLE Moderator, Panel #3
Thomas Fowler IV is a professor of architecture and Director of the Design Collaboratory at Cal Poly. A licensed architect and Fellow of the AIA, he has spent more than three decades advancing interdisciplinary, technology-enabled architectural education. His work integrates design, building technology, constructability, and collaboration across architecture, engineering, construction, business, and community partners. Fowler has led complex high-rise, design-build, and community-serving studios and has received major honors including the CSU Wang Family Excellence Award, Cal Poly Distinguished Teaching Award, and ACSA Distinguished Professor recognition.
Wil Smith
Chief Executive Officer, President, and Founder
Greenlaw Partners
EVENT ROLE Moderator, Panel #1
Wil Smith is CEO, President, and Founder of Greenlaw Partners, a California-based real estate development and operating company with a large portfolio of acquisitions, dispositions, and development activity. He brings a developer's perspective on entitlement risk, project execution, capital discipline, and the difference between theoretically possible projects and projects that can actually be delivered.
Victor Sim
Managing Member
Value-Add HS, LLC
EVENT ROLE Panel Member, Panel #1
Victor Sim is Managing Member of Value-Add HS, LLC, where he advises artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and data center companies on hyperscale growth strategies, strategic partnerships, capital creation, and commercialization. He currently advises AtomBeam, a Persistent Cognitive Machine AI company focused on persistent memory and consistent learning; Energration, an ontology and agentic AI platform for enterprise intelligence and automation; and ACA, which advances next-generation AI infrastructure technologies. Previously, he was a corporate securities partner at Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal (now Dentons) and Squire Sanders & Dempsey (now Squire Patton Boggs), advising public and private companies on complex securities, financing, and corporate matters. He is a graduate of Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and Emory University School of Law.
Julia Rogers, MRED
Real Estate Development Manager
California State University, Office of the Chancellor
Julia Rogers, MRED, is Real Estate Development Manager for the California State University Office of the Chancellor, where she supports development partnerships and real-property initiatives across the CSU system. Her work includes evaluating campus development opportunities, engaging developers and investors, structuring public-private partnerships, and helping align real estate strategy with university priorities. She is a licensed California real estate broker and holds a Master in Real Estate Development from IE University. Her perspective connects campus land and facilities, financial feasibility, sustainability, and community-serving development.
Annie Aguiñiga Frew
Lecturer, Political Science Department
College of Liberal Arts, Cal Poly
Annie Aguiñiga Frew is a lecturer in Cal Poly’s Political Science Department, where her work focuses on California politics, political advocacy and social movements, and the politics of race and the environment. Her career spans more than a decade in the California Legislature, local community engagement, and political advocacy. She previously served as Director of Community Engagement and Advocacy at Visit SLO CAL, bringing direct experience with regional economic development, tourism, infrastructure, and community policy. She earned an MPP from Cal Poly and completed a Doctor of Public Policy at Claremont Graduate University in 2026. Her local and state policy experience brings a community-engagement perspective to the Central Coast panel.