Zack is an alumnus of Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, where he earned a Master’s degree in Translation Studies. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theatre from Missouri State University, located in Springfield, Missouri.

Thomas advises clients on devising feasible programs, building public-private partnerships, and infusing equity and innovation into visionary real estate developments.

Prior to joining HR&A, Thomas worked as an independent planning and development consultant for several projects in the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area. As part of his consulting work, Thomas produced a major visioning report to guide the creation of a planned development district in East Dallas. Previously, he managed planning and analytical projects at buildcommunityWORKSHOP, a non-profit organization that specializes in community-based architecture, urban planning and design, creative placemaking, policy, and geospatial analysis.

Thomas holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Princeton University, where he also earned a certificate in Urban Studies. Thomas serves on the Opportunity Dallas Policy Task force, and co-chairs the Dallas Regional Princeton Prize in Race Relations. In his spare time he brews his own beer and practices concertos on the piano.

Garrett Rapsilber leverages real estate and economic analysis to inform urban planning and public policy outcomes which are market-grounded, implementable, and advance community goals.

Garrett has provided real estate advisory services for clients across California and the nation, covering topics including land use and site planning, inclusionary zoning programs, adaptive reuse policies, and value capture tools. His experience includes serving as an economic advisor for over 5 years to the City of Los Angeles for the Downtown Community Plan Update (DTLA 2040), overseeing the development of a comprehensive community benefits and inclusionary zoning system with will set a path for more predictable and streamlined approval of development projects in an area of the city forecast to accommodate 175,000 new residents, 100,000 housing units, and 100,000 jobs by 2040. Work also explored development topics including the viability of live-work units and adaptive reuse project, and displacement risks of LA’s garment industry, concentrated in the Fashion District, to inform zoning and other strategic policy decisions. City Council adopted DTLA 2040 in May 2023.

Garrett also serves as a leader within HR&A’s Climate Practice with a focus on the green economy and the just transition. His work has helped inform local, state, and national legislation, including economic impact analysis which supported the $150 billion investment in the nation’s electric vehicle infrastructure included in the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. On behalf of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), he was an author to comprehensive green jobs study for Los Angeles County which found the green economy is larger than most people think, comprising 1 in 12 jobs as of 2020, and demonstrated that policy interventions are required to support the inclusive growth of the green workforce. Acting on a recommendation from that report, he worked with LACI to facilitate the Green Jobs Regional Partnership, a multiyear partnership of workforce development leaders to develop and implement a roadmap of milestones, targets, and actions to overcome critical challenges in the workforce ecosystem and achieve countywide green jobs goals. This roadmap was released in May 2025.

Garrett also offers thought leadership on the topic of public options, particularly public banking, to address market failures. His work documenting banking access in California allowed The California Service Employees International Union (SEIU) to successfully advocate for the passage of AB 1177, otherwise known as CalAccount, in October 2021 to establish a public banking option to give all Californians access to highquality, low-cost financial services. In its continued advocacy for CalAccount, SEIU retained HR&A in 2024 to refresh reporting on statewide banking access and the potential economic impacts of solving this persistent issue. The report found 1 in 5 California households cannot access basic financial services such as checking and savings accounts and debit cards and that solving the issue of financial access could cumulatively save households $3.1 billion and generate $5 billion in economic activity annually.

Prior to joining HR&A, Garrett worked for the City of West Hollywood where he researched, designed, and administered the city’s first parklet program. Previously at Strategic Development Solutions, Garrett supported applications for New Market Tax Credits, with awards totaling $270M for economic development projects in distressed communities.

Garrett received a Master of Planning degree from the University of Southern California with a concentration on economic development. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science & Economics and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish Literature from the University of Connecticut.

Santiago supports governments, non-profit organizations, and development banks in the design and implementation of financing and governance strategies for infrastructure, transit-oriented development, and inclusive economic development projects.

Santiago has advised transit agencies like the Jacksonville Transportation Authority and Development Banks such as the Inter-American Development Bank in developing transit-oriented development (TOD) strategies to advance equitable transit and real estate development solutions. Santiago has also supported non-profit organizations and city agencies in the development of land value capture strategies that support the implementation of large-scale projects and neighborhood planning efforts. At HR&A, Santiago supports the development of advanced quantitative tools and models to support the financial and econometric analyses of the firm.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, Santiago has recently managed financing strategies for infrastructure and transit projects on behalf of the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank in Colombia, that included the support in the implementation of new land value capture strategies in the region. Santiago analyzed innovative business models for the creation of broadband infrastructure networks in Colombia on behalf of Ruta N.

Prior to joining HR&A, Santiago worked for several years in real estate development in Colombia where he supported the construction of several projects across different cities in the country. Santiago holds a master’s degree in City and Regional Planning from Pratt Institute, and a Degree in Economics from Universidad de los Andes.

Jared helps local government agencies leverage public investment in infrastructure and place-based economic development to catalyze the private sector in support of long-range planning initiatives.

As a Principal in HR&A’s San Francisco Bay Area office, Jared draws on his experience in urban planning, real estate, and sustainable systems to support public and private sector clients across the firm’s Real Estate, Transit-Oriented Development, Economic Development, Parks and Open Space, and Climate practices. Much of Jared’s time at HR&A has been spent supporting the Blue Line Corridor initiative in Prince George’s County, MD. Beginning in 2020 with a 30-year vision that has secured over $450M in state funding and bonding capacity to date for catalytic investments in public facilities, Jared continues to lead implementation across a broad portfolio of infrastructure, facility, and governance projects. While at HR&A, Jared has also lead the development of the 100RC Resilient Houston Strategy, numerous joint development feasibility studies for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, a TOD Strategy for the Maryland Department of Transportation’s MARC Penn Line, the Station North Economic Development Implementation Roadmap for the Central Baltimore Partnership and Johns Hopkins University, and a development vision for the Port of Oakland’s Airport Business Park.

Prior to joining HR&A, Jared served as the Open Space Program Manager at Place Lab in San Francisco, where he focused on leveraging public private partnerships to create new public open spaces with innovative stewardship models. He managed multiple public open space development projects simultaneously via In-Kind Agreements between private developers and City agencies. He also helped establish the Dogpatch & NW Potrero Hill Green Benefit District (GBD), California’s first-ever GBD, modeled after the state Community Benefit District program and designed specifically for residential neighborhoods. While at Place Lab, Jared coordinated multiple public art installations, including writing and securing grants, drafting and managing artist and vendor RFPs and contracts, managing City approvals and permits, and overseeing installation.

Previously, Jared coordinated the planning and development of a mixed-use, multifamily transit-oriented development project at Tsen & Associates as a Development Associate. Jared has also held positions at the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority and MindClick SGM.

Jared earned a Master in City Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Michigan.

Gail focuses on crafting strategies that support equitable economic development, creating vibrant and inclusive open spaces, and advising a wide array of clients on pressing urban policy issues.

Previously, Gail was a researcher at the Center for an Urban Future, where she contributed to reports on topics including healthcare worker transportation, public parks infrastructure, and regulation of for-profit colleges. She also worked for the B-Hub at ideas42, where she translated academic behavioral science research findings into actionable solutions to real-world problems.Prior to graduate school, Gail served as a Senior Research Analyst at CEB (now Gartner) and as a Customer Experience Analyst at ORC International.

Gail is a native New Yorker and earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Government from Cornell University.

Erman works with state and local governments on accessing once-in-a-generation federal funds and assists with the development and implementation of broadband and clean energy projects.

Erman supported the Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer (MOCTO) in developing New York City’s first ever Internet Master Plan, released in January 2020, outlining the City’s strategy to close the digital divide and deliver universal, reliable, and affordable broadband to all New Yorkers. Erman helped design strategies to leverage City assets for broadband use, a preferred business model to facilitate public-private partnerships, and an innovative procurement strategy centered around community benefits and service goals.

Erman’s recent international work has focused on urban regeneration strategies in Western Asia and Africa. On behalf of the Afghanistan Ministry of Urban Development and Land (MUDL), Erman helped assess Afghanistan’s capacity to implement urban regeneration in Kabul and the five most populous provincial centers. Through this assessment, Erman developed short-term goals and recommendations for the MUDL and the local governments, to establish the capacity to complete urban regeneration projects in each of the six cities, from scoping to implementation. Erman has also worked on behalf of the World Bank – City Resilience Program and the Maputo Municipal Council in Mozambique, to assess the potential of land value capture in Maputo, in order to identify opportunities to use it as a source of financing for resilience-related infrastructure upgrades.

Erman also has experience in developing master plans for large mixed-use districts. Most recently, Erman helped create a market-driven program mix and a preliminary financial analysis for a 1,100-acre site in South Carolina. Previously, for a 650-acre site in Cairo, Egypt, Erman developed a conceptual master plan, including placemaking strategies, mix of products and a phasing strategy.

Prior to joining HR&A, Erman worked as an architectural designer at Waggonner & Ball Architecture/Environment in New Orleans, where he focused on resilient urban design interventions. Erman also worked as a visiting research scholar at Istanbul Technical University’s Housing Research Center, and a structural engineering intern at the New York office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.

Erman holds a Master of Architecture from Rice University School of Architecture and a Bachelor of Science in Civil & Environmental Engineering from Princeton University.

Jane creates effective, implementable community and economic development strategies.

Jane brings a breadth of experience, knowledge, and analytical expertise to HR&A’s Los Angeles office. Driven by a passion to build better communities, she uses her deep understanding of development and municipal finance to advise cities through the implementation of economic development plans.

Prior to joining HR&A, Jane advised public sector clients on commercial and residential planning and development, and participated in complex municipal finance projects including over $500 million in bond issuances as an Associate at RSG. Prior to starting at RSG, Jane worked for two Southern California based developers and a philanthropic consulting firm.

Jane holds a Masters degree in Urban Planning from the University of Southern California, and received a Bachelor’s of Arts in History from the University of Michigan.

Arjun leads digital product development at HR&A, focusing on the intersection of quantitative methods, data science, web development, and policy to drive insights and decision-making for clients across the country.

With a strong belief in leveraging data and technology to tackle complex urban challenges, Arjun collaborates with public and private sector clients to develop interactive dashboards, spatial analysis tools, and policy calculators. These digital products enable monitoring of housing market conditions, demonstrate the impacts of development policies, and advocate for equitable outcomes.

Notable projects include the Texas Digital Opportunity Hub, an interactive website showcasing the state’s efforts to close digital gaps; the the Florida Apartment Scarcity Dashboard, which tracks the state’s growing housing needs; and the Indiana Housing, a data and policy repository for the entire state of Indiana.

Prior to joining HR&A, Arjun created GIS tools and analytical models for the City of Austin. He also provided mapping and market analysis support for a main street organization in Boston as a Community Service Fellow at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Arjun holds a Master’s in Urban Planning from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, concentrating in Real Estate and Urban Development, and a Bachelor’s in Political Economy with a minor in City Planning from UC Berkeley.