Venroy July is a partner in the corporate practice group of Dickinson Wright PLLC.  Based in the Baltimore office, Mr. July’s practice includes a wide range of corporate and finance matters, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate counseling. He has written extensively on the power and potential of Opportunity Zones, as well as other capital-raising mechanisms. He has been named to the Best Lawyer list, and as a Who’s Who in Law by the Baltimore Business Journal.

 

In addition to his legal career, Mr. July is a real estate investor in the city of Baltimore and utilizes many of the capital-raising mechanisms that he writes about to facilitate his real estate investment.  He received his Bachelor of Arts degrees in Political Science and Economics from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and his J.D. from the Duke University School of Law. He has been recognized for his other efforts within the community by being named to the Baltimore Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 class of 2014, the Black Business Review’s 40 Under 40 Class of 2017, a Warnock Fellow for the Class of 2017, and with the Leadership in the Law Award by the Daily Record, as well as other awards. 

Adeola Adejobi is the Founder and CEO of the Avant-Garde Network (AGN), her firm is a leading social impact company that creates social and economic impact through a collaborative ecosystem of industry professionals, business leaders, and entrepreneurs. 

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Through AGN she created, the Women of Color and Capital Conference, the only conference of its kind where diverse women entrepreneurs & professionals come together to learn about money, finance, capital, and investing from a 360-degree lens and the Diversity in Commercial Real Estate Conference, the largest conference in the nation that specifically focuses on diversity in the commercial real estate industry. 

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Over the course of nine years, Adeola organically grew the company to engage over 25,000+ professionals annually hosting events, conferences, and forums in the U.S. and internationally, including New York City, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Georgia, Austin Texas, Lagos, Nigeria, Johannesburg, South Africa and more. AGN also advocates for professionals of color and diversity and inclusion through business education, recruiting, career development, thought leadership and partnerships

As Managing Principal of Dantes Partners, Mr. Binitie directs the acquisition, development, management, and financial activities of the firm. Mr. Binitie has extensive tax credit financing experience (LIHTC,
NMTC and HTC) and has closed on financing from nearly every public capital source available including HOME, HPTF, NSP, CDBG, and NIF. Mr. Binitie maintains a narrow focus on creatively structuring deals that
strive to address the need of his clients, community stakeholders as well as various government agency partners.

 

By narrowly focusing on efficiently financing community development transactions, Mr. Binitie
has been successful in adding value beyond the numbers. Mr. Binitie’s career is underscored by a commitment to creating and preserving affordable and workforce housing. To this end, since founding Dantes
Partners, Mr. Binitie and his team have closed over $750 million of unconventional real estate transactions that utilize low-income tax credits, new market tax credits, tax-exempt bonds, and various other
forms of alternative financing. These efforts have led to the creation of over 2400 units of workforce and affordable housing.

 

Mr. Binitie speaks regularly at industry-focused events. Recent engagements include sessions with The Minority Resource, African American Real Estate Professionals, Bisnow, DC Building Industry Association, Georgetown University, University of Maryland – Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development, and the Howard University Real Estate Club. Mr. Binitie is currently the Chairman of the DC Housing Finance Agency Board of Directors. He also serves a Board Member for the DC Building Industry Association, and previously on City First Bank
where he is a member of the Audit and Compliance Committee, the Business & Community Development Committee, and the Directors Loan Committee.

Blair C. Smith is the Founder and CEO of Promethean AB Strategies LLC, a strategic consultancy focused on helping diverse Asset Managers and investors achieve their goals. He has 15+ years experience in the capital markets arena, leading the creation of strategies, plans, and budgets that span industries, marketplace, and customers.  

 

Blair is the former Chief Investment Officer for the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone Development Corporation. His responsibilities included providing leadership in structuring, negotiating and closing of loans and investments, and oversight of credit policies. In addition, Blair identified market opportunities and developed new finance strategies in furtherance of UMEZ’s mission.

 

Prior to founding Promethean AB Strategies, Blair was responsible for co-managing a $5.2 billion Emerging Manager investment portfolio, within the State of New York Common Retirement Fund. The program has both traditional and alternative asset class strategies including: real estate, private equity, public equity, hedge funds and opportunistic. He actively evaluated and conducted research for new investment vehicles/platforms that can strategically implement the long-term goals of the portfolio and provide risk adjusted returns.

 

Blair also collaborated with consultants, advisors, investment teams and legal counsel in preparing and evaluating RFP/RFI’s for manager searches. He participated in selecting and interviewing managers/advisors and in negotiating limited partnership agreements. He was responsible for establishing and maintaining up-to-date policies and procedures and developing asset allocation strategies for the program to ensure consistency and efficiency in the operations.

 

In addition, Blair served for over 10 years as a client relationship manager with the Connecticut and New York City Wealth Management teams at top tier banks.  

 

Blair received his B.S. in Journalism from Morgan State University where he was a 2 year ROTC scholar and his M.B.A. in Finance from Columbia University.  He is a member of the Real Estate Executive Council and is a 2019 Council of Urban Professionals (CUP) Finance Catalyst recipient. Blair was featured in Pension and Investments magazine discussing ESG.  Over the last 10 years, he has been an adjunct lecturer with the School of Continuing Studies at Baruch College, and NYU and recently an adjunct professor at Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He has lectured in Principles of Finance, Global Marketing, Impact Investing in Real Estate and Executive Leadership. He is on the Board of the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, the Baltimore Afro-American Newspapers and Afro Charities. 

 

Blair lives with his wife and two children in Scarsdale, NY.

Amanda G. Benjamin-Smith joined Genworth Financial in March 2020 as Senior Investments Counsel focused primarily on Commercial Real Estate Lending and Private Placements.  Prior to joining Genworth, Amanda served as Associate General Counsel to BEB Capital, a real estate investment firm in New York with a diverse portfolio of industrial, retail, residential, and mixed-use asset types. 

 

She also has a background in complex commercial litigation arising from commercial real estate transactions, mass torts, environmental claims, and general commercial insurance liability. Amanda received her Juris Doctor from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis and is a graduate of Dartmouth College.

Karim founded Genesis in 2004. Under his stewardship, Genesis Companies has grown rapidly into a full-service real estate development firm focused on the development of affordable and mixed-income housing. Over the years, Genesis has developed a reputation for turning around underutilized or under-performing real estate assets into quality, energy-efficient projects that enhance urban centers while remaining accessible to the residents of these communities.

Karim’s dedication to community development extends to his personal life as well. A resident of Harlem, he is actively involved in a multitude of community and charitable organizations. Karim is a Member of the Board of Advisors for the NYC Independent Budget Office, Trustee of the New York Theological Seminary, Trustee of the Randall’s Island Park Alliance Board, and Trustee of the Citizens Budget Commission.

Karim holds a B.A. in Economics and Philosophy from Amherst College, an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, and a M.T.S. from Harvard Divinity School. Prior to founding Genesis, Hutson was a Vice President at Full Spectrum of NY, an Investment Banker with Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs in New York City and a Private Equity Investor with General Atlantic in Greenwich, Connecticut. Karim is married to Luz Elenia Gandulla-Hutson and has two daughters.