Hear From Industry Leaders Shaping Houston's Future
Program Moderator
Lindy Oliva
Division President
DRB Group
Lindy Oliva serves as Division President for DRB Group, Houston. She is a finance executive with over 20 years in residential construction, recognized for driving performance and efficiency through expertise in budgeting, analysis, and internal controls.
DRB Group has set the standard for excellence in homebuilding for over 35 years. It is the third-largest private homebuilder in the United States with award-winning craftsmanship in 14 states, 19 regions, and 35 markets. DRB Homes offers a diverse range of floor plans and personalized designs for every lifestyle while delivering full-service real estate solutions.
Program Speaker
Kirk Laguarta
Designated Broker, Houston
Land Advisors Organization
With more than 34 years of land brokerage experience in the Houston area, Designated Broker Kirk Laguarta focuses on land slated for residential and/or commercial development. He has closed multiple transactions throughout Harris, Montgomery, Brazoria, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Waller and Chambers counties.
His extensive knowledge of the Houston market encompasses utility, drainage and development issues as well as land values and trends. He has applied his expertise in thousands of residential transactions for both large and small tracts, serving every top 40 homebuilder in Houston, including Johnson Development, Airia Development and Friendswood Development. Kirk has also closed commercial transactions with large, multi‐site users such as Target, Wal‐Mart, Home Depot and Kroger, and numerous investor clients.
Kirk has been a designated broker for Land Advisors Organization‐Houston since 2002. He launched his career in 1984 with his father’s brokerage company, Laguarta, Gavrel and Kirk. He founded his own commercial real estate company 1991.
A member the Urban Land Institute (ULI) since 2003, Kirk has served on the ULI Community Development Council Silver Committee since 2007. He has also been a member of the Greater Houston Builders Association since 2003, a member of Certified Commercial Investment Institute since 2008, and a director on the Texas Coastal Conservation Association Board since 2016.
Program Speaker
Duane Heckmann
Houston Advisor
Land Advisors Organization
Duane Heckmann is a greater Houston area advisor with more than 39 years of raw land and residential lot brokerage experience in Houston and the surrounding counties. He has developed extensive knowledge regarding water/sewer utilities, drainage challenges, MUDs, surface control and other unique development issues, as well as a comprehensive working knowledge of land values and overall market trends. Duane has very strong relationships with developers, homebuilders, banks, capital funds and investors that are active in the Houston market, and also assists and advises a large number of property owners with their respective land holdings.
He has assisted most of Houston’s master planned community developers, commercial developers, mixed use developers, single family lot developers and landowners with their raw land needs as well as selling land and lots to homebuilders, commercial/mixed use developers, industrial developers and investors. Duane has also completed extensive work for national, regional and local banks including Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Enterprise Bank, assisting them to analyze their real estate holdings and disposition of various assets.
Prior to joining Land Advisors Organization, Duane ran his own commercial real estate company for 15 years. He is a member of the West Houston Association, Urban Land Institute, Houston’s Commercial Real Estate Network (CREN), The Greater Houston Partnership, and is active on the Breeders Greeters committee of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo.
Homebuilder/Developer Panelist
Holly James
Region President | Southeast Texas
D.R. Horton
Holly James serves as the Region President for Southeast Texas for D.R. Horton. D.R. is the largest home construction company by volume in the United States. Across 36 states, the company builds single-family detached homes, townhomes, and multi-family rentals. They have been ranked consistently as the top volume homebuilder since 2002.
Homebuilder/Developer Panelist
Brendan Bosman
Managing Director, Real Estate
Pretium
Brendan Bosman is a Managing Director of Real Estate for Pretium. Pretium, founded in 2012, is a specialized investment management firm that focuses heavily on U.S. residential real estate, residential credit, real estate debt, and corporate credit. They currently have approximately $67 billion in assets under management.
Across their real estate strategies, they focus on providing stable and flexible capital and operational expertise to enable the creation, preservation, and efficient management of housing supply across market cycles.
Prior to joining Pretium in 2024, Brendan was a Senior Managing Director and head of U.S. Housing investing at Värde Partners. He received a Bachelor’s in Economics and Religious Studies from Macalester College.
Homebuilder/Developer Panelist
Carson Nunnelly
Managing Director | Corporate Strategy
Starwood Land
As Managing Director of Corporate Strategy, Carson Nunnelly helps lead the company’s strategic direction across debt and equity partnerships, oversees all homebuilder relationships, guides the firm on new strategic initiatives and drives the sourcing and acquisition of new development projects. With deep experience in land development and financial strategy, Carson plays a key role in guiding long-term growth and investment planning.
Prior to his current role, Carson served as Managing Director at Hines, where he spent a decade on the Land Development team. His work there included the successful acquisition of approximately 6,000 acres of land that will ultimately yield nearly 15,000 residential lots.
Before entering the development sector, Carson began his career in public accounting. Carson holds both a BBA in Accounting and a Master’s in Finance from Texas A&M University.
Homebuilder/Developer Panelist
Robert Clay
President, Co-Founder
Clay Development & Construction, Inc.
Robert Clay co-founded Clay Development & Construction, Inc. in 1998 with his father, Al Clay. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Texas A&M University before joining United Equities where he focused on construction supervision, property management, and leasing. After four years at United Equities, he joined Moody Rambin Interests, Inc. where his attentions were directed to project leasing and construction supervision.
At Clay Development, Robert manages day-to-day decisions and oversees all development, construction, and acquisition strategies.