Meet the Developers

 

MEET OUR MODERATOR

Danielle Leach - Meyers/Metrostudy

Danielle is Midwest Regional Director and Senior Consultant for Meyers/Metrostudy and specializes in competitive analyses, strategic consulting, demographics, and the consumer voice. She provides her clients with land acquisition feasibility studies, competitive market analyses, and positioning and pricing strategies. Danielle is based in the Chicago office. Before joining Meyers/Metrostudy, Danielle managed the Midwest consulting efforts for John Burns Real Estate Consulting. Prior to that, she was the Marketing Manager for a senior rental community and Director of Strategic Marketing for a national home builder, conducting feasibility studies, competitive market analyses, and market research in the Chicago market for both traditional and active adult housing. Danielle has a B.S. in Marketing from Loyola University Chicago and holds a Real Estate Broker License in Illinois. She is active in ULI Chicago, CREW Chicago, and the HBA of Greater Chicago. In her free time, Danielle spends countless hours on the sidelines cheering on her two sons in football and lacrosse. She also enjoys running, hiking, and completing DIY home projects.

MEET THE SPEAKERS

Chris Gillen - Lennar

Chris is the Division President for Lennar Homes for the past 4 years, with the last year in Chicagoland Market. He is responsible for planning and directing the overall operations of the Division including Sales, Marketing, Production, Customer Relations and Land Acquisition. Chris has over 27 years experience in homebuilding in the Northeast and Chicagoland markets. His experience is diversified with half of experience with Public Homebuilders and  the other half with Regional Builders and Developers focused on homebuilding and multi family rental construction.   He spent his first 10 years in Finance and focused on accounting controls and lender relationships before moving over to Operations. Chris holds a Bachelor’s  degree from Drexel University where he majored in Accounting.

Jeff Benach - Lexington Homes

Jeff Benach, principal of Lexington Homes, is a second-generation homebuilder with more than 36 years of experience in the real estate industry. He is one of the principals that oversees and leads Lexington’s operations, with direct oversight of product design and market positioning, as well as marketing and sales functions for all projects in the company’s portfolio. Benach has led Lexington Homes since its launch in 2007, serving in various capacities. Under his and his partners’ direction, Lexington Homes weathered the recession and ensuing real estate and financial crisis of the late 2000s, emerging as one of Chicago’s only remaining local private homebuilders. Today, the firm is developing numerous townhome, single-family rowhome and single-family home communities in prime infill locations throughout Chicago and its surrounding suburbs.  Previously, Benach worked in various roles for Lexington Homes’ parent company, Concord Homes, which was co-founded by his father, Ron Benach, in 1993. Over the past four decades, Lexington Homes and Concord Homes have built more than 40,000 homes in the Chicago area.  Before joining Concord Homes, Benach held roles at three other development firms, including serving as regional sales trainer for Miami-based Lennar Corp., the nation’s largest homebuilder, and vice president of sales and marketing for the Concord Homes’ division of Lennar. He also was a commodities trader with the Chicago Board of Trade, and he worked in radio immediately after graduating from college.  Benach is a member of several professional and charitable groups, including the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago and the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). He previously served as president of the NAHB’s National Sales and Marketing Council and was recognized as the organization’s Regional Sales Manager of the Year. He holds a bachelor’s degree in communications from Columbia College Chicago.

​Joseph M. Antunovich, FAIA - Antunovich Associates

Joseph M. Antunovich, FAIA is the Founder and President of Antunovich Associates, a dynamic 150-person Architecture, Planning and Interior Design Firm with offices in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, and Austin. Joe also has specialized in the design of historic preservation and adaptive re-use projects that celebrate the rich urban context and history of cities across America. Over the years, Joe has participated passionately in a number of significant preservation projects that have ensured that our marvelous historic buildings are preserved for future generations. Joe is a native of New Zealand and earned a Masters of Architecture degree from the University of Southern California.