Conference – Mission GalaCON

The Real EstateDevelopment Conference

Friday, October 23, 2026
9:00 AM - 4:00 PM
Check-in 8:30 AM

Gain practical strategies and insights from industry leaders through keynote presentations, panel discussions, and conversations focused on real estate, business growth, AI, capital, partnerships, leadership, and wealth creation.

Speakers
The Premier Real Estate Event of The Year

The Venue

Gas South Convention Center, Duluth, GA
October 23–24, 2026

Real Estate Market Overview: What Is Driving the Market?

Why now: Rates are at a three-year high and the Fed just changed direction.

A clear read on what is moving demand, pricing and supply across Metro Atlanta and the Southeast, and what it means for the deals you are underwriting now.

Panelists: Cassandra McFadden (Cortland), Elizabeth Beck (Cushman & Wakefield), Gary Carr (Mission New Value Group)

AI In Real Estate: Doing More With Less

AI has moved from a tech conversation to a business operations conversation. This panel moves past the hype to examine what practitioners across real estate are actually using, what the ROI looks like, and what mistakes to avoid. The central question: how are smaller firms using AI to punch above their weight and compete with bigger operations?

Real use cases, ROI, implementation, and how AI gives smaller firms big-firm capacity.

Moderators: Gary Carr (Mission New Value Group) & Ryan Elazari (CRE Unplugged)

Panelists: Nate Robert-Eze (Path Intelligence), Jarvis Broughton (Interrüt), Irving Cham (Lifestyle International Realty)

The Partnership Equation: Relationships That Get Deals Done

Real estate development doesn’t happen alone. Every deal requires a specific ecosystem: capital partners, legal counsel, builders, lenders, brokers, and government relationships. This panel examines the architecture of productive partnerships — how they’re built, how they’re structured legally and financially, and how they break down. Whether you’re a first-time JV partner or a seasoned developer sourcing off-market deals through a network, this session delivers frameworks the room can use on their next deal.

JV structures, legal frameworks, capital partnerships, and the team architecture behind successful deals.

Panelists: Jade O. Laye (Laye Capital), Thomas Billups (Billups Homes Inc.), Segun Adeyina (Georgia General Assembly), Vinny Merino (Merino & Associates), Cedric Matheny (T. Dallas Smith & Company), Gabrielle Saylor (Turner & Townsend)

Show Me the Money: Capital Strategies for Today’s Market

Funding is the universal constraint. Whether you’re closing a first deal, managing spec inventory through a high-rate environment, or assembling a capital stack for a $5M project, the question is the same: how do you find the money, structure it correctly, and stay in the deal when conditions shift? This panel moves beyond theory to address the real mechanics — how to become bankable, how to evaluate debt versus equity versus creative structures, and how to survive a rate environment that punishes the unprepared.

Debt, equity, creative financing, and how to position yourself as bankable regardless of deal size.

Moderator: Keith Mack (Gibraltar Capital Partners)

Panelists: Jade O. Laye (Laye Capital), Trevor Nelson (Cherry Bekaert), Justin Harrison (Futures Financial), Jasmine T. Brown (Conventus), Damian Gilbert (Huntington Bank)

Land: Finding It, Reading It, and Building on It

Land is where all value in real estate originates, and the pre-development cycle is where most projects die. This is the anchor panel of the conference: the full stakeholder table assembled around one deal, walking through every stage from raw land to groundbreaking. Landowner, developer, builder, lender, government official, and broker each speak to what they were thinking at every step. Real Georgia projects. Real numbers.

Pre-development cycle, due diligence, entitlement, government navigation, and feasibility for $1M–$10M projects.

Moderators: Shariff James (Mission New Value Group) & Gary Carr (Mission New Value Group)

Panelists: Jordon Tench (O'Dwyer Properties), Myles Cardenas (Taylor Morrison), Sharya Abdo (Stanley Martin), Jeff Bowman (Knob Creek Property Solutions), Matthew B. Coleman (Vi Capital Lending Group)

Beyond The Commission: Brokers & Agents Who Build

A growing segment of high-performing brokers in the Southeast are making the transition into development — not leaving the industry, but expanding deeper into it. They understand absorption because they’ve been selling the product for years. They have relationships with buyers, builders, and capital partners. What they’re learning to navigate is the other side: acquiring land, financing construction, managing timelines, partnering with investors, and building communities rather than just moving them.

Brokers who know the market are moving into development, and how that transition works from every seat at the table.

Moderator: Delven Barfield (Keller Williams West Atlanta)

Panelists: Jarvis Broughton (Interrüt), Devon Caudle (Balashine Properties), Darin Hunter (MortgageRight)

Fireside Chat: Built From the Ground Up

Our Fireside Chat, “Built From the Ground Up,” features Adenah Bayoh, Founder and CEO of Foya Development Group, who fled Liberia’s civil war at age 13 and has since built a portfolio spanning real estate development and restaurant ownership. She is the first Black woman in New Jersey to secure a 9% NJHMFA affordable housing credit, bringing deeply affordable housing to Newark’s South Ward.

Join us for a candid conversation about the internal game behind lasting real estate wealth.

Keynote

4 PM – 7 PM

Continue the momentum with an evening of meaningful networking, live entertainment, and authentic connections before the weekend’s signature celebration.

  ·   ELEVATE  ·   CELEBRATE  ·  EVOLVE 
THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENS

Be In The Room Where One Conversation Could
Change What Comes Next

Mission GalaCON returns for its third year with a stronger speaker lineup, expanded experiences, and even more reasons to be in the room. If you’ve attended before, expect more. If you haven’t, this is the year to experience it.

Come for the conference. Stay for the gala.


Mission GalaCON
Presented by Mission New Value Group

Land advisory. Pre-development.
New value, from the ground up.


Mission GalaCON
Presented by Mission New Value Group

Land advisory. Pre-development.
New value, from the ground up.

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