Housing Symposium

Business Representative, Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG)

CEO Emeritus, Orange County Business Council

Former Director, California Department of Housing and Community Development

As CEO Emeritus, Orange County Business Council, Lucy Dunn lead for 16 years a dynamic organization of business, academia and government, to ensure the region’s economic prosperity and high quality of life. Failing so far in retirement, she now services as ex-officio “Business Representative” to the Regional Council of the Southern California Association of Governments, representing over 18.5 million people and mandated by the federal government to research and plan transportation, housing, air quality, and more.

Before joining OCBC, she was the first woman president of the Building Industry Association of Southern California in its 80-year history. She served as Director of the California Department of Housing and Community Development under Governor Schwarzenegger, who also appointed her to the California Transportation Commission in 2008. Governor Jerry Brown reappointed her two more terms.

Dunn was honored with the Bishop’s Award for Exemplary Leadership. She serves as director or advisor for numerous non-profit boards including Homeful Foundation, Pacific Symphony, OC Human Relations, Jamboree Housing. She serves as vice-chair of the board of the Orange Catholic Foundation,

OC Register named her as one of “Orange County’s 100 Most Influential.” Endangered Habitats League honored her for protecting habitat and cultural resources, while providing for mobility needs. Orange County Business Journal named her one of OC’s 500 most influential.

In addition, she cantors at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, sings with Meistersingers and Meritage chamber ensembles, and is the proud mother of two sons with accomplished daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren residing in the Bay Area.

Topic: Orange County Housing Update

Jeff Ball along with Josh Stephens, Editor of California Planning & Development Report, will be discussing the potential impact of recent legislation, current trends in housing development and the barriers which are limiting our critical supply of housing in the nation’s 6th most populous county.

President and Chief Executive Officer

Orange County Business Council

Jeffrey K. Ball (“Jeff”) is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Orange County Business Council where he represents the interests of local businesses and organizations together with academia and government to promote the economic growth of the nation’s sixth largest county, Orange County, California.

Ball is the Founder of Friendly Hills Bank in Whittier where he previously served as President and Chief Executive Officer and is currently Vice Chair. His more than 25 years of experience in commercial and investment banking includes leadership positions with Bank of America, as well as past Chair of the California Bankers Association. Currently,he serves on the Board of Directors for the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, Mobility21, Data Center, Inc. and the Kinetic Academy charter school. He is also a member by appointment of the Legal Services Trust Fund Commission of the California State Bar and the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges.

Prior to earning his MBA from Whittier College, Ball earned his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Puget Sound. An advocate of financial literacy, Ball frequently guest lectures on the topics of financial and economic principles at high schools and universities across the nation.

Topic: Homebuilding Now and into the Future

He will discuss struggles of industry, regulatory burdens, and how we can work together to make housing attainable for the next generation.

Jeff Montejano is the CEO of the Building Industry of Southern California, which is considered one of the largest building associations in the United States. His tenure includes several advocacy victories for the region’s largest landowners, home builders, and contractors, based on his relentless instigation for game-changing advocacy strategies. 

With 25 years of experience as a strategic adviser to Fortune 500 companies, governmental agencies, and elected officials, Jeff helped create numerous high-profile communications initiatives, specifically in advocacy, advertising, media, and crisis management.

Before serving as President and Vice President of two large public affairs firms specializing in transportation, and land-use projects, Jeff was director of two major political action committees, the New Majority and GenNext, and worked on several political campaigns, including George W. Bush’s first election. Jeff also held the chief of staff and legislative positions in the California State Legislature, including working for the Senate and Assembly minority leaders. 

Jeff’s philanthropic involvement includes board member positions for the Los Angeles Boys and Girls Club, Tilly’s Life Center, a charitable foundation for children, and Rebuild Southern California, which focuses on infrastructure funding, workforce development, and creating construction jobs.

Topic: California Water: The Big Picture and its Implications for REALTORS^®

This talk will address current issues in California water policy. It will begin with an overview of challenges the state is facing and measures the state is using to respond to those challenges. It will also explore specific implications for the real estate industry, including ways in which realtors can help California manage its water challenges.

Presentation Summary

Professor Dave Owen teaches courses in environmental, water, land use, energy, and administrative law at UC Law San Francisco. He went to Berkeley Law, where he served as editor-in-chief of Ecology Law Quarterly, and then clerked and practiced water law. His research focuses primarily on water resource management, and recent projects have addressed environmental regulatory negotiations, takings litigation, groundwater-surface water interactions, the environmental consulting industry, the roles of federal regional offices, stream protection under the Clean Water Act, and policies to expedite dam removals and hydropower upgrades. Six of his articles have been recognized as among the top environmental-law articles of their years, and he has won UC Law’s highest award for teaching. 

Topic: How to Make Real Change in Your Community, Today

Jason Roberts, Founder of the Better Block Project will present on how improving your town or city doesn’t have to be a daunting task that’s left to experts. There are small, simple changes that everyone can make to create dramatic ripple effects throughout the city.

Founder of the Better Block, Jason Roberts is an artist, civic activist, and urban designer whose life’s work has been dedicated to the creation of healthy, vibrant, and sustainable neighborhoods. In 2006, Jason formed the nonprofit organization, Oak Cliff Transit Authority, to revive the Dallas streetcar system, and later spearheaded the city’s effort in garnering a $23 million grant from the federal government to help reintroduce a modern streetcar system to Dallas. In 2010, Jason organized a series of Better Block projects, taking blighted blocks with vacant properties in Dallas and converting them into temporary, walkable districts with pop-up businesses, bike lanes, cafe seating, and landscaping. The project has become an open-sourced international movement occurring everywhere from Melbourne, Australia to Tehran, Iran, and has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Dwell Magazine. Jason has received a Champions of Change award from the U.S. White House, showcased in the 2012 Venice Biennale, and was listed in Planetizen‘s Top 100 Most Influential Urbanists. Jason has keynoted over 200 conferences in cities around the world, and is known for his entertaining, thoughtful, and engaging approach to audiences.

Topic: Orange County Housing Update

Josh Stephens along with Jeff Ball, President/CEO of Orange County Business Council, will be discussing the potential impact of recent legislation, current trends in housing development and the barriers which are limiting our critical supply of housing in the nation’s 6th most populous county.

Publications to which Josh has contributed include Planetizen, Next City, The Architect’s Newspaper, Architecture Magazine, Metropolis, Planning Magazine, Common Edge Collaborative, Sierra Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, and the Los Angeles Review of Books.

Josh is the author of Planners Across America, a collection of interviews with big-city planning directors around the United States, published by Planetizen Press in 2022. His previous book, The Urban Mystique: Notes on California, Los Angeles, and Beyond, a collection of essays on cities and urban planning, was published in 2020 by Solimar Books (solimarbooks.com).

In his coverage of the built environment, Josh stays focused equally on the past – the history of buildings and transportation technologies, the evolution of policies, the impacts of past developments – and on the future – emerging trends, catalytic technologies, long-term implications of new policies, and demographic trends, among the countless other factors that influence the world in which we live.

Josh is a longtime board member, and former board president, of the Westside Urban Forum, a nonprofit dedicated to civic engagement in his native west Los Angeles. He is also the chair of the land use committee of the Brentwood Community Council.

Josh earned his undergraduate degree in English from Princeton University and his Master in Public Policy from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.