Don F. Harris - Chief Operating Officer / General Counsel

Don F. Harris is the Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel for Urban 44.   Prior to partnering with Urban 44’s Founder, Seth W. Scott, Mr. Harris was the President of The Franklin Tanner Group, LLC, a consulting company specializing in affordable housing and community development.  Don has been recognized as one of America's leading "Social Entrepreneurs" by Fast Company Magazine and has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show and the Today Show.

Harris is the Founder of Nehemiah Corporation of America and the creator of “The Nehemiah Program,” a down payment assistance program that revolutionized FHA mortgage financing and caused Realtor Magazine to recognize him as one of the “25 Most Influential People in Real Estate” in 2003.

Prior to forming Nehemiah, Mr. Harris was a senior associate attorney with McDonough, Holland & Allen, a premier law firm in Sacramento, CA and one of the leading redevelopment law firms in the country.  At McDonough, Harris specialized in land use and redevelopment law and worked extensively on complex real estate transactions.

Harris is no stranger to politics and political processes, having served as a Congressional Intern to former Congressman William H. Gray III, (currently President and CEO of the United Negro College Fund) and former Administrative Assistant to Sacramento City Councilman Joe Serna, Jr. (former Mayor of Sacramento).  Harris has served on numerous boards and commissions, including serving as the Vice-Chairman of the Capital Area Development Authority, a joint powers authority between the State of California and the City of Sacramento which oversees development within the area surrounding the State Capitol.

Mr. Harris is a full-member of the Urban Land Institute and Lambda Alpha International as well as a member of the California State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.  Harris is a recognized national leader in affordable housing and community development and a frequent keynote speaker.

Mr. Harris received his B.A. in Political Science from Wittenberg University (Harry S. Truman Scholar), and his J.D. from the University of California at Davis School of Law.

Mark T. Harris - President, Capital Markets Division

Before Mr. Harris became the president of Urban 44, he served as principal and managing partner of the Pineapple Group, LLC.  Pineapple is the holding company for both Pineapple Strategic Consultants (“PSC”) and Pineapple Real Estate Investors, LLC (“PREI”).  PSC’s clients retain it to provide strategic advice and counsel on a variety of matters affected by local, state and/or federal regulatory agencies.  PREI is a vehicle that allows Mr. Harris and his partners to participate on an equity basis in some of the real estate transactions affecting various partners on a transaction by transaction basis.

During the Spring Semester of 2000, Mr. Harris returned to the campus where he did his undergraduate work, to join the faculty of former national football champion University of Southern California (“U.S.C.”) as an adjunct professor within the graduate school of Policy, Planning, and Development.

Mr. Harris has an extensive background in real estate development and planning.  He served as the President and a Managing Partner of MacFarlane Partners, a San Francisco real estate asset management and development firm with $1.75 billion in investor equity and an expected $10 billion in real estate assets.  During his tenure, Mr. Harris engineered partnerships with Earvin “Magic” Johnson and the California Public Employee’s Retirement System (CalPERS).  He began his development career serving as a project manager and attorney representing Angelo TsakopoulosAKT Development and serving as a member of the Sacramento County Project Planning Commission.

During his most recent tenure in state government, Mr. Harris served as Undersecretary for the Business, Transportation and Housing (“BT&H”) Agency in the state capital. Mr. Harris was the BT&H Agency’s second-highest ranking official with operational oversight of the Agency’s fourteen departments and approximately 30,000 employees.

During 1994 and 1995, Mr. Harris was honored to receive the opportunity to serve in the Administration of the Honorable William Jefferson Clinton in Washington, D.C.  While in our nation’s capital, he served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce, the late Ronald H. Brown.

After graduating from the University of California’s Boalt Hall School of Law, and serving as a law clerk to the former chief judge of the United States District Court for the Central District of California, Mr. Harris was admitted to practice in California. Mr. Harris has been a member of the State Bar of California for over twenty years.  Mr. Harris is also a licensed securities professional having served as a managing director and officer with two of Wall Street’s premier financial services companies:  Bear Stearns and Company and PaineWebber, Inc. (now “UBS/PaineWebber”).

Mr. Harris has lived in Sacramento, California for over twenty-five years.

Richard P. Cooley, Jr. - Chief Financial Officer

Before joining Urban 44 Mr. Cooley managed special projects for Angelo Tsakopoulos, the largest developer in the central valley.  During his tenure there he managed retail operations and special projects for Tsakopoulos including involvement in the Clift Hotel and Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco and the Venetian Hotel and Palms Hotel in Las Vegas.  He also set up regional trade agreements with multiple national home builders.

Prior to his development work for Angelo Tsakapoulos, Mr. Cooley worked for Cushman and Wakefield brokering commercial and land investments projects in Seattle, Washington.  While at Cushman and Wakefield Mr. Cooley assisted in the entire development process including identification, acquisition, and entitlement, and utilized his understanding and knowledge of real estate development to successfully grow the company in his region.

Mr. Cooley has also worked for the Fremont Group, Bechtel Family Trust and with Continental Development on projects in both San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Mr. Cooley relocated to the Sacramento area in the late 1990’s and managed acquisitions and development for Ladderman and Graham, a Los Angeles based developer.

His experience in the real estate development field includes the development and building of office, commercial, and retail projects.  He has built in conjunction with HUD’s Affordable Housing division, providing homes to low income families.  He has also worked with many American Indian Tribes and has built affordable housing throughout the valley from Visalia to Redding.

Mr. Cooley graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration from Menlo School of Business and presently resides in Sacramento, California.

Derek Smith - Vice-President, Real Estate Division

Mr. Smith is Vice President of Urban 44 and oversees project management.  In this capacity he is responsible for development projects, including conceptual budgeting through completion.  Management duties include office and field administration, business and strategic planning, business development, general operations and professional training of staff.

Mr. Smith has been the President of a construction management firm and has extensive experience overseeing and coordinating complex development projects.  He is a leader and a highly effective communicator, having served in a variety of leadership positions, including serving as the Vice President of the National Association of Minority Contractors.

Mr. Smith received his M.S. in Construction Engineering & Management from Stanford University and his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.