Brought To You By
Ross E Hamilton
Ross Hamilton is a seasoned entrepreneur, real estate investor, and social-impact advocate. In 2006, he founded Connected Investors, which grew into the world’s largest network-powered marketplace for real estate—connecting buyers, sellers, and capital across the country After selling the platform in 2021 to First American Title, Ross turned his focus to addressing America’s affordable housing crisis. His latest venture, a nonprofit featured in WilmingtonBiz, leverages his success in prop-tech to build innovative, scalable housing solutions for underserved communities. https://savinghomes.org/ A self-made multimillionaire—who began wholesaling homes in his 20s and built a portfolio of over 200 properties in a single year—Ross is a best-selling author and former semi-pro BMX athlete. Ross is now dedicated to sharing his hard-earned insights: from grassroots deal-making and digital platforms to community impact and organizational leadership. His presentations mix big-picture strategy with actionable steps, offering inspiration and tools for real estate professionals, community developers, and social entrepreneurs.
Beth Silverman
Beth Silverman is a senior practitioner and thought leader at the intersections of social impact, urban planning, real estate development and public policy. Beth’s career includes leadership roles in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors focused on building livable, equitable and resilient communities. Since 2018, Beth has served as the founding Executive Director of the Lotus Campaign, an innovative nonprofit real estate development start-up that tackles homelessness by engaging in private sector partnerships and leveraging capital as a tool for good. Under Beth’s leadership, Lotus Campaign developed over 40 partnerships with nonprofits, landlords and funders to facilitate housing for over 700 individuals at an annual cost of less than $1,000 per person per year and was honored in Fast Company’s 2023 World Changing Ideas competition and was honored as a Change Maker in Drew Magazine. Prior to leading the Lotus Campaign, Beth tackled complex land use and real estate development challenges in communities across the U.S. and internationally. From 2014 to 2018, Beth served as Vice President of Advisory Services at the Urban Land Institute, designing technical assistance programs that addressed a range of challenges from equitable urban redevelopment to planning for resilience. She co-created the Equitable Economic Development Fellowship program with the National League of Cities and Policy Link to help equity, transparency, sustainability and community engagement become driving forces in local economic development efforts and to strengthen public sector leadership. From 2005 to 2013, Beth oversaw and managed large-scale real estate, policy, and economic development initiatives throughout the New York City region. While at the NYC Economic Development Corporation, Beth managed aportfolio of 10 projects that created affordable housing, five new cultural assets, and high-quality public space. Beth also led the launch of a city-sponsored incubator supporting emerging entrepreneurs in culinary food manufacturing, and related industries in Brooklyn. Beth holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Maryland and a graduate degree in City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania. She is an active member of the Urban Land Institute and serves on the boards of the Petersburgh Community Development Corporation, TinyWPA, and Asheville Downtown Association. When not working, Beth can usually be found outside; running, biking, surfing, and hiking, and generally encouraging friends and family to enjoy the great outdoors with as much unabashed enthusiasm as she does. Her personal motto is: “Find out who you are and do it on purpose", which she proudly lifted from Dolly Parton.
Anna Zuevskaya
Anna was the first hire of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust and served on the founding board of the West Side Community Land Trust in Charlotte. Holding Master’s Degrees in Urban Planning and Social Work from the University of Michigan, she has dedicated the last ten years to working with grassroots organizations and initiatives. Born and raised in the Ukraine, she has a keen awareness of the importance of stable housing and has made it a priority to ensure that communities of color have access to wealth-building opportunities via models such as cooperatives and community land trusts. While Asheville is home, she enjoys traveling as much as possible and has been to 27 countries. When in the area, she is an avid hiker and takes full advantage of the thriving restaurant scene.