Meet The Team
Dr. Gil Keinan
Managing Director
Gil works on Opportunity Zone development & is a real estate development, finance, and management professional. His background covers expertise working with local government and developers to create successful Public-Private projects, as well as with multiple hotel real estate deals.
Gil holds a Doctor of Business degree, an M.B.A. from the University of San Francisco, and is a graduate of the University of Surrey’s (United Kingdom) School of Hospitality Management.
Monica Pelayo
Analyst
Monica leads training, community engagement, and financial analysis at Local Equity. Her background includes key roles in various supply chain operations in the Inland Empire. In addition, Monica has volunteered with several community service organizations and programs, including the Upward Bound program that provides fundamental support for participants to succeed in their higher education pursuits.
She holds a BS degree in Applied Mathematics with an emphasis in Economics from the University of California, Riverside, and will be pursuing an MS in Business Analytics. Monica is fluent in Spanish and English. Her true passion is in applying analytical approaches to new business solutions.
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Matt Horton
Advisor
Matt Horton is a director at the Milken Institute’s Center for Regional Economics and California Center. In this capacity, he interacts with government officials, business leaders, and other key stakeholders in directing statewide programming and policy initiatives. Horton’s programmatic work at the Institute is focused on identifying a variety of financial tools, public policies, and collaborative models that leaders can deploy to increase investments in education, community development, housing, employment, and other areas supporting human capital and place-based economic development. Previously, Horton worked for the Southern California Association of Governments, the nation’s largest metropolitan planning organization.
Ada Gao
Research Associate
Ada is a graduate student studying Business Analytics at USC Marshall. With an undergraduate background in Finance at Purdue University, she is keen to study business and economic trends by analyzing financial data to provide forecast support. She believes data tells more than just numbers, only by constantly digging into data you can find the story behind it.
Jenny Merer
Marketing Associate
Jenny is a junior at the University of California, Davis majoring in Managerial Economics with a
business emphasis. After college, she hopes to work as a broker in commercial real estate. Her goal is to work in investment side and specifically how properties gain worth over time. Her current internship experience focuses on marketing and brand management for the Yolo Community Care Continuum and UC Davis Athletics.