Board of Directors

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Sheryl Palmer 

CEO & President, Taylor Morrison

Chairman, BTF Board of Directors

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Sheryl Palmer is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Taylor Morrison Home Corporation, a leading national homebuilder and developer based in Scottsdale, Arizona. Since 2007, Ms. Palmer has overseen a highly experienced leadership team in several key national homebuilding markets. With more than 30 years of cross-functional building experience, including leadership in land acquisition, sales and marketing, development and operations management, Ms. Palmer has led Taylor Morrison into the top ranks of America’s largest public homebuilders, following the company’s IPO in 2013.

Currently, Ms. Palmer has the organization dedicated to implementing a business strategy focused on three priorities: pursuing strategic growth opportunities to deliver benefits of scale; enhanced operational excellence to drive company-wide efficiencies; and differentiating the customer experience Taylor Morrison provides all team members and homebuyers. Under Ms. Palmer’s leadership, Taylor Morrison has been successful in creating trustworthy relationships with both its internal and external customers. In 2018, the company was named America’s Most Trusted Home Builder for the third consecutive year by Lifestory Research, and a Top 100 Best Places to Work by Glassdoor.

Ms. Palmer has spent most of her early career in the Arizona, California and Nevada real estate markets. Prior to Taylor Morrison, Ms. Palmer served as Nevada Area President for Pulte and Del Webb after finishing 10 years as division president at Blackhawk Corporation, a builder of active adult communities based in northern California.

Ms. Palmer’s passions extend beyond homebuilding and enter the many realms of: parenthood, including her three children and four grandchildren; leadership and diversity; supporting veterans; solving for homelessness; and health and wellness.

Ms. Palmer is currently serving as the 2019–2020 Chairman of the National Board of Directors of HomeAid America, is on the Board of Directors of Interface Inc. and is an Executive Committee Member of the Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) Policy Advisory Board at Harvard University. She is also the Chairman of the Board for the Building Talent Foundation, a non-profit division of Leading Builders of America.

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Alan Norris

Executive CHairman, Brookfield Residential

Treasurer, BTF Board of Directors

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As President and Chief Executive Officer of Brookfield Residential, one of North America’s largest real estate companies with assets in excess of $3.7 billion, Alan manages the overall operations of Brookfield Residential. Operations are in Alberta; Ontario; Washington, DC; California; Colorado; Texas and Arizona.

Alan joined Brookfield Residential (formerly Carma Developers) in 1983. Prior to Carma, he was employed with Deloitte and Touche from 1977–1983. Alan’s active involvement in the community includes being a past director of Theatre Calgary; he is currently Chair of the RESOLVE Campaign to raise $120 million for affordable housing in Calgary, a collaborative campaign representing nine different agencies that are addressing homelessness and affordable housing; he is also past Chairman of the Calgary Homeless Foundation.

Alan was also named the recipient of the 2013 Distinguished Business Leader Award by the Haskayne School of Business and the Calgary Chamber. Alan holds a B.A. degree in accounting and economics and two Chartered Accountant Designations, Scotland and Canada.

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DOUGLAS F. BAUER

CEO & Director, Tri Pointe Homes

Secretary, BTF Board of directors

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In 2009, Doug and his two business partners shared a vision for a new kind of homebuilding company and they formed TRI Pointe Homes to take advantage of the unprecedented downturn in housing. TRI Pointe Homes quickly became a publicly held company, trading under “TPH” on the NYSE. Within 5 years, the company merged with Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Company (WRECO) to become TRI Pointe Group. This merger created one of the top 10 largest public homebuilding companies in the United States based on equity market capitalization. Today, TRI Pointe Group represents a family of six premium local homebuilders in eight states and thirteen markets and was recognized as 2014 Developer of the Year and 2015 Builder of the Year. The company has over 1,000 team members.

Prior to forming TRI Pointe Homes, Doug was the President and Chief Operating Officer for William Lyon Homes where he also served as Chief Financial Officer and President of its Northern California Division. Doug is a member of the Policy Advisory Board of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies and is actively involved in the Leading Builders of America organization. He is involved in both legislative efforts and community enhancement programs through the California Building Industry Association and HomeAid Orange County, a charitable organization that builds shelters for the temporarily homeless.

After receiving his B.A. from the University of Oregon, Doug went on to finish his M.B.A. at the University of Southern California. When he’s not working on TRI Pointe, Doug likes to work on bettering his triathlon times for both exercise and pleasure.

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Phillip Theodore

President, Product & Solutions, Resideo Technologies

Member of BTF Board of Directors

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Phil Theodore is President of Resideo Technologies' $2.5B Products & Solutions business, which provides solutions to keep homeowners comfortable, safe and secure in what is likely their largest investment, their homes. Resideo employs 14,000 people across 27 countries. Phil leads a high performing global leadership team that delivers shareholder value through new product development, accelerated market development, sustainable solutions and optimized business operations.

Phil has more than 30 years of diverse business experience as an owner, operator, board member and shareholder of various businesses. From small startups to multinational corporations, Phil has been responsible for establishing the strategic direction, developing and implementing operating plans along with creating key metrics to measure, drive and evaluate progress for his companies.

Prior to joining Resideo, Phil spent most of his career working with private equity firms in C-Suite positions managing portfolio companies in a wide range of businesses and industries. He began a career with Coopers & Lybrand. He has a bachelor's degree in accounting from St. John Fisher College and an MBA from Vanderbilt University. Phil has been married for 27 years, has three children and enjoys adventure racing.

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Ken Gear

CEO, Leading Builders of America

Assistant Treasurer, BTF Board of Directors

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Ken is the CEO of Leading Builders of America. In this capacity, he recently helped lead successful lobbying campaigns for the Fix House First Coalition and the Homes for America Alliance.

Prior to joining LBA he served as Vice President, Government Affairs for Pulte Homes where he managed Pulte’s outreach to Congress and federal agencies as well as state legislators in 27 states. In this role, he also served as Chairman of the High Production Home Builders Council, Government Affairs Committee which managed industry-wide lobbying efforts for some of the largest home builders in the country. Prior to joining the homebuilding industry, Ken represented the auto manufacturing industry and a national retailer.


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Branka Minic

Chief Executive Officer

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Branka Minic is the CEO of Building Talent Foundation (BTF). Prior to her executive role at BTF, she was the president of Future Work Consulting, advising donors, global corporations, governments and international NGO’s on the latest research, best practices and policies for addressing youth unemployment. Her clients included the Inter-American Development Bank, the World Bank, Making Cents International, USAID, Global Center for Youth Employment, Accenture, and many others.

Branka has spent her career as an expert in the staffing industry. Prior to Future Work Consulting, she was Senior Director of Global Corporate and Government Affairs at ManpowerGroup, the world leading organization in innovative workforce solutions, for 17 years. In this role she was in charge of building cross-sector partnerships to support training, employment and entrepreneurship for disadvantaged groups. She also developed and managed strategic relationships, public private partnerships and joint initiatives with business, public, and non-profit organizations in developed, developing and emerging markets. She was also a Member of ManpowerGroup’s Global Leadership Team.

Branka’s research deals with best practices to reduce youth unemployment, and specifically the protocols for implementing successful workplace mentoring and apprenticeship programs. She has extensive experience in labor market and skill gap analysis. In collaboration with Making Cents International, Branka led the research and authored the “Demand-Driven Framework and Toolkit”, compiling the international best practices on aligning education and training systems with employers’ skill needs.

Branka holds a MSEE degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Belgrade, Serbia and a MSCSE degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Miami, Florida.


BTF Advisory Council 

Mike Humphrey Advisor to Operations, David Weekley Homes

Ron Rohrbacher VP of Construction Training, Perry Homes

Alain Laing CEO, Rheia LLC and former (retired) Executive VP Operations for Taylor Morrison

Lorraine Urey Director of Member Services, Texas Association of Builders (TAB)

Chassity Vega Executive Director, Greater Orlando Builders Association (GOBA)

Rick Larkey President and CEO, Associated Resources

Jorge Perez CEO PAE Global, and former Senior VP at Manpower Group

Paul Dodge Vice President, Supply Chain and Strategic Initiatives at Lennar

Linda Mamet, Chief Marketing Officer, TRI Pointe Group

Eric Feinberg, Chief Workforce Officer, Qmerit

Taleb Salhab, Head of Private Sector & Philanthropic Partnerships, UNHCR

Mary Tiechert, President, Tiechert Inc.

Marshall Ames, Chairman, Lennar Foundation