Kelli Lawrence leads the strategic vision and growth efforts for Onyx+East, a home design and construction company. During her tenure as CEO, IBJ has recognized Onyx+East as a Fast 25 company for three consecutive years (2021-2023). In 2023, Onyx+East was ranked 2,266 on the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies list. In her 20-plus years of real estate development, Lawrence has led the development and construction of more than 4,000 for-sale and rental homes valued at over $850 million throughout the Midwest and Florida. IBJ named her a Woman of Influence in 2021.
Challenge overcome: “My son Graham was born with an undiagnosed congenital heart defect that led him to stop breathing at home when he was 10 days old. After an emergency open-heart surgery, several days on advanced life support and months of hospitalization and treatment, he started to recover. Now 14, he is a healthy teenager with no limitations.”
In February, Kite Realty Group Trust reported that it executed more than 380,000 square feet of new leasing volume in the fourth quarter of 2023, or the highest quarterly new leasing activity in the company’s 64-year history. Thomas McGowan served as executive vice president and one of four partners of Kite Cos., later named Kite Realty Group Trust, beginning in 1994. For 10 years, the company experienced rapid growth before Indiana University alum McGowan and his partners took it public as a real estate investment trust—a type of public company modeled after mutual funds that disperse revenue to investors. In 2021, the company merged with Retail Properties of America Inc., a move that made Kite the fifth-largest shopping center REIT in the nation. Founded by former fighter pilot Al Kite as a painting, drywall and construction business in 1960, Kite Realty Group Trust presently owns interests in 180 U.S. open-air shopping centers and mixed-use assets.
Tadd Miller is co-founder and CEO of Milhaus, a national multifamily developer, owner and operator specializing in high-quality residential assets. Miller has led the development, finance, construction and management of residential, hospitality and storage projects in excess of $3 billion. That includes a renaissance of downtown living such as the Cole Noble and Fletcher Place neighborhoods in downtown Indianapolis, Ybor City in Tampa, Crown Center in Kansas City, Midtown in Oklahoma City and the Cincinnati Riverfront. He has guided Milhaus to the top 15 multi-developers and top five allocators of Opportunity Zone investment funds in the nation, currently managing 13 Qualified Opportunity Zone developments across six markets. IBJ has included him in both “Who’s Who in Commercial Real Estate” and “Forty Under 40,” and Junior Achievement of Central Indiana has named him to its “Indy’s Best and Brightest” list.
First job: Laborer on construction sites, “learning the importance of hard work, grit, and persistence”
Favorite gadgets: Stihl Magnum chainsaw and a John Deere 50G excavator
Mary Beth Oakes is CEO and co-owner of Business Furniture, a 102-year-old company that designs and furnishes workplaces. The company has two showrooms in the Indianapolis area and one in Dayton. In 2008, Oakes founded Choreo to help organizations create workplaces that maximize real estate and support strong cultures. In 2023, Choreo became part of Business Furniture. In response to the pandemic, the company created a strategy to help organizations reimagine their post-pandemic workplace. The result: Since 2020, Business Furniture’s top-line revenue has grown by nearly 50%. Oakes’s career at Business Furniture began in 1992 as the showroom manager. Prior to becoming CEO, she led the company’s marketing and communication teams and business development team.
Surprising: She has never learned to cook.
Walkup music: “Running Down a Dream” by Tom Petty
Pets: Two rescue Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Cooper and Lilly, both of whom are nearly 6 years old
Ersal Ozdemir founded Keystone Group in 2002 and has grown it into one of the largest privately owned real estate development, construction, property management and investments companies in Indiana. Among its projects is the $101 million InterContinental Hotel in downtown Indianapolis expected to open in 2024. In 2013, Ozdemir founded the Indy Eleven men’s professional soccer team; in 2022, Indy Eleven launched a women’s soccer team that won the 2023 W League National Championship. Ozdemir had been seeking to build a mixed-use development at the former Diamond Chain site.
Walkup music: “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor
Career advice: “Find something you are passionate about, work hard, dream big, keep going even when you have setbacks, and don’t give up until you accomplish your goals and dreams.”
John Phair is founder of Holladay Properties, which manages roughly 100 residential, hotel and commercial property locations, and chairman of Holladay Hospitality, which currently runs 25 hotels with four more under construction. Holladay Properties, headquartered in South Bend, is a full-service real estate development firm. It currently owns and manages over $1 billion of properties in 20 states, including 25 industrial buildings, 23 operating hotels, 1,000 apartment units, office buildings and self-storage facilities, with over $200 million of new construction underway. Phair has founded or co-founded more than 100 partnerships or LLCs, most in the real estate industry. In addition, he has started several corporations in either financial services or construction. These entities have around 1,000 employees total and he is part owner in most of them. Phair started his career in mortgage banking in Denver and, later, in South Bend.
Favorite thing about leadership: “Seeing employees succeed in a way they never thought they could.”
Mamon Powers III serves as executive vice president of Powers & Sons Construction at the corporate level and as president of the company’s Indianapolis division. Under his direction, Powers & Sons’ Indianapolis office has tripled in size. Powers was named to the list of Indy’s Best & Brightest in Real Estate Development & Construction in 2020 by Junior Achievement of Central Indiana, and Powers & Sons has been named one of the Best Places to Work in Indiana the past four years in a row.
First job: Taking out the trash and cleaning the warehouse at Powers & Sons Construction when he was 14 years old. “My grandfather, who founded the company, always told me, ‘Big or small, do the job well or not at all.’ That really stuck with me, and I frequently quote him to this day.”
Walk-up song: “Happy” by Pharrell Williams
Robert Scannell is president and co-founder of Scannell Properties. He started the company in 1990 with a focus on build-to-suit leased projects for clients needing such projects on a repeat basis. His vision was to create a streamlined, entrepreneurial company that could develop projects anywhere in the United States, using its own capital to fund the developments. Scannell was one of the first to structure a commercial real estate development firm without an owned construction company. In 2018, he expanded the company’s operations to Europe. The company now consistently completes new development of more than $4 billion annually. Scannell Properties has built more than 550 projects in 46 states plus Canada and Europe. Before founding Scannell Properties, Scannell was a partner with Duke Realty in Indianapolis.
Paul Thrift founded Thompson Thrift with partner John Thompson in 1986. Under their leadership, the business has grown into a nationally recognized full-service real estate development and construction company with more than 620 employees. Its portfolio includes multifamily, mixed-use, retail and industrial developments across the United States. To date, Thompson Thrift has developed over $5 billion in ground-up real estate projects. The company is active in 22 states and has offices in Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Phoenix, Denver and Houston. Thrift is the driving force behind TT Serve, Thompson Thrift’s philanthropic arm, which provides financial and volunteer assistance within the communities Thompson Thrift serves. This year, Thompson Thrift was named a 2024 Top Apartment Developer and Builder by the National Multifamily Housing Council.
Advice to a young person: “Do not be afraid to try something before you believe you are ‘ready.’ Give of yourself. Never stop learning.”
Michael Wells oversees development, property management and leasing for REI Real Estate Services’ office properties and is asset manager for its 19 hotels. Before getting into real estate, Wells practiced law for five years and operated several businesses, including a coal company in southern Indiana. He joined Browning Investments in 1988 and formed REI in 1994. He has served as president of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, the Indianapolis Zoo, the Indianapolis Airport Authority and the Benjamin Harrison Presidential Site.
First job: High school job working in a pharmacy delivering prescriptions, working as a cashier and filling prescriptions (under the supervision of a pharmacist). “The owner was a real professional. No talking to other employees, no chewing gum and always paying attention to the needs of the customers.”
Worries about: “The growing divide between the haves and have nots. We must do more to address economic inequality.”
Pets: a golden retriever and a rescue black lab
