In Good Company: EliseAI Multifamily Podcast

Julianne Goodfellow spends her days explaining rental housing to the people trying to regulate it. As Head of Community and Policy at RETTC, the Real Estate Technology & Transformation Center, she leads the national network of committees where housing providers and tech partners work through the industry's biggest technology questions. She has spent 15 years with NMHC and RETTC, after starting her career on Capitol Hill.

Jacob Kosior and Julianne get into how around 35 companies with very different interests agreed on rental housing's first AI governance framework, why a patchwork of state AI laws worries the industry, and where transparency actually matters for renters. They also talk about the headline-chasing AI mistake she sees in the C-suite, why data privacy should come before AI governance, and what's coming at OPTECH 2026.

In this episode:

00:56 - This or That

02:01 - From Capitol Hill to rental housing

03:27 - Why RETTC was built

06:02 - The group project behind the framework

09:25 - Where transparency actually matters for renters

11:20 - How the framework evolves in year two

13:57 - The companies using AI best, and the C-suite mistake

15:08 - Who owns governance, and why privacy comes first

17:28 - What's coming at OPTECH 2026

19:47 - How Julianne actually uses AI

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Clover Sharpe holds one of the more unusual seats in multifamily. After over two decades in the industry, she’s now the VP of People & Brand Experience at Zocalo Community Development, a Colorado-based real estate developer. She initially began in learning and development training onsite teams, but now has ownership across people, brand, and technology adoption under one role. 

Jacob Kosior and Clover get into why Zocalo removed "manager" from every onsite leadership title and replaced it with "director," the mentorship program that helped one of her properties cut turnover from 36% to 13%, and why she thinks resident retention comes down to details as small as knowing a resident's dog's name. They also talk about what she believes actually separates the leaders and innovators moving multifamily forward, and her hot take on using AI as a thinking tool. This episode was recorded live at TechCon with the Apartment Association of Metro Denver.

In this episode:

01:08 - This or That

02:06 - Her role: people, brand, and technology under one seat

03:09 - Why brand isn't the logo

05:02 - The hospitality bar for resident retention

08:31 - The real root cause of multifamily turnover

11:59 - Building the next generation of leaders before promoting them

15:23 - What changed when technology adoption became her job too

20:51 - The one trait she sees across every strong leader

22:52 - Her AI hot take

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Teddy Abdelmalek is SVP of Business Development at HH Red Stone, the management arm of HH Group. He’s spent more than 20 years in student housing and conventional housing. Today, HH Red Stone now manages more than 10,000 units across the country. Teddy is leading their gradual expansion. 

Jacob Kosior and Teddy get into why owners grow jaded after cycling through management companies, the fee model that ties a manager's pay to NOI so they only win when the owner does, and why passive management no longer holds up. They also dig into the owner operator edge in a shared market, methodical growth over excessive speed, and how AI fits into the puzzle. The throughline underneath all of it: manage every asset like you own it.

In this episode:

00:26 - Jacob’s introduction of Teddy

01:08 - This or That

03:20 - What separates the managers who win from the ones who stall

07:32 - Property management vs asset management

09:12 - Rethinking the fee: sharing the risk with owners

11:00 - The math that misaligns managers and owners

13:49 - Winning over an owner who has been burned before

16:28 - Methodical growth over chasing scale

19:43 - Why reputation outlasts any single deal

20:33 - How Teddy actually uses AI

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Kelsi Cory has a rare vantage point on multifamily leadership. As founder and CEO of CORY Executive Recruiting, a boutique search firm that places C-suite and senior operators across multifamily, she sees what operators want before most people feel the shift. Over eight years she has become one of the most trusted voices in real estate recruiting, and through her Leaders On Deck and Fractionals On Deck brands, she has a front-row view of how operators are rethinking the shape of their leadership teams.

Jacob Kosior and Kelsi get into why operators have stopped hiring specialists and started hiring utility players, what a resume can never tell you about a leader, why the jump from regional to VP is where so many careers stall, and the skills that matter more as AI takes on the busy work. They also talk about how the best leaders treat their teams, why Kelsi tells everyone to find their own university, and how AI is creating new roles even as it reshapes old ones.

Timestamps:

01:34 - This or That

02:49 - How executive hiring has changed since 2021

04:19 - What a resume can't tell you about a leader

06:19 - Why your strongest regionals stall below VP

09:18 - When operations and technology become one role

12:00 - What SFR operators do differently to win talent

13:11 - The skills future leaders need in the next 2 to 5 years

15:37 - From AI skeptic to advocate, and the jobs AI creates

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Marcella Eppsteiner holds one of the most unique titles in multifamily, and she makes the case that it's about to become essential. As Chief Experience Officer at Mission Rock Residential, she owns both the customer experience and the team member experience, spanning marketing, revenue management, learning and development, and people and culture. Marcella has spent more than 20 years in the industry, starting onsite for student housing and rising through sales and marketing leadership into the CXO seat.

Jacob Kosior and Marcella get into why experience, not price, is the real differentiator in a concession-heavy market, what a micro moment is and why every interaction is one, why staff turnover is more of a clarity problem than a pay problem, and how the onsite role is being redefined as AI absorbs the busy work. They also talk about the data she watches every day, why she reads every resident review herself, and why she believes the human layer only grows more valuable when added on top of AI.

Timestamps:

01:09  This or That

02:04  The rare CXO seat, and what it actually includes

04:06  Why experience beats price in a concession-heavy market

04:32  Every interaction is a micro moment

06:25  The data she reads every single day

08:44  Centralization: centralizing functions, not just roles

13:40  Two causes of turnover you can actually control

15:50  A leasing consultant in 2026 vs one index card in 2003

17:05  The human layer, and why it grows more valuable with AI

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Nick Deveau is on a mission to fix billions of dollars being lost through apartments sitting vacant each year. As Co-Founder and CEO of GrottoAI, he's built a coaching tool that works alongside multifamily leasing teams on their calls and onsite tours, a first for the industry, to find insights into what moves a prospect to lease.

Nick has spent nearly a decade building vertical AI in highly regulated industries, from hiring to healthcare to insurance. Most recently, he and Co-founder Ben Epstein led the core technology behind EvolutionIQ's $730 million acquisition in late 2024, one of the first major vertical AI exits. He has graduate training from Stanford, and a long-running fascination with behavior change that traces back to his early days in psychiatry research.

Jacob Kosior and Nick get into the half-trillion-dollar vacancy problem hiding behind every empty unit, the human signals that predict whether a prospect moves forward, why the tour is the richest and most overlooked data source in leasing, how operators are hiring for rapport over resumes, and why leasing is sales. Plus Greta, the in-house AI employee that built Grotto's paid-search engine over a weekend.

Timestamps:

01:31 - This or That

02:50 - The psychiatry-to-AI thread

04:41 - Leaving a $730M exit for apartment leasing

05:34 - The half-trillion-dollar vacancy problem

06:43 - What the data says converts a prospect

09:04 - The tour: leasing's richest data source

10:36 - Hiring for rapport, and why a bartender works

13:16 - Leasing is sales

14:58 - What vertical AI sees that horizontal tools miss

16:11 - Greta, Grotto's in-house AI employee

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Jen Tindle has spent her career at the intersection of real estate and technology. Today she's VP of Partnerships and Strategic Initiatives at Grace Hill, where she leads M&A, partner programs, and data products. She also writes the All About CRE Substack newsletter and co-created Build Order, a podcast and essay series about how systems shape cities. Before Grace Hill, Jen led data and analytics at private equity firm Pennybacker Capital before co-founding CREx, a CRE tech company that she ran as CEO.

Jacob Kosior and Jen get into what Grace Hill's data is actually showing about the multifamily industry right now, including why one in three prospects never gets contacted after their tour. They talk about the fastest proptech consolidation Jen's ever seen in her career, the one thing every operator should be focused on for the rest of 2026, why AI adoption keeps getting driven from the wrong seat of the org, and much more.

Timestamps:

0:52 - Get to Know Jen

4:00 - Beyond the Day Job

7:17 - Where Humans Shine

9:52 - What the Data Shows

12:04 - The Priority in 2026

17:16 - AI in Work and Life

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Jamie Gorski has 25+ years of C-suite multifamily experience across marketing, operations, and resident experience. Through her companies Catchpoint Collective and Journey Lens, she advises operators, proptech companies, and investors.

Jamie started in multifamily as a groundskeeper in Baltimore. She was picking up trash, walking door to door, and helping residents with the kinds of small but meaningful things that stay with you. That first job taught her something she has never forgotten: this industry matters because we provide homes.

Jacob Kosior and Jamie get into why the onsite role has to change as AI and centralization reshape multifamily operations. They talk about tours that have not changed in years, residents getting a better experience buying a purse than renewing a lease, centralized leasing teams that can improve speed and consistency, and much more. 

Timestamps:

1:14 - Get to Know Jamie

4:40 - Redesigning the Onsite Role

6:40 - Where Humans Shine

11:11 - The Proptech Landscape

16:41 - Getting Centralization Right

21:00 - AI in Work and Life

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI. 

🔗 Learn more: https://meet.eliseai.com/4nSeP7b

Brittany Gonzalez has built centralized services teams twice, at two different organizations. Brittany is Senior Manager of Centralized Services at RangeWater Residential. Before RangeWater, she spent over six years at Cardinal Group, starting as an assistant community manager in student housing before becoming one of the earliest hires on Cardinal's centralized services team. 

Jacob Kosior and Brittany get into what it actually looks like to go from on-site burnout to building a centralized program across 75,000+ units. They talk about the moment she realized the community manager role wasn't for her, what changed when she moved into centralized services, the skills she looks for when hiring that have nothing to do with property management experience, and more.

In this episode: 

00:18 — Introduction

01:01 — Getting to Know Brittany

03:28 — From On-Site to Centralized

07:27 — Why Centralization Matters

09:10 — New Tools and Workflows

12:31 — Building the Right Team

16:45 — AI in Work and Life 

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.

Dan Oltersdorf has spent over 20 years thinking about how housing operators actually work.

Dan is President of Centricity, the back-office partner for property accounting, HR, IT, insurance, and ancillary revenue. Before Centricity, he spent more than two decades at Campus Advantage, ultimately as Chief People Officer, after starting his career as an RA at Colorado State University.

Jacob Kosior and Dan get into what's quietly costing operators their focus in 2026, and what separates the teams who are thriving from the ones in survival mode. They talk about the ‘white water’ of scaling, the operator who had to turn down a portfolio because the back office couldn't support it, why thriving operators build systems before they need them, how AI fits in as a power tool rather than a replacement, and creating a "do not do" list.

In this episode:

00:49 — Getting to Know Dan

02:25 — The Path to Centricity

04:39 — The Back-Office Bottleneck

06:31 — Surviving vs Thriving

10:07 — People, Process, and Technology

13:36 — What Actually Matters

16:09 — The "Do Not Do" List

17:17 — AI in Practice

New episodes twice a month. Follow the show so you never miss one. 

In Good Company is a multifamily podcast by EliseAI.