THE FOUNDATION TEAM
Leadership
Matt Knight
Executive Director
Matt Knight is an early-stage investor specializing in technology for the built environment, with deep experience in commercial real estate.
Most active at the pre-seed and seed stages in PropTech, Matt has helped build two separate PropTech venture capital funds in the past ten years.
Doug Holte
Advisor
Doug Holte is a business-builder, leader, advisor, and investor in real estate and venture sectors across four decades and three platforms – Hines, Irvine Company and Agile Workweek Investments.
Doug is focused on innovative property strategies that harness the venture mindset, address dysfunctional systems, and integrate sustainable communities.
Jaja Jackson
Advisor
Jaja Jackson is a Senior Vice President at ICONIQ Capital on the Real Assets team, with a career spanning institutional investing, real estate operations, and platform innovation. Before ICONIQ, he held senior leadership roles at Airbnb and spent over a decade operating and managing multifamily portfolios. Jaja brings a long-term investor lens to the evolving overlap between short-term rentals, multifamily housing, hospitality, and flexible living.
Stephanie Gubiotti
Advisor
Stephanie Gubiotti is a real estate operations and technology executive, advisor, and community builder with deep experience across multifamily, PropTech, and investment platforms. She has led operational transformation, portfolio strategy, and technology adoption for owner-operators, while also advising early-stage companies shaping the future of the built environment.
Catalyzing High Impact Innovation in Earth’s Largest Asset Class
About FIRE
The Foundation for Innovation in Real Estate (FIRE) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to advancing thoughtful, responsible innovation across the built environment.
FIRE exists to connect real estate leaders, operators, technologists, and policymakers around the systems that shape how people live, work, and move through the world. Real estate is the foundation of everyday life, and the technology that supports it, from property management platforms to building systems and data infrastructure, plays a critical role in housing stability, operational performance, and community outcomes.
FIRE serves as an ecosystem that brings together programs like The Catalyst: EMTC, industry summits, academic partnerships, and cross sector collaboration to drive long term value for communities and the real estate industry as a whole.
By fostering clarity, connection, and accountability, FIRE works to ensure innovation in real estate strengthens communities, improves outcomes, and supports a more resilient and inclusive built world.