Stephen B. Friedman, FAICP, CRE is founder and president of SB Friedman Development Advisors, a 25-person real estate and development advisory firm based in Chicago that serves public, private and institutional clients. Steve leads the firm in providing a broad range of development advisory services for innovative public-private partnerships and development and financing strategies for urban infill, mixed-use developments, incubators and research parks, and redevelopment of areas left behind by economic and geographic change and disruption. Using key public tools such as Tax Increment Financing and New Markets Tax Credits, the firm has served as advisor or analyst for over $3.5 billion of public funds in $11.0 billion in projects in the past 12 years.

Steve has been recognized as a thought leader and an active participant in civic, professional and educational organizations. He is a Counselor of Real Estate, a member of the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and a full member of the Urban Land Institute (ULI), where he has served in District Council and national leadership positions. He recently served as one of the authors and primary editor of the ULI publication “Successful Public Private Partnerships: From Principles to Practices.” Steve is a member of the Executive Committee of the Civic Federation, the boards of Family Focus and the Forest Preserve Foundation as well as a member of the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs Dean’s Council. In 2013, he received the James Felt Creative Counseling Award of the Counselors of Real Estate for his development advisory role on The Shops and Residences of Uptown Park Ridge project. Steve holds a Master of Science in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a Bachelor of Arts from Goddard College in Vermont. He is a Series-50 Qualified Municipal Advisor Representative.