Teri Slavik-Tsuyuki
tst ink, llc
Founder + Storyteller
Teri’s expertise is at the intersection of marketing and community development. She works with developers to create and activate community vision and design strategies. She brings a sociologist’s perspective to who will live there, and how they want to live, and has brought to life some of the most valuable and recognized brands and communities. Teri spearheaded the America at Home Study, exploring changes in consumer behavior, with lasting impacts on home and community design. The study inspired the design and construction of two concept homes both awarded the Gold Nugget Grand Award (2021 and 2025). She also co-chairs the Global Wellness Institute’s Wellness Communities & Real Estate Initiative and is active on ULI’s Residential Neighborhood Development Council. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, USA Today, Washington Post, Forbes, CNN Business, Fox Business and many industry publications. She’s written 30+ feature articles and is a frequent speaker at national real estate and design events.
Day 1 Keynote: We’re Not Building What People Want

Erin Willis
Sekisui House
Chief Insights Officer
Erin Willis is Chief Insights Officer at Sekisui House U.S., one of the nation’s largest homebuilders and part of the world’s largest homebuilding company. With more than 25 years of experience, she is known for challenging industry assumptions and helping builders better understand the people they serve. Erin leads enterprise transformation efforts that integrate customer insights into key business decisions, including product development, pricing, customer experience, and growth strategy. Her work combines behavioral insight, data, and human understanding to drive stronger performance and more meaningful customer experiences. Previously, she held leadership roles at Taylor Morrison, Pulte Homes, and Woodside Homes, where she built high-impact insights and marketing functions that improved both margins and market position.

Laura Blaul
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
Senior Wildfire Fellow
Laura Blaul is Senior Wildfire Fellow at the Insurance Institute for Building & Home Safety (IBHS), leading efforts to advance wildfire resilience through partnerships, applied research, and community engagement. She also serves as Chair of the California Fire Safe Council, working with public safety professionals, local governments, and residents to promote proactive mitigation.

Laura is a retired fire service executive with more than 30 years of experience protecting communities. As Assistant Chief and Fire Marshal for the Orange County Fire Authority, she led Community Risk Reduction, overseeing planning and development services, code enforcement, fire investigation, wildfire mitigation, and community education.

Alex Cary
Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety
Director of FORTIFIED Market Development
Alex Cary is Director of FORTIFIED Market Development at the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), advancing resilient construction practices nationwide. With 20 years in home building, she began as a small business owner and served as Construction Manager for a Baldwin County Habitat for Humanity affiliate, overseeing more than 50 homes. She has held national and leadership roles, including President of Baldwin County Home Builders, and serves on NAHB Codes and Standards and Climate Risk and Sustainability Committees. She is a licensed builder and NAHB Leadership Academy alumna living in a FORTIFIED Gold home in coastal Alabama.

Bree Jones
Parity Baltimore Incorporated
CEO & Founder
Bree Jones is the founder of Parity, an equitable development company in West Baltimore that creates pathways to affordable homeownership in neighborhoods affected by hyper-vacancy. Through a block-by-block approach, Parity helps residents, families, and social networks purchase and revitalize formerly abandoned homes together, fostering both community and wealth building. Grounded in the principle of Development Without Displacement, Bree champions reinvestment that benefits long-time residents of historically redlined neighborhoods. Her work has been recognized by outlets including The Washington Post, Fast Company, AfroTech, and the Brookings Institution. A TED speaker and Nantucket Project keynote presenter, Bree is an Ashoka Fellow and has held fellowships with New Profit, Open Society Institute, and others. Before founding Parity, she worked in finance, venture capital, and alternative investments.

Grace Mase
HomeRES.ai
Founder + CEO
Grace Tsao Mase is the founder and CEO of HomeRES.ai, named a Fast Company World Changing Idea in 2026, and author of "AI in Residential Construction" (NAHB, 2026). A Yale-trained architect, multi-state licensed contractor, NASCLA-accredited, and AIA associate, she has spent two decades in residential construction and software development, from hands-on project work to leading operations. She has worked alongside contractors on more than 5,000 residential projects nationwide and holds three U.S. patents. A 2025 Los Angeles wildfire survivor, Grace brings firsthand urgency to her work on AI and resilience-focused construction.
Leveling the Field with AI: Advancing Women in Residential Construction

Kate O'Hara
Lake House Group
Founder
Kate O'Hara is the founder of Lake House Group, an advisory practice working with founder-led and second-generation businesses navigating growth, succession, and exit. Most privately held businesses don't stall from lack of effort. They stall because something isn't landing the way the leader thinks it is. Kate helps owners identify where their intentions have diverged from the actual experience of their teams and clients, before it affects the business.

She spent 20 years at O'Hara Interiors, including nearly a decade as its second-generation CEO, before making the decision to close the firm intentionally. She is also co-owner of the Design Influencers Conference. Kate and her work have been covered in The Wall Street Journal, Architectural Digest, House Beautiful, and Business of Home.

Ashley Sheaffer
KBF Design Gallery
Principal
Ashley Sheaffer is the Principal of KBF Design Gallery, an Orlando-based design-build remodeling firm (FL CGC #1529022) built on a simple promise: transforming homes and redefining expectations. She is one of residential construction's earliest hands-on adopters of applied AI — not as a buzzword, but as the operating system of a working firm. She built ATLAS, a custom AI platform that serves as the single source of truth across design, sales, procurement, and finance, ending the document chaos that costs remodelers time and margin. From "vibe coding" photoreal renderings in plain language, to turning every recorded client meeting into structured project data, Ashley's work shows what AI looks like when it's actually doing the job. At WIRC, she's skipping the hype to show exactly how to do it.