Governance

The Las Colinas Association is governed by non-compensated, volunteer board members, with equal representation for residential and commercial properties, and one Declarant representative.

The bylaws now provide for staggered terms and term limits. Directors are elected for three-year terms on a rotating basis and are limited to two consecutive terms plus any preceding partial terms resulting from an appointment to a vacated position.

Directors

Danny Opitz, Chairman

Danny Opitz has been an integral part of the development of Las Colinas with over 40 years of involvement in the management of the Las Colinas Development with the Las Colinas Corporation, Faison-Stone, Cousins Properties, and Hines. Mr. Opitz is currently Vice President of Construction for Hines.  His responsibilities have included land planning and entitlement of land, preparation of land use documents as a representative of the Declarant, and oversight of design and construction of project infrastructure. As part of the Hines Land Team since 2006, he has been involved in the development of over 3,000 single-family lots in the Las Colinas development and Irving.

He has been a member of the Architectural Control Committee at the Las Colinas Association for fourteen years. He has served on many civic and municipal committees in Irving, including the Development Ordinance Rewrite Committee, Storm Water Drainage Committee, Comprehensive Land Use Committee, and the Citizen’s Transportation Committee.  He was a board member of the Dallas County Utility and Reclamation District from 2001 to 2019.

He has a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Danny and wife Nancy have been residents of Las Colinas for 19 years and currently reside in La Villita. 

Harry Lake, Vice Chair

Harry Lake serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Koa Partners and is responsible for the overall strategy of the privately held firm. In this capacity, Mr. Lake leads a character-driven team focused on delivering real estate solutions to clients it is called to serve.

Prior to founding Koa Partners, Mr. Lake was the Chief Investment Officer for Neal Richards Group (NRG) and was responsible for the investment strategy of the firm as it organically grew its diversified portfolio beyond $1 Billion in asset value. Mr. Lake oversaw acquisition, asset management, disposition, and capital market activities as the firm interfaced with individual and institutional stakeholders.

Prior to joining NRG, Mr. Lake served ten years with the Trammell Crow Company (TCC) and was the Principal responsible for the US acquisition strategy for the firm, a wholly owned development-and-investment subsidiary of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE). Mr. Lake led a central team to manage the investment of acquisition capital on behalf of TCC and its partners across 15 nationally distributed offices. Mr. Lake was also responsible for supporting the capital markets function within TCC in order to raise debt financing and deploy programmatic capital focused on commercial real estate development.

Mr. Lake has worked in the real estate investment industry since 1998 and honorably served six years in the Hawaii Army National Guard. Mr. Lake is a triple- major graduate from the University of Hawaii (UH) and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS). Mr. Lake was recently named DCEO’s Top 500 and previously named 40 under 40 by both the Dallas Business Journal and the Urban Land Institute independent of each other.

Mr. Lake is active in the communities that he serves. He is active in the Urban Land Institute, The Real Estate Council (TREC), and the Chamber of Commerce. He has served as a member of the American Red Cross of North Texas Board and advances other social causes through the firm’s Koa Canopy initiatives. Mr. Lake is a graduate of the Associate Leadership Council (ALC), Leadership Dallas, and Leadership SoCal. Mr. Lake is a licensed broker in Texas and is a LEED Accredited Professional focused on advancing sustainable real estate practices.

Kenneth Gwyn, Secretary

Kenneth H. Gwyn has led an accomplished career overseeing and directing large public organizations. In September 2014, he retired from the City of Dallas after thirty years to pursue the next phase of his career.

During his tenure with the City of Dallas, Kenneth quickly rose through the ranks to lead several major departments. Much of that time was spent leading the Department of Aviation. As department director, Kenneth was responsible for the overall management and operation of Dallas Love Field Airport, Dallas Executive Airport and the Dallas Vertiport/Heliport.

As Assistant Director of Human Resources and as Director of Strategic Customer Services, Kenneth had responsibility for over 13,000 employees.

With decades of experience, Kenneth is an “Accredited Airport Executive” (A.A.E) and shares his aviation knowledge through published writings and training workshops. He has contributed to several major publications on the subjects of airport management, leadership, strategic planning and customer service.

Kenneth currently serves as an adjunct professor of political science for Dallas College where he has taught for nearly 40 years. He received a master’s degree in Public Administration and a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from The American University in Washington, D.C. He and his wife, Mary Scott-Gwyn, live in University Park Estates. In his spare time, Kenneth enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, playing golf and snow skiing..

Carl Klinke

Carl Klinke was elected to the residential position on LCA’s Board of Directors and he is a retired Commercial Real Estate attorney with a long history in Las Colinas. Carl is a graduate of Northwestern University and earned his law degree from SMU School of Law in 1970. As in-house council and with private law firms, Carl is experienced in preparation and negotiation of commercial, industrial, multi-family, and ground leases, representing both landlords and tenants, among many other areas of expertise. From 1972 to 2005, Carl supervised and performed all legal work in connection with the Las Colinas Development. Carl has served on various Association Boards and Architectural Control Committees in Texas and Colorado. Carl currently serves on the Infrastructure Committee and the Legal Committee for Positano Condominium Association, a condominium association for a 170-unit condominium development here in Las Colinas, where he lives with his wife, Nancy. 

Sushil Patel

Sushil is the President at State Bank of Texas, a family-owned bank. He joined the bank in 2004 and has served on the Board of Directors since 2000.  SBT has consistently ranked as one of the top-performing community banks in the country year after year.  Sushil has been instrumental in the growth of the bank from a $100 million asset bank in 2004 to a $1 billion asset bank which is now the largest Indian community bank in the nation.

Sushil also serves as a Principal of CBP Holdings, the Patel family office, which develops and operates hotels and other real estate in New York City and the Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex. Through the bank and CBP Holdings, Sushil oversees $1.8 billion in assets in which the family holds a majority ownership stake. Prior to joining State Bank of Texas, Sushil worked as Senior Analyst at Bank of America Securities in the Global Corporate & Investment Bank.

He holds a B.B.A. in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Sushil had served 7 years on the Planning and Zoning Commission for the City of Irving including the role of Chairman and recently served on the Citizen’s Bond Task Force. Sushil is also the current Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Surti Leuva Patidar Samaj of DFW, a community organization of over 900 “Patel” families in the DFW Metroplex.