Noel Johnson is a real estate developer, investor, and educator who moves fluidly across the civic, academic, and business realms to untangle and reimagine complex projects in the built environment. With over $1B in real estate activity across 24 developments and years of mass timber research and realized dealss, Noel brings hard-won experience from concept to capitalization to construction site — and a developer’s clarity on where mass timber value is created (or lost!)

Noel also wears the hats of researcher, educator, and thought leader, speaking regularly at conferences spanning sustainable development to urban economics and mass timber.  He teaches behavioral finance at Lewis & Clark College's Bates Center for Entrepreneurship.  At last year’s Summit, Noel led Thursday's “Creating Value” theme - opening the day by flipping the focus towards the demand-side - and mass timber’s impact on returns, risks, and end-users.  

For the 2026 Summit, Noel will lead Thursday’s mass timber development accelerator course which will cover how mass timber impacts specific proforma adjustments, consumer product-market-fit design adaptions and how capital market flows align with proposed mass timber developments. The goal? Ensure attendees walk away with clarity on how — and when — mass timber can deliver value as a product to drive ecosystem growth.

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