Steve Kalmbach

COO at Trumark Companies

Speaker

Steve Kalmbach

Chief Operating Officer

Trumark Homes – a Daiwa House Group

Over 35 years of experience in the real estate industry with an emphasis on operations, land acquisition and entitlements, and a strategic focus on growth through quality construction and outstanding customer service, incorporating technology to scale operations through improved processes. Strong belief that strong cultures drive great results!

Trumark Companies - a Daiwa House Group October 2025 – Present. Chief Operating Offer with oversite for all field operations, and integral role in strategy and capital placement for significant M&A and organic growth across the organization.

Thomas James Homes April 2022 to Sept 2025. COO for private equity-owned, 400 employee Thomas James Homes (TJH). Incorporated production homebuilder approach to largest single-lot builder platform in the country, with a self-directed and board approved focus on product, people, process and systems. Primary focus included:

· Product: Reduced an existing architectural library from over 480 plans down to 50 plans. All plans taken through a comprehensive consumer-tested, “paper walk” and “should cost” analysis, reducing construction costs by over 30% across the entire portfolio. Drove simplicity for field operations and trades with detailed scopes and common installations and assemblies

· People: Replaced key roles in home office and all divisions with executives who possessed strong homebuilding business and leadership capabilities

· Process: Implemented new processes across the entire enterprise, with a heightened focus on cost reduction, schedule predictability and quality/customer experience; accountability pushed across and down the organization

· Implemented new ERP system allowing greater visibility into business operations, leading greater predictability with cost control and schedule management, including visibility into key milestones build life cycle and greater reporting integrity

Promoted to President at TJH in Dec 2023, with the added focus of capital allocation, strategic growth and KPI adherence

Pultegroup April 2000 to March 2021. Started in-fill urban housing group in Northern California, and served in multiple senior management roles, including Area President for the west coast (Northern and Southern California, Seattle, Portland, Reno, Sacramento and the Central Valley) and Northern California Division President.

Key responsibilities and successes while serving as Division and Area President:

· Profit and Loss for Northern California (Bay Area, Central Valley and Reno)

· Led team of 130 (400 at area role), and annual community count of 20+/-

· The acquisition, entitlement, construction and sale of over 10,000 homes, including over 1,000 units of affordable housing in Northern California

· Generated over $10B in Revenue, and over $1B in Pre-tax profit

· Developments included single family, multi-family (townhouse, podium, mid-rise, lofts), active adult/age-restricted and mixed-use

· Invested over $4B in land acquisition in Northern California and the West Area, including M&A of Centex transaction and a bulk transaction of over 1000 lots in several communities from builder in Seattle

Catellus Development June 1991 to Feb 2000. Vice President for Catellus (now Prologis) in San Francisco with a focus on building urban, mixed-income and mixed-use housing throughout Northern California, including several years working on the massive Mission Bay project in San Francisco

JLL Financial analyst at in Los Angeles and Hong Kong

UCLA MBA in Finance from the Anderson School; BA in Political Science from UCLA

Served on the board for the CBIA and NCAL HomeAid, and past advisory roles for Rebuilding Together Oakland and Bridge Corp, focusing on promoting and advocating for more women to management roles in homebuilding

Inducted into California Homebuilding Foundation Hall of Fame in 2021

Currently reside in Corona del Mar with my wife and step-daughter