Vision, Experience, RelationshipsOur Team
Managing DirectorMaxim Olshevsky
Maxim has nearly 20 years’ experience in construction and real estate. He has deep roots in Calgary: he immigrated to Calgary at age 13 from Ukraine, and established and operates a successful group of companies.
Maxim has a passion for bringing life back to underutilized assets. In Calgary, housing accessibility and affordability are at an all-time low, and public housing capacity is stretched beyond its limit—meanwhile office towers sit empty. This imbalance is the driver behind Maxim’s vision to revitalize unused commercial office towers into vibrant, affordable housing Calgarians can afford.
By providing affordable living space to those who need it most, Maxim hopes to contribute to the revitalization of Calgary as a whole. He intends to demonstrate that a vibrant, sustainable Calgary starts with housing.
Maxim Olshevsky
Managing DirectorAsh Mahmoud
Ash is a construction engineer with twenty-four years’ experience leading large multifamily developments in Canada and the Middle East. His experience includes the conversion of office and commercial towers into residential complexes in Edmonton and Calgary’s greater downtown.
Ash has a passion for completing projects that transform the urban environment. His projects, including Calgary’s recognizable Cube, have shifted how Albertans use, see, and construct urban buildings.
He has managed the construction of over 7,000 multifamily and commercial units in Canada and the Middle East (1,500 in Canada). His new-construction and conversion experience includes high-rise towers, midrise buildings, affordable housing, townhomes, and three shopping malls.
Ash’s aim, as president of Cairo Developments, is to use his experience and innovations to guide projects to completion in ways that exceed client expectations, that are profitable, and that change how we inhabit urban spaces.
Ash Mahmoud
Director, Chief Financial OfficerHeather Weir
Heather is the Chief Financial Officer for the Astra Group of companies as well as Peoplefirst Developments and is responsible for overseeing all financial matters. Heather holds CPA, CA, CMA designations from the Chartered Professional Accountants of Alberta and a CBV designation from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Business Valuators.
Heather has over 25 years of management experience, acting in both in a financial and operational capacity, for companies with diversified domestic and international business operations. Heather’s extensive experience has translated into key strengths when leading complex, international projects, process design, internal controls implementation, fraud detection, and business valuations.
Heather’s expertise and capacity to balance detailed analytics while maintaining a strategic vision is a perfect fit to work with entrepreneurial companies like Peoplefirst and Astra. She works tirelessly to help companies establish best practice while supporting community growth safely and sustainably.
Heather Weir
CA, CPA, CBV
Chief Marketing OfficerLogan Smith
Logan is a media relations and brand identity manager. He is responsible for Peoplefirst’s marketing strategies, internal and external communications, events, and both the IT and media departments.
Logan’s broad ranging experience includes crucial contributions to the growth of hundreds of businesses. This provides him a macro view with which to develop effective high-level strategies.
Logan’s priorities include not just establishing Peoplefirst’s brand. They also include communicating to Calgary, and beyond, the importance of converting underutilized architecture into accessible housing, especially as part of urban development policy.
Logan Smith
Director, Nonprofit RelationsDeanna Holt
Deanna is a project manager specializing in community engagement, communications, and augmentation of companies’ resource capacities to enable them to achieve their goals.
Deanna spent twelve years in the nonprofit sector, specifically with women fleeing domestic violence and doing behind-the-scenes work to fund development and community projects.
Her valuable communication and management skills, her background in working with the underprivileged, and her track record for developing and managing intra- and inter-organizational relationships make her a perfect fit for this project.
Deanna Holt
