The year 2020 has been a long and hard slog for everyone, including the experts in the multifamily field. To be sure, apartments have weathered the pandemic relatively well, holding onto their private-market value and staying relatively flush with capital thanks in part to the GSEs. But as our story on page 28 shows, there are some weaknesses beginning to show. Navigating these forces, to say nothing of a nationwide eviction moratorium, takes skill and wisdom. In the following pages we have done our best to identify the people who best exemplify these traits. As always with our influencer series, we have made our picks not based on the number or size of deals completed, but rather on what these people, teams and companies have added to the multifamily community in the past twelve months. And this year, that is saying quite a lot.

INDIVIDUALS

RUSSELL APPEL THE PRAEDIUM GROUP With vast industry experience totaling more than three decades, Russell Appel has guided privately-held, multifamily investment firms, sponsored ten private equity funds and invested $12 billion in capital on behalf of clients. He established the Praedium Group in 1991 as founding principal and has led the firm through a supportive, hands-on approach and a well-defined, institutional investment process; incorporating teamwork, checks and balances, risk management, oversight and property-specific targeted business plans. Early on, Appel successfully identified job growth and affordable housing needs within suburban markets. In 2019 alone, he led the firm to purchase and sell $1.4 billion in multifamily assets.

LAURIE BAKER CAMDEN PROPERTY TRUST Throughout her time at Camden Property Trust, Laurie Baker has achieved numerous accomplishments for the multifamily firm, including creating and managing its first investment funds, leading its technology initiative and expanding its investment footprint nationally. More recently, she transformed her current role as EVP of operations to focus on the oversight and strategy for the firm's portfolio operations and investment funds; allowing further, significant company growth and investor value. In addition to her innovative, leadership efforts within the firm, Baker currently serves on the NMHC board of the director's executive committee and as vice chair of ULI's multifamily bronze council. She previously served as the global president of CREW Network.