Elysa Berlin, 28
Director, Sales
Massey Knakal Realty Services
New York City
While over the past six years Elysa Berlin's team has grown to seven members, she's still the only female working in a salesperson position on the transaction side with Massey Knakal. In 2012, she originated $165.7 million in aggregate property valuations, $29.3 million in active listings and $1 million in property sales. Berlin was also the first female member of Royal Capital Holdings, a real estate networking group. In the industry, she has observed many changes: “Previously, women tended to have more of a presence on the residential side,” she says, “but recently I have seen a significant increase in women transitioning to the commercial side. In particular, a lot more women are working in asset management roles, analyst positions and retail leasing. The networking organization AREW has really been a catalyst in bringing women in real estate together.”

Elizabeth Braman, 39
Production Officer
ReadyCap Commercial LLC
Irvine, CA
As one of the first four executives at ReadyCap, Elizabeth Braman counts 2013 as a banner year professionally. This latest endeavor fully capitalizes on her over 15 years experience in commercial lending, business development and sales. She was the 2012 president of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of CCIM and received CREW-LA's Rising Star Award the prior year. Braman teaches courses in real estate at the University of California Los Angeles extension program. At ReadyCap, she is responsible for hiring and managing the entire nationwide sales team, currently numbering 14 direct reports and projected to grow to over 20 by year's end. She is steering ReadyCap to be one of the first small-balance lenders to return to securitization in Q4 2013 or Q1 2014. “The ever-increasing number of women distinguishing themselves as industry leaders provides a continued infusion of healthy competition, collaboration, innovation and diversity into the business sector,” Braman says.

Monetha Cobb, 37
Managing Director
Franklin Street
Atlanta
In 2010, after 10 years of service, Monetha Cobb decided to leave her nationally known company to join a startup looking to open its third office in Atlanta. Through persistence, hard work and a positive attitude, she built Franklin Street's retail tenant services group, which she now heads. Advising top-of-class retailers including PNC Bank, Dollar Tree Stores, Bealls Outlet, Cabela's and Cato, Cobb has completed more than 116,000 square feet in leases worth $9.6 million since June 2012. She's also involved with Camp Twin Lakes Jr., delivering life-changing camp experiences to over 9,100 children with serious illnesses, disabilities and other challenges.

Katie Culp, 36
Managing Director & Principal
Cassidy Turley
Indianapolis
At 23, Katie Culp was the youngest county economic development director in the state of Indiana. She now leads a national consulting practice that assists clients with location analysis and incentives negotiations. With 15 years of economic development experience, she's negotiated over $200 million in incentives for roughly 11 million feet of office and industrial space. Culp manages a team responsible for over $350 million in incentives for 15 million square feet space across the US. She has been nationally recognized as an exceptional site selection consultant by economic development agencies and CRE executives alike.

Vanessa Delgado, 37
Director, Development
Primestor Development
Los Angeles
Vanessa Delgado's career began in city planning and economic development work for city governments. At Primestor, she manages a staff of six people involved in planning, community relations, sourcing of development sites, project management, construction management and entitlement procurement. Among her projects in active construction are a $100-million, 380,000-square-foot shopping center and a $30-million office building. Moderator of the ICSC Hispanic Markets Panel and a member of the Mercy Housing Board, Delgado is sensitive to the needs of local communities and works positively to build support for developments.

Nicole Evans, 38
Partner
Ballard Spahr LLP
Salt Lake City
Nicole Evans leads a national, broad-based practice in resort and hospitality law that includes everything from resort and timeshare development in North America to fractionals, condominiums and condo-hotels. She has assumed the first chair responsibility for all timeshare work and is the frontline attorney responsible for the largest engagements within the Resort and Hotel Group. She has spent the past 13 years building an impressive real estate practice with a focus on resorts and hotels. Additionally, Evans has lead outside timeshare counsel for Diamond Resorts International and has assisted with the due diligence of all timeshare assets and firms it's acquired since 2007. Over 10 years, she's also dedicated 418 hours to pro bono service, representing people interested in adopting children in the Utah foster system.

Kelly Gedinsky, 29
Broker
Winick Realty Group
New York City
“Every year I strive to complete as many deals as possible, fundamentally attempting to accomplish twice as much as the previous year,” says Kelly Gedinsky. So far, she's been able to maintain that goal, having leased over 500,000 square feet of retail in her six years at Winick Realty Group and becoming a manager and mentor to a younger group of retail brokers. Currently handling the leasing efforts for 1270 Lexington Ave., 353 W. 14th St., 323 Park Ave. South, 2000 Broadway and the retail at Columbus Square, Gedinsky also works with international, national and local retail tenants on their expansion efforts in the Tri-State area and the US.

Elisa Konik, 29
Director, Corporate Occupier & Investor Services
Cushman & Wakefield
New York City
Elisa Konik helped to co-found Artemis, C&W's women's business development group and day-to-day develops and manages the strategic direction of the firm's client-facing technology suite. Having joined C&W's Valuations & Appraisal practice in 2007, Konik worked to develop the firm's first business intelligence tool, an interactive web-enabled software that provides colleagues and clients with high touch visibility into portfolio performance, market trends and statistics. She hopes to create an innovative platform of services for clients and inspire a creative, collaborative and supportive workplace for her colleagues.

Heather E. McClure, 40
Vice President, Capital Markets
Behringer Harvard
Addison, TX
Heather McClure is responsible for sourcing, structuring, negotiating and managing project and fund-level financings for Behringer Harvard. Since joining in 2008, she's closed over $1 billion in debt financing with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, life insurance companies and banks. McClure is also is a Certified Public Accountant and an advisory member of the Real Estate Finance & investment Center at the University of Texas and the Real Estate Council of Dallas. She also mentors students through the Real Estate Finance and Investment Center at U Texas, striving to convey a clear and realistic vision of the opportunities offered by the industry, and introduces students to individuals who can help them begin to build a professional network.

Jessica Ochoa, 36
President
CBRE Group Inc.
Houston
Jessica Ochoa has had considerable success over the past six years, significantly contributing to CBRE winning over 6.2 million square feet of assignments. Handling property marketing, market and financial analysis and lease negotiation for owners, Ochoa has closed on 41 leases totaling 448,623 square feet in the past year alone. She started her real estate career at CBRE in 2003 in an administrative position. Over the next three years, while working full time and with the responsibilities of a single mother, Ochoa went to the University of Houston at night and graduated with a Bachelor's degree in business administration. Ochoa invests her free time in mentoring undergraduate business students and Hispanic students at the U of Houston's Bauer College of Business.

Lindsay Ornstein, 36
Principal
Transwestern
New York City
Lindsay Ornstein started her career as the marketing director at Staubach and used experience for developing strategies to drive her career. In 2011, Ornstein, together with Patrick Robinson, Transwestern Northeast's president, founded the firm's Northeast division by opening its first office in New York City. She also plays a leadership role for the division, providing guidance in its expansion, branding and team development. In the past year, she completed notable deals, including a 13,581-square-foot lease renewal and expansion for Williams, Jones & Associates and a 10,000-foot lease for Mandell School's third preschool location. Ornstein has served on the Junior Cabinet for Israel Bonds for more than eight years and has also been a mentor with Trailblazers since 2000.

Malloy Peterson, 36
Senior Vice President, Advisory
Carter
Atlanta
A strategic advisor and marketing professional, Malloy Peterson is engaged in strategic consulting for Carter's clients, primarily public entities, public-private partnerships and educational institutions. In 2012, she was promoted to advisory SVP, focusing on three primary areas: business development, advisory and strategic business planning. Among other things, she pioneered social media and led the creative direction of the website design/development and Carter's rebranding efforts. Peterson is actively involved in several initiatives that would provide opportunities for Carter to enter new development spaces. Thanks to many of the women who have come before her, Peterson says she's able to look around and find women at almost every CRE company across the country.

Kristi Simmons, 36
Broker
Aquila
Austin, TX
Currently a broker in Aquila's corporate services division, Kristi Simmons has worked for Hart Land Real Estate and Staubach the Co. during her 12-year career. She achieved her personal best revenue at year-end 2012 and became part of SIOR. She was involved in a 49,000-square-foot lease with RGM Advisors and Qualcomm's 54,000-foot Northwest Austin renewal and expansion, among other notable deals. In terms of women in the industry, Simmons says, “It's very valuable to have a team consisting of both men and women. It was not long ago that women in CRE served in an administrative or research role. Today, they're leading brokerage offices and taking the lead on complex assignments.”

Lindsey Sugar, 34
Senior Vice President
Pension Consulting Alliance
Los Angeles
For the past five years, Lindsey Sugar has been an integral member of the real estate team at Pension Consulting Alliance. She advises large public US pension funds, including California Public Employees' Retirement System, Maryland State Retirement and Pension System and others on a wide range of issues including portfolio strategy, management and composition. Sugar started her career as an investment analyst for Norgo Group, a private equity real estate firm, where she learned the business from the ground up while assessing acquisitions and dispositions for a national portfolio of mixed use properties. Increasing transparency for investors participating in commingled funds is a career goal. Sugar believes that real assets—real estate, infrastructure and timber—will play a critical diversification role going forward, not just for public pension plans but also for sovereign wealth funds and high-net worth capital.

Jennifer Taylor, 40
Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer
Atalanta Realty Investments
Los Angeles
Jennifer Taylor brings over 20 years of experience to her role of president and CEO at Atalanta Realty Investments, a firm she founded in 2012. She leads a collaborative team of real estate professionals, focusing on acquiring properties in overlooked urban areas in major US MSAs with high Asian populations by applying an innovative SRI approach that's built on close collaboration with minority owner/occupiers to grow their businesses. Prior to forming Atalanta, Taylor served as COO for Arroyo Realty Partners. She also co-founded the Filipino in Institution Real Estate and the Los Angeles chapter of African American Real Estate Professionals. She feels that “Southern California is an evolving property market that constantly reinvents itself like a Hollywood movie star” and “Today's investors are seeking relationships with partners who demonstrate sophisticated and sound investment philosophies.”

Adriana Vesci, 34
Partner
Cox Castle & Nicholson
Los Angeles
In the past 12 months, Vesci has been involved in over $1 billion of transactions. She represented a portfolio lender in a $220-million loan secured by 17 properties and the buyer of an portfolio of 11 distressed loans secured by operating properties in four states, to name but two. Last year, she won the Los Angeles County Bar Association Real Property Section Outstanding Young Lawyer Award. Active in MAMAs (Mother Attorneys Mentoring Association of L.A.), Vesci was made a partner at Cox, Castle & Nicholson earlier this year, achieving a fundamental career goal.

Colleen Wenke, 34
Vice President
Taconic Investment Partners
New York City
Since beginning her career at Taconic in 2001, Wenke has been responsible for or directly involved in developing or repositioning over two million square feet of commercial space. After accepting a temporary position at Taconic, she fell in love with the transformative nature of real estate and tangible results of seeing a project come to fruition. She handles project management, design development, contract negotiations, portfolio strategy, marketing, leasing and sales. Recently, Wenke led the planning that ultimately achieved the Landmarks Preservation Commission's approval for 837 Washington St., a 55,000-square-foot retail and office building in the Meatpacking District. She's an advocate of educating young women about the industry and how dynamic it is, from as early as high school.

Azeemeh Zaheer, 33
Head of Institutional Relationships
Gatehouse Bank plc
London
Responsible for raising capital and institutional strategy, Azeemeh Zaheer improves and initiates investment relationships for Gatehouse Bank while maintaining the women's CSR program. Zaheer started her career early through a banking internship run by her high school. She served as a licensed investment specialist while in college and ultimately became a vice consul, Oil & Gas USA sector head for the British Consulate General in Houston, before joining Gatehouse. Over the past couple of years, she developed a new institutional profiling system and raised over $170 million in direct equity for the bank. On behalf of Dr. Suhair Al Qurashi, Women's Education Leader and Dean of Girls College in Saudi Arabia, Zaheer wrote a UK Infrastructure Sukuk abstract submission to Prime Minister David Cameron. For the next five years, her focus will be on building a global institutional wealth management department, while helping to find solutions to the issues facing the Islamic banking industry.