HEIDI BARATH
Executive Director, Transaction Real Estate
EY
Dallas
Heidi Barath got her start at EY 18 years ago and worked her way up the ladder. Today, she's the highest-ranking female executive in the firm's US Transaction Real Estate Practice. Barath works with many of EY's REIT, hospitality, real estate development opportunity fund and mortgage banking clients. Within the past year, she's been involved with multi-national deals involving large corporate client mergers, IPOs, REITs and private companies. Her focus is on workplace flexibility and inclusion and on advancing women in EY and the greater industry. “Globalization is the most important trend in the industry today,” she comments. “Succeeding requires unprecedented flexibility, agility and tolerance for ambiguity. The diversity of perspectives and skills that women bring to commercial real estate is an under-utilized resource.” Barath's 24 years of experience includes appraisal and research jobs with McRoberts & Co. and CBRE. She also does work on behalf of organizations including the March of Dimes and United Way.

MARIDEE BELL
Vice President, Leasing and Marketing
Sunbeam Properties
Miramar, FL
Commitment. Dedication. Perseverance. These are the qualities that make Maridee Bell a woman of influence in South Florida's commercial real estate market. This no-nonsense leader climbed the ranks from an administrative assistant to her current role at Sunbeam, where the 21-year veteran oversees leasing and marketing at Miramar Park of Commerce, one of the largest business parks in Florida. Over the past 12 months, she reduced the vacancy rate at the park from 8% to 3% through her hands-on, customer service-oriented approach to developing plans for tenants who need to expand or downsize in a changing market. “There are successful women throughout the industry who have paved the way for new women leaders and that is something to be proud of,” Bell says.

KAREN BELLANTONI
Executive Vice President
RKF
New York City
Karen Bellantoni has more than 25 years of experience in retail, retail leasing and merchandising. She represents tenants and landlords across the country and is currently focused on leasing New York's South Street Seaport and finding homes for several fashion brands. She also manages many of RKF's brokers on a daily basis. Her current goal is to expand her focus internationally. Bellantoni began her career as an import program designer for the May Co. in St. Louis and buyer/merchandiser for the Belk Stores of Charlotte, NC. “Women have already changed the business. They have grown into a big percentage of the dealmakers in retail as a whole, both on the brokerage side and the landlord side.”

PHYLLIS CAFARO
Vice President, Marketing
Cafaro Co.
Youngstown, OH
Phyllis Cafaro began assisting her family's business while raising her three children, and joined full-time as vice president of marketing in 1991. She was the first female department head at Cafaro and oversees a team of 55 marketing professionals and an in-house agency that service over 30 million square feet of real estate. In the past year, Cafaro helped to create Rock the Mall Midnight Balls across the Cafaro Co.'s huge shopping center portfolio, successfully launched the new Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville through a highly targeted grand re-opening program and secured Erie General Electric Federal Credit Union as partner of the Millcreek Mall Children's Play Area. In addition to mentoring young women in the industry, Cafaro has also spearheaded an industry-wide push to prevent bullying through her Captain McFinn and Friends program, which was recently adopted by over 400 shopping centers for a national anti-bullying campaign during the month of October, national Anti-Bullying Awareness month.

ELIZABETH COOPER
International Director
Jones Lang LaSalle
Washington, DC
Elizabeth Cooper is a consistent top producer, achieving top 10 ranking over multiple years and negotiating more than 25 million square feet of leases during her 16 years at Jones Lang LaSalle. The 26-year industry veteran has quadrupled the size and doubled the volume of JLL's law firm group during her tenure—and personally closed more than $5.7 billion in leases. Her work spans the globe to ensure JLL teams provide strong tenant rep support to some of the world's most preeminent law firms. Part of her success is knowledge. Cooper launched her career as a commercial real estate attorney at an AmLaw100 firm in 1987. Cooper is known for nurturing the next generation of women in real estate: “I advise young women to know their own brand, to develop both personal and professional networks,” she says, “and to define success on their own terms, finding their own path to a sustainable and fulfilling career.”

BARBARA CRANE
Vice President & Associate Director
Newmark Grubb Knight Frank
San Antonio
Thirty-year industry veteran Barbara Crane's resume includes jobs at Newmark Grubb Knight Frank (formerly Grubb & Ellis) and Johnson-Rast & Hays. She's also worked on behalf of nonprofit organizations including the American Heart Association and Birmingham Museum of Art. Additionally, Crane has taught at the CCIM Institute since 2005; she's the 2013 Chairman of the CCIM Institute's Course Curriculum committee and recipient of the institute's Robert L. Ward Instructor of the Year award. Crane's on-the-job activities include brokerage, agency leasing services, tenant representation, consultation and client development. Her current focus is on General Services Administration lease transactions and the sale of income-producing office properties. Unlike the late 1970s when Crane got her start, “today, women are fully engaged in all aspects of the business and professional world,” she remarks.

PAULA CROWLEY
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Anchor Health Properties
Wilmington, DE
As CEO of Anchor Health Properties, Paula Crowley is responsible for the management of day-to-day development and operations, new business development and, most importantly, pushing for new and creative facility solutions for the healthcare industry. Under her leadership, Anchor Health achieved a milestone of close to two million square feet of healthcare real estate both developed and under development. With the Rouse Co. before co-founding Anchor Health, this three-decade commercial real estate veteran continues to meet changing facility needs of healthcare providers, balancing them with the demands of the healthcare consumer. Crowley is a board member and member of the Investment Committee at the High Cos. in Lancaster, PA. She represents a recent direction in the industry whereby women have brought new ways of thinking and executing real estate projects by combining strategy, design, construction and financial objectives.

KAREN ELLZEY
Head, Global Occupier Consulting
CBRE Group Inc.
Boston
Karen Ellzey is a leader in various strategic development and consulting capacities, winning recognition as a best practice, organizational solution and process design guru. She leads a team organized to deliver tailored solutions to occupiers of commercial real estate through a core team of platform consultants, as well as account-based and consulting practice leaders and worldwide teams. She joined CBRE when the company acquired Trammell Crow in 2007. She spearheaded CBRE's Workplace Strategies initiatives and helped create CBRE's Workshop concept, a system of workplaces that will be accessible to anyone in which time can be bought by the hour through annual memberships.

CHRISTIANA FOGLIO
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Community Investment Strategies Inc.
Lawrenceville, NJ
Christiana Foglio likes to say she builds communities for the long-term, rather than just bricks and mortar. Since 1994, when she founded Community Investment Strategies Inc., Foglio has developed or revitalized around 3,000 units valued at more than $350 million throughout New Jersey. Prior to this, while with the New Brunswick Development Corp., she began changing the perception of public housing communities by using tax credits to help transform them into safe, attractive places. Under her leadership, CIS eventually emerged as a fully integrated commercial real estate company with a focus on multifamily, senior housing and mixed-use redevelopments, as well as market-rate and affordable housing. Her senior-level management team consists of an all-female corps of professionals, and women also oversee the firm's portfolio of multifamily properties, acting as facilitators, role models and confidantes.

INGRID FULMER
Executive Vice President, Office Leasing
Coldwell Banker Commercial NRT
Boca Raton, FL
Ingrid Fulmer has consistently been ranked as a Top Real Estate Producer, and earned the 2007 designation of #1 Sales Associate in the Southern Region of the US for Coldwell Banker Commercial. As executive vice president of office leasing, she has been involved in over 2500 lease transactions in South Florida. To date, Fulmer has represented both landlords and tenants in over 18 million square feet of property negotiations representing over $1.9 billion in real estate transactions. Fulmer is committed to the community via her volunteer and board work with the Rotary Clubs, PROPEL (People Reaching Out to Promote Education and Leadership) and the George Snow Scholarship Fund, where she is active in raising money for much-needed scholarships for young people. Fulmer is also is a past recipient of the Rotary OPAL (Outstanding People and Leaders) Award.

MARY JO GEORGE
Real Estate Partner
Ballard Spahr
Washington, DC
As an attorney with 27 years of commercial real estate business under her belt, Mary Jo George understands the broader implications of every multifamily transaction and is known for finding creative solutions to get deals done. George joined Ballard 17 years ago and rose to co-leader of the firm's housing group in 2007. Over the past 12 months, she has doubled her deal volume while simultaneously expanding attorney recruiting efforts. Her leadership in annual housing conferences has helped raise Ballard's profile—and her own—in a competitive industry. She's determined to position Ballard's housing group as the premier practice in the nation—and herself as the “go-to” lawyer for handling challenging and creative financings. “The increasing participation of women has definitely changed the industry,” she remarks, “bringing an increased level of collegiality among various participants in any given transaction, and it has fostered an environment that encourages participation and inclusiveness.”

ALEXANDRA GLICKMAN
Area Vice Chair, Managing Director &
Practice Leader
Gallagher Real Estate & Hospitality Services, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.
Los Angeles
With 29 years in the business—12 in her current position—Alex Glickman is recognized as an authority in the development and execution of insurance and risk financing programs for clients throughout the world. Glickman created Marsh Inc.'s real estate & hospitality group in 1998. In addition to her worldwide leadership responsibilities, she leads a team of 18 people who represent clients ranging from the largest institutional owners to family enterprises and engages in the placement, claims management and administration of risk financing programs for 104 clients representing more than $70 billion in values. In the past year, Glickman led a team that executed more than $145 million of premiums and the development of new insurance captives designed specifically to cover the risk of tenant defaults. In 2012, the Los Angeles County Bar Association's real estate section gave her their leadership-in-real estate award—the first time the Bar had ever recognized a woman, as well as a non-attorney or real estate owner.

SUSAN HILL
Senior Managing Director
HFF LP
Houston
Susan Hill is a good example of a self-made businesswoman. As a single mother, she started her more than two-decade career as HFF's receptionist, ultimately working her way up to the position of senior managing director. These days, she is primarily responsible for originating debt and equity placement transactions throughout the southern United States across all property types. Hill has consistently been one of the top producers in the Houston office and, to date, has completed in excess of $6 billion in commercial real estate transactions. Hill, who serves as the 2013 president of CREW Network, is active with nonprofit organizations including Women's Resource Center, Camp for All and Child Advocates. Even with more women entering the commercial real estate field, she says her career goal is to encourage advancement of women in the industry. “I believe that senior level women in this industry have a responsibility to leverage our positions to support the advancement of other qualified women looking to ascend the ranks,” she adds.

JUDY MAXWELL HOFFMAN
Chief Operating Officer
Trigild
San Diego
A longtime industry leader, Judy Hoffman was an entrepreneur in CRE when there were virtually no women in the industry. For nearly 30 years, she has paved the way for other women to follow in CRE. Hoffman now oversees 750 employees and 10 regional offices throughout the country, with a focus on managing and maximizing value for assets in an array of industries. She's been involved with 600 receivership appointments for more than 2,000 real estate business assets. Hoffman was named marketing coordinator for Trigild in 1984 and worked her way up the company ranks ever since. With her help and involvement, Trigild has evolved from a tiny company with three employees into a full-service real estate services company specializing in property and operations management, receivership/bankruptcy and consulting. Over the past year, Hoffman has helped engineer a long-term alliance with Allegiance Realty Corp. and has been instrumental in Trigild entering into a joint venture with Blu Hotel Investors. Additionally, under her leadership, the firm has expanded its fiduciary services to include bankruptcy service, and she was recently named CRO trustee for a $1.6-billion real estate investment portfolio.

MARIBEL KOELLA
Owner & Principal Broker
NAI Knoxville
Knoxville, TN
With a 41-year career and over 30 years at NAI Knoxville, Maribel Koella is among the industry's most entrepreneurial pioneers and a household name in the East Tennessee CRE market. From her start in backwoods Appalachia appraising moonshiner's properties for foreclosures, she worked her way up to become the first female chair of the NAI Global Advisory board as NAI Global transitioned to CIII ownership. Over the years, Koella broke many barriers to women's involvement in commercial real estate—she was the first female appraiser for the Tennessee Veteran's Administration and the first female SIOR in the state—and is a role model to many women today. “I knew no women industrial brokers when I started. My models were men,” Koella says. “The standard response to my ambitions was to suggest I'd be happier in office sales rather than showing the dirty warehouses that interested me.” Koella is also dedicated to giving back to her community through involvement in numerous civic and charitable organizations.

ELIZABETH MACHEN
President
Institute of Real Estate Management and Machen Advisory Group
Chicago
Elizabeth Machen likes to point out that many of the professional real estate managers of her generation got there by chance. She was a legal secretary for 15 years and needed a change that allowed her to pick up her young children from school each day. Beginning as a property manager, Machen joined the Institute of Real Estate Management and pursued its prestigious CPM designation. Nearly a quarter-century later, she became the president of IREM, heading the 19,000-plus member real estate management organization. Under her direction, IREM has grown its membership by nearly 3% during just the past year and launched an upgraded website that will function as the search engine of the real estate management industry. For over five years, she has also led the Machen Advisory Group, and hopes that small entrepreneurs like her get recognized by the industry as a force in the marketplace. Machen does note that things have changed since she started. For example, the percentage of female IREM members who earn the CPM designation rose from 9% in 1983 to upwards of 50% today.

GAYLE MATTHEI
Chief Marketing Officer
Cassidy Turley
New York City
Gayle Matthei is chief marketing officer at Cassidy Turley, where she drives the company's marketing and branding, building its leadership image and marketing infrastructure, and serves on the firm's transition team for M&A and new markets. She serves on the Board of Trustees for the College of New Jersey and participated in the Campus Town development, a public-private partnership that combines housing for the college and retail for the school and community. “Barriers between clients and consultants continue to blur. We'll see partnerships of resources enabling each to keep up with rapid change, both within the industry and the broader economy. It's about creating communities of expertise, then enabling communication and an ongoing conversation between the key players. Client relationships are always paramount. Going forward, delivering value will be about identifying, connecting and managing the best CRE resources to provide each client the best opportunity.”

JENNIFER McLEAN
Chief Financial Officer
GFI Capital Resources Group
New York City
Jennifer McLean has direct oversight of the financial operations of GFI Capital Resource Group and its related affiliates. While she has a national focus in her real estate career, she also plays a critical role in successfully driving turnaround initiatives for companies. Her achievements include successfully orchestrating and completing a two-year turnaround initiative, bringing her organization to profitability as well as increasing portfolio-wide cash flow by an impressive 215% over a three-year period. She began her career in public accounting for real estate developers, investors and managers. “The number of women present at the transaction table has grown significantly in recent years, along with the number of women in the industry. Women bring a new viewpoint to the deals.”

KATHLEEN McSHARRY
Senior Managing Director
Singer & Bassuk Organization
New York City
Kathleen McSharry has direct client involvement in structuring, analyzing, negotiating and closing all transactions on the Andrew J. Singer team. She's been involved in more than $10 billion in financings over the past decade. She started in 1982 at Singer & Bassuk as a receptionist, completing her Bachelor and Masters degrees at NYU with honors while working full-time for the firm. Among her credits are arranging a $300-million construction loan on 70 Pine St. in Manhattan and securing a $450-million construction loan for a 60-story, mixed-use project now in the closing stage. “The only area in which women have made material progress in real estate in NY, beyond the traditional role as apartment salespeople/brokers, has been banking and leasing. The world of mortgage brokerage has not seen a significant or growing role open to women.”

MICHELE MEDAGLIA
President & Chief Executive Officer
ACC Construction Corp.
New York
Michele Medaglia has driven ACC to become one of the premiere woman-owned construction management and general contracting firms in New York, establishing a reputation of exceptional quality and commitment to exceeding client expectations and growing a more diverse customer base. She has held every position at the firm, leading such projects as the Durst Lobby at 1133 Ave. of the Americas and the Columbia University Medical Center Auditorium. “It is with aggressive helpfulness and a desire to work with our clients for many years to come that drives us. These are the core values. Our goal is to continue to be thorough and transparent in our communications so our clients are informed and comfortable with every aspect of the construction process. We embrace the future as our firm continues to flourish and grow. The shape and form of New York is an ever-changing landscape and we love being on the forefront of that change.”

JACQUELINE MOORE
Principal & General Counsel
DivcoWest Real Estate Services LLC
San Francisco
Jacqueline Moore has a long history of assembling and managing a US portfolio of properties for the technology industry that began in San Jose, CA almost two decades ago. She has been in the business 28 years and in her current position approximately 10 years. In recent years, she has become a key member of the San Francisco-based DivcoWest executive management and investment team. She helped grow the firm from its inception in the mid '90s to one of the most active institutional buyers of technology-related real estate. Moore was previously a founding partner and general counsel of Wilson/Equity Office, a San Francisco development and management company. She also served as general counsel of Wilson/Cornerstone, a publicly traded REIT.

MARTHA O'MARA
Managing Director
Corporate Portfolio Analytics
Cambridge, MA
A leading authority on the integration of corporate real estate planning with business strategic planning, Martha O'Mara has been in the industry for more than 25 years, nine at her current position. As co-founder of Corporate Portfolio Analytics, she has influenced decisions on more than 1.5 billion square feet of corporate occupancy. Her firm has also completed portfolio strategies in seven of the 11 regions of the US General Services Administration, including a 90-million-square-foot long-range portfolio strategy for the GSA in the national capital region and three federal-agency portfolio strategies. O'Mara began her real estate career helping build an interior-design and space-planning business at two national firms. Later, she was appointed assistant professor of real estate development in the fields of management and organizational behavior at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she educated the next generation of real estate leaders and President Obama. After nine years, she left full-time academic employment to raise three children, write her book, consult to the US GSA and several major corporations and found her advisory firm in 2004. Over the past 12 months, she has led comprehensive headquarters city portfolio strategies for the American Red Cross, the US Department of the Interior, the US Department of Education and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development—projects that will lead to a roughly 40% reduction in real estate costs over time while improving workplace quality.

NANCY OLSON
Partner
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Chicago
For seven years, Nancy Olson has led the Real Estate Group in the Chicago office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, a firm where nearly half of the associates are women. She believes women in leadership positions need to support, mentor and push others to achieve more. Four of her six team members are women and Olson participates in a new Skadden program to assist soon-to-be mothers become working parents. In the past year, Olson represented Spectra Energy Corp. in its $1.5-billion acquisition of the Express-Platte Pipeline System and J.C. Penney with a $2.25-billion term loan by Goldman Sachs. This summer, she was named a leading lawyer in Chambers USA: Americas Leading Lawyers for Business. Still, even though the overall picture for women is brighter, Olson believes the playing field is not close to level.

CAROL PATTERSON
Partner
Zetlin & De Chiara LLP
New York City
Carol Patterson is a creative problem-solver who draws on her extensive experience in the construction industry to represent clients in high-profile contract negotiations and litigation involving infrastructure projects, commercial and residential buildings, hospitals, cultural and educational facilities and public buildings. She is responsible for many client relationships at Zetlin & De Chiara, and is a co-editor of “Construction Law,” a widely used textbook in law schools and engineering and construction management programs. Patterson takes pride in helping to create more opportunities for generations of women to come and encourages young women to pursue careers in construction and real estate. This year, she participated in contract negotiations for new buildings for the Hudson Yards development and others.

CAROLYN PERRIGO
Senior Vice President
Transwestern
San Diego
Carolyn Perrigo has worked in nearly every area of commercial real estate over the span of her 27-year career. Well-respected by clients and colleagues alike as an industry expert, she has been instrumental in building Transwestern to one of the largest management-service providers in Orange County, San Diego and beyond. She has committed thousands of hours to mentoring her team, teaching IREM and BOMA students and empowering the next generation of leaders. Perrigo oversees property management and leasing activities in San Diego, Orange and Riverside counties, responsible for business development and service delivery. She also oversees team-member training and support programs, as well as quality control, financial reviews and strategic planning of Transwestern's management-services group throughout the West. In the past few months, Perrigo has brought in more than 5.5 million square feet in new property-management assignments along the West Coast. She joins IREM in lobbying on the Hill each year, advocating for clients.

CAROL PLOWMAN
Senior Vice President
Lee & Associates – Ontario
Ontario, CA
With more than 30 years of experience in the industry, 26 at her current position, Carol Plowman was the first woman to achieve the status of principal at Lee & Associates in 1985. She has focused her efforts on the sale and development of office, retail and hospitality properties on commercially zoned land within the west end of the Inland Empire. Plowman has sold land and assisted in entitling nine of the most recent hotel developments as well as in the development of more than 300 acres of land. She has been a consistent top producer since the start of her career and one of the women other women in the industry look to for guidance. Over the past 12 months, Plowman has closed over $27 million in leases and sales. When Plowman began working in commercial real estate in the 1980s, she says she could count on one hand the number of prominent women in her field in Southern California. Today, she can count hundreds.

DEBBIE POMERANTZ
Assistant Vice President
Gebroe-Hammer Associates
Livingston, NJ
Although Debbie Pomerantz has only been in the real estate business for eight years, she has already made an impression. She joined Gebroe-Hammer as a sales representative in 2011, and after less than a year with the firm, was promoted to assistant vice president. In her first 24 months she has closed sales of more than 625 units worth nearly $50 million and was instrumental in making the company the dominant investment brokerage firms in one of New Jersey's largest cities. And in the past year, she completed the $12.35 million trade of an 84-unit complex where she was awarded the listing and also identified and represented the buyer. A mother of five, her ultimate career goals include increasing her sales volume while maintain a work/family balance. She has, on occasion, brought her children with her on sales calls, and strongly believes in building a rapport with clients by taking an interest in their families.

CONNIE RANKIN
Chief Executive Officer
ITRA Global/CRES
Houston
Connie Rankin is a veteran of the ups and downs of Houston's dynamic commercial real estate market. But, in 2010 when the recession pushed her 9-year-old firm to the “brink of collapse” she knew aggressive action was required. She applied, and was selected for the Goldman Sachs 10k Small Business Program. It was an important decision. “I learned how to become more profitable,” she says. “In 2012 my company reported a 320% increase in revenue over 2011 and it looks like 2013 will be even better.” Rankin founded CRES after 20 years on the landlord side of the table at PM Realty Group. She is the only certified woman-owned commercial real estate company in the nation to earn LEED Professional Accreditation and developed LEAD 2 Green to help clients create healthy work environments. In 2011, CRES was selected as the Houston Affiliate Member of the prestigious International Tenant Representative Alliance, ITRA Global. “In 2001, CRES was one of only 17 woman-owned real estate firms nationally,” she says. “I'm proud to say that number has more than doubled.”

CAMILLE RENSHAW
Director
Stan Johnson Co.
New York City
Camille Renshaw works directly with corporate executives to raise money by selling their real estate and then leasing it back. Her work has helped companies grow, purchase other companies, finance expansions, avoid bankruptcy, expand their credit revolvers, save jobs, reduce tax liabilities, and remove debt and improve their balance sheets. She leads a four-person team as the director and lead broker at the firm, with achievements including the American Forest Products portfolio sale in March of this year, a leaseback that saved jobs and expanded the firm's credit revolvers for new business. She works hard to hire, mentor and promote younger women within the organization, encouraging them to add real value to the client's assets, corporations and the underlying process in order to truly achieve.

ANITA PARYANI RICE
Vice President
Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp.
Los Angeles
“There is an increase in women agents…Collectively we have advantages in that we bring more of a compassionate side to our business. Combined with the same amount of aggressiveness and results-driven performance as our counterparts, we bring change to the industry.” So says 20-year veteran Anita Paryani Rice, who handles the placement of debt and equity for CRE transactions throughout the US—with an annual volume in excess of $300 million. Rice worked as an analyst at Prudential Real Estate Investors before joining Marcus & Millichap Capital Corp. in 2004 to focus on large loans and structured finance. Between June 2012 and May 2013, she worked on a variety of deals, from a $2-million multifamily loan to a $70-million high-profile office building refinance. During that time, she was also recognized by Marcus & Millichap with a National Achievement Award, the firm's most prestigious honor.

DEBBIE RILEY
Senior Managing Director, Capital Markets
GE Capital Real Estate
Chicago
Debbie Riley's career got off to a quick start. In her early teens she was already helping her parents manage multifamily properties of over 2,000 units. She has been climbing the corporate ladder ever since. Now the senior managing director of capital markets for GE Capital Real Estate, a position she has held for six years, Riley previously led the central region for the company's North America lending business. Over the past several years she has overseen the placement of over $3 billion debt in syndication. More recently, she reintroduced GE's conduit program. The company plans to increase its debt originations activity throughout North America and send its CMBS/conduit program to over $1 billion in the next few years. She believes women need to take such leadership roles and foster diversity as the industry becomes more publically owned and managed. “Women often bring complementary skills to the table in the areas of management and communication that can enhance the team-oriented and service role of real estate,” she says.

SUE ROGERS
Principal
Cresa
Houston
Sue Rogers is a principal with Cresa, as well as a board member of the company's Business Development Unit. She also mentors and trains young leaders and new associates. One of her goals is to mentor other woman interested in becoming future leaders in the industry. Though Rogers' focus is tenant representation, she's well rounded in all industry areas. Her more than 30-year career began as a research analyst with Horne Co. After receiving her real estate license, she moved to Moody Rambin to learn the development side of commercial real estate. Rogers has also worked for Cushman & Wakefield and Trione & Gordon/ Oncor International. Rogers is active with organizations including CoreNet Global, NAIOP, Greater Houston Partnership, Houston Office Leasing Brokers Association and SIOR.

SUSAN TAYMOR SAGY
Managing Principal & Co-CEO
W3 Partners
San Rafael, CA
Susan Taymor Sagy started her career in the public sector. After several years working for a State Finance Agency called Massachusetts Industrial Finance Agency, she determined that to get a better perspective and to do her job more effectively on the public sector side, some work experience in the private sector would be a strategic career move. Her first private sector job was working as a project manager with Rockefeller Group Development Corp. The skills she culled working in the public sector were utilized with Rockefeller as the project was an expansion to the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. It was an opportunity to participate on a high-profile project and ultimately, she decided that she preferred private-sector work, where she could be more effective shaping cities and how they were built. A 25-year veteran, Taymor Sagy has acquired, developed and redeveloped over 3.8 million square feet of office, industrial and mixed-use properties and is now co-CEO of W3, a real estate operator and investment management firm that was founded in the depths of the recession in 2009. “Starting a company and raising a significant amount of capital in a short period of time is a huge accomplishment for any start-up,” she says. “The true recognition comes when you can bring in third-party investments, as we did with Alliance Bernstein, to validate the business plan and then to successfully round-trip investments at returns that far exceed investor expectations. These are very important milestones.”

NANCY SCULL
Partner
McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP
San Diego
Nancy Scull is one of California's most-respected real estate attorneys whose clients include some of the largest developers in the country. She has been lead counsel for complex hotel, retail,residential, and mixed-use projects within California. With emphasis on urban transit-oriented communities, Scull has represented developers of new urban town centers in California and other states. She is preparing the governing documents for four major new urban communities and has helped developers envision a new way of planning for cities of the new millennium. She is also developing a national solar program for a major residential developer. Scull joined Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps LLP in 1982 and remained with the firm until its 2012 merger with McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP. Also in 2012, she was recognized as one of the year's top 30 real estate attorneys in California by the Daily Journal.

PAIGE SERDEN
Senior Vice President
City National Bank
Los Angeles
For the past decade, Paige Serden and her team have exceeded their yearly business goals. She is a strong proponent of internal training and development and has spearheaded pilot programs in multicultural mentoring, new business initiative projects and credit-training development programs. Serden started her career as a paralegal working for a large L.A.-based law firm in the area of real estate, bankruptcy, litigation and commercial finance. She then obtained a place in the management-training program in credit and lending at Union Bank. Currently regional manager for City National Bank's real estate division, responsible for Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, Serden has a team of seven loan originators, two analysts and a deposit team of four account managers. Over the past year, her Los Angeles team originated over $500 million in loan commitments, exceeding their 2012 production goal by 137%. In addition, she has become the co-chair of CNB's Women's Caucus steering committee and has been appointed to the Southern California Leadership Network.

LORI SHABTAI
Broker
Winick Realty Group
New York City
Lori Shabtai is a seven-year veteran real estate broker with a focus on retail in the Northeast. She is involved in all of Winick's major marketing, strategic brand planning and positioning projects with both creative and advisory roles. She also is a mentor to many of the firm's successful young brokers, sharing her principles for success. Among her highlights last year was acting as a member of the Winick team leasing the 21,000-square-foot retail at 3 Columbus Circle to CVS. She is currently marketing some of New York's most prestigious properties, including 428 Broadway and 111 Broadway. “Although commercial real estate has historically been a man's world, some of the most successful players have been women,” Shabtai comments. “We succeed through our brains and our moxie, of course. But I believe women are tapped into an innate sense of what belongs where and why. It's been part of the female evolution process as much as our commitment to our loved ones.”

JULIE SMITH
President
Bozzuto Management Co.
Greenbelt, MD
A 27-year commercial real estate veteran who has spent 24 of those years at Bozzuto Management, Julie Smith has professional shoulders as broad as any man's. She oversees a multifamily property management portfolio that includes 35,000 units in 130 communities. Under her leadership, the company has grown from just 15 employees to 850 and has grown its portfolio by an average of 15% a year. Bozzuto is also civic-minded. In addition to the many professional organization she participates in, she is also a board member of Victory Housing, a nonprofit developer and operator of affordable housing for seniors and working families. Her career-long goals: to advance the property management industry by pushing best practices learned from other industries and promoting the industry on a national level. More than 65% of Smith's senior executive team of vice presidents and senior vice presidents are female, providing inspiration and communicating to all women who work in the company that glass ceilings have no place in the Bozzuto house.

GAYLE STARR
Senior Vice President, Capital Markets
Prologis
San Francisco
In her 21-year tenure at Prologis, Gayle Starr has successfully designed and originated complex financing structures globally and has orchestrated the corporate- and property-level financing for currencies across 14 countries, totaling more than $12 billion. As SVP of capital markets for the REIT, she oversees all unsecured and secured debt internationally and domestically for Prologis' funds and co-investment vehicles. Her career goal is to continue developing unprecedented financing structures on a global scale while influencing lenders to permeate markets that they have not entered. She is also excited to continue encouraging and mentoring women within the organization. “The growing number of women in leadership roles has encouraged partners to share in the domestic duties resulting in an overall more productive and satisfied employee base,” Starr says.

SHARI A. TUCKER-GASSER
Partner & National Director, Retail Investments
Sperry Van Ness LLC
Phoenix
Shari Tucker-Gasser specializes in the acquisition, disposition and leasing of multi-tenant retail properties throughout the Phoenix Metro and Arizona markets. She also specializes in product council-retail and asset recovery. During the course of her career, Tucker-Gasser has completed more than $2 billion dollars in retail sales transactions. Her varied background includes positions as entrepreneur, retail sales manager and paralegal. Tucker-Gasser began her CRE career in 1999 with Retail Brokers Inc.; during her first year, she was named Rookie of the Year. Within three years, she was promoted to director of sales. She went on to join Sperry Van Ness in 2001. On the community level, Tucker-Gasser was recently elected to the Parish Council of Saint Benedicts Catholic Church and is an advocate to the cause of responsible pet ownership. Tucker supports the Boys Hope Girls Hope Organization yearly through the Brokers For Kids charitable fundraising competition.

AMY WELLS
Partner
Cox, Castle & Nicholson LLP
Los Angeles
As a kid, Amy Wells wanted to be a lawyer because she equated the legal practice with arguing with her five siblings. This past year, the 25-year veteran—who acts as lead legal counsel to the some of largest public pension funds in significant real estate transactions—closed deals worth several billion dollars. Wells, who has been appointed as a special attorney general for the State of Washington in connection with acting as real estate counsel to the Washington State Investment Board, notes that one of her greatest professional accomplishments over the past 12 months includes closing a significant platform joint venture between CalSTRS and Primestor to develop, redevelop and acquire retail properties in low-income areas with a potential $250 million in commitments. She concurrently closed the first acquisition by the venture of a to-be-developed retail center in Los Angeles for a high-quality retail asset to attract national and regional retailers. Wells also participates in a variety of activities to help disadvantaged women in her community. She has also participated in programs for disadvantaged children to provide stable, adult role models, and has been involved in charity fundraisers for disadvantaged families.

LOUISE WELLS
Managing Partner
Morris, Manning & Martin LLP
Atlanta
“A force of nature” may be the best phrase to describe Louise Well's impact on Morris, Manning & Martin LLP, an AmLaw 200 firm with an international reach. She has helped shape the firm into a nationally ranked real estate law player with clients like Wood Partners and Cole. As the firm's first female attorney, first female partner and first female managing partner, the 35-year real estate law industry veteran handles strategic planning, targeting new geographic areas, and hiring skilled attorneys. And as one who overcame many obstacles and challenges inherent to working women and mothers, Wells is on a mission to bring more women into the real estate and legal professions. In 2011, she set a goal to reach a staff that's 20% female by 2015; she managed to accomplish that objective in a single year. In 2012, women made up 38% of new partners hired/promoted, 35% of new hires and over 40% of summer associates.

AMANDA WITT
Sales Associate
Coldwell Banker Commercial | McGuire Mears & Associates
Janesville, WI
A commercial real estate agent that specializes in the retail sector, Mandy Witt has helped to initiate industrial and economic development activities since joining the company in 2004. She was promoted in quick succession from assistant to director of brokerage to sales associate during her tenure. Throughout her career, she's handled deals involving retailers such as Quaker Steak & Lube, Panda Express, Qdoba, Heartland Dental and Verizon. Witt's passion for and experience with retail is a perfect pairing of her professional and personal interests. In addition to her career in commercial real estate, she is dedicated to the community in which she lives as a member of the Janesville Noon Rotary.