LAURIE BAKER
Senior Vice President
Camden Property Trust
Houston
As SVP of fund and asset management for Camden Property Trust, Laurie Baker is responsible for the creation, marketing and administration of Camden's first investment funds, which have more than $1 billion in assets. She also is active in the market with a new fund that has approximately $450 million in total investment capacity. In late 2014, Baker effectively executed a restructuring of the REIT's funds, increasing ownership from 20% to 31.3% as a result of value created by Camden within those funds. In addition, the maturity dates of the funds were extended by approximately eight years, providing Camden with enhanced JV income through 2026. The 22 communities owned by the funds comprise nearly 7,300 apartment homes in 10 markets. Outside of Camden, Baker is also the 2015 president-elect of the CREW Network.

NIKKI BALDONIERI-VASCO
Managing Director
QuietStream
Charlotte, NC
In her 20-year career, Nikki Baldonieri-Vasco has used her expertise in structured finance to help real estate and operating company owners raise capital. She was instrumental in the creation of risk-based pricing for CMBS as head of CRE pricing at First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo) in the late 1990s. She was promoted to run structured finance for all asset classes including consumer, CDOs, non-agency mortgage, transportation and other esoterics. Baldonieri-Vasco has spent the past year as managing director of QuietStream Financial and CIO of FullCapitalStack, its wholly owned subsidiary. She oversees investments, structuring and institutional investors for the company. On how the industry has changed, Baldonieri-Vasco says: “Though there remains a gap in leadership roles between men and women in real estate, those lines are becoming increasingly more blurred. Where in the past women found success only as residential agents, they are now occupying influential positions.”

ELIZABETH BELENCHIA
President
Carroll Properties Corp.
Spartanburg, SC
Elizabeth Belenchia sought the challenge of commercial real estate early in her career and aggressively pursued the appropriate professional designations. She focused on her passion for cultural geography and local demographics to pursue foreign direct investment and today holds a world record having located companies from 26 countries into South Carolina. Belenchia wrote and managed South Carolina's first EPA Brownfield Pilot. She was the first woman in the world to be designated CCIM/SIOR, and now holds the RICS designation as well. The past year she has been focused on retooling some of the company properties for post-crisis strategic marketing and classifying those that would meet the criteria for EB5 Visa qualifications. Belenchia will also soon close on a unique energy project with an 18-month option to extract natural gas from the Williams Pipeline, which will deliver electricity into the Duke energy grid.

SANDY BENAK
Leasing Manager
Granite Properties Inc.
Houston
For more than 30 years, Sandy Benak has been a driving force in the industry. She has been a leader in the leasing arena and now is entering the development world, but her effort to mentor others will be the legacy she leaves. Benak thrives on guiding young professional women and shows great passion and commitment to furthering their careers. In her current role of 15 years, Benak focuses on leasing multiple Granite office properties. This year she brought to closing a complex deal, which was two years in the making, for an engineering firm to lease 40,000 square feet of office space in a very tough submarket. Benak is also involved in the planning of three new office developments, managing the architects, spearheading the marketing studies and handling multiple other details.

KAREN BRENNAN
Managing Director and Head, Custom Accounts
LaSalle Investment Management
Chicago
Karen Brennan is a real estate professional who brings global perspective to real estate investing. She is the youngest person to be promoted to international director in LaSalle's history and is one of 37 international directors, a group that makes up only 6% of the firm's total headcount. Brennan is a managing director at LaSalle Investment Management and the head of custom accounts for the Americas. She is responsible for more than $5 billion in assets under management, representing nearly half of LaSalle's assets under management in the Americas and encompassing some of the firm's largest and longest-standing institutional investor clients. She manages a team of 20 portfolio managers and asset managers based in various offices across the US. Brennan is also the firm's relationship manager in the Americas for LaSalle's growing base of sovereign wealth funds and other institutional investors in the Asia-Pacific region. In 2015, Karen was named to LaSalle's Americas investment committee, overseeing investment strategy execution on behalf of LaSalle's clients.

LISSETTE CALDERON
President, International and Strategic Projects
Related Group
Miami
Lissette Calderon began her professional career as an investment banker at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette in New York but moved to Florida to pursue her passion in real estate development. Upon her arrival to Miami, she worked alongside Florida's top real estate executives, becoming the first women developer hired by the Related Group. Calderon now works directly with Related's chairman and CEO, Jorge Perez, as she leads the international division and strategic projects. This is a newly created role designed to fuel the group's presence nationally and internationally and accelerate strategic initiatives identified as part of the company's global growth strategy. Calderon has in the past few months alone broken ground on a 300-unit luxury high rise in Sao Paulo and is getting ready to announce the launch of two luxury residential towers and a hotel in Mexico City.

MONETHA COBB
Managing Director
Franklin Street
Atlanta
Monetha Cobb is a trailblazer and an inspiration to her colleagues in the commercial real estate industry. In 2010, she decided to leave a well-established CRE company to help launch Franklin Street's Retail Tenant Services Group in Atlanta, which she now leads after building up the group during one of the worst economic downturns in history. Today, Cobb oversees a team of more than 25 employees serving nationally recognized tenants. With her guidance and expertise, the team has closed more than $100 million in leases since January 2013. Personally, she has been involved in retail leases totaling more than 700,000 square feet and over $80 million in value during the same time frame. Cobb has more than 15 years of experience representing nationally recognized retailers, focusing on leasing and land brokerage.

GEORGIA COLLINS
Senior Managing Director
CBRE
San Francisco
At just 37 years old, Georgia Collins serves as senior managing director and co-leader of CBRE's workplace strategy group in the Americas. She specializes in creating and implementing customized strategies in order to improve employee engagement, drive organizational change, and manage real estate expense. In this capacity she shares responsibility for leading a team of 25 consultants, growing the size and geographic reach of the team, business development and advancing CBRE's thought leadership position in the industry. Collins believes the current public dialogue about how to attract, retain and promote women into more senior professional roles has exciting implications for the real estate market in general and California, in particular. “As more and more households have two working parents, talented individuals, men and women, will be attracted to organizations that offer them greater control over, and flexibility with, their schedules as well as services that help them manage the demands of work and home,” she says.

DIANE DANIELSON
Chief Operating Officer
Sperry Van Ness International Corp.
Boston
Diane Danielson started as an environmental attorney and then moved into various roles in the Boston CRE scene, including sales, marketing and business development. She left the industry in 2003 to start her own company that launched the first social network for businesswomen in the US. Following that, her consulting work in technology brought her to the attention of the president and CEO, Kevin Maggiacomo of Sperry Van Ness. She joined the company in 2012 as chief platform officer with the responsibility of building the technology and sales platforms and in 2013 was promoted to chief operating officer.

COLLEEN DOLAN
Executive Vice President
Transwestern
Chicago
Colleen Dolan is a thought leader in CRE through her chosen field of human resources. At Transwestern, she sets corporate policies that impact the lives of more than 2,100 US team members. However, her influence extends beyond the firm's collective walls. Dolan conceived the idea for a think tank consisting of senior-level human resources executives working at the country's largest real estate firms to discuss best practices as they relate to HR in real estate. Believing more women need to be educated on the potential of a robust career in CRE, Dolan is working to leverage the firm's national relationship with regional CREW chapters to get more female students involved in real estate.

MAUREEN EHRENBERG
Executive Managing Director, Integrated Facilities Management, Americas
Chair, IFM Global Specialty Board
JLL
Chicago
Maureen Ehrenberg's 30 years of experience extends beyond her current role with JLL's global facility management business. It spreads across the globe, into far-reaching sectors of commercial and corporate real estate and amongst the world's top industry leaders and service providers. Ehrenberg grew up in the US but pursued a degree in economics and accountancy at the City University in London, where she gained a strong understanding of the dynamics of global markets and international economics. Upon her return to the US, she pursued opportunities with real estate investors working in primary, secondary and tertiary markets nationally. It wasn't long before Ehrenberg propelled her career forward to reach her aims: “When I began my career, I knew I wanted be in a leadership role.”

CYNTHIA FOSTER
President, National Office Services
Colliers International
New York City
Cynthia Foster carries a distinguished background in both capital markets and brokerage, as well as more than 20 years of experience leading significant transactions and developing new business initiatives for multinational clients across a wide geographic range. Foster's transaction highlights include such accomplishments as the $1.8-billion sale of Citigroup's world headquarters in New York City, $2.8 billion of national transactions for TIAA-CREF, a 1.2-million-square-foot agency lease at Canary Wharf in London and advisory services for a large investment group on a $30-billion bid for Equity Office Properties. Foster leads Colliers' national office platform across all services, with a focus on strategic client markets.

JANE GAVAN
President
Dream Unlimited
Toronto
Since starting as a lawyer specializing in real estate and corporate finance, Jane Gavan's accomplishments have been numerous and impressive. She's been an instrumental part of Dream's history since she joined the company more than 18 years ago, from helping with the creation of Dundee REIT to leading some of the company's most renowned deals, including the sale of $2.3 billion of assets to GE Canada in 2007 and the acquisition of Scotia Plaza in 2012. She plays an instrumental role in the company's strategic development, and oversaw the initial IPO of Dream Global REIT; she is now the REIT's CEO and has led its growth over the last four years. She has helped build Dream from a company of a few hundred employees to more than 1,000 today, located in 23 cities across Canada and in Europe.

JAMIE HADAC
Executive Vice President
Foresite Realty Partners LLC
Rosemont, IL
Jamie Hadac is responsible for the business development, client relations and oversight of Foresite's third-party asset management and property management services platform. In addition to overseeing a staff of over 125, Hadac also has responsibility for executing the firm's multifamily investment sales transactions. On how the industry has changed, Hadac says: “The increasing participation and role of women has had an extremely positive influence on the real estate industry. I remember going to a company partnership conference early in my career. There were 284 men and 16 women, seven of whom were passing out brochures or operating the projection screens. Nine of us were on the investment side. Times have changed.”

LAURIE HAWKES
President and Chief Operating Officer
American Residential Properties Inc.
Scottsdale
Since the company was formed, Laurie Hawkes has spearheaded three equity offerings aggregating $650 million, structured a $115-million convertible debt offering, a $342-million securitized debt offering via the institutional debt markets, and negotiated and expanded the company's credit facility to $500 million with an accordion feature up to $750 million with nine prestigious US banking institutions. In 2014 the company deployed over $500 million of capital to buy and restore 2,800-plus homes, bringing the total to more than 9,000 homes today. Hawkes believes build-to-rent homes will be a natural evolution for the single-family rental market. This new category of build-to-rent homes removes the last vestige of resistance to those residents who never thought they could both rent and live in a new home.

CARRIE HOLSTEAD
President and CEO
Carrie S. Holstead RE Consultants | ITRA Global
Pittsburgh

As the president and CEO of Carrie S. Holstead Real Estate Consultants Inc. | ITRA Global, Holstead is responsible for leading a woman-owned firm devoted to conflict-free tenant representation. Her corporate clients range from entrepreneurial entities to Fortune 500 companies with local or global real estate requirements, typically in the millions of dollars. Additionally, as the chairman emeritus of ITRA Global, Holstead is responsible for working with the board of directors to help guide and foster the smart growth of ITRA Global to accomplish its goal of becoming known worldwide as providing unbiased advocacy for corporate tenants and buyers, in addition to being a recognized thought leader in the commercial real estate industry.

ALLIE HOPE
Head of Development
Virgin Hotels
Miami
Allie Hope is responsible for implementing Virgin Hotels' global growth strategy. Her primary responsibilities include sourcing and acquiring properties in key gateway cities, and structuring transactions that work for Virgin Hotels and its owner/developer partners. Hope leads the development team for Virgin Hotels, operating with a small support staff of two. The company's growth strategy has no boundaries, so evaluating markets and securing deals takes her around the globe. Since joining in 2010, she has operated with limited resources as there wasn't a hotel to show as an example, so Hope had to work her relationships, selling skills and imagination to get investors and developers on board to support the new Virgin Hotels. In the past 12 months, Hope has secured two new properties—Nashville and Dallas—and, prior to that, Chicago and New York.

ILENE JABLONSKI
Vice President, Marketing
Mack-Cali Realty Corp.
Edison, NJ
What makes Ilene Jablonski stand out most noticeably is her unique combination of visionary leadership and a passionate advocacy for the well being of the communities she serves. Since assuming the leadership of Mack-Cali's marketing communications efforts, Jablonski has been a tireless driver of innovation and new approaches. She has led Mack-Cali's transformation into a groundbreaking digital marketer. She has pioneered the use of branded content in the commercial real estate category and has single-handedly led Mack-Cali into the realm of social marketing. At the same time, she has been a constant supporter both personally and professionally of civic activities in the communities served by Mack-Cali.

DEBORAH JENKINS
SVP and National Head, Multifamily Underwriting and Credit
Freddie Mac
McLean, VA
As head of underwriting and credit for Freddie Mac Multifamily, Debbie Jenkins has helped to transform one of the industry's largest financers (more than $28 billion in 2014) of multifamily loans to become one of the largest issuers of structured credit in the US. She also is one of Freddie's highest ranking females and is a member of the 36-person Freddie Mac management committee comprised of the CEO, EVPs and SVPs. Jenkins has wielded tremendous influence in helping Freddie Mac Multifamily business change its culture and business. The company has evolved from being exclusively a lender that retains all multifamily loans in its portfolio to a lender that securitizes the majority of those loans, transferring more than 90% of the credit risk to private investors.

COLLEEN JOHNSON
Regional Vice President, Portfolio Management
Phillips Edison & Co.
Cincinnati
Colleen Johnson is responsible for managing a portfolio of properties in order to maximize financial returns, improve quality and limit risk through dotted line management of all department heads within the team. This includes leasing, property management, construction, legal, accounting, finance, marketing and research. As part of this, Johnson monitors and manages portfolio financials, executes and monitors business plans for each asset and maintains relationships with key tenants. On how the industry has changed, Johnson states: “In the real estate industry, women are becoming more confident in their negotiating skills, and taking on more leasing and development roles. More women are entering the industry, taking on leadership roles and supporting each other.”

ELLEN KENDALL
Managing Director
Prudential Real Estate Investors
Madison, NJ
As a managing director at Prudential Real Estate Investors and head of global product development, Ellen Kendall works on the design, development and implementation of investment products and strategic initiatives for the firm. In that capacity, she oversees teams globally in designing and executing product architecture. She chairs the global product committee, a joint investment and risk management committee charged with reviewing and approving new products and initiatives. She is also a member of the global management committee, a founding member and co-chair of the PREI Women's Leadership Network, chair of the WLN global advisory committee and a member of the Women's Advisory Council for Prudential Investment Management. Kendall most recently led the development of several innovative investment products, including daily NAV products for defined contribution, annuities and retail markets.

LORI KILBERG
Partner
Hartman Simons & Wood LLP
Atlanta
Lori Kilberg was, until recently, the sole female equity partner of the law firm Hartman Simons & Wood and has been responsible for the legal work for numerous high-profile mixed-use and retail developments representing developers, owners, and retailers. Passionate about advancing opportunities for women in CRE through leadership development, mentoring and networking, she is serving her fourth year on the CREW Network board of directors and now serves as the organization's president. Along with her partner, Benno Rothschild, Kilberg has developed a firm outlet retail team, representing developers across the US.

KAREN KULVIN
Managing Director
Kayne Anderson Real Estate Advisors
Boca Raton, FL
Overseeing debt investments and financing at KAREA, a $2.6-billion private equity firm that just raised its fourth investment fund, Karen Kulvin is responsible for procuring and structuring financing for many of the firm's key acquisitions as well as acquiring real estate-related debt and securities. During her time at KAREA, Kulvin has overseen the placement of more than $1 billion of financing for a variety of transactions. Among her recent accomplishments is playing a key role in bringing KAREA's single-sponsor Freddie Mac deal to market. Valued at $816 million, it is Freddie's first single-sponsor deal backed primarily by student housing.

STEPHANIE LYNCH
Senior Managing Director
Savills Studley
Washington, DC
Stephanie Lynch is responsible for jointly running the structured finance practice at Savills Studley. In this role, she is responsible for sourcing and executing structured debt and equity capitalizations of single assets and portfolio/programmatic structures. Lynch started in real estate finance through an internship in 1999 with Spaulding & Slye in Boston and went on to earn an MBA with a concentration in finance. Initially working on JV and debt financings for Studley's principal investment development activities, she liked the process of understanding, mitigating and allocating risks and rewards of opportunistic projects.

JEAN MADAY
Director, Commercial Services
National Association of Realtors
Chicago
Jean Maday oversees the commercial real estate development and services for membership at the National Association of Realtors. This includes editorial management of NAR's flagship commercial publication, Commercial Connections, as well as other communication efforts. Maday also directs resources that support membership development at hundreds of local Realtor associations, and assists with strategic planning. “In recent years, I've seen the awareness of the strong females leaders in the industry grow,” says Maday. “Women are taking action to support one another through collaboration.”

MELISSA MARCOLINI-QUINN
Managing Director
NorthMarq Capital
Orlando
Melissa Marcolini-Quinn's career path has involved a steady progression from an entry level analyst position to managing director of the Orlando and Jacksonville Offices of NorthMarq Capital. As one of the few women to make it to managing director status at NorthMarq, Marcolini-Quinn continues to originate significant loan volume, leading the office in production each year. In addition to the origination of debt and equity capital for her personal production, her managing director duties include: manage loan production of the office; expand lender relationships of the office; expand client relationships of the office; become the face of the office by participating in local area activities; coordinate all staffing, recruiting and training; budgeting; and maintain the operational and financial performance.

MARIANNE MATHIEU
Vice President and Agency Business Advisor
Fidelity National Title Group
Mineola, NY
In her current role, Marianne Mathieu works with title insurance agencies in both the commercial and residential sectors, and is responsible for maximizing profitability and optimizing opportunities in technology, business relationships, market growth and operation improvements to ensure the long-term profitability of her customers. Mathieu is a strong advocate for her industry on a local and federal level, participating in annual industry lobby days and speaking to government officials about issues relating to title insurance. Her achievements and accomplishments have influenced and helped shape the CRE industry and impacted her firm's success.

PATRICIA McGARR
Principal and National Director, Valuation Advisory Services
CohnReznick LLP
Chicago
Regardless of the complexity of the client's or partner's matter, Pat McGarr finds the most appropriate solution for all stakeholders involved. This often requires collaboration, and McGarr is able to find the perfect person to recruit to solve the problem. In particular recognition of her accomplishments, McGarr was promoted in the past year from the national director of real estate valuation to the practice leader of the entire valuation services group. She now is the only woman practice leader in the CohnReznick advisory group, consisting of a team of 300 consultants, in addition to serving as the only woman valuation leader across the top 10 national accounting firms.

LAURIE McMAHON
Vice Chairman
DTZ
Washington, DC
Laurie McMahon is the only female broker with the vice chairman title within DTZ nationally. Her ability to view transactions from both the landlord's and tenant's perspective is one of her unique talents and a key reason she is sought to work on some of the DC region's largest and most complex leasing assignments for a highly regarded, well-established list of clients. McMahon joined DTZ in 1998 and has held a variety of leadership positions across several service lines. She has developed a unique and deep skill set throughout her 23 years of experience with an acute understanding of office building operations, finance and construction. McMahon is also an expert in the field of sustainability, energy efficiency, green policy legislation and the LEED rating system, and is sought after for advice on green requirements.

JODI MEADE
Principal and National Director
Avison Young
Los Angeles
A 30-year brokerage industry veteran, Jodi Meade is one of the nation's foremost automotive properties experts. There is no one in the industry with her specialization in this particular niche and likewise, there is no other brokerage firm that offers an automotive properties group. A decade ago in an entrepreneurial move to fill a void she identified in the market, both nationally and internationally, Meade founded and launched the automotive properties group at CBRE. Since that time, it evolved into a very deeply defined niche that has grown exponentially over the past decade. Since its inception, Meade has led more than $750 million in automotive CRE deals. One year ago, Meade brought the automotive properties group to Avison Young, where she believes the firm's entrepreneurial platform will make way for a growing number of new opportunities.

EMILY MITCHELL
Public-Private Venture Program Specialist
US Navy Atlantic
Norfolk, VA
Emily Mitchell has experience both nationally and internationally in commercial real estate with public-private sector deal structuring. In London, she functioned within an urban environment with historic properties and learned to negotiate the cultural differences of centralized government control. Mitchell works as an asset manager with the department of Navy's privatized multifamily portfolio's 68,000 units nationally. The portfolio is comprised of 18 LLC companies, of which the department of Navy is a member. She leads a solar energy team responsible for understanding the revenue potential on proposed rooftop- and ground-mounted arrays within the projects. Each proposal is considered for solar energy ability and financial gain for the projects against commercial viability. Mitchell manages multiple projects related to financial portfolio management and assists with congressional reporting.

KIM MOGULL
Founder and CEO
Mogull Realty Inc.
New York City
Kim Mogull has achieved continuous success since she founded Mogull Realty in 2003, having closed well over a billion dollars in transactions with a prestigious portfolio of clients including Zuma, La Petite Maison, Rockefeller Development Corp., Aspinal of London, Brookfield and the Trump Organization. Her transformative transactions include bringing H&M to Times Square and the original wave of retailers to the Meatpacking District, such as Scoop and Catherine Malandrino, and leasing the retail component within the Hotel Gansevoort. She brought BankUnited, the top performing mid-sized commercial bank in America, to New York City, closing over $150 million in leases on its behalf within a 12-month span. She's also inked deals behalf of STK Restaurant in New York, Las Vegas and Washington, DC.

DIANE MOREFIELD
EVP and Chief Financial Officer
Strategic Hotels & Resorts
Chicago
As EVP and CFO of Strategic Hotels, Diane Morefield is primarily responsible for the company's accounting, finance, tax, investor relations and information technology. She also serves on the executive management committee, which is responsible for strategic planning, investment activity and capital allocation. Diane is a strategic partner not just to the CEO, but to the entire executive team, going beyond just doing the math on proposed acquisitions and contributing to the company's overall strategic planning and execution. Some could argue that most CFOs are risk averse, and indeed that is part of the role. But on the other hand, Morefield knows how to strike the right balance between risk avoidance and being open to opportunities to help the company grow and deliver shareholder value.

DEBORAH NEWMAN
COO, Commercial Mortgage Group
KeyCorp
Dallas
Debbie Newman oversees operations risk for five commercial mortgage lending areas including underwriting, loan closing, operations, technology and marketing support for KeyBank Real Estate Capital Markets, spanning across all sectors of KeyBank's lending platforms (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA, CMBS and Investor Placement). These platforms originated $5.4 billion in 2014. Newman also assists with strategic opportunities to scale the business, using her extensive commercial real estate experience and leadership skills to help drive efficiencies and make necessary investments in technology and other platform improvements needed for sustained growth. Since taking over her new role in 2014, Newman and her team played a significant role in the growth of Key's Commercial Mortgage Group. In the first quarter of 2015, the group closed 108 deals, totaling $1.9 billion. This success came on the heels of the group's most successful quarter ever, in which they closed 179 deals totaling $2.79 billion in Q4 2014.

CATHERINE O'TOOLE
Managing Principal
Coldwell Banker Commercial Alliance
New York City
Catherine O'Toole has closed more than three million square feet of transactions throughout her 20-year career, having worked with a variety of prominent clients and with a particular focus on both office and retail companies. As of January 2014, she became the managing principal of CBC Alliance after a merger with her former firm Tarter Stats O'Toole. O'Toole is helping CBC Alliance continue to grow into an NYC brokerage powerhouse. As managing principal, O'Toole is responsible for helping to grow the firm while overseeing a staff of more than 30 brokers. She provides strategic guidance on the firm's future while working with broker teams on current and new business opportunities.

SHEENA PAUL
Chief Operating Officer
World Class Capital Group LLC
New York City
At the age of 30, Sheena Paul is COO of a private investment firm with over eight million square feet in 16 states. In addition to oversight of internal operations, investment committee process and investor relations, Paul is involved in the execution of the firm's value-added investment strategy across assets. Paul strives to bring a fresh perspective to real estate, challenging her team to follow the principle on which the firm was founded: identifying opportunity. Creating value. Paul is involved in all the firm's development and operations, including acquisitions, dispositions and financings, developing and executing operational initiatives and coordinating and maintaining investor relations.

LOUISA QUARTO
President
Realty Capital Securities LLC | FINRA/SIPC
Boston
As the president and longest-tenured executive at Realty Capital Securities, Louisa Quarto saw RCS grow from a team of a few dozen employees raising equity capital for one non-traded commercial REIT to the number-one broker-dealer in the direct investment industry with a 40% market share as of December, over $25 billion of capital raised, more than 210 employees and a 30-fund platform including real estate-based mutual funds, REITs, BDCs and a real estate-based LP. She serves as the chief point of contact for every executive team interfacing with RCS, including several, multi-billion dollar CRE investment managers and several hundred retail broker-dealers who represent tens of thousands of financial advisors across all 50 states.

BARBI REUTER
Chief Operating Officer
Cushman & Wakefield | PICOR Commercial Real Estate Services
Tucson
As COO, Barbi Reuter oversees C&W | PICOR's operations, research, finance and marketing/social media activities, and serves as associate broker. She is one of 13 company principals, and has been since 1992. A national board member for CREW Network, she writes and presents on social media applications for commercial real estate and edits PICOR Connect, the firm's commercial real estate blog. Previously, Reuter founded the firm's property management division, taking it to the lead in market share and directed the division until 2007, managing office, medical, industrial and retail space. “The industry is changing, especially in the area of teaming and working in groups, and could use a little more feminine touch,” she states. “There are many new successful women-owned businesses who want to see better representation at the top of the companies with which they do business. The role of women is changing to reflect the reality of the workplace. The successful company of the future won't ignore this.”

KRISTI SVEC SIMMONS
Principal
AQUILA Commercial
Austin, TX
When Kristi Svec Simmons was named principal at AQUILA Commercial at the end of 2013, she became the firm's first and only female partner. With only a handful of women in the Austin market, Simmons is a sounding board and advocate for women entering the field. She is consistently recognized in both the industry and the community for her outstanding performance in the commercial real estate field and for her dedication to philanthropy, volunteerism, and especially breast cancer research and outreach. As leader of AQUILA Commercial's corporate services division, Simmons serves as managing partner and oversees budgeting, business development and marketing, and operations and broker development. These duties are on top of her responsibilities to her clients and as a top-producing broker for the firm, which include client relations, site selection, lease negotiations and reporting.

CARLA SIMPSON
Director
Arbor Realty Trust
Uniondale, NY
Carla Simpson has racked up accomplishments and experiences in many facets of the commercial real estate industry. She started working in the residential real estate sector shortly after graduating high school and has since expanded her knowledge to the commercial side of the business as a director at Arbor Realty Trust. Simpson continues to forge relationships and expand her knowledge, all while assisting anyone interested in learning more about the real estate industry. She has grown her business to replicate much of the experience and relationships she has established over her career. As of January 2015, Simpson has expanded her own company, Heights Realty Investment Group, which she launched in 2006 to acquire apartment communities in strategic markets throughout the US. Each investment benefits from Simpson's hands-on approach, aggressive asset management and implementation of systems to optimize efficiency and cash flow.

KELLY SLEECE
Senior Vice President
Bank United
New York City
Kelly Sleece was hired in March of 2013 to help develop a commercial real estate deposit team for a Miami-based bank, Bank United, that was just entering the highly competitive Metro New York market. She was able to attract and recruit several talented individuals that she had known in the industry throughout her career, despite the fact that they were at much larger institutions, due to their faith in her abilities and their loyalty to her as their previous manager, in many cases. Sleece and her team then successfully started building a business for Bank United that has generated a deposit base that exceeds $1 billion in the New York market in just over two years' time—starting from a base of zero.

LAURIE SMITH
Principal
Blue Vista Capital Management LLC
Chicago
Laurie Smith has been in the commercial real estate industry for more than 30 years. She is responsible for heading up Blue Vista's middle-market equity platform, which involves oversight of three active value-add funds with over $3 billion of total capitalization. Her responsibilities include oversight of business development, acquisitions and asset and portfolio management. Under her leadership, this fund series has been consistently recognized by Preqin for its consistent top-quartile performance. Over the past 12 months, the funds that Smith oversees have completed approximately $100 million in investment, raised over $200 million in capital and disposed of over $300 million of asset value.

SARA SPICKLEMIRE
SVP and Managing Director
MB Real Estate Inc.
Chicago
Sara Spicklemire is the first woman and youngest managing director of MB Real Estate, achieving this position after only four years with the firm. She is also the youngest member of the firm's executive committee, to which she was appointed within the last year. As a senior vice president and managing director of MB Real Estate's leasing services team Spicklemire's main objective is driving value to her clients' real estate assets through strategic leasing programs and her characteristic hard work. She also provides leadership and strategy for the 10-member leasing team that maintains a portfolio of more than 14 million square feet across the Chicago. As part of the firm's executive committee, Spicklemire is responsible for contributing to the overall strategy and operations of the organization. She is also one of the leading business developers for the firm and has assisted in securing more than 6.8 million square feet of new assignments for MB Real Estate during her tenure.

CRISTINA SULLIVAN
Executive Vice President
Gables Residential
Boca Raton, FL
Cristina Sullivan stands out from her counterparts for a myriad of compelling reasons. The most powerful one is that she is a leader who attracts and mentors inspirational followers, ultimately driving the success of the company. She believes in being a cutting-edge trendsetter within both her company and the greater real estate industry. Her forward-thinking mindset not only empowers and motivates others, but also is instrumental in hiring the best people to join Gables. As the executive vice president of operations, Sullivan is responsibly for the operating aspect of the business. Gables is comprised of approximately 32,000 apartment homes and 400,000 square feet of retail space in 16 markets. With over 1,100 associates in operations, Sullivan oversees operations nationally inclusive of marketing, facilities and retail.

LYDIA TAN
Vice President
Bentall Kennedy US
San Francisco
Lydia Tan has made a strong impact on Northern California real estate as a corporate officer, architect and developer, working with government agencies, non-profits and private-sector firms to generate more than 8,400 multifamily housing units totaling billions of dollars of development. In 2014, she joined investment advisor Bentall Kennedy, an industry leader in responsible investment and sustainability, as head of development overseeing several high-profile mixed-use projects in the Western US. She also maintains leadership roles in a number of policy-related endeavors to better the built environment. Tan considers mentorship of next-generation leaders as a basic responsibility. For example, she and her husband currently live in a Stanford dormitory with 270 undergraduate residents to foster intellectual and social interaction between business leaders and young people with fresh perspectives.

ALISA TIMM
Director, Management Services
Lincoln Property Co.
Phoenix
As director of management services for the Desert West Region of Lincoln Property Co., Alisa Timm develops and delivers property management services for LPC-owned and third-party office, industrial and retail space in Arizona, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico. On a national level, she is a catalyst for the development of best practices for all LPC markets. In both roles, she focuses on bottom line results for her clients and company, confident that success generates from a highly skilled team that is motivated by passion for their work. Timm has been instrumental in growing the LPC portfolio by 40% in just two years, to more than 7.4 million square feet of class A office, industrial and retail assets. Her team has also grown by more than 115%, to 42. In the first quarter, Timm supported LPC's $165 million in Metro Phoenix investment deals and its announcement of more than two million square feet of planned class A office development, all anticipated as new property management opportunities for the LPC team.

SUSAN TJARKSEN
Principal and Managing Broker
Kiser Institutional Group
Chicago
For more than 30 years, Susan Tjarksen has stood out in the commercial real estate industry for her vast experience across multiple property types, especially her roles as both a developer and a broker. An expert in multifamily development, Tjarksen has planned, built, designed, financed and delivered projects totaling more than $2.5 billion in revenue throughout her career. She has also developed and sold 12,000 residential units, 2,500 hotel rooms and more than 1 million square feet of retail and office space. As an entrepreneur, Tjarksen has launched two successful businesses, most recently KIG, a leading Chicago-based commercial real estate brokerage firm specializing in institutional multifamily properties throughout the Midwest. Recognizing the industry needed a new and engaging way to measure and benchmark multifamily deals, she spearheaded the creation of KIG Analytics and Market Intelligence, two unique features on KIG's website that provide innovative, yet hardcore multifamily data for specific geographical regions.

MARIA TOLIOPOULOS
SVP and Director of Leasing
Retail Properties of America
Oak Brook, IL
As a senior vice president and key leader at RPAI, Maria Toliopoulos is intimately familiar with the principles of hard work, organization and accountability. She is responsible for the oversight and retail leasing efforts of the company's entire portfolio, consisting of 212 properties totaling approximately 31.3 million square feet. Currently Toliopoulos is tasked with developing and implementing strategic goals and policies surrounding RPAI's leasing efforts. She serves on several leadership and executive committees and played an integral role in the company's rebranding from Inland Western to RPAI and its IPO in 2012. Toliopoulos has been a key driver behind RPAI's increase in occupancy gains and positive re-leasing spreads, with the most successful 12-month of activity coming in 2013 with over five million square feet in new and renewal activity. She also directly oversaw 14 early lease renewals with PetSmart for an aggregate 315,000 square feet, as well as an early renewal package of 24 leases with a national junior anchor tenant, representing approximately 700,000 square feet.

LORI WITTMAN
Senior Vice President
Ventas Inc.
Chicago
Under Lori Wittman's guidance as senior vice president of capital markets and investor relations, Ventas has enjoyed tremendous success raising attractively priced fixed income capital in the US and Canada. Lower interest costs, long-term fixed rate financing with staggered maturities, local currency borrowings for international investments, strong liquidity and a fantastic debt-to-enterprise value of just over 30% drive the company's outstanding performance. Since joining Ventas in 2011, Wittman has raised more than $11 billion in unsecured bonds, equity, bank facilities and mortgages. She has also been tapped to be the new executive vice president and chief financial officer of Care Capital Properties, the post-acute care, pure-play company that Ventas intends to spin off, effective in the second half of 2015. Wittman has the responsibility for optimizing the company's balance sheet and capital markets efforts. By being nimble and with the ability to access multiple capital markets, she is continuously looking for new opportunities to improve Ventas' balance sheet, maintain its BBB+ credit rating and ensure the company's reputation for reliability and the ability to get deals done.

SUSI YU
EVP and Head of Residential Development
Forest City Ratner Cos.
Brooklyn, NY
With 20 years of experience, Susi Yu is an exceptionally well-rounded mixed-use finance, development and design professional who has achieved milestones to be noted. Her training and experience as an architect, coupled with her education in real estate and experience in development has enabled her to possess a unique and savvy perspective. Yu currently oversees the development and execution of Pacific Park Brooklyn—formerly known as Atlantic Yards—a pioneering neighborhood redevelopment endeavor that is anchored by the Barclays Center and rapidly transforming New York City's biggest borough. Upon completion, Pacific Park Brooklyn will contain six million square feet of mixed-use commercial and residential space, comprising 17 high-rise buildings integrated into Brooklyn's flourishing Prospect Heights neighborhood. Yu has been instrumental in the advancement of Pacific Park Brooklyn since its inception over a decade ago. In addition to spearheading Pacific Park Brooklyn, Yu continues to play an active part in the firm's other pipeline developments, and oversees lease-up of the company's residential portfolio.