Robert Byron, chairman, co-CEO and co-founder of Blue Vista Capital Management in Chicago

Robert Byron has more than 46 years of real estate investment management and transaction experience, having completed more than $20 billion in real estate transactions in his career. Byron believes the CRE industry as a whole is one of the most impactful industries on towns and cities across the US broadly. Additionally, he's seen a significant shift in the focus of community impact in the way it factors into investment decisions vs. decades ago.

What has been your biggest challenge [co-leading] Blue Vista and how have you overcome those obstacles? Reflecting on a 20-year run is always a bit of a challenge, especially as the pandemic disruption is still being felt. I think the biggest challenge for any organization is establishing and maintaining a culture that works for both management and team. Ensuring there is a balance between delivering excellent investment results, making sure the team feels they are well appreciated and compensated, and instituting a clear path to increasing job responsibility is hard for a small-to-medium sized company. The fact that we have been working mostly from home for the last 2.5 years (up until very recently) has made striking this balance even more difficult.