By Darlene Bremer
Once a male-dominated industry,
more women are climbing
the real estate ladder
Since its inception, the publicly traded real estate industry has been a male-dominated business. From the real estate mogul taking the family business public to the analyst working 18-hour days, a common trait of most of the professionals that have shaped this industry has been that they were all men. However, slowly and steadily that has begun to change. Doors have been opened and glass ceilings shattered as the role of women in the real estate industry has increased significantly in the last decade alone.
The opportunities available to women within REITs as well as at the investment banks, ratings agencies and law firms associated with them have improved as a greater number of women have entered the industry and gender biases have been debunked. It will take time, however, to see wide scale changes at the top of the corporate ladder—currently only two of 172 publicly traded REITs have a female chief executive officer. But change has to start someplace, and when it comes to business opportunities, that means getting your foot in the door.
Consider this, 90 percent of the employees traditionally occupying entry-level positions in the banking and financial industries have been women, thereby providing a larger number of candidates for advancement, according to Betsy Cohen, chairman and CEO of RAIT Investment Trust (NYSE: RAS). That has not been so in the real estate industry, Cohen says.
"The number of entry-level positions within REITs was not as great as in parts of the financial industry, thereby reducing the in-house pool of available women to promote," Cohen says.
When Sylvia Mahaffey, partner in the corporate and securities REIT practice at the law firm Shaw Pittman, LLP, began her career in the real estate industry in 1984, she says she encountered very few women. At the time, most of those women held secretarial and administrative positions, as well as in some leasing agency roles.
"Today there is a much broader spectrum of available opportunities for women. A lot of women hold positions in the accounting and finance arena. There are women CFOs, many female comptrollers, and there are public companies that have women on the board of directors, something that was extremely rare a mere 10 years ago," Mahaffey says, adding that women at the highest levels in real estate are still not common.
Cohen agrees but says for women already in the door, their opportunities are often equal to their male counterparts. "Women definitely have access to the upper-level executive positions in REITs. Problems only occur when the company is focused on promoting from within because the internal pool of talented women is not as large as in some sectors," she says.
Even if the opportunities are equal for both genders, Debra A. Cafaro, chairman, president and CEO of Ventas, Inc. (NYSE: VTR), says willingness to take risks has been a distinguishing trait of those individuals that have excelled in their careers.
"Sometimes women don't feel qualified for certain positions or certain roles, so they are not aggressive in seeking or accepting opportunities that they feel are a stretch for them," Cafaro says. "If men are offered similar opportunities, even if they have exactly the same qualifications as a woman, they'll just go for it. Women need to be more willing to say 'I may be under-qualified for that job but I'm going to do it anyway because I am going to learn from that experience.' I've definitely taken a number of calculated risks that have worked out for me. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and just go for it."
Constance Moore, executive vice president and chief operating officer of BRE Properties, Inc. (NYSE: BRE), has 26 years of experience in the real estate industry and has witnessed the evolution and escalation of female leadership.
"The real estate industry is open for women to advance in, although on the investment and development sides of the business I think women must be willing to adapt to what has been a historically male-dominated corporate culture," she says.
To do this, Moore has found that success lies in being flexible and willing to move around the country. "With each move I've made I have furthered my competencies and advanced my career," she says. "Even after 26 years, I enjoy the work very much and have accomplished goals I never conceived of when I first began."
In her two decades in the real estate industry, Patrice Derrington, managing director at Victory Capital Management, Inc., has never subscribed to the sentiment that women are disadvantaged in the real estate industry. "The opportunities for women are very good, particularly with respect to the transactional positions as women continually prove themselves to be adept at contract negotiations and resolutions," she says.
Most of the women Portfolio spoke with agreed that, much like male employees, their professional advancements have been based more on merit than any other factor.
"I have not encountered any obstacles in my career based on my gender. All my successes have been based entirely on my ability to do my job and demonstrate leadership," says Mary Lou Fiala, president and COO of Regency Centers, Inc. (NYSE: REG). "Although the real estate industry might have initially been difficult for women to break into based on its historical male dominance, the number and types of opportunities for women today continues to grow."
Stephanie Krewson, senior vice president and senior analyst covering equity REITs for BB&T Capital Markets, agrees that the key for success in this industry and any other boils down to how hard a person is willing to work, developing an expertise, and finding the right work environment.
Since entering the real estate industry in 1994, Krewson says she has worked at companies where she wasn't included in the after-work social activities dominated by the men. However, she did not find that limiting as she was promoted more rapidly than those same men based on the merits of her work.
Lesia Bates Moss, senior vice president in the Real Estate Finance Group at Moody's Investors Service, joined the company as an associate analyst in 1997 and says she had to work hard to prove that she was more than capable of managing a portfolio of mid-cap REITs. "It's taken 15 years to get to my current level, and I've learned to be flexible and to respect the opinions and experiences of others," she says.
For Mahaffey, part of proving herself was to dispel the notion that the only way to be successful in her profession was to be tough by pounding on the table and shouting at people. "Most people have come to realize that I can be tough while remaining calm and reasonable," she says.
Positive Changes
While a myriad of opportunities exist today for women to enter and advance in the real estate industry, part of that is due to the evolution of the industry itself. In the public environment, REITs have migrated from being organizations comprised of collections of assets to operating companies answering to more constituents than their entrepreneurial predecessors. And given the chance, women have demonstrated that they possess the skill sets needed to succeed in any position.
Moss believes that women are playing a greater role throughout the real estate industry, as well as other sectors, since the failures of Enron and other large firms brought all areas of corporate governance to light. "It was a woman that exposed the improprieties of what was happening at Enron and, although that potentially sends a negative message, it also highlights how intelligent women are and how valuable they can be in any company," she says.
Executive search firm Ferguson Partners estimates that approximately 13 percent of REITs have a woman in a senior management position, such as CEO, CFO or COO. "We don't see a great number of female CEOs yet, but over the last 10 years, there has been a marked increase in the number of women in senior management positions, as well as the number of women throughout the entire industry," Moore says.
By most accounts, these opportunities for women to join the executive ranks continue to increase as the pool of internal candidates deepens. "This has demonstrated to a new generation of women that the opportunities for them do exist," Fiala says.
According to Derrington, the last decade has seen a greater number of women taking advantage of these opportunities. Derrington adds that the number of women in the industry has increased in positions across the spectrum, including brokerage, development, and executive-level positions. "Women can attain whatever job title they choose to focus their attention on. Just as in the law profession 20 years ago, women entering the real estate industry today are proving themselves and gaining the highest level jobs," she says.
Given all the advancements women have made in real estate, how does the industry currently stack up against others? Moore says that there are indeed more women in high-level executive positions across corporate America. "Companies in every industry are beginning to recognize that diversity in an organization is beneficial," she says.
Moss believes that while commercial real estate's track record is poor relative to some other industries, progress is being made. In the past decade, according to Moss, the number of women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies throughout the U.S. has only increased from five to seven. So while the fact that there are only two female CEOs in the REIT industry (Cafaro and Cohen) is comparable statistically, there are signs of further growth in this area.
"The real estate industry has only recently evolved into a real public enterprise from its private and family partnership-dominated roots. The new public environment is driving the various sectors of the industry to examine the number of women in executive positions and to alter their cultures to be more inclusive," Moss says.
There are 31 women holding C-level positions at REITs, according to NAREIT. This list includes: Moore at BRE Properties; Fiala at Regency Centers; Marsha Williams, executive vice president and CFO at Equity Office Properties Trust (NYSE: EOP); M.J. Morrow, executive vice president and CFO at The Mills Corporation (NYSE: MLS); Lisa Payne, executive vice president and CFO at Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE: TCO); Sara Grootwassink, CFO at Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: WRE); and Catherine D. Rice, CFO at iStar Financial, Inc. (NYSE: SFI).
Advising the Next Generation
Many of the people Portfolio spoke with say that a track record of successful women in the industry will help attract female graduates to consider a career involving real estate. The women in the real estate industry today serve as role models for the next generation and demonstrate the opportunities that await them. In that capacity, they are more than willing to share their wisdom with women who are considering real estate as a viable career choice.
Cafaro says her mentors–both male and female–have been invaluable in her career. She advises the young women who are trying to make it in real estate to find people who will be loyal to you, to whom you can be loyal, and who will teach you how to succeed. "There is no substitute for that," she says.
Fiala advises women not to worry about gender, but to worry instead about striving for balance between their personal and professional lives, developing relationships, becoming good leaders, setting ethical standards for the company, and staying focused on achieving the company's goals for success.
Moore would counsel a woman considering the real estate industry to do the best job in the position she's in. "Depending on the woman's individual goals, I recommend she be flexible. Everyone has to make choices and adjust to circumstances," she says.
Adding to that, Mahaffey advises that it is important for women to recognize that there are many avenues to grow and gain experience within the industry. "For a woman in real estate, the key is to choose a career development path and goals to which she can commit."
For the real estate industry in particular, Moss recommends that women work in as many different areas as possible, especially if they are interested in career advancement. "In real estate, a broad set of skills and experiences are a value-add," Moss says.
Citing herself as an example, Cafaro agrees saying women should be aggressive in their professional development. "Always keep stretching yourself to fill the needs that other people have at the time," Cafaro says. "I think that is much more important than specializing in a certain sector. It's important to keep learning, adding to your resume and meeting people."
One possible indicator that a male CEO may be more supportive of women's professional advancement is if he has daughters, Cohen says. "It has been shown to be the case throughout a variety of industries that if a male CEO of a company has daughters, it is likely that his concerns for his daughters' futures will help him relate to other young women's aspirations."
Forget the gender issue, are Derrington's words of wisdom. "Work hard and remember during any down cycle that there are always opportunities," she says.
Krewson adds a word of warning to be careful when socializing with colleagues because women in American culture today are still more easily made the subject of gossip, merited or not. "Last but not least, learn to play golf. Seriously," she says.
Where Do We Go From Here?
With substantial progress already made and a crop of new female professionals poised to advance through the corporate ranks, what is the outlook for women in the commercial real estate industry? Over the next 10 years, Cohen predicts that there will be an even greater number of female executives that will enter the industry laterally from other occupations, such as law, accounting and mortgage banking. "These women are gaining experience in other institutions and will be able to transfer their skills to executive positions in REITs," she predicts.
Moore also believes that the level of parity between men and women in the higher executive positions will continue to increase over the next 10 to 15 years. "As the number of women being promoted in the industry increases over time, the gap between genders in the upper-level positions will continue to close," she says. Moore believes this model will hold true across corporate America as women remain in their careers. "I expect that 10 years from now, gender will not even be a point of discussion."
Fiala sees opportunities for women growing in the future as women realize that there really are no limitations for anyone who applies their innate talents and abilities. "The real estate industry continues to open up as businesses grow, providing even more opportunities for women," she says. It is admittedly difficult, Fiala adds, for women to raise families without temporarily stalling their career advancement, but that does not necessarily mean that women's goals for success won't eventually be met.
Mahaffey also predicts that the number of women in mid and higher-level positions will continue to expand, although not dramatically in the short term. "A greater number of women are taking advantage of the diverse types of positions that are open to them, creating a pool of talent for the future. And, as time passes, more of these women will be promoted to the highest executive ranks."
Darlene Bremer is a freelance writer based in Solomons, Md.
