Ackerman’s experience enables her to help Desert Capital shareholders maximize investment returns and she contributes to the REIT’s policymaking along with playing a major role in investment evaluation and selection. She graduated from the University of California, Irvine and received her MBA from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
— Alison Landa

Joan U. Allgood
Executive Vice President—Corporate Transactions and Governance
Developers Diversified Realty Corporation (NYSE: DDR)

Joan Allgood’s name pretty much says it all: her professional achievements and accomplishments have been all good—for her and the commercial real estate industry.

Allgood began her career with Developers Diversified Realty in 1987 when she joined as general counsel of the predecessor organization, Developers Diversified Group. A graduate of Denison University and Case Western Reserve University School of Law, Allgood practiced law at a firm that was retained by DDR’s predecessor to provide services in real estate transactions.

During her more than 20 years at the company, she has served as general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary. As executive vice president, she has a role in the company’s external growth and is responsible for the maintenance of the company’s governance policies and standards.

Allgood also has been an active participant in DDR’s growth through mergers of public and private companies, acquisitions of significant privately held real estate portfolios, as well as investment in foreign markets.

Allgood was recently recognized in Ohio Super Lawyers as one of the Top 25 Women Lawyers and is also a frequent speaker at national, regional and local conferences, including the 2007 inaugural conference of DirectWomen Board Institute, an initiative of the American Bar Association to place women on boards of public companies.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Heidi Barringer
Executive Vice President
Cogdell Spencer, Inc. (NYSE: CSA)

Heidi Barringer joined Cogdell Spencer in March 2007, serving as an executive vice president and taking on responsibility for asset management, human resources and information technology. Previously, she spent 12 years at First Colony Corporation, serving in a number of roles including CFO, president of the office division and most recently as CEO and president of First Colony Healthcare, LLC.

She has also served as a partner in the accounting firm of Beck, Lindsey and Company. She is a member of the Urban Land Institute, Charlotte Region Commercial Board of Realtors, and the Mecklenburg County Medical Alliance. She was recognized in 2006 by the Charlotte Business Journal as one of the region’s top 25 Women in Business. A native of Finland, Barringer holds a degree in engineering and is both a CPA and a Certified Commercial Investment Member.
— Allison Landa

Esther R. Blum
Senior Vice President, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer
Taubman Centers, Inc. (NYSE: TCO)

Nowadays, it’s unusual to hear about employees who spend most of their career with one company, but that’s exactly what Esther Blum has done. She has an incredible 22-year track record of loyalty and performance at Taubman Centers, Inc.

Blum currently serves as Taubman Centers’ senior vice president, controller and chief accounting officer. She assumed her current Taubman responsibilities in 1998 after beginning her career at the Bloomfield Hills, Mich.-based REIT as a manager in Taubman’s accounting group in 1986. She worked her way up, taking on the position of director of financial reporting.

Blum worked on Taubman’s IPO and after the company went public in 1992, she was promoted to vice president and expanded her management responsibilities from 20 people to approximately 90 people.

“I love challenges and have been faced with many over the years including transitioning our company from private to public with our IPO in 1992, and recently building an accounting capability to service our expansion into Asia,” Blum says.

Prior to joining Taubman, she was an audit manager with the accounting firm Touche Ross & Co. She is a certified public accountant and earned both her undergraduate degree and MBA from the University of Michigan. She is an emeritus member of NAREIT’s best financial practices council and former co-chair of the organization’s accounting committee.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Anna Chew
Chief Financial Officer, Director and Vice President
UMH Properties, Inc. (NYSE: UMH)
Chief Financial Officer and Director
Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation (NYSE: MNRTA)

Anna Chew, a CFO for two REITs, appreciates the concreteness of real estate. “The best thing about real estate is that it involves hard assets, something you can actually see and touch,” she says.

Chew, who came to the REIT world after a career as a senior manager with KPMG, says her interest in real estate increased after she was placed in a real estate and banking group at KPMG.

“It’s been fascinating to see how REITs have evolved,” Chew says. “REITs are a great way for people to invest in real estate and not be double taxed. It’s terrific that enthusiasm for REITs has spread worldwide.”

Chew credits her KPMG experience with providing a good background for her current career, because the company requires its employees to take a lot of continuing education classes. “Now, I attend all REIT conferences because you can see what everyone else is doing,” she says.

Chew credits UMH Chairman Eugene Landy’s leadership as a model for the company—and for the REIT industry—in the way he established an atmosphere that encourages employees to keep learning and challenging themselves.

Despite her hard work in the industry, Chew’s proudest accomplishments come from outside the REIT world. “I do lots of volunteering with high school kids, sports, Girl Scouts and fundraising work,” says Chew. “It’s nice to be able to help other people in the community and to teach my kids to do it, too.”
— Michele Lerner

Kathryn Fagan
Chief Financial Officer
Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY)

As Chief Financial Officer for Annaly Capital Management, Kathryn Fagan is responsible for REIT testing and SEC reporting for the mortgage REIT. A native of Opelousas, La., Fagan earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

After graduation, Fagan started her career as a public accountant in her home state. She subsequently moved into a position as CFO and controller of First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Opelousas. She relocated to New York City in 1997 and joined Annaly as CFO.

Although she was not yet 30 at the time, Fagan says she was not intimidated by the title or the responsibility. “Annaly is a mortgage-backed securities company, and I have a background in that field,” she says. Now, 11 years later, she says that she still enjoys coming to work. “I enjoy the people I work with and what I do,” she adds.

Fagan sees her success as a consequence of her abilities and hard work and believes that women can achieve whatever goals they set for themselves in the REIT industry. “It doesn’t make a difference what your gender is,” she says. “You work hard and obtain the position.”
— Lynn Novelli

Mary Lou Fiala
President and Chief Operating Officer
Regency Centers Corporation (NYSE: REG)

Mary Lou Fiala has served as president and chief operating officer of Regency Centers, a REIT specializing in grocery-anchored shopping centers, since 1998. Fiala oversees operational management of Regency’s nationwide retail centers. Before joining Regency, she served as managing director of Security Capital Global Strategic Group Incorporated, where she was responsible for the development of operating systems for the company’s retail initiatives.

“It is an exciting time for women in the REIT industry. Young women today now have role models at senior levels of management. This has not been the case in past decades,” she says. “These senior leaders are more accessible to young women and provide a vision of success.”

She previously served as senior vice president and director of stores for Macy’s East/Federated Department Stores, where she was responsible for overseeing 19 stores in five states and generating more than $1 billion in sales volume. Fiala’s previous experience included service as senior vice president for Henri Bendel as well as senior vice president and regional director of stores for Federated’s Burdine’s Division. Currently she sits on the board of directors for Regency Centers, is a trustee for the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), a member of the board for Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc. and a board member of Stir Crazy, Inc. Fiala was recently nominated as the 2008-2009 chairman of the International Council of Shopping Centers. She holds a Bachelor’s in science from Miami University.

“It is not always easy to balance family, career and personal health, but it can be done,” she says. “I always advise young women to be themselves, focus on getting the job accomplished, and not to waste any energy focusing on gender.”
— Allison Landa

Karin Ford
Vice President, Equity Research Analyst
Key Bank

New York native Karin Ford has been immersed in REITs in various capacities for the past 15 years, but still remains fascinated by the industry.
After graduating from Middlebury College with a bachelor’s degree in economics, Ford started her career with Merrill Lynch in investment banking. “It was an exciting time—the birth of the industry when all the REIT IPOs were happening,” she says.

From Merrill Lynch she moved to Goldman, Sachs and Co. as a real estate investment banking analyst and then to Bank of America Securities. During her five years with the company as an equity research analyst, Ford started to focus on REITs and real estate companies. Her team was named “Best Up-and-Comer” by Institutional Investor magazine’s 2005 All-America Research poll.

Always motivated by working with an innovative team, Ford joined Key Bank in August 2006 to build a REIT team with office and mixed development specialist Jordan Sadler. Together, they are developing their own brand in the industry.

“It’s been very interesting to watch REITs move from a niche to the S&P 500 mainline,” Ford says. That evolution and the people in real estate are what have captured her interest through the years, she says.

Ford has seen women make major strides in the industry in the last five to seven years. “I can remember when I was the only woman in the room,” she says. “As the companies have gone public, opportunities for women have expanded.”
— Lynn Novelli

Judith D. Fryer
Shareholder
Greenberg Traurig LLP

Judith Fryer says she’s not a real estate expert. But she’s definitely a real estate investment trust expert.

As a Shareholder in Greenberg Traurig LLP, the seventh largest law firm in the United States, Fryer is the co-head of the National REIT practice. During her career, she has been involved in all aspects of the REIT lifecycle including IPOs, follow on offerings, mergers, acquisitions, dispositions and corporate governance. She has counseled both traded and non-traded REITs and also has represented equity, mortgage and hybrid REITs.

Fryer, who has been with Greenberg Traurig for 13 years, has written and lectured extensively on securities, REIT and partnership issues. She has chaired two substantive committees in the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association relating to REITs—one for the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee and one for the State Regulation of Securities Committee.

Fryer is an expert on real estate securities, representing more than 50 entities in connection with initial public offerings and approximately 100 public entities in connection with their corporate, securities and other matters.

A graduate of Washington University in St. Louis and Hofstra Law School in New York City, Fryer served on the executive committee of NAREIT and on its board of governors. She was the last non-REIT executive to serve on the NAREIT executive committee and one of the few women ever to serve in this position. She has been a member of NAREIT for almost 20 years.

Fryer is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation, which is an honor granted to only one-third of 1 percent of the lawyers in each state.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Lori Foust
Treasurer and principal financial officer,
Inland American Real Estate Trust
CFO
Inland American Business Manager & Advisor, Inc.

Lori Foust developed an interest in real estate while at her first job after college and graduate school, working in an accounting firm which was eventually purchased by Ernst & Young. REITs in particular interested her, since, as Foust puts it, “they are a unique animal.”

“Accounting types appreciate the fact that REITs have to follow the rules, so no guessing is required, and investors are not double-taxed,” Foust says.
After transferring to the Chicago office of Ernst & Young in 1988, Foust focused on the commercial and REIT clients for the company, including consulting and appraisal work. “However, after Sarbanes-Oxley changed the rules, I wasn’t enjoying my job now that it had become pure auditing work,” she says.

Foust joined Inland in 2003, where she appreciates being involved in the more entrepreneurial side of the real estate world. Foust credits her professional success to the role modeling of several female mentors, including Dale Reiss and Beth Plazk at Ernst & Young, who encouraged and inspired her while giving her the freedom to work on interesting projects. Foust says these women also set an example for work and life balance and helped develop greater efficiency at work.

Foust’s proudest accomplishment so far is becoming a principal financial officer at age 42. She describes Inland as a dynamic company, which allows her plenty of opportunities for future challenges.
— Michele Lerner

Sara Grootwassink
Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Washington Real Estate Investment Trust (NYSE: WRE)

Sara Grootwassink’s fascination with real estate started at approximately age 10. “My father and his colleagues in the construction business would let me ask questions all the time, so I feel fortunate that I’ve spent so much time with people in the real estate industry,” Grootwassink says.

She joined Washington REIT in December 2001 as managing director, finance and capital markets and was named CFO in May 2002. Grootwassink was promoted to executive vice president in June 2007.

Grootwassink started her career as a construction lender, then moved to the sell side, covering REITs at Johnston, Lemon & Co., including Corporate Office Properties Trust (NYSE:COPT), whose President and CEO, Randall Griffin, offered her a chance to work with them as vice president, finance and investor relations. “It was a great opportunity to help raise capital during the formative years of the Trust,” she says.

Additionally, Grootwassink credits her current success to her balanced experience. “Lending is a phenomenal background,” she says. “I underwrote all types of projects so I understand the difficulty of the construction process, from development through leasing. On the sell side, I analyzed a variety of companies and gained exposure to different management and capital allocation philosophies.”

Her recent accomplishments include maintaining a solid balance sheet while achieving financial flexibility at Washington REIT despite the difficult credit markets; and she is also involved as a director of CapitalSource, Inc., a commercial finance REIT.

“I have been fortunate to have extraordinary people give me the opportunity to advance my career,” Grootwassink says. “If you perform well when you are given one opportunity, then you receive more opportunities.”
— Michele Lerner

Dana Hamilton
Managing Director
Archstone B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Archstone

Some of the world’s greatest minds are or have been teachers. With the ability to engage an audience and communicate effectively, they can persuade the people around them to follow their lead. Dana Hamilton is one of those people.

A former science and math teacher, Hamilton now serves as managing director of Archstone B.V., a wholly owned subsidiary of Archstone. She is responsible for the strategic development and execution of Archstone’s €1 billion ($1.5 billion) investment strategy and operating platform in Europe. 

Hamilton joined Archstone, which was Security Capital Group at the time, after graduating from the Haas Business School at University of California–Berkeley. Previously, she had earned an undergraduate degree from Stanford University.

Hamilton decided to go into the real estate industry because she saw a lot of opportunity. “When I started at Haas in 1992, the number of students in the real estate program had fallen considerably,” she says. “The real estate market was quite distressed and not many new students were attracted to the industry.”

At Security Capital Group, she started in the management development program. After completing that, she joined the residential property management company, where she worked on a variety of corporate initiatives.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Mary Hogan
Executive Director and Co-Head, North American Real Estate Investments
APG Investments, Inc.

Mary Hogan began her REIT career in 1990 following graduation from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine with a bachelor’s degree. The Boston native moved to New York City to work at Merrill Lynch with a plan to stay two years then return home. The two years stretched into four as Hogan became engrossed in working on REIT deals and eventually transferring to the research department at the height of the REIT IPO era.

Hogan’s experience at Merrill Lynch culminated in an opportunity to join Smith Barney. “That was a very exciting time in REITs, but getting into the buy side of REITs was still a major goal for me,” she says.

She fulfilled that objective when she moved to APG’s predecessor, ABP Investments U.S., in early 2000 as a retail real estate analyst. Hogan quickly moved up to portfolio manager, assumed responsibility for the entire real estate securities portfolio in 2004 and was named to her present position in 2007.

Although women are now working at all levels and in all aspects of the REIT industry, Hogan remembers her early years in the business when that was not the case. She recalls an incident from a NAREIT conference she attended while at Smith Barney when she and a female colleague encountered a male REIT senior executive on their way to a session on women in REITs. “Where’s it being held,” he quipped, “in a phone booth?”

Fortunately, Hogan says, the industry has come a long way since then. The mother of three young children, she sees herself as a mentor for other women. “Everything is possible,” she says.
— Lynn Novelli

Nancy Holland
CIO, Global Property Security
Fortis Investments

Reflecting on a real estate career that spans more than 20 years, Nancy Holland remembers when being a woman in a field dominated by males was a definite advantage. “Early on, everyone knew who I was,” she says. Two decades later, she no longer is the only woman in a conference room, but she is still a standout.

A 1983 graduate of St. Louis University with a bachelor’s degree in accounting, Holland started her career as a real estate consultant at a CPA firm. By the late 1980s she had moved on to CentreMark Properties, which subsequently was acquired by Westfield America. A six-year stint with CentreMark was followed by two years with Edward Jones as a REIT analyst.

Following her own philosophy that people should take advantage of the opportunities that come their way, Holland made the move to AMB/AMRO Asset Management in 1997 as the result of a headhunter’s call. “I believe you should embrace life and don’t shy away,” she says.

With that approach to life and work balance, Holland welcomes the constant change of her job. Responsible for the performance of globally diverse clients and portfolios, Holland says she expects the unexpected every day. She also takes pleasure in managing her team in changing times and “the tremendous growth that leads to the challenges,” she says.

Married with a family and a home in St. Louis and a job in Chicago and frequent international travel, Holland is an expert at maintaining work and life balance. “I have always had to balance things,” she says. “Family is what makes it work.”
— Lynn Novelli

Karen Hollinger
Vice President of Operations
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (NYSE: AVB)

As vice president of operations at AvalonBay Communities in Virginia Beach, Va., Karen Hollinger is responsible for the local customer care center, which includes financial and administrative operations, such as accounts receivable. Hollinger has worked for AvalonBay since 2001, holding several director-level positions within the human resources department, including oversight of administration, human resource systems, and employee relations.

“I’ve heard from my peers in other companies that the real estate industry has traditionally been male-dominated and therefore there were impediments to career growth as a woman,” she says. “Frankly, I’ve just never experienced this with AvalonBay, and I don’t hear such stories from my co-workers, peers at large REITs or at industry associations. I think the changing role of women has finally changed.”

Before joining AvalonBay, Hollinger was a director at a consultancy specializing in PeopleSoft systems implementation from 1998 to 2001. She previously held several management positions at KPMG from 1992 to 1998, working as a management consultant specializing in accounting systems and IT strategy with clients in the U.S. and in developing countries. Hollinger received a bachelor’s degree in finance from The College of William and Mary.
— Allison Landa

Linda Kane
Senior Vice President, Chief Accounting and Administrative Officer
Forest City Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE: FCE.A)

Linda Kane joined Forest City in 1990 as financial manager for the firm’s residential group. She became asset manager for the commercial group in 1992 and served as corporate controller from 1995 to 2007. Kane has had nearly three decades of experience in the real estate industry as a CPA, including nearly a dozen years of public accounting.

“I have seen a gradual increase of women in more front-line deal-making roles,” she says. “Talented women are now managing development, design, construction and management activities.”

She is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Ohio Society of Certified Public Accountants, and Commercial Real Estate Women, as well as an active member of NAREIT and co-chairperson of the NAREIT Best Financial Practices Council. Kane has served as treasurer of the Great Lakes Theater Festival and St. Joseph Academy, a private girls’ high school in Cleveland of which she is an alumnae. She has also served as a trustee of the YWCA of Greater Cleveland. Kane holds a bachelor’s degree with an accounting major from Nancy School of Business Administration at Cleveland State University, where she is a member of the Visiting Committee.
— Allison Landa

Vikki Kayne
Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications
Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT)

Some people think retail real estate is all about location, but Vikki Kayne knows it’s all about shoppers. As vice president of marketing and corporate communications for Federal Realty Investment Trust, she is responsible for finding creative and innovative ways to attract shoppers to the REIT’s centers.

With Assembly Square in Somerville, Mass., for example, Kayne is working on a branding program that will build a foundation for the mixed-use project and resonate with the people who will live, work and shop there. “There is a great deal of strategy that goes into every decision—from development details and leasing to effectively marketing the project to drive traffic and sales for the retailers,” she says.

In addition to property marketing, advertising and promotions, Kayne also is responsible for corporate marketing, strategic communications and public relations. She joined Federal Realty in 2002 as director of marketing for the eastern region.

Prior to joining Federal Realty, Kayne was marketing manager for Carl M. Freeman Retail in Olney, Md., where she managed the marketing efforts for a shopping center portfolio. She has also held marketing director positions with Lerner Corporation in North Bethesda, Md., and Fischer Reese & Associates in Springfield, Va., where she handled the marketing efforts for regional and super-regional malls.

Kayne has a bachelor’s degree in speech communications and public relations from Frostburg State University. She also earned ICSC’s certified marketing director designation in 1998 and ICSC’s senior certified marketing director designation in 2001.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Diana Laing
Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
Thomas Properties Group, Inc.

After taking three real estate companies public, Diana Laing is now as the go-to gal for real estate IPOs. Today, she holds the position of CFO and Corporate Secretary of Los Angeles-based Thomas Properties Group Inc. In that role, she is responsible for accounting and financial reporting, investor relations, capital markets and corporate administration for the firm.

Today, Laing is working on raising money for Thomas Properties’ new green building fund, which will invest in both new construction and redevelopment in “cities with green sensibility,” she says.

Laing has more than 24 years of experience in real estate finance and accounting, including capital markets, strategic planning, budgeting, financial reporting and investor relations. Previously, she served as CFO of two publicly-traded REITs including Arden Realty Trust and Southwest Property Trust.

Laing kicked off her career in public real estate when she joined Dallas-based Southwest Property Trust Inc. in 1982 from Arthur Anderson. She spent 14 years with Southwest Property Trust before Arden Realty knocked on her door and asked her to spearhead its IPO. She spent four years as CFO for Los Angeles-based Arden when Thomas Properties approached her.

Liang is a member of the board of directors of The Macerich Company (NYSE: MAC), a publicly traded REIT which owns shopping malls throughout the country. She is also a member of the board of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Los Angeles. She holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Christy McElroy
REIT Equity Research Team Head
Banc of America Securities L.L.C.

Christy McElroy, a research analyst in the equity research department at Banc of America Securities, leads the team and covers retail and self-storage REITs. She finds the REIT industry compelling because she appreciates the tangible nature of commercial real estate.

“The fact that you can walk through a shopping mall or an office building and really understand the product a REIT is ‘selling’ appeals to me,” McElroy says, who started her career in equity research at Bear, Stearns & Co. on the emerging markets equity strategy team. She was an analyst for TriStar Advisors before joining Banc of America Securities.

McElroy covered mortgage finance and specialty insurance, before joining the real estate team in 2002. “I have a tremendous affinity for real estate,” she says. “What has allowed me to continue to move along my career path has been my willingness to be pro-active and remain dynamic in my thinking. I always have a lot of conviction in my stock and sector calls.”

The highlight of her career so far has been the past year since she became the head of the REIT team, giving her the opportunity to look at the larger macro-economic picture and manage a team of people. “Having a management role has been very fulfilling,” McElroy says.
— Michele Lerner

Cindy Morgenstern
Executive Vice President
Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corporation

It was a combination of talent and moxie that launched Cynthia Morgenstern’s career in real estate. She worked for Midlantic Bank, NA in Newton, N.J. during high school and all through her four years at Lafayette College, only to be turned down for the bank’s management training program after graduation because she lacked sufficient college credits in business. Morgenstern fired off an impassioned letter to the bank president about loyalty and outlining her qualifications. The result was a call from the head of Human Resources and a position as a commercial and real estate credit analyst.

By the time she left the bank three years later, Morgenstern had developed a taste for real estate finance. She moved on to become a relationship manager in commercial real estate with NatWest Bank and subsequently to a vice presidency in commercial real estate at Summit Bank. While there, Morgenstern earned her M.B.A. from Monmouth University and became fascinated with REITs, an interest that expanded when she was assigned the Monmouth account. “I got the bug,” she says. “It was a great way to learn [about REITs].”

The REIT recruited Morgenstern as a vice president in 2001. She was promoted and awarded a seat on the board of directors a year later.

Morgenstern enjoys the diversity of her responsibilities. “I have diverse and wide-ranging responsibilities and exposure to all aspects of the operation of the business,” she says. “Plus, [Monmouth], with its forty-year history, has been through multiple business cycles and has a fantastic management team.

“Being a woman has never seemed a limitation,” she says. “I see no limits for women in the REIT industry.”
— Lynn Novelli

Lori Palazzolo
First Vice President, Corporate Accounting and Financial Reporting
ProLogis, Inc. (NYSE: PLD)

When Lori Palazzolo wants something, she doesn’t sit around waiting for it—she goes after it. That’s how she ended up at ProLogis.

Today, Palazzolo serves as first vice president of corporate account and financial reporting for the Denver-based REIT. In her current role, she oversees all of the external reporting for ProLogis, which includes the consolidation of its domestic and international business units. She also is responsible for the company’s technical and accounting policy.

“I really enjoy all the people in my group and they are great to work with,” Palazzolo says. “My job is very challenging and I have a lot of different things going on.”

Palazzolo joined the company in 2004 by proactively seeking a position in the corporate accounting department. After reading a newspaper article about ProLogis’ decision to move its accounting operations from El Paso to Denver, Palazzolo contacted a recruiter she had worked with in the past and asked him to get her an interview with ProLogis. The rest, as they say, is history.

Prior to joining ProLogis, Palazzolo spent 10 years as a senior vice president and controller for Chateau Communities Inc., a manufactured housing REIT that was taken private in October 2003. She joined Chateau after seven years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she was an auditor on several accounts, including Chateau Communities.

A Michigan native, Palazzolo graduated from Walsh College and is a CPA.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Lisa Palmer
Senior Vice President of Capital Markets
Regency Centers Corp.

After working for large corporations such as GE and Accenture, Lisa Palmer was excited to join a small company when she moved from Atlanta to Jacksonville, Fla. in 1996. That small company was Regency Centers Corp., which had only 30 shopping centers and 30 employees when she jointed the company’s capital markets group.

Today, Palmer serves as a senior vice president of capital markets, and the REIT is a whole lot bigger—with 600 employees and more than 450 properties. Fortunately, the company has been able to maintain its entrepreneurial and family-oriented culture despite its size—something that was important to her.

“It was refreshing to go to a small company,” Palmer says. “I was hoping it would be more rewarding and satisfying, and I also chose Regency for its shopping centers because you could identify with shopping.”

In her current role, Palmer is responsible for supporting the CFO in cost-effectively financing the company’s growth needs and enhancing the capital structure. Most recently, she participated in the creation of Regency Center’s open-ended fund – the first in the retail sector and only the third such fund in the real estate industry. The fund has attracted a diverse group of investors including MetLife, the government of Singapore and a few German insurance companies.

Palmer earned a master’s degree in business administration from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and received her bachelor’s degree in economics from The University of Virginia.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Lisa Payne
Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer
Taubman Centers, Inc.

Lisa Payne joined Taubman Centers, a shopping-center REIT in 1997. She moved from her position as vice president of Goldman Sachs’ investment banking division, where she spent a decade working in acquisition and development financing, merger and acquisition advisories, as well as public and private debt and equity offerings. Before joining Goldman Sachs, Payne was a vice president in Chemical Bank’s real estate department.

She is a member of the board of directors of Masco Corporation, a trustee of the Munder Funds, and sits on the board of governors for Cranbook Schools, serving on the finance committee. A member of NAREIT and the International Council of Shopping Centers, Payne graduated from Elizabethtown College and holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business Administration.

“The visibility of women is senior positions is evidenced at the Taubman Company, where we have female executives in many key leadership positions throughout the company and specifically, in our senior most Operating Committee of 10 people, three are women. I hope this becomes more widespread in our industry.”
— Allison Landa

Susan Pils
Vice President of Organizational Development
First Industrial Realty Trust

As vice president of organizational development for First Industrial Realty Trust, Susan Pils is responsible for leading and enhancing the firm’s programs for employee recruitment, compensation, learning and development, communications, and engagement. She has more than two decades of experience in human resources strategy, talent management, and leadership development. Before joining First Industrial, she served as vice president for global human resources’ corporate functions for JohnsonDiversey, Inc., a leading global firm with more than 12,000 employee and customers in more than 140 countries.

She says that she is now seeing women entering the REIT industry in many different areas and functions. “I am also seeing an increase in women being promoted to transaction-related roles (such as) investment and development officers and capital acquisition,” she says. Women have definitely become a large portion of the workforce  in all levels of the organization.”

At JohnsonDiversey, Pils managed the company’s human resources programs and the transition process for employees in a newly merged organization, leading the company’s organizational structure design, staffing, and change-management initiatives. She earned a Bachelor of Science with a minor in business administration from Carroll College and is a member of the Society of Human Resource Management, American Society of Training and Development, Human Resources Management Association, and World At Work. Pils was previously on the board of directors of the Wisconsin Federation of Independent Colleges.
— Allison Landa

Katie Reinsmidt
Director of Corporate Communications and Investor Relations
CBL & Associates (NYSE: CBL)

As director of corporate communications and investor relations at CBL, Reinsmidt serves as the primary liaison for communication between the company and many constituencies within the investment and financial communities as well as the media. She also serves as secretary and proxy coordinator for the company’s benefits committee.

Reinsmidt joined CBL in 2004 as director of investor relations and was promoted to her current position in January 2008. Before working at CBL, Reinsmidt was an associate analyst at A.G. Edwards and Sons’ corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, where she provided research coverage for retail, health care and lodging REITs. She current serves as a trustee on the City of Chattanooga Pension Board. Reinsmidt is a graduate of the University of Missouri, St. Louis, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in economics.

“Women continue to permeate the top-ranks of the traditionally male-dominated fields of finance and real estate, adding valuable talent and perspective to the industry,” Reinsmidt says. “Wider recognition of this untapped talent has led to growing pressure for companies to present breadth and depth within their management teams and boards, not just in real estate but across all industries. This movement is providing women entrance through a door that has been to-date very difficult to open. Today, the management teams and boards of REITs include a number of women who represent widely respected leaders in the field, and I believe we will continue to see an increasing number of well-qualified women move into these leadership positions.”
— Allison Landa

Katy Rice
Chief Financial Officer
iStar Financial (NYSE: SFI)

Katy Rice began her tenure as iStar chief financial officer in November 2002. A member of iStar’s investment committee, she is responsible for managing all of iStar’s capital-raising initiatives, financial reporting and investor relations activities. Rice also supervises the company’s other finance, treasury and accounting functions. She came to iStar from Banc of America Securities, where she served as managing director of the financial sponsors and real estate investment banking groups. Before that time, Rice was a managing director at Lehman Brothers, where she oversaw the company’s West Coast real estate investment banking activities. The first decade of her career were spent at Merrill Lynch, where she worked in the real estate investment banking group.

With more than 17 years of experience in both the public and private capital markets, Rice has been involved with more than $15 billion of capital-raising and financial advisory transactions, which include both public and private debt as well as equity offerings, mortgage financings, merger and acquisition assignments, leveraged buyouts, asset dispositions, debt restructurings and rating advisory assignments. She graduated from the University of Colorado and received her MBA from Columbia University.
— Allison Landa

Wendy Seher
Vice President of Leasing
Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT)

For Wendy Seher, nothing is more exciting than finding the right retailers to make a certain property stand out. As vice president of leasing for Federal Realty Investment Trust, she’s responsible for leasing anchor space throughout the portfolio, as well as for overseeing leasing of small shop space at a number of the REIT’s properties.

“When the lineup of tenants comes together for a project, it raises us to the next level,” Seher says. Most recently, she worked on the leasing for the new section of Bethesda Row, a mixed-use project in Bethesda, Md. “We took a lot of time to hand select the categories and the best-in-class retailers to create something that is unique in the market,” she says.

Seher joined Federal Realty in 2002 and has more than 18 years of experience within the retail real estate industry. Prior to joining Federal Realty, she was a principal with the J. Donegan Company, a Northern Virginia-based private real estate development company. While there, she managed new development leasing, third-party leasing and tenant representation. Previously, she worked for Peterson Company and Fried Companies in a variety of leasing capacities.

Seher earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Maryland, College Park. She is also an active member of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC).
— Jennifer D. Duell

Keri Shea
Vice President, Finance and Treasurer
AvalonBay Communities Inc.

Keri Shea took a walk on the wild side—also known as the high-tech industry—before making her way back to the bricks and mortar of commercial real estate. “I rode the wave of high-tech, but decided to go back into an industry that more tangible—one where you could see and touch the assets and one that was not quite as volatile as high-tech,” she says.

She currently serves as vice president of finance and treasurer for AvalonBay Communities and is responsible for overseeing all of AvalonBay’s accounting operations, including its financial reporting and cash management functions.

Shea joined AvalonBay in 2002 as assistant corporate controller, where she focused primarily on financial reporting and corporate accounting. She was promoted to corporate controller in 2005 and to her current position in 2006.

Prior to joining AvalonBay, Shea held corporate controller positions for two start-up technology companies in the Washington, D.C. area. Like many other professionals, she joined the high-tech industry during the dot.com boom in the late 1990s after spending eight years with Arthur Andersen LLP, where she provided both audit and mergers and acquisition due diligence services to clients in the real estate, financial services and high-tech industries.

Shea is a certified public accountant and has a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the College of William & Mary.
— Jennifer D. Duell

Caren Shiozaki
Executive Vice President, Managing Director and Chief Information Officer
Thornburg Mortgage

Caren Shiozaki developed global business experience living and working throughout Asia while serving as principal consultant for Bank of America’s International Advisory Group. During this time, she led the company’s consulting practices in data warehousing, business analytics and program management for clients in Asia and Europe. Shiozaki then joined American Express as a vice president of enterprise architecture, creating a enterprise governance program that provided oversight for a multi-billion dollar technology investment portfolio.

“Many REIT companies are more forward-thinking and forward-looking than other companies. It’s an industry that may not be traditionally associated with presenting opportunities for women, but is definitely (welcoming to women) and rewards their talents and experience.”

Her final role for American Express was leadership of the team that produced the “Manage Your Card Account” web interface servicing more than 10 million cardholders worldwide. In 2004, Shiozaki joined Belo Corporation, a major U.S. media company with television, newspaper, cable, and interactive assets, as vice president and chief information officer. At Belo, she implemented significant technology and business-process changes in order to better position the company as a new-media competitor. Shiozaki is a member of the advisory boards for private-equity investment firm Hunt Ventures LLP as well as media startup Change Agent Media.

She served as vice chairman for the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter of the Society for Information Management and is still involved with their “Future Potential in IT” program, which focuses on educating students and schools on the technology job market. Additionally, she is a mentor for Women Unlimited, a nonprofit organization helping women from diverse backgrounds to achieve parity in the workplace, and is a member of Women in Technologies International and the Alliance of Technology and Women.
— Allison Landa

Jan Svec
Director and senior analyst in REIT Ratings Group
Fitch Ratings

Jan Svec’s interest in real estate started in college and has never waned. “Most of my jobs have been real estate-related,” she says, including her current position analyzing approximately 15 REITs and real estate operating companies (REOCs) investing in every major property type.

Svec’s first job was with Arthur Andersen’s real estate practice, after earning her M.B.A. from the University of Rochester and an M.S. in Real Estate from New York University. She says her first job required her to work with public documents and was very influential on her subsequent career.

 “My job working with a developer, though it was only for about one year, is what makes me stand out from the crowd,” Svec says. “I learned every aspect of real estate from the inside and this helped me understand how developers think about their business.”

Svec worked with Ellicott Development Co., a private development firm in Buffalo, New York. In between Arthur Andersen and Ellicott, Svec worked for M&T Bank Corp. in a corporate finance division with many of her analyses related to the corporate real estate division and the residential mortgage division.

“My proudest accomplishment has been my work with the New Millennium Group of Western New York, a community benefit organization which was a leader in redevelopment efforts in Buffalo,” she says.

Svec worked with city officials and the commercial real estate community to develop a strategic plan for downtown Buffalo, which won a top American Planning Association award in 2004.
— Michele Lerner