Leading Voices in Real Estate

The late 1980s saw massive changes in the real estate industry. The passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986 and then the S&L crisis that followed transitioned the industry into a modern, institutional business. During this time, Dr. Peter Linneman had just started reworking the real estate program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.Dr. Linneman was an outsider economist who saw the obvious future in information, transparency, and capital flows. This week’s conversation dives into Dr. Linneman’s experience, from his perch at Wharton where he learned from and then counseled the then giants in the industry on this transformation as well as trained the future generation of leaders in the business.Dr. Linneman’s story begins in Lima, OH, which at the time was a booming industrial city. He supported himself starting at a young age to attend private high school and went on to obtain his masters and Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago. During his studies, he was trained by prominent economists including Nobel Prize winners Milton Friedman, Gary Becker, George Stigler, Ted Schultz and Jim Heckman. As an economist by trade, he started his career in general economics and industrial organization, which at the time was mostly manufacturing. Soon after, he pivoted to commercial real estate.The Dean the University of Pennsylvania approached Dr. Linneman and asked him to evaluate the real estate curriculum in their business program. Following his research, he developed and designed Wharton’s renowned real estate program and subsequently served as the founding chairman of the department and the Director of Wharton’s Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center for 13 years. Quite literally, Dr. Linneman wrote the textbook for collegiate real estate programs.Beyond his time in academia, Dr. Linneman has had a tenured career as a Founding Principal of Linneman Associates, a leading real estate advisory firm; CEO of American Land Fund; and CEO of KL Realty. He’s also advised leading corporations and served on over 20 public and private boards, including serving as Chairman of Rockefeller Center Properties, where he led the successful restructuring and sale of Rockefeller Center in the mid-1990s.While Dr. Linneman is now retired from Wharton’s faculty, he and his wife Kathy support a program, Save A Mind, Give A Choice, which commits to educating young children of extreme poverty in rural Kenya. Dr. Linneman contributions to the academic study of the field has been instrumental in training the leaders of the real estate industry today and subsequent educational programs in real estate fields.

Season Four Teaser | Where We’ve Been + Where We’re GoingAfter our summer hiatus, Leading Voices in Real Estate returns for its fourth season. To kick it off, host Matt Slepin shares the current trends of listeners and the direction for the new season. He also reflects on some of his favorite moments from the series that include:The episode with Lisa Picard, CEO of EQ Office, and how she demonstrates that there are no limits for women on how far they can take their careers.A two-part episode with Ron Terwilliger, former CEO of Trammell Crow Residential, where he walks through the entirety of his influential career and his lasting impact on the real estate industry. A big portion of the conversation is on affordability, a common topic of this podcast that we see in other episodes like Bobby Turner, Daryl Carter, and Jonathan Rose.In the final interview of season three with Larry Webb, founder and CEO of The New Home Company, he concluded with the statement “homebuilding is a noble enterprise” and Matt and Larry shared a discussion on what that means for the real estate industryAlso, with the start of the ULI Fall Meeting in Washington, DC, we are rebroadcasting our episode with Global ULI CEO Ed Walter, who had a 35-year career experience in the industry before leading the organization.Ed Walter | From Running a $19B REIT to Leading ULI (Rebroadcast)With the start of the ULI Fall Meeting in Washington, DC, we are rebroadcasting our episode with Global ULI CEO Ed Walter, who had a 35-year career experience in the industry before leading the organization. Learn more about his career trajectory as you head to and from one of the largest meetings in the real estate industry. Here’s a little bit more about Ed:Ed Walter, was named Global CEO for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in June of 2018. Ed had a 35-year career in the industry prior to joining ULI, the headline of which was his 20 years at Host Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Host Marriott, of which the last 9 years he spent as its CEO. Now as the leader of ULI, Ed discusses the changes and challenges that the organization faces, as well as its mission in representing the voice of thoughtful development out in the world. The real estate industry is all about helping create sustainable and vibrant cities and places to live, work, and play. ULI plays a crucial role in articulating and promoting that message and aspiration.

This is Matt Slepin and welcome to Leading Voices in Real Estate. I just read the sad news that architect Phil Freelon, a guest on the show back in June 2017, just passed away. This is a rerelease of that interview.In the interview, we spoke about his life, his work, his family and his battle with ALS, which he approached as another mountain to climb. Phil is best known for designing the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. He was also the mastermind behind Atlanta’s National Center for Civil and Human Rights and San Francisco’s Museum of the African Diaspora.This was a particularly moving conversation. Phil did not shy away from talking about his disease and how he was using the limited time that he knew he had left to plan for his legacy, both within the architecture industry for aspiring Black architects and also with his family. Phil was a soulful man, which I think comes across in the interview.With his passing, we are re-releasing the original interview, which I hope you will enjoy.

Larry is the founder and CEO of The New Home Company, a West Coast focused public homebuilder founded in 2009 in the depths of the financial crisis.Prior to forming The New Home Company, Larry was the CEO of John Laing Homes, where he was instrumental in growing that business from a small, two market company to the second largest private homebuilder in the US; he sold the firm in 2006 in the largest private residential transaction in US history.Larry talks about lessons learned in the homebuilding business and his thoughtful, intentional, lessons-learned approach to the business in the forming of The New Home Company.Larry talks passionately about his leadership journey from high school teacher and coach to building and running teams and companies in the homebuilding business and the meaning of his company’s mantra that “buildings homes is a noble thing to do with your life”. We discuss the audacity of using the word “noble” just as have other Leading Voices guests spoken about the articulation of mission in their firms.

Bobby Turner, the Principal and CEO of Turner Impact Capital, and previously the leader of Canyon’s real estate investment platform, is a passionate force for good in the real estate industry.His career began as a money maker and pure wealth creator in the private equity world, particularly in real estate at Canyon. Gradually, he eased into impact investing through an early partnership with Magic Johnson. This led to a revelation that inspired him to focus exclusively on impact investing, the art of balancing impact and profits, and the creation of Turner Impact Capital.Since 2014, Turner Impact Capital has become one of the country’s largest social impact investment funds, with $3 billion of investment potential in three areas:Workforce housing where they have acquired 7800 units.Charter schools with his partner Andre Agassi, which has built 103 public charter schools.Healthcare facilities investments where they have developed or acquired 15 community healthcare centers.Bobby is a compelling, brilliant man who strongly makes the case for pursuing social good through the lens of business.Additional ResourcesTurner Impact Capital Celebrates Five Years of “Profits With a Purpose”

Gene Golub is the Founder and Chairman of Golub and Company, a family-owned, international real estate developer and owner based in Chicago.Now in his eighties, Gene discusses the discipline and passion it took to build this commercial real estate business from the ground up in the ‘60s, and how his family values and culture have shaped its impressive trajectory. Gene highlights the projects and partnerships that influenced the company’s growth, from its early beginnings in his hometown of Chicago to Eastern Europe and beyond.Today, Gene guides the company directionally but has passed the baton onto the second and third generations of family members. The family’s strong trust in one generation to the next is a defining factor in the rich Golub and Company legacy.

In this episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate, host Matt Slepin engages in a sort of joint interview with Chris Rising, CEO of Rising Realty Partners, an LA-based vertically integrated real estate firm, and host of The Real Market Podcast. Chris and Matt talk about the lessons they’ve learned while hosting their podcasts and their experiences interviewing leaders in commercial real estate. They also swap questions with each other about their business journeys. While Matt talks about his work in executive search at Terra Search Partners, Chris discusses his family built company, Rising Realty Partners, which he co-founded with his father—real estate legend, and past client of Matt’s—Nelson Rising. Rising Realty Partners is largely an office property company, and is deeply focused on bringing technology, sustainability, and diversity into the real estate industry.Learn more about Chris Rising and Rising Realty Partners:Rising Realty PartnersThe Real Market Podcast

Today’s interview is with Bill Bayless who is the co-founder and CEO of the only publicly traded student housing company, American Campus Communities (ACC). Bill co-founded the company in 1993, literally just down the hall from Michael Dell who founded Dell Computers—that’s right, two of Austin’s biggest companies founded just a few dorm rooms apart from each other.This company is one of the true pioneers in the student housing business. ACC’s initial mission revolves around a deep and long term commitment to excellence and service—be it to employees, customers, investors—focusing on more than just a transactional goal.To learn more about Bill and American Campus Communities visit:https://www.linkedin.com/in/bill-bayless-1235b62a/https://www.americancampus.com/Also mentioned in this episode:Keith Oden – Creating the Ultimate Company Culture (podcast)

Today’s interview is with Ed Walter, who was named Global CEO for the Urban Land Institute (ULI) in June of 2018. Ed has had a 35-year career in the industry prior to joining ULI, the headline of which was his 20 years at Host Hotels & Resorts, formerly known as Host Marriott, of which the last 9 years he spent as its CEO. Now as the leader of ULI, Ed discusses the changes and challenges that the organization faces, as well as its mission in representing the voice of thoughtful development out in the world. The real estate industry is all about helping create sustainable and vibrant cities and places to live, work, and play. ULI plays a crucial role in articulating and promoting that message and aspiration.Find out more about Ed Walter:Renowned Real Estate Industry Leader W. Edward Walter Is ULI’s New Global CEOQ+A with ULI’s New Global CEO, Ed Walter

In this episode of Leading Voices in Real Estate, Matt Slepin interviews Gilda Perez-Alvarado. Gilda was recently, in September 2018, named the CEO for JLL’s Hotels and Hospitality Group, Americas. In the interview, Gilda shares her career story — from growing up in Costa Rica, to hotel school at Cornell, then working across the globe on hotel transactions, and now her leadership in the business. She shares her wisdom both about the ever-changing hotel business and its ever-deepening engagement with its guests as well as the global nature and appeal of investing in the sector.This is the first part of back-to-back episodes on the hospitality business. Our conversation with Gilda will be followed up with a conversation with Ed Walter, formerly head of Host Hotels and Resorts, and now the Global CEO of the Urban Land Institute.Find out more about Gilda Perez-Alvarado:Gilda on LinkedInGilda & JLLGilda & Cornell