Real Estate Forum - September 2008

Houston Inc., a nonprofit focused on revitalizing the city’s core.

“I enjoy collaborating with clients, understanding their goals and needs and helping them to achieve their objectives. I’ll continue to seek out challenges and to expand my knowledge and expertise,” she says, particularly in the areas of sustainability and mentoring junior attorneys.

Rachel Howitt

President & CFO

NAI Capital

Encino, CA

Heading up NAI Capital’s 15 offices and 250 brokers and staff, Howitt is known for her cash management talent and for maintaining a debt-free company. With regard to current market conditions, she says, “Southern California’s population increase alone will continue to generate business. Coupled with the exposure of its glamorous lifestyle throughout the world, we continue to be trendsetters not only in style but also in new technologies and business opportunities. That will lead to continued demand for commercial real estate.”

Howitt says the new generation of women venturing into this field understands how to be team players, having broken into “the old boys club. Fortunately, women have significant experience in industries that support commercial real estate, such as title insurance and banking.” She’s a founding member of Step Up for Vets, a non-profit organization that aids returning veterans as they rebuild their civilian lives.

Claire Janssen

CFO

Opus West Corp.

Phoenix

For Janssen, being a real estate professional comes first and being a woman in the industry comes second. “It does take more for a woman to gain respect from others, but it makes you work harder,” she says. “I’m a living example that you can have it all: a career, family and outside interests. It is a challenge to keep it balanced.”

During her tenure at Opus West, Janssen has taken on increasingly visible roles. As deals have become more complex and accounting reporting has become more scrutinized, her role in the overall operation of the firm has gained considerable prominence. In addition to being CFO, she oversees human resources and information technology. Recently, Janssen implemented a weekly cash calculation tool that has shifted the analysis function from historical reporting to forecasting.

Victoria Kahn

Managing Director

ING Clarion Partners

New York City

During the past 12 months, Kahn has had a particular focus on developing and implementing ING Clarion’s sustainable growth policies: its applications for ING’s client portfolios, its integration into investment practices and its impact on staff and facilities nationwide. “Forecasts call for slowing growth and job losses in many indus-

tries that may result in flat or even declining occupancies and below-trend absorption,” she concedes. “However, market challenges can create opportunities, and investments offering potentially outsized

returns can be strategically identified in this uncertain market.”

Kahn says that the climate for women has improved dramatically since she entered the field. “There are many qualified women in every aspect of the industry today,” says the executive, who has served as president of the New York Women Executives in Commercial Real Estate.

Sandra Kellman
Partner & Global Co-Chair, Hospitality
and Leisure Practice Group

DLA Piper

Chicago

Globalization is the most important overall trend in the commercial real estate industry today, insists Kellman. As co-leader of DLA Piper’s hospitality and leisure group, Kellman is currently advising Prudential in the sale of the multi-state Hotel Monaco portfolio and representing the developer of a major mixed-use project in Saudi Arabia. “As US brands expand overseas,” she says, “there is growing investment in the Middle East and in many developing countries.”

Kellman has two primary career goals: to continue to build and strengthen the unit she heads by further integrating the team across national borders and practice areas; and the promotion and retention of more women and a diverse workforce in both her group and in the industry at large.

Mary Ann King

President

Moran & Co.

Costa Mesa, CA

The first woman to chair the National Multi Housing Council, King is responsible for managing Chicago-based Moran & Co.’s California business as well as for coordinating and expanding the company’s platform nationwide. Her current goal is to expand Moran & Co.’s platform in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast by adding brokerage teams in those markets.

King is also committed to furthering the perception of multifamily as an accepted asset class worldwide. “The three major trends in the apartment market today,” she says, “include the increasing focus on mixed-use, urban infill and transit-oriented developments; the development and refinement of green building standards for rehabs as well as for new product; and an interest in attracting foreign capital to the sector.”

Tamara Kos

Executive Vice President

Transwestern

Chicago

Over her 23-year career, Kos has been the leasing agent for more than 16. 5 million sf of office buildings and has finalized more than 5. 6 million sf of transactions. In 2007, she received the company’s awards for Most Square Footage Leased; Most Transactions Completed; Top 25 Producers nationally;