Real Estate Forum - November/December 2009

S ixteen years ago, Mayree C. Clark said there was a tremendous imbalance between supply and demand for real estate capital. Oh, how times have…not changed.

Still, she says, “Today, the market is difficult, but real estate fundamentals are stronger than in the early ’90s. While financing is hard to come by, most markets are not plagued by overbuilding. There is opportunity now, just as then.”

Clark, who was managing director of Morgan Stanley when Forum profiled her in 1993, took every opportunity to advance in the company. During her tenure there from 1981 to 2005, she worked in a variety of areas, including investment banking, equities, fixed income and retail. Clark also served as deputy to the chairman, CEO and management committee; global research director; global head of private wealth management; and chairman of Morgan Stanley Capital International.

After leaving Morgan, Clark went on to become a partner and member of the executive committee of AEA Holdings. This year, she joined the reconstituted board of GMAC following its restructuring. Clark chairs the GMAC Risk Management and Compliance Committee and is on Aetos Capital Asia’s investment committee.

A pioneer in the area of securitization, Clark led several initiatives advancing commercial mortgages and fixed-income securities, and was part of the team that developed the UPREIT structure. Her expertise landed her on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s credit rating agencies oversight roundtable this past April. The caucus advised the SEC on best practices for regulating the agencies.

Clark serves on the board of the Stanford Management Co., which manages the university’s $15-billion endowment, and co-founded the Women’s Initiative Network of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She is also president of Silverleaf Foundation, which provides grants for organizations focused on women’s issues, healthcare and education in New York and Connecticut.

For women starting out in real estate, Clark advises, “Deeply understand the fundamental business opportunity and risks associated with each project you touch. Engage in this business with an expectation that you can be eminently successful and a leader.”

MAYREE C. CLARK

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K a Cotter is more than familiar with the challenges women face in the industry. Before joining the

Dallas-based Staubach Co. in

1980, she was returning to the job market after a five-year hiatus to be at home with her children. “I interviewed with eight real estate firms in Dallas, and the one that was willing to take the risk on me, since I had not been working for a while, was

Staubach,” said the former Staubach EVP when she was selected as one of Real Estate Forum’s first Women of Influence in 1993. Fast-forward to 2009, and “the increase in the number of women in commercial real estate is huge,” she says. “Just look at the growth of CREW nationally and you can see the progress that has been made by many talented women.”

Still, there are doors that need to be opened. But Cotter encourages other women to embrace the business’ commission base. “It is the best because you are measured and paid according to your performance,” she says. “Also, set aside a percentage of your paycheck to take courses and attend seminars and build your financial skills.”

Perhaps most important, Cotter emphasizes that women don’t need to act like men to make it in the industry. “The most successful women I know are still true to themselves, tough-minded and protective of their integrity and personal values.”

After 28 years with Staubach, Cotter retired in 2008 when the company merged with Jones Lang LaSalle. She was instrumental in the firm’s growth from a five-person, $1-million business to a 1,600-strong, $500-million venture. The last half of Cotter’s career was spent heading up national sales and corporate services divisions, and serving on the firm’s leadership team and board of directors.

Retirement certainly hasn’t slowed Cotter down. In the past year, she has remodeled a house; served as board president for the Dallas YWCA; traveled to the Holy Land; learned to zip line in Costa Rica; joined the corporate boards of two mid-cap companies; and broke ground on an expansion facility in Dallas for the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, where she serves on the building committee and board of directors.