laborative approach used in Integrated Project Delivery has always
been my mantra and I look forward to more opportunities to
develop significant and complex projects with this delivery
method,” she says.
APRIL BUCHNER
Principal & CFO
Mar West Real Estate
Tustin, CA
Starting from scratch with a laptop, Buchner
and cofounder Craig Stevens created what
has reportedly become the largest management firm in the western US serving commercial property owners associations. It
serves 225 business parks and owners associations across three Western states, encompassing 4,000 buildings/
units and 52 million square feet of space. In 2010, Buchner and
Stevens sought to expand their platform by performing consult-ing/asset business planning and financial underwriting, and also
set a goal of tripling the company’s size over the next five years.
They hired industry veteran John Strockis as president to carry out
this strategy. Looking to increase industry understanding of this
niche services category and in particular of how CPOAs are formed
and operate, Buchner is involved in a four-year effort to change
California association law.
MERYL CHAE
Partner
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Los Angeles
Skadden achieved a hat trick in late February
with the announcement of its involvement in
three multibillion-dollar REIT deals on the
same day. As one of the leaders of the firm’s
acquisition of Nationwide Health Properties, in which she advised
NHP. Chae’s other clients over the past year have included M. David
Paul & Associates and Centurion Real Estate Partners, both developers, in various joint ventures; Prudential Investment Management in
a one-million-square-foot, mixed-use project in Hollywood, CA; and
Common Wealth REIT in various leasing, acquisition and sale transactions. “This pace will continue and increase as the year progresses
due to an increase in transactions structured as sale-leasebacks,”
predicts Chae. “The upcoming wave of commercial real estate loan
maturities will have a significant impact on REITs.”
FAITH HOPE CONSOLO
Chairman
Prudential Douglas Elliman’s Retail Leasing,
Marketing and Sales Division
New York City
The past 12 months have been among the
busiest in Consolo’s career and have
included some of her most important transactions in investment sales and retail and
office leasing. “Women retail consultants are intuitive in the changing nature of these markets,” she says. “More are
garnering corner offices for national firms.” Consolo launched the
Women’s Special Industry Group initiative on behalf of the
International Council of Shopping Centers in May 2010, and for
ISCS’s Las Vegas conference this past May, she produced and moderated a SIG panel titled “A View from the Top,” which attracted
more than 500 attendees. In addition, she is in charge of communications as a board member of the New York chapter of Commercial
Real Estate Women.
JENNIFER COOLIDGE
President
Nexus Systems Inc.
Falls Church, VA
In 2004, Coolidge foresaw a need for tech-nology-driven efficiency in real estate’s traditionally manual, paper-saturated world of
accounts payable. She created Nexus
Systems to develop, sell and deploy a complete AP automation software for the real estate
industry. Today, more than 120 companies use her company’s AP
software nationwide, representing over 12,000 offices and connecting more than 25,000 individual users. Under Coolidge’s
leadership, the company has doubled its annual sales for each of
the past four years to its current $8 million in annual revenue.
There’s an eco-friendly aspect in its success, as well: Coolidge
aims to make a positive impact on the environment by providing
real estate companies the electronic tools to be greener and further reduce their carbon footprint.
KAY DAVIS
Executive Vice President, Tenant Advisory
Group
Grubb & Ellis Co.
Atlanta
Davis specializes in tenant representation
of major national law firms, professional
service firms and Fortune 500 companies.
For her clients, she executes a wide range
of real estate services, including lease renewal and
restructuring, national account representation, property disposition and headquarters leases. The number-two producer nationally in 2010 among more than 1,000 Grubb & Ellis brokerage
professionals, Davis also became the first woman within Grubb to
obtain the company’s highest designation for a brokerage professional, executive vice president, reflecting her consistently
high levels of production. Mark Noonan, COO of Fisher &
Phillips LLP, a national labor and employment law firm, has this
to say: “Kay has had a relationship with our firm going back years,
and I’ve personally worked with her since becoming COO 19
months ago. She is a tenacious negotiator and always gets good
results for us.”
MELISSA EASTMAN
Senior Vice President, Manager
Stewart National Title Services
Dallas
Eastman fulfills multiple roles within Stewart.
As senior vice president, she helps develop
corporate policies and strategies related to
the national sales market; as sales manager of
Stewart NTS Dallas, she’s responsible for all
business development as well as the sales team.
