Commercial real estate has had a reputation for being a "boys club." Still, a growing number of women have entered different sectors within the real estate industry—from finance to property management to brokerage. Development is the last sector where the gender gap is still shockingly high. Here are 10 female developers who are disrupting the male-dominated status quo and changing the face of US real estate development.

MaryAnne Gilmartin

Role: President and CEO at Forest City Ratner

Market: NYC

Education: Fordham University

A true industry veteran, MaryAnne has worked at Forest City since 1994, overseeing some of the most innovative projects in New York City, including Renzo Piano's 1M SF New York Times building in Midtown and a 76-story building in Lower Manhattan designed by Frank Gehry. Since taking the helm of Forest City Ratner, she's spearheaded the controversial $4B, 22-acre development at Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards, now known as Pacific Park.

Andrea Olshan

Role: CEO at Olshan Properties

Market: Mix cities

Education: Harvard University and MBA from Columbia University

Andrea is the daughter of developer Morton Olshan, who founded Olshan Properties—formerly known as Mall Properties—in 1959. Today, Andrea owns and manages 29M SF of stores, hotels, apartment buildings and other commercial property across 11 states. Among the firm's high-profile properties is a mixed-used development in Parkchester, in North Central Bronx.

Helena Rose Durst

Role: Chief Administrative Officer at The Durst Organization

Market: NYC

Education: Baruch College

Helena's got real estate in her blood: she's a fourth-generation member of the Durst family, one of New York City's oldest real estate dynasties. After college, Helena joined the organization's leasing department. She has participated in the construction of several high-profile projects, including the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park—the sixth-tallest skyscraper in the US, at 1,200 feet. And she even has a building named after her, The Helena, a 597-unit rental building opened in 2005.

Ada M. Healey

Role: VP at Vulcan Real Estate

Market: Seattle

Education: BA from Duke University and MBA from NYU Stern

Ada got her start in real estate at ING Clarion, where she held positions in asset management, acquisitions and portfolio management. After moving to Seattle, she joined Vulcan in 2001. Under her leadership, the company began the 60-acre redevelopment of South Lake Union, a once-derelict industrial area now home to Amazon’s headquarters. For Ada, development runs in the family: her great-great-grandmother, Ada Moore Healey, developed two downtown Atlanta office towers at the turn of the century.

Abby Hamlin

Role: Founder and President of Hamlin Ventures

Market: NYC

Education: BA from Sarah Lawrence College and Master’s in Urban Planning from Princeton University.

Abby founded Hamlin Ventures in 1998 with a specific goal in mind: use real estate and design to enhance people's lives. Trained as an urban planner, her first project was five single-family townhouses in Tribeca, which marked the first such construction in the neighborhood in over 150 years. More recently, she built an award-winning townhouse development in downtown Brooklyn for formerly homeless and low-income individuals: the Schermerhorn includes 217 residential units, as well as a fully equipped black box theater and arts center.

Toby Moskovits

Role: President and founder of Heritage Equity Partners

Market: NYC

Education: BSC from Touro College and MBA from Bar Ilan University

Toby entered the real estate industry relatively recently: in 2008, the year of the economic crash, she founded Heritage to advise wealthy families on investments; soon, though, she switched gears and turned to development. Her wealth management background was key to her success: at a time in which bank lending for new construction was limited, Toby used her connections with high-net-worth individuals to kick off a series of commercial projects in Brooklyn's Williamsburg neighborhood, including a 400k SF office complex and a 150-room hotel.

Deborah Ratner Salzberg

Role: President of Forest City Washington and director of Forest City Enterprises

Market: Washington, DC

Education: George Washington University and JD from the University of San Francisco

Since joining Forest City in 1985, Deborah has become one of the most recognizable names in Washington's real estate scene. She oversaw the massive Yards project in Capitol Riverfront with residential, retail and office components that totaled over 5.5M SF. Currently, she's managing the overhaul of Ballston Common into a major urban retail/residential center.

Melissa Pianko

Role: EVP of Development at Gotham Organization

Market: NYC

Education: BA from Columbia University and MBA from Stanford University

Melissa is the only woman on the executive team of Gotham Organization, a major family-run development firm in NYC. Since joining the company in 2005, she's been behind some of Gotham's major projects, including a massive 1,260-unit residential complex in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen and a 250k SF mixed-development on the Upper West Side.

Lucy Crow Billingsley

Role: Partner and co-founder at Billingsley Co

Market: Dallas/Fort Worth

Education: BBA from the University of Texas

Following in the footsteps of her legendary father, Trammell Crow, Lucy entered real estate when she was still in college. (Her first role was repping a Whataburger franchisee!). She eventually turned to development in 1978, when she started Billingsley Co with her business partner and husband, Henry Billingsley. Since then, she's become a real estate superstar in the Dallas/Fort Worth area: among her most recent projects, she's currently overseeing 600k SF of industrial space at the new Mercer Business Park and 7-Eleven’s new headquarters at Cypress Waters.

Veronica "Ronne" Hackett

Role: Principal at The Clarett Group

Market: NYC

Education: BA from Notre Dame Maryland University and MBA in Finance from NYU Stern

Ronne’s big break in real estate came in 1983, when she became a top executive at the Park Tower Realty Corp, the designated developer of the Times Square redevelopment district. Flash forward to 1999, and Ronne co-founded The Clarett Group with the late Neil Klarfeld. In a little over a decade, the firm has become one of the biggest commercial real estate developers in New York City, with a portfolio of 10 ground-up high-rise residential buildings.