Bisnow is kicking off the holiday season with the return of its annual event highlighting women leaders in the commercial real estate industry.
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A total of 27 women working in different facets of the industry are being honored following another tough year for commercial real estate as it navigated high interest rates, cash flow challenges, CMBS maturities and regulatory challenges — but also new opportunities.
A steering committee evaluated dozens of nominees to select the honorees, who navigated challenges across development, financing, legal, leasing, design and build, small business and other areas. This year's committee was made up of BGO’s Abbe Franchot Borok, Hunton Andrews Kurth’s Laurie Grasso, Invesco Real Estate’s Lesley Lisser, RXR Realty’s Whitney Arcaro and OfficeSpace Software’s Linda Foggie.
Women have made incremental gains in leadership positions in the male-dominated commercial real estate industry in recent years. Women hold 27.2% of roles in the C-suite at the industry's largest companies, up from 26.2% last year and far higher than the 23.5% of roles they occupied in 2021, according to this year's Bisnow analysis of the industry.
In spite of being a minority in the industry, this year’s honorees tackled obstacles head-on as they arose. This year’s awards list is separated into three categories: navigators, who steered their companies or teams through challenging economic or industry conditions; innovators, who developed impactful solutions within their companies or industry in the face of difficulties; and mentors, who helped other women in the industry to achieve successes.
“2024 has been one of the most unique and complicated years our business has confronted — full of challenges and opportunities,” the steering committee said in a statement. “It is inspiring to see how many talented, strategic women in leadership positions in our industry are navigating these times and arriving at successful solutions.”
The 2024 honorees, grouped by award category, are:
Icon & Influencer Award
Darcy Stacom, CEO, Stacom CRE
Navigator Honorees
Farah Ahmed, Shareholder, GreenbergTraurig
Catherine Chen, Managing Director, Real Assets, Apollo Global Management
Susan Choi Raffo, Executive Vice President, L&L Holding Company
Kelly Galligan, Managing Director and Real Estate General Counsel, KKR
Lauren Kaufman, Managing Director for Capital Markets, JLL
Wesley LePatner, Senior Managing Director of Real Estate Group and Global Head of Core+ Real Estate, Blackstone
Kerry Powers, Managing Director and Chief Sustainability Officer, Savanna
Bethany Logan Ropa, Managing Director of Real Estate, Lodging and Leisure Group, UBS
Ana Rosu, Managing Director, Citigroup
Innovator Honorees
Susan Boyle, Managing Partner, HLW
Nancy Chin, Executive Vice President, Clune Construction
Sonya Dufner, Principal, Gensler
Sabrina Gleizer, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Real Estate Equity Team, BDT & MSD Partners
Elizabeth Hart, President of Leasing for North America, Newmark
Liz Oakley, Executive Vice President for Affordable Development, Douglaston Development
Onay Payne, Senior Managing Director, Manulife Investment Management
Lisa Silverstein, Vice Chairman and CEO, Silverstein Properties
Mildred Tolentino, Founder, CEO, M TO-Pros Development
Robin Zeigler, Founder and CEO, MURAL Real Estate Partners
Mentor Honorees
Lauren Crowley Corrinet, Vice Chairman, CBRE
Laurie Golub, Chief Operating Officer, Affinius Capital
Laura Jackson, Senior Vice President, Tax Director, SL Green Realty
Tammy Jones, Co-Founder & CEO, Basis Investment Group
Nicole Mesard, Deputy Presiding Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton
Wendy Mosler, Executive Vice President, Global Holdings Management Group
Jackie Renton, Chief Operating Officer, Atlas Capital Group
Tickets to Bisnow's New York Power Women Cocktail and Award Ceremony, to be held Wednesday, Dec. 4, are available here.
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