Stories from the World of Work: Real Estate

On March 31, 2023, the Center for Real Estate and McIntire’s Commerce Career Service co-sponsored our second annual spring careers event, “Stories from the World of Work: Real Estate,” designed to bring together UVA students from across Grounds to explore multiple areas of practice and career stages across real estate and the built environment, and network with UVA alumni and industry partners.

After a welcome from Center Director Professor Drew Sanderford, the audience heard a keynote address from Mark Christensen (McIntire ’04), President of Christensen Building Group followed by a panel discussion featuring alumni from across Grounds and various industries.  Our featured alumni panelists at this year’s event were Ryan Johnson, Managing Director, NJ Community Capital; Ashley Mays, Chief of Place and Real Estate, Newark Alliance; Cherie Santos-Wuest, Managing Partner, Celadon Venture Advisors, LLC; and Greg Trimmer, Partner, Network Realty Partners.

After these plenary events, students attended three separate case-oriented breakout discussions in brokerage, data & prop tech, private equity, REITs, construction, lending & debt, and development: land use and entitlements. The small group case discussions featured one to three UVA alumni in each room, describing the work they do each day and the requisite skills required to succeed in specialized areas across real estate and the built environment.  The program was designed to facilitate relationships and develop student-alumni networks, a hallmark of the Center’s approach. The highly interactive program concluded with a networking luncheon for registered students and UVA alumni from across the region and working across multiple areas of practice in real estate and the built environment.

Alumni and firms represented included Beazer Homes. Boston Properties (BXP), Christensen Building Group, Colliers, The Carlyle Group, Crow Holdings,  Hillcrest Finance, Regency Centers, PGIM Real Estate, and the CoStar Group, among others.  We extend our sincere thanks to our supporters for their time and expertise.