Diversity

McIntire Real Estate Program Partner Robert Byron Quoted on Minority and Women Developers in NYT

The Chairman, Co-CEO, and Co-Founder of Blue Vista Capital Management discussed how, motivated by the racial justice protests of 2020, his Chicago-based investment management firm has created a $100 million private equity impact fund specifically for minority- and women-owned real estate businesses.

Robert Byron

Robert Byron

Robert Byron (A&S ’73, Law ’76), a highly engaged UVA alumnus involved in the real estate program at McIntire, was recently quoted in a New York Times article discussing programs providing Black and minority developers with access to equity capital.

The Chairman, Co-CEO, and Co-Founder of Blue Vista Capital Management discussed how, motivated by the racial justice protests of 2020, his Chicago-based investment management firm has created a $100 million private equity impact fund specifically for minority- and women-owned real estate businesses. Noting a lack of competition to discover and invest in these developers, he found that, historically and consistent with academic research, Blue Vista’s deals with novice, minority-led businesses have been successful.

Beyond his continued involvement serving on the UVA Law School Alumni Advisory Council, Jefferson Scholarship Foundation Board, Architecture School Board, Jefferson Trust Board, and the UVA Foundation Board, Byron is also deeply engaged at McIntire. He most recently joined Professor Drew Sanderford’s Real Estate Investment course to speak at length about his firm, detail a development project led by Blue Vista in Charlottesville, and challenge students with a technical exercise he created in collaboration with Sanderford.

“Robert Byron is an invaluable partner in advancing the Real Estate Initiative at UVA. His consistent stewardship and willingness to give so freely of his time and talent reflect the best of the University and enrich what we’re able to do in and out of the classroom,” says Sanderford.

Read the full March 17 article, “To Help Black Developers, Programs Start with Access to Capital,” here.

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