Leading Voices In Real Estate

Pete Gaynor, former FEMA Administrator and President of Bright Harbor, discusses the preparedness, systems and infrastructure our country and our industry needs to effectively respond to disasters. In our previous episode with Lew Horne and David Waite, we talked about our industry's response to the January Los Angeles fire disaster and, more generally, the real estate industry’s role in preparedness, immediate response, and rebuilding in these disasters.

Lew Horne, President for Advisory Services for CBRE in Greater Los Angeles, and David Waite, Partner at Cox, Castle, & Nicholson LLP discuss Project Recovery, Rebuilding Los Angeles after the January 2025 Wildfires. This report was created by the real estate industry as a roadmap for disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts.

In this revisit of our conversation from 2023, Brett White, the outgoing Executive Chair of Cushman & Wakefield and prior CEO of CBRE, tells the story of the growth and evolution of these now giant global real estate service firms. In this rebroadcast episode, Brett discusses the evolution of today’s giant global real estate service platforms from essentially brokerage shops to the full-service firms that they are today.

Tyler Christiansen, CEO of Funnel, a multifamily prop tech company, discusses how Funnel fundamentally changes the owner-renter relationship and how that relationship facilitates change in the operating platform within the apartment business, opening the door to greater centralization, the use of AI, and a changed workforce. This conversation follows up on our prior LVRE episode with David Stanford and Chris Shaida of RealFoundations, where we established the importance and meaning of “operating platform” in the real estate business.

At the 25 th Anniversary of their firm, RealFoundations, Co-Founders David Stanford and Chris Shaida deliver a masterclass on how information technology and AI are impacting the real estate industry. This episode is Part 1 of our two-part series exploring the influence of information technology and artificial intelligence on the real estate business.

At the firm's 60th anniversary, the next generation co-CEOs of Lincoln Property Company, Clay Duvall and David Binswanger, discuss the company’s new business model, succession, leadership, legacy, and approach to the challenges and opportunities of today's business. As Lincoln celebrates its 60th anniversary, this conversation takes place at their newly delivered headquarters office in Dallas.

Ben Miller, CEO and Co-Founder of Fundrise, talks with Matt about Fundrise and his vision for disrupting the real estate industry with his online, direct-to-consumer, low-fee real estate (and now also venture capital) investment funds. Recorded live at Ben’s office on Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C. on April 23, this conversation is a fascinating exploration of what it means to pioneer a new thesis and challenge the orthodoxy around traditional thinking in the real estate business.

Brad Korman and Lea Anne Welsh of Korman Communities share the meaning and tradition that drive their high-touch, fifth-generation family apartment business to success. This conversation with Brad and Lea Anne took place live at an AVE by Korman property in King of Prussia, PA.

Michael Levy, CEO of Crow Holdings, discusses the history of the Trammell Crow real estate businesses and how that legacy guides the business of Crow Holdings today. This conversation with Michael was recorded on March 28th at the Crow Holdings headquarters office in Dallas at the Old Parkland Hospital campus.

Shannon Loew, Amazon’s Vice President of Global Workforce Solutions, elaborates on his global role and the company’s return to office policy. Recorded on March 12 at Amazon’s South Lake Union campus in Seattle, this conversation with Shannon is only the second Leading Voices episode with a corporate real estate leader.

Owen Thomas, Chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, discusses the state of back-to-office and outlines the threats and opportunities arising in the current market. This is my second conversation on Leading Voices in Real Estate with Owen Thomas, Chairman and CEO of Boston Properties, the largest office REIT in the business.

Don Kuemmeler, Co-Founder and Senior Managing Partner, and Bryan Thornton, Managing Partner, of PCCP, discuss the market, their business, and the values and partnerships within the real estate industry that have fueled their success. PCCP LLC, Pacific Coast Capital Partners, is a commercial real estate investment management company that now has about $25 billion in AUM.

Jeff Giller, Partner and Head of StepStone Real Estate, and Margaret McKnight, Partner and Head of Portfolio Solutions, talk about guiding real estate strategies for institutional investors, providing capital to fund managers and their broad view of where, how and when to invest in the real estate market. Recorded on January 16 at the StepStone offices in Embarcadero Center in San Francisco, this episode with Jeff and Margaret is a goldmine of insight as they share how they think about the real estate universe.

Neil Slater, CEO of Redevco an Amsterdam retail and mixed-use vertically integrated developer, operator and fund manager, talks about his new(ish) role at Redevco, opportunities for the company and shares his broad perspective on investing in real assets across the globe. In honor of ZRG's expansion of our real estate search practice into Europe with the addition of Jamie Griffiths-Mead and Rob Johnston in London, this month we've had two guests from across the pond, the last episode with Gilda Perez-Alvarado from Accor Hotels and today’s interview with Neil.

Gilda Perez-Alvarado, Chief Strategy Officer of Accor Hotels and President of Accor’s Orient Express luxury brand, returns as a guest on Leading Voices to talk about the hospitality business generally and starting up a luxury hotel and leisure brand. We first spoke in 2019 when she was CEO of JLL's Hotels and Hospitality Group.

Jeff DeBoer, Founding President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable, provides an insider’s view of what to expect for the real estate industry going into the new Trump Administration. Jeff and I sat down in his office, across the street from the White House, to record this conversation on December 4, 2024.

Steve Rosenberg, Founder and CEO of Greystone, shares his career journey and how he built one of the leading lenders in the multifamily space. Steve’s storytelling harkens back to the early episodes of Leading Voices, where we explored how these iconic leaders founded and scaled their businesses.

Cedric Bobo, Co-Founder and CEO of Project Destined, and Adrian Foley, Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Real Estate Group and President and CEO of Brookfield Properties’ development group, discuss how his training and education nonprofit has transformed lives and businesses through real world experience. Project Destined provides training, mentorship, internships and early career opportunities for young students, particularly students of color and military veterans, entering into the real estate business.

Originally recorded and released in the Fall of 2022, Ross Perot Jr., Chairman of Hillwood and real estate developer, talks about his varied businesses, inside and outside of real estate, including the development of the giant Alliance project in Fort Worth, developing public private partnership projects in the US and abroad, and about his father’s legacy, including a few words about his candidacy in the election for President in 1992. Legacy comes up right away as Ross reminisces about his father taking him to work, being the first to fly a helicopter around the world, and being a business partner with his dad.

Jon Lin, EVP and General Manager of Data Center Services at Equinix, talks through the major trends, drivers, and challenges of the data center business, the hottest sector in commercial real estate. This interview with Jon was recorded live at the Equinix regional office in Ashburn, Virginia, which is actually the data center capital of the world.