Students
Real Estate Development students bring a wide array of talents, experiences and backgrounds to the program. Below is just a sampling of students who have taken advantage of the program's offerings.
Benjamin Hobbs was born and raised outside of Newark, NJ, a city he believes shares many similarities with Baltimore City. "This may be why I feel such a strong connection with Baltimore, and remained an area resident for the past several years," says Hobbs. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2003, he immediately entered the real estate field, holding various positions in commercial research analysis and loan portfolio management.
Currently seeking a Masters Degree in Real Estate Development, Benjamin plans to use real estate to improve the lives of families through urban revitalization and community development. "The lessons learned in this program are essential to helping me reach this goal. Equally as important are the opportunities and relationships I have been able to forge while attending the program."
Lisa Howe researched development programs nationwide and was most intrigued by the interdisciplinary nature of Maryland's program. She believes the MRED program and it skillfully balances theory and real-world practice.?I am pleased to report that the program is living up to my expectations and that I feel fortunate to be here," Lisa said.
Lisa is currently a Principal and Director of Preservation at Goody Clancy, a design firm with a diverse practice in planning, urban design, architecture and historic preservation. She has worked on award-winning restoration projects on nationally significant historic buildings such as Boston's Trinity Church, the Massachusetts State House and St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC.
After working 8 years as a brick layer, Lisa served as Clerk-of-the-Works for the Cambridge Housing Authority and a project manager for both Harvard University and Jean Carroon Architects. She holds a BS in Historic Preservation from Roger Williams University.
Joe Ratner "After undergraduate studies I secured an internship for the White House Office of Political Affairs and became Deputy Director of Operations for the Clinton/Gore '96 National Campaign Headquarters. I enjoyed the fast-paced environment and began to develop an appreciation and affection for facilities and operations management," Ratner, says. In 1998 Joe went to work in the Office of White House Operations. When the Clinton administration ended Joe took his political experience and passion for operations and the built environment and took a position in construction management. The knowledge gained there moved with him to his current job as Property Manager for a full-service real estate firm.
"I applied to the MRED program hoping to gain a better knowledge base of the industry I had entered. It was the best decision I could have made. The instructors are leading practitioners in their fields, and provide real-time, relevant insight into the multitude of disciplines that constitute commercial real estate. Even though it is difficult to manage work and school, I find that they complement each other greatly. I take work experience and apply it to my studies, and gather lessons learned from my instructors and peers to stretch the limits of what I am able to achieve at work.The MRED program has provided the resources and confidence to take on any challenge that comes my way."
Deepti Maheshwari graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Architecture in India and worked in the industry for 4 years designing structures. The thought of creating something and making a difference in the community has always excited me. "When the economy turned downward I began looking into graduate studies in development. While exploring the different programs, the MRED program at Maryland rose above the others. I was impressed that the program focuses on the development process as well as the legal, financial, and sustainability aspects of development. I firmly believe that the MRED program will provide me the knowledge, freedom, resources and support to reach my dreams."
Alumni
Upon graduation, many of our students have already secured positions in their desire niche of the development. A great deal of students maintains their jobs throughout their studies. Below are a few examples of post-graduate success.
Inga Beermann first came to America from her native home country of Germany her junior year of high school. At Heritage Academy in Hilton Head Island, SC, she played tennis five hours a day. Inga went on to study Architecture and play varsity tennis at Virginia Tech.
Inga decided not to pursue a career in architecture and after a lot of research and consulting with her mentors decided to work towards a Master of Real Estate Development."A good fit for your personality, multifaceted, and the chance at a lot of money" Inga says her mentor told her. She had moved to the Washington, DC area a year prior and absolutely loved the area. The University of Maryland was the only school she applied to and she was happy to get accepted and start in the fall of 2010. Inga describes completing the MRED degree as definitely more challenging than her Bachelor's degree and, while she didn't enjoy every single course, she had a great overall experience and couldn't have chosen a better path.
Two weeks after graduation Inga accepted a position as Asset Management Analyst with Bonaventure Realty. Inga is very excited to get started in the real world and hopes, with few more years of experience; she can start her own development company.
Rachel Reilly Carroll , MRED graduate '11, joined the staff of the Institute for Community Economics, an affiliate of the National Housing Trust, in March 2012. I.C.E. is a revolving community loan fund and a certified Community Development Financial Institution. Heading Investor and Borrower Relations, Rachel works with investors to finance affordable housing developments, both homeownership and rental housing. She credits the MRED program for connecting her to the opportunity and now works with fellow alum Matt Latham, Sustainable Development Manager at the National Housing Trust. Rachel holds a Bachelor's in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland. Gaining experience in different aspects of the affordable housing industry, she has held positions aiding housing recovery with Habitat for Humanity in post-Katrina New Orleans, addressing housing needs with Jubilee Housing in Washington, D.C., and working on federal public policy issues with Enterprise Community Partners. Rachel said the MRED program gave her "the tools to transition from the policy realm to a field where I get the opportunity to provide critical financing to great affordable housing projects throughout the nation."
Heather Howard, MRED Alum May '11, is a Senior Development Analyst at The JBG Companies. She works on all phases of the development process for mixed-use hotel and office products in the Washington, DC metro area. Heather began the position in her final year of studies and credits Maryland with helping her land the job. "The program gave me the skills and confidence ... to land my current job with The JBG Companies." She went on to say, "I remember one of my interview case questions was directly related to a question I had recently seen on my finance exam earlier that semester."An active alumna, Heather recently joined several students at the Colvin Institute Council of Advisors Meeting, to present her participation in the 2011 ULI/Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition. Her five-member interdisciplinary team beat out 170 schools, making it to the Final Four juried portion of the competition -- a milestone achievement. She highlighted the educational value of the interdisciplinary team by saying, "I learned about inclines, massing and sketch-up, while teaching them about proformas and cost per square foot."
Heather received a Bachelor of Business Administration from the George Washington University. She worked for Combined Properties Inc. in retail property and asset management before coming back to school. Realizing she wanted to work on large-scale development projects, Heather chose Maryland as it offered a well-rounded curriculum with professors who were working professionals. She says, "I had heard many of the professors were actually in the industry, which is important in an always changing field of work".
Brent Roberts graduated from the MRED program in May 2011. Now, he is the Controller for 28 Walker Development and working with Colvin Council of Advisors member Abe Rosenthal on McHenry Row, a mixed-use development in the Locust Point neighborhood of Baltimore. He credits Maryland with providing him with a good mix of business, planning and design education which he has found useful in his career.
Brent also highlighted the value of putting theory to practice in the MRED program. He took part in the 2010 NAIOP competition and did his capstone project on the redevelopment of the College Park Shopping Center, sponsored by Rob Rosenfeld, principal of JBGRosenfeld Retail. "These two projects were a great way for me to put everything I had learned to use and they reaffirmed my belief that I would enjoy working as a developer," he reflected.
After earning a BS in Finance and Accounting from the University of Maryland, Brent worked in public accounting for Beers & Cutler in Washington, DC and then for several Baltimore developers. He joined the program to learn other aspects of development including design and construction management. Brent?s favorite course was "Principles of Urban Design? because it was different than his finance background and helped him understand the urban environment he always enjoyed. In the future, Brent hopes to get more involved with the design and leasing phases of development.
Jordan Steffy graduated from the MRED program in August of 2009. Prior to pursuing his graduate degree he obtained a B.S. in Kinesiology at the University of Maryland. While at Maryland he was the quarterback for the Terps football team. Although he had success on the field, his greatest success has come off the field. He studied for his MRED degree during his last year on the team.
During his freshman year in 2005, Jordan began a non-profit foundation named the Children Deserve a Chance Foundation. The purpose was to help guide inner city kids in his hometown of Lancaster, PA. The children in Lancaster were capable of success, they just didn't know what they could accomplish with sacrifice, commitment, and elevated expectations.
Jordan did his Capstone project with Earl Armiger, President of Orchard Development, who has provided continuing pro bono advice for Jordan's real estate projects, and he has also been back to campus at least twice to share his real estate development path on his projects with students in Dr. Charles Field's Negotiations class. Jordan never fails to express his beliefs in action by giving back to the MRED program and students today, as he continues to work toward building his Foundation and the children it serves and the real estate projects he undertakes to support those efforts.
Elena Sylos-Labini is a Spring 2011 graduate of the MRED program, and the winner of the Spring 2011 Capstone competition. Prior to attending the University of Maryland, Elena graduated from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College with a double concentration in finance and human resource management. She moved to New York City to work in structural finance for several years before deciding to return to Washington, DC. While in DC, she obtained an MBA from George Washington University.
As a student at GWU she saw the MRED team take first price at the REIDO competition held at GW in the spring of 2009 and decided to pursue her MRED degree at the University of Maryland.
Elena currently works with Abraham Rosenthal, a member of the MRED Council of Advisors, as a Real Estate Development Consultant for the McHenry Row Project in Baltimore. Elena reports that,?Thanks to the connections I made in the MRED program I am able to be part of the exciting real estate development market in Baltimore."
For more information on this program, visit: www.childrendeserveachance.com