Myrna Coronado-Brookover
Myrna Coronado-Brookover, SVP at Transwestern Real Estate Services, has been an innovator throughout her career, and her forward-thinking mindset was never more valuable than throughout the past year. Coronado-Brookover has been proactive and responsive in addressing health and safety concerns for the tenants and staff at 77 W. Wacker, a 960,000-square-foot commercial building in downtown Chicago, which she has direct responsibility for managing. Even before the pandemic began, Coronado-Brookover was actively involved in an elevator modernization project that relied on intelligent building systems. She leveraged the intelligent building technology to mitigate safety concerns surrounding the spread of COVID-19, specifically by introducing a touchless building experience at the property and streamlining workflows for building operations. Coronado-Brookover, in partnership with Cohesion, developed TranswesternHub, an intelligent building platform for commercial real estate. The platform, which launched at 77 W. Wacker in October, is now a unifying technology available to all Transwestern-managed properties. The platform supports elevator destination dispatch functionality, access control, Bluetooth card readers, mobile credentials, automated health screenings, concierge reservations, work order systems, online visitor registration, real-time air quality monitoring and communications features. Due to Coronado-Brookover’s vision and perseverance, not only are tenants and staff at 77 W. Wacker receiving a more efficient, healthier building experience, but Transwestern as a whole has stepped into the future of CRE technology and intelligent buildings.
Meghan Czechowski
Meghan Czechowski knew something needed to be done in order to streamline the appraisal process. There are more than $2.9 trillion worth of multifamily assets in the US, and every time one enters into a transaction, an appraisal completed by a certified appraiser is required. However, the tools and processes used during appraisals have not modernized beyond Excel spreadsheets in many cases, and reports often take up to three weeks to deliver. Czechowski developed a more efficient process as managing director and head of valuation at Apprise by Walker & Dunlop, a startup in the appraisal space. Using trend analysis and enhanced analytics, based on 20 years of licensed data on more than 2.5 million properties from proprietary databases, appraisal times are reduced to just five days with Apprise. Although it was risky to join a startup company, Czechowski and her team believed their work would transform the business. Under her leadership during the pandemic, Apprise took a prudent stance on valuations to reflect what the data indicated instead of attempting to predict the market. Czechowski advised her team to take each valuation assignment asset by asset and market by market as they attempted to understand the pandemic’s impact on a location-specific and asset-specific basis to reflect market dynamics, a strategy that proved to be wise. Czechowski has played an instrumental role in generating the platform, growing the Apprise team from seven employees to 52 and expanding the platform nationwide.
Natalie Campos Goodman
Natalie Campos Goodman, CEO and founder of IncentiFind, is fondly referred to as a recovering architect. During her time as a design manager at Jacobs, she recognized a need in the market around sustainable incentives and launched her own FinTech/CRE tech company called IncentiFind in order to connect asset owners and project owners to incentives to help projects offset capital requirements by 10% or more. By utilizing these incentives, projects can be built and managed more sustainably, and Goodman has connected projects to more than $20 billion worth of incentives. During the pandemic, under Goodman’s leadership, IncentiFind doubled its business pipeline, largely due to owners needing each dollar to stretch further. She also has expanded her team and acquired new investors. Goodman oversees investor relations, client development and board assembly. As a Hispanic female, Goodman is a rarity in the tech space, and she views her primary responsibility as empowering young people, especially women. Goodman created an internship program within IncentiFind to support female college students interested in careers in CRE tech and FinTech.
Hilda Flower Martin
Hilda Flower Martin is a constant innovator looking for new solutions to problems presented by current and future users of healthcare real estate data. She has quickly risen to a leadership role in the healthcare real estate industry as one of three principals at Revista, which launched in 2013 to respond to a need for greater real estate transparency. Before the company was formed, there was a lack of reliable data within healthcare real estate, including accurate estimates for the number of medical office buildings in the nation and property-specific data that could be used by investors for informed decision-making. At Revista, Martin is a major voice in the industry through the data and analysis that the company provides, which is often viewed as a barometer for the industry’s health. The data provided by Revista became even more valuable during the pandemic. New investors and other entrants to the industry relied on Revista to give them the data necessary to make educated investments. Subscription revenue increased 45% during the past year thanks to Martin’s efforts to participate in virtual webinars and interviews with major investors and the media. Martin’s primary focus areas include overseeing the ongoing research efforts for all of Revista’s major data products, acting as a subject matter expert at industry events and panels, and co-writing data analysis reports.
Suellen McFarling
Suellen McFarling, chief operating officer at Leonardo247, is described as a unicorn in the proptech market; bringing operational, technological and sales skillsets that have fueled the company’s growth. A pioneer in the industry, McFarling joined the company in 2015 and has introduced new technology solutions to multifamily owners, operators and investors. The Leonardo247 SaaS solution automates maintenance schedules, inspections, work orders, communications, policies, procedures and best practices in apartment operations from any digital device. Under McFarling’s leadership, sales of the solution have more than doubled and recently have exceeded 4,000 properties installed. She has also worked with Greystar to expand the solution’s reach internationally. McFarling was instrumental in securing $9.5 million in funding to fuel the company’s continued growth and help it expand into other CRE markets. With a heart for the underserved, McFarling launched a charitable donation program through Leonardo247 that provides the solution to nonprofit housing organizations that can’t afford to buy it. McFarling led the company’s first charitable donation in 2020 to Caritas Communities, an independent, non-sectarian, nonprofit housing provider. Caritas uses the solution to help manage its 33 properties and improve on-site operations completely free of charge. Thanks to her success at the company, McFarling was appointed to Leonardo247’s board of directors last year as the first woman to achieve this level of leadership in the company’s history.
Nina Mizushima
Nina Mizushima holds the line against hackers and protects Avison Young’s digital networks against phishing, ransomware and other cybercrimes. Mizushima joined Avison Young four years ago, at a time when security from malware was virtually non-existent and in a field where women represent only about 11% of the industry worldwide. Mizushima quickly implemented a mandatory cybersecurity training program based on the concept that employees are a company’s best defense against cyber threats. Currently, Mizushima, who is the company’s cybersecurity director, is onboarding a new cybersecurity tool called Crowdstrike, which protects laptops and workstations and monitors threats from nation-state and individual hackers. During the past year, amid COVID-19, Mizushima continued to move Avison Young’s cybersecurity initiatives forward while also making sure all 5,000 employees had secure laptops to use remotely. She also ensured all employees were equipped with Zoom, Teams, Box and Dropbox so that they could continue to communicate and connect in real time with each other and with clients. She additionally educated the company’s workforce on how to work securely at home through written guidelines and training videos. Mizushima is currently a member of the Avison Young women’s network. To stay connected to the outside world of cybersecurity, Mizushima regularly participates in onsite or virtual events with Realcomm, CRETech Chicago, Cyber Resilience Summit and Chicago Cybersecurity Summits.
Felicite Moorman
Felicite Moorman, CEO of STRATIS IoT, a RealPage company, has set the tone and direction for a company culture that sets it apart from the rest. Broadly, Moorman’s responsibilities include scaling the company while maintaining a positive and supportive company culture and overseeing operations to meet rapidly growing consumer demand. RealPage and STRATIS IoT came together through a merger to combine two platforms that create a smart apartment intelligent building solution for multifamily, student housing and beyond. Moorman worked closely with RealPage leadership to direct the product launch of CommunityConnect and lead it into the market for smart access control, smart home devices and new bulk high-speed Wi-Fi. She serves in leadership positions in the Philadelphia technology and small business communities and volunteers her time and expertise in mentorship roles with Comcast NBCUniversal LIFT Labs Accelerator, Philly Startup Leaders and Dreamit Ventures. As the primary spokesperson for the company, Moorman is a frequent contributor and speaker at conferences and events.
Annelise Osborne
Annelise Osborne is an innovator focused on making commercial real estate financing more efficient. She joined Metechi, a startup AI-driven commercial lender marketplace, in March 2020 after launching a blockchain securities startup, and she serves as the company’s chief operating officer. Metechi connects buyers, sellers, syndicators and originators of CRE loans to help make debt opportunities more available, more targeted and more efficient. During the pandemic, identifying and pairing active lenders and opportunities proved extremely difficult because so many lenders hit the pause button. Metechi’s technology solved this problem and Osborne’s experience and energy drove the company forward during difficult times. At Metechi, Osborne also serves as head of strategy with the responsibility to strategically grow the company through new opportunities, business development, engaging marketers, sourcing lenders, brokers, institutions and partners, and sourcing venture investments. Despite Metechi’s office shut-downs for COVID-19, just days after she joined the company, Osborne dove into her work and attracted hundreds of users to the marketplace, helping the company exceed all planned milestones for 2020. She participated in numerous industry podcasts, webinars and press articles, all of which brought increased exposure to the technology.
WOMEN OF INFLUENCE 2021
INNOVATORS
In 2009, Dawn Pfaff started her own statewide multiple listing service, NY State MLS, which provided real estate syndication services and realtor marketing tools. At the time, she called around to all of the MLS software vendors, and none of them would sell her software. In the end, she hired a programmer and together they designed the company’s proprietary software. Today My State MLS, which Pfaff leads as founder and president, covers all 50 states and Puerto Rico with more than 50,000 members, making it one of the largest MLS platforms in the country. In 2019, the company launched the broker listing system, a white-label, back-office software that allows brokers to control their data by offering a system that is owned and controlled by the broker. My State MLS and NY State MLS allow brokers to share listings between a buyer’s agent and a listing agent, create competitive market analyses and other reports, as well as manage their customers and contacts. Brokers can also syndicate their listings to a large network of consumer-facing sites, as well as their own website. During the pandemic, under Pfaff’s leadership, My State MLS helped its members pivot to accommodate new restrictions and regulations and facilitate selling real estate online. Rather than view the pandemic as an insurmountable obstacle, Pfaff and her team saw an opportunity to increase offerings and invest in members with free educational content, which thousands of agents signed up for as they re-imagined their business strategies.
Natsumi Shakhman
When Natsumi Shakhman recognized that CrowdStreet lacked a reliable mechanism to confidently forecast, schedule and balance offerings in its marketplace product, she invented a solution. With a goal of launching 110 deals in 2020, it was essential that the company be able to pace and present offerings to investors strategically. Shakhman invented a matrix that methodically plots new offerings and predicts when investors will be able to make new investments as well as when capital could be raised for sponsors. The matrix has now been leveraged by several departments across the firm to guide business decisions. Shakhman, who serves as marketplace success manager at CrowdStreet, is responsible for ensuring quality control and accuracy of written content for all investment opportunities published on the marketplace. This often requires editing or re-writing investment content to ensure it adheres to compliance guidelines and is also accessible to the retail investor base. She also oversees the launch timing for all deals, ensuring that the projects targeted to launch during the year will achieve their targeted equity raise. Shakhman strives for both greater technical skills in investment and finance as well as the thoughtful application of ethical practices when presenting offerings to investors and she believes it is imperative to instill practices that engender trust and credibility among the investing community.
Dawn H. Pfaff
Design by Roberto Jimenez/ALM
Natalie Campos Goodman
Hilda Flower Martin
Suellen McFarling
Natsumi Shakhman
Brandy Smith
Nicole Waits
Nina Mizushima
Felicite Moorman
Annelise Osborne
Dawn H. Pfaff
Meghan Czechowski
Natalie Campos Goodman
Hilda Flower Martin
Suellen McFarling
Nina Mizushima
Dawn H. Pfaff
Natsumi Shakhman
Felicite Moorman
Annelise Osborne
Myrna Coronado-Brookover
Meghan Czechowski
Brandy Smith
As head of institutional business at Crexi, Brandy Smith has been a resource to the institutional arm of the company during COVID-19 by helping buyers and sellers understand the different ways that a property can be marketed and sold and by working with them to continually create fluidity in the marketplace. Smith acquires new business and nurtures relationships with institutional sellers on the Crexi platform through enhanced marketing, tailored offerings and dedicated support. Smith has created more awareness around Crexi for institutional clients including government-sponsored enterprises, banks, private equity, special servicers, insurance companies and REITs. Smith challenges the company as a whole to explore new opportunities and empowers each individual to hone their craft for collaborative success. She applies new ideas and strategies to performance marketing efforts as well as collaborates with the product and data teams to further develop platform experience and pipelines. Smith participates in philanthropic events both locally and overseas. She volunteers as a leader and teen mentor for Operation Back to School on the Sioux Indian Reservation and participates in its annual event that provides school supplies for underprivileged communities.
Nicole Waits
COVID-19 abruptly changed the way people communicated at work; eliminating collaboration with colleagues in the hallway and meetings with potential clients over coffee. Recognizing these challenges, Nicole Waits, senior insights analyst at Ryan Companies US Inc., began developing solutions to connect team members with information they needed and create personalized business development opportunities to sustain the company’s growth. The result of Waits’ efforts was the creation of project and regional health dashboards that connect data across four different software systems and provide key project metrics in one place for teams. The dashboards are embedded in different software programs that teams use on a daily basis where they can see alerts about key indicators, including construction project schedules, financials or documentation. This transparency has helped keep projects on track proactively rather than reactively. In addition to the dashboards, Waits has been leading the creation of a proprietary tool to help with early site, scope and cost evaluation called Napkin Sketch. The tool gives business development team members the ability to continue their outreach with new and existing customers by virtually test fitting sites and providing real-time and historic construction cost data. For brokers and developers, the tool reduces the frustration of expending resources on unsuccessful deals.
Brandy Smith
As head of institutional business at Crexi, Brandy Smith has been a resource to the institutional arm of the company during COVID-19 by helping buyers and sellers understand the different ways that a property can be marketed and sold and by working with them to continually create fluidity in the marketplace. Smith acquires new business and nurtures relationships with institutional sellers on the Crexi platform through enhanced marketing, tailored offerings and dedicated support. Smith has created more awareness around Crexi for institutional clients including government-sponsored enterprises, banks, private equity, special servicers, insurance companies and REITs. Smith challenges the company as a whole to explore new opportunities and empowers each individual to hone their craft for collaborative success. She applies new ideas and strategies to performance marketing efforts as well as collaborates with the product and data teams to further develop platform experience and pipelines. Smith participates in philanthropic events both locally and overseas. She volunteers as a leader and teen mentor for Operation Back to School on the Sioux Indian Reservation and participates in its annual event that provides school supplies for underprivileged communities.
Nicole Waits
COVID-19 abruptly changed the way people communicated at work; eliminating collaboration with colleagues in the hallway and meetings with potential clients over coffee. Recognizing these challenges, Nicole Waits, senior insights analyst at Ryan Companies US Inc., began developing solutions to connect team members with information they needed and create personalized business development opportunities to sustain the company’s growth. The result of Waits’ efforts was the creation of project and regional health dashboards that connect data across four different software systems and provide key project metrics in one place for teams. The dashboards are embedded in different software programs that teams use on a daily basis where they can see alerts about key indicators, including construction project schedules, financials or documentation. This transparency has helped keep projects on track proactively rather than reactively. In addition to the dashboards, Waits has been leading the creation of a proprietary tool to help with early site, scope and cost evaluation called Napkin Sketch. The tool gives business development team members the ability to continue their outreach with new and existing customers by virtually test fitting sites and providing real-time and historic construction cost data. For brokers and developers, the tool reduces the frustration of expending resources on unsuccessful deals.
Brandy Smith
Nicole Waits
Design by Roberto Jimenez/ALM