The Goldie B. Wolfe Miller Women Leaders in Real Estate Initiative (‘The Goldie Initiative”), a nonprofit Chicago-based organization dedicated to preparing women to advance as leaders in commercial real estate by providing financial and professional support, recently announced scholarship winners for the upcoming school year. Since 2007, The Goldie Initiative has created a professional community of women with extraordinary academic and leadership potential, known as Goldie Scholars.
With a unique strategy of scholarship, mentoring, networking and leadership skills development, The Goldie Initiative cultivates talented women into future leaders. The program supports women pursuing graduate-level studies in business, law, design, or management, with a focus on real estate.
An unprecedented 40 Goldie Scholars representing 20 universities nationally, were selected this month, for the prestigious scholarship program with The Goldie Initiative for the 2025-26 academic year. Notably, this year’s cohort proudly welcomes 3 new graduate institutions to its ranks: Fordham University, St. John’s University and University of Maryland.
This year’s Goldie Scholar cohort increased by two female graduate students studying in the Chicago area, in thanks to a partnership with the Debbie Frank Legacy Fund and CREW Chicago. Debbie Frank, who passed away in 2020, was a respected and accomplished leader in the Chicago area Commercial Real Estate community and she was passionate about helping women succeed in the field. The selected Goldie Scholars, Sydney Dea, a student at Loyola University, and Jessica Ravitch, a student at Northwestern University, were chosen via collaborative efforts. Thanks to this generous contribution, the 2025-2026 Goldie Scholar cohort increases in size and impact.
The incoming cohort of Goldie Scholars will be celebrated and introduced to the community at the 9th annual Goldie Gala, on Thursday, September 18, 2025, at Union Station Chicago. This year’s Shero award winner is Kimberly Adams, Managing Director at Clarion Partners. The Shero award is presented annually by The Goldie Initiative to a woman executive whose achievements inspire the next generation of female commercial real estate professionals.
Adams is looking forward to the event and commented: “I feel it’s important to give back to the real estate community. And part of doing that is sharing lessons learned I might have to the next generation of women leaders—particularly the Goldie Scholars, who embody the qualities that drive success: hard work, authenticity, humanity, humility, and connection. These women have it.” Tickets are now available for the Goldie Gala at www.goldieinitiative.org/gala.
The 2025-26 cohort of Goldie Scholars represent the following universities:
Columbia University
Columbia Business School
Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
Cornell University
Baker Program in Real Estate
SC Johnson College of Business
DePaul University
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
Fordham University
Gabelli School of Business
George Washinton University
Corcoran School of Arts and Design
Georgetown University
McDonough School of Business
School of Continuing Studies
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
Loyola University Chicago
School of Law
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
Center for Real Estate
Sloan School of Management
New York University
NYU Stern
NYU SPS Schack Institute
Northwestern University
Kellogg School of Management
St. John’s University
School of Law
University of Chicago
Booth School of Business
University of Illinois-Chicago
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs
University of Maryland
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation
University of Notre Dame
Mendoza College of Business
University of Pennsylvania
The Wharton School
University of Virginia
Darden School of Business
University of Wisconsin – Madison
Wisconsin School of Business
Yale University
School of Law
