A big crowd featuring even bigger names packed the Ivy Room in Chicago April 16 for Illinois Real Estate Journal’s sixth annual Chicagoland Women in Real Estate Summit.
The event featured the Chicago area’s top women in real estate sharing strategies on how to succeed in an industry that has historically been dominated by men. These real estate pros also shared their insights on the state of the commercial real estate market in Chicago and its suburbs.
And before the event’s panels? The summit allowed for plenty of time for networking and catching up.
A highlight of the summit was the fireside chat between Ciere Boatright, Commissioner with the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, and Collete English Dixon, Executive Director of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Chicago’s Roosevelt University. The fireside chat, which focused on the challenges facing and the achievements made by women in the commercial real estate industry, kicked off the summit on a high note.
The summit’s first panel, Women Paving the Way in Commercial Construction, featured the stories of women who are thriving in the construction business. Sharing their success stories were Kristin Hannemann, Project Executive, Pepper Construction; Alicia Ponce, Founder and Principal, APMonarch; Jessica Sherwood, Senior Vice President, Leopardo Construction; Shalimar Aiken, Senior Estimator, W.E. O’Neil Construction; Shaylyn Cullen, Founder and President, Cullen Construction Management; Candace Small, Senior Design Phase Manager, Mortenson; and Suzanne Karbarz Rovner, Partner, Levenfeld Pearlstein, LLC.
Panelists expressed plenty of optimism regarding the Chicago-area commercial ral estate market during the State of the Market Update: Industrial, Office, Retail, Multifamily, Finance, Investments, & Property Management panel. Speaking on this panel were Paulina San Millan, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Intersect Illinois; Amy Galvin, CEO and Co-Founder, Luxury Living; Natalie Cico, SVP, Property Management, Newmark; Karen Kulczycki, Senior Vice President, SVN|Chicago Commercial; Deena Zimmerman, Principal/Broker, Baum Realty Group; Molly Phelan, Attorney, Siegel Jennings, Co LPA; and Eteri Zaslavsky, Managing Director, Next Realty, LLC.
As the name suggests, the Notable Women in Commercial Real Estate panel featured the stories from some of the biggest names in the Chicago-area commercial real estate industry. Participating in this panel were local legends Molly McShane, CEO, The McShane Companies; Carrie Szarzynski, Senior Managing Director and Head of Management Services, Hiffman National; Vicki Noonan, Executive Regional Director, Cushman & Wakefield; Mary Ludgin, Senior Advisor and Global Investment Committee Member, Heitman; Regina Stilp, Founding Principal, Farpoint Development; Tracy Treger, Principal, Syndicated Equities; and LaVon M. Johns, Partner, Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila LLP.
The summit offered plenty of opportunities for networking and catching up with friends.
