Before taking a break for the summer, the ACREL Files continues with ACREL Past President Jay Epstien interviewing J. Ronald Terwilliger, among the most iconic leaders of the real estate industry in the past 50 years. Ron is chairman emeritus of Trammell Crow Residential Company, a national residential real estate company and the largest developer of multifamily housing in the U.S. for several decades during his tenure as CEO. Ron is past chairman of the Urban Land Institute, where he currently serves as a trustee and established the ULI Terwilliger Center for Housing with his $5 million gift. He also is past chairman of the International Board of Directors of Habitat for Humanity and currently chairs Habitat’s Global Development Council. Ron currently serves as chairman of the Enterprise Community Partners Board of Trustees and as chairman of the Board of the U. S. Naval Academy Foundation, and is a member of the Boards of the “I Have a Dream” Foundation and the Bipartisan Policy Center, where he chairs the J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy. Among Ron’s many recognitions, he was honored in 2009 by the United States Naval Academy as a Distinguished Graduate for his lifetime commitment to service, personal character and distinguished contributions to our nation. Ron also was selected for the Prestigious Horatio Alger Award in 2014, bestowed upon individuals who have succeeded in spite of adversity and who are committed to supporting young people in pursuit of increased opportunities through higher education. Ron is an honor graduate of the United States Naval Academy. After serving five years in the Navy, he received his MBA degree with High Distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Business where he was elected a Baker Scholar.

The ACREL Files 2024 continues with ACREL Past President Jay Epstien interviewing Deborah Harmon, an industry leader and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience in real estate. Together with Penny Pritzker, she co-founded Artemis Real Estate Partners in 2009. Prior to Artemis, Debbie spent 17 years establishing and leading the principal investing business at JE Robert Companies. Debbie currently serves as Chairperson of the Pension Real Estate Association Foundation, a member of the Boards of Directors of Starwood Property Trust, Urban Alliance, and Sponsors for Educational Opportunity. She also serves on the Advisory Council for the NYU Stern Center for Business and Human Rights and as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She was recognized in 2020 by Barron’s on its inaugural list of the 100 Most Influential Women in US Finance and was included in Real Estate Forum’s Women of Influence Hall of Fame in 2018. Debbie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

The ACREL Files 2024 continues with ACREL Past President Jay Epstien interviewing Sarah Hawkins, CEO of the East Region for Hines, one of the largest and most respected real estate organizations in the world. In that role, Sarah oversees development, acquisition, asset management, and operations activities across offices in New York City, Boston, Washington, DC and Philadelphia, with $20 billion in assets under management. She is a member of the firm’s global Executive Committee. Sarah joined Hines in 2011 and spearheaded the company’s expansion into senior housing and industrial platforms. Sarah is a rising star in the industry, having been recognized as one of the Power 100 by Commercial Observer. She serves on the board of Vertex Partnership Academies and the Executive Council for the University of Texas Real Estate Center. Sarah earned her Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from The University of Texas, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

The ACREL Files 2024 continues with ACREL Past President, Jay Epstien, interviewing Jeff DeBoer, the President & Chief Executive Officer of The Real Estate Roundtable. The Roundtable represents the leadership of the nation’s top 150 privately owned and publicly-held real estate ownership, development, lending and management firms, as well as the elected leaders of the 19 major national real estate industry trade associations. Jeff has been at the forefront of national policy affecting the real estate industry for the past thirty-five years. Jeff also chairs the National Real Estate Organization, a 20 member real estate trade association coalition focused on industry communication, advocacy and diversity efforts, and the Real Estate Industry Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RE-ISAC), an organization dedicated to enhancing communication between the industry and federal policymakers on terrorism threats, building security, and major incident reporting. Commercial Property Executive recently awarded him its Lifetime Achievement Award for 2023 and The Hill has recognized Jeff as one of the top lobbyists in Washington DC for six consecutive years. Jeff holds degrees from Washington and Lee University School of Law (JD) and from Yankton College (BA).

Welcome to The ACREL Files 2024. We begin the year with ACREL Past President, Jay Epstien, interviewing Judy Turchin, a real estate lawyer with an accomplished career that should be of particular interest to ACREL Fellows. Judy’s journey (which is not over yet) started as a real estate associate at Wachtel Lipton before she joined Lehman Brothers as a Senior Vice President and Legal Officer in the real estate private equity business where she steered the company thru its bankruptcy and the Global Financial Crisis. Following Lehman, Judy joined Blackstone Real Estate, where she served as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, becoming an integral part of the firm’s leadership team.

Following Blackstone, Judy pivoted to Equinox, the luxury lifestyle brand, where she served as Global Chief Operating Officer, responsible for the day-to-day operations of its 100+ clubs and 14,000 employees. In 2021, Judy founded JPT Advisors, a global advisory firm operating at the intersection of health/wellness/fitness and real estate, with a particular focus on customer experience, strategy, operations, sales and marketing. She currently serves on the Boards of several private equity sponsored companies, including Suntex Marinas, CenterWell Senior Primary Care and OVME Aesthetics, as well as New York Road Runners.  Judy received a J.D. from Fordham Law School and a B.A. with honors from Rutgers University.

Join us for the final ACREL Files podcast of 2024 when ACREL Past President Jay Epstien interviews Roy March, the chief executive officer of Eastdil Secured, the leading global real estate investment banking company. Eastdil annually transacts over $200 billion per year and has been involved in over $2.8 trillion in transactions since 2007. With more than 45 years of experience at Eastdil across financing, sales, acquisition, and capital markets activities in the US, Europe, and East Asia, Roy is among the most informed and insightful professionals regarding CRE transactional activity around the world. Roy serves on various industry, corporate and community boards, is a Trustee and member of Global Board of the Urban Land Institute, and is past Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Zell-Lurie Real Estate Center at The Wharton School. He is co-founder of March to the Top-Africa, serving the less fortunate in Africa focused on health, education and conservancy www.marchtothetop.com.

The ACREL Files continues with an interview of Diane Hoskins, the Co-CEO of Gensler, by ACREL Past President Jay Epstien. Gensler is the leading global architecture, design, and planning firm with 53 locations and 6,000+ professionals around the world. For her innovative leadership, Diane ranks on Business Insider’s elite “Creators” list, a who’s who of the world’s 100 top creative visionaries. Her insights have appeared in the Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, the Washington Post, and The Economist; and she was a featured speaker at the United Nations’ COP27 Climate Change Conference. She is on the Board of Directors of Boston Properties, is a trustee of The MIT Corporation and the current Global Chair of ULI. A registered architect, Diane graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and holds an MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA.

The ACREL Files continues with an interview of David Rubenstein, one of the Co-Founders of Carlyle and currently its Co-Chairman of the Board, by ACREL Past President Jay Epstien. Under David’s leadership, Carlyle became one of the world’s largest and most diversified global investment firms, with $385 billion of assets under management. Carlyle is an active investor in global real estate. Prior to forming Carlyle in 1987, Mr. Rubenstein had a storied career, including practicing law at Paul Weiss in NYC and Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge in Washington, DC, time on Capitol Hill as Chief Counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments and in the White House during the Carter Administration as Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. Among many philanthropic endeavors, Mr. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago. Mr. Rubenstein also serves as a Fellow of the Harvard Corporation and as Chairman of the Harvard Global Advisory Council and the Madison Council of the Library of Congress. Mr. Rubenstein is a magna cum laude graduate of Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa, and the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.