The 20 Rising Stars of Real Estate 2008 - (Page 16) Investment Trusts, the Pension Real Estate Association and The Urban Land Institute. Hanson attributed his career in real estate to family inspiration and to his interest in the financial markets. “My father and grandfather built wealth through investment ownership,” he said.“I love the stock market and I love Wall Street but, at the end of the day, I’m a bricks-and-mortar kind of guy.” Prior to joining Grubb & Ellis Realty Investors in September 2006, Hanson was a senior v.p. with Grubb & Ellis’ Institutional Investment Group, which he joined in 1997. His career in commercial real estate began at CB Richard Ellis in 1996. Hanson said his biggest accomplishment has been being a success. “I see myself advancing and developing significantly,” he added, noting that he hopes to continue giving back to the community through various charitable efforts. know if I chose it or it chose me,” she said. “I have a passion for small loans.” In the future, she envisions herself exploring other areas of lending, perhaps on the hedging side, but she said it is hard to predict what will happen and what investments will exist in the real estate market at that time. “Ten years ago, securitized mortgages were starting to come out,” she noted. “The next 10 years could really surprise us, especially on a global basis.” Higley is a member and former president of the Dallas Mortgage Bankers Association, as well as a member of the California Mortgage Bankers Association and Commercial Real Estate Women. She also is a frequent speaker at real estate conferences, including The Mortgage Broker’s Forum. 8. CHERYL HIGLEY small balance loans this year, a prospect she finds challenging and rewarding. “Between finding creative ways to structure loans and mitigating risk, there’s never a dull moment in small balance lending,” she said. Launching the unit, however, was a challenge because the August 2007 timing meant RBC Streamline was in a tough market and was originating loans it was not able to sell, Higley noted. To overcome the obstacle, she and her team successfully approached Fannie Mae for the assurance and execution of RBC Streamline’s loans. Higley joined RBC as the lending program’s director last year from LaSalle Bank’s Real Estate Capital Markets Group, where she was a director and regional manager since 2002. There, she opened the Dallas office of LaSalle’s commercial mortgagebacked securities program, originating hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for multifamily properties. She credits Greg Spivak, her director at LaSalle, with being an inspirational and motivating boss. Prior to LaSalle, she was a managing director at Metropolitan Capital Advisors, a real estate investment bank she joined in 1991. Higley’s interest in real estate blossomed when she did an internship working on leases for Wal-Mart. “I don’t 8. 9. DIANE HVOLKA Associate Gilchrist & Rutter, Santa Monica, Calif. Age: 30 Education: University of California at Irvine (B.A. in Economics); Pepperdine University School of Law (J.D.) Mentors: Jonathan Gross, Managing Partner, Gilchrist & Rutter; Dean Heller, Partner, Gilchrist & Rutter; Paul Rutter, Counsel, Gilchrist & Rutter Hvolka has been with Gilchrist & Rutter working on commercial real estate and business transactions since she began practicing law in 2002. Last year, she led the drafting of the disposition and development agreement and the developer ground lease for the highprofile Grand Avenue project, 3.2 million square feet of retail, hotel and residential space in downtown Los Angeles designed by architect Frank Gehry. The Grand Avenue project, on which construction is to begin in June, has a MARCH 2008 CHERYL HIGLEY Director, RBC Streamline RBC Capital Markets, Dallas Age: 38 Education: University of Missouri at Columbia (B.S. in Business Administration) Mentors: Scott Lynn, Director and Principal, Metropolitan Capital Advisors Higley was at the helm of last year’s launch of RBC Streamline, which is RBC Capital Markets’ small balance lending program. Providing financing of $500,000 to $5 million for multifamily properties across the country, she helped build a team and develop a technology platform dedicated solely to these types of commercial loans. She anticipates that her team will originate at least $500 million of 16 REAL ESTATE RISING STARS
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