2017 Women in Professional Services: Allison Berman of Greystone EB-5 Holdings

Name: Allison Berman

Title: Head & General Counsel of Greystone EB-5 

Company: Greystone EB-5 Holdings

Years in real estate: 27

What real estate associations or organizations are you a member of? New York Bar Association

How have you navigated obstacles to achieve success in your career? In the last 18 months, I have jumped from serving as deputy general counsel for Greystone, a diversified commercial real estate lending, investment and advisory company, to leading an entirely new business line. The EB-5 advisory business involves helping to establish Greystone as a broker (taking the Series 24, 82), learning new languages to be able to communicate with our client bases abroad, and educating both myself and the broader market on the EB-5 program and how it is responsible for billions of dollars of legitimate investment and tens of thousands of jobs in high unemployment areas in the US.

How do you play your strengths to your advantage in your career? Having an extensive legal background provides a critical foundation for leading a business in general. Having practiced real estate law for 27 years is helpful in understanding, structuring and communicating about complex EB-5 transactions. Being adaptable is another key strength that’s essential for conducting foreign business and orchestrating complex financing packages for some of the world’s largest real estate developers. 

What trends are you seeing so far this year? Uncertainty revolving around legislative changes for the EB-5 program has been a constant since I began working in this area, and based on this, there has been a surge in interest from Chinese investors to participate in the EB-5 foreign investment visa program, and a desire to invest in the US real estate market in general. Despite any softening in the major metro condo markets or hints of interest rates rising, there is still strong demand by developers and buyers to invest in multifamily and mixed-use real estate. 

What do you do for fun? I enjoy traveling in my spare time, as well as spending time with my family, golfing, and reading.