Manley offers advice to women starting out in commercial real estate

Name: Marisa Manley Title: President Company/firm: Commercial Tenant Real Estate Representation Years with Company/firm: 23 Years in field: 30 Years in real estate industry: 30 Address: 295 Madison Ave., 17th Floor, New York, NY 10017 Telephone: 2126844400 Email: [email protected] URL: www.ctrr.net Real estate organizations/affiliations : Women Presidents' Organization, New York State Bar Association, the Harvard Club, Association for Corporate Growth, and the Cornell Entrepreneur Network. During the last 10 years of your career, which professional accomplishment, honor or achievement was most meaningful to you and why? I have developed teams who pride themselves on providing end-to-end service. They completed a 60,000 s/f fast track project for a rapidly growing career college-from site selection through construction-simultaneously reducing costs by 25% compared to market-rate terms. I have helped a community health center cost-effectively expand its footprint in the tight Harlem market. I am is advising a national specialty practice group on ways to restructure its real estate process to bring new locations on-line more rapidly to meet revenue goals. I am also working with a community hospital to create their first off-campus urgent care center. Which project, deal or transaction was the 'game changer' in the advancement of your career during the last 10 years? Not a single project, but a series of disparate projects in Seattle, Boston, New York, Tampa all pointed to the same thing. In this era of down-sizing and accelerated business ramp-up, space users of all sizes and at all levels of sophistication value an advisor who will be with them every step of the way. I responded by increasing staff with construction management and business strategy expertise. How do you contribute to your company and / or the industry? Building HCREA/CTRR teams to serve clients. CTRR clients include financial service/ private equity firms, career colleges and banks. HCREA serves specialty medical practices with nationwide operations, community health centers, diagnostic labs, hospitals and and other healthcare organizations. The two firms offer real estate expertise-from strategy through site selection; negotiating deal terms, construction management. Leadership keeps the focus on seamless execution, high quality and removing real estate headaches from the C-Suite. What advice would you give to women just starting out in commercial real estate? When considering a career in real estate, keep in mind that new ways of using office space, communal spaces, teaming areas, hotelling, demographic changes, and technology are combining to make physical location less important, which favors tenants in most markets. Strategic outside-box thinking-adaptive re-use, flexible lease terms, alternative locations-gains outsized advantages and creates success. Advisors playing a key role in their clients' decision-making start with an understanding of client businesses and create real estate solutions tailored to their evolving needs. How do you manage the work/life balance? As a parent, I am acutely aware of the need for "family time" and "me time" as well as "company time." A daughter now visiting colleges (a son is already a college student) means that the pressure may ease a bit in the future. But she is acutely aware of the "24/7" need to manage a business and satisfy the needs of clients trying to navigate the complex world of commercial real estate. She enjoys applying her expertise in real estate, law (she is an attorney with a Harvard degree) and architecture (with a degree from Cornell). Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career and why? My mother. From the time I was very young, she placed a great emphasis on education. When I was in first grade, she quizzed me on spelling long, complicated pharmaceutical names. Beyond, this and perhaps even more important, she conveyed an unwavering belief that I could accomplish whatever I focused on - without judging that choice. This gave me freedom to act and solid confidence that I could achieve. It's a great foundation to build on. How are you using social media to promote yourself, your products and / or your firm? My firm is currently working with an association covering a segment of the healthcare industry to provide a variety of news and information to health facilities in the segment that is useful to managers. We use webinars, e-mail FAQ's, and a new Facebook page. The initiative will not only promote the company and its services but will provide a valued information resource on "what I need to know now" to C-suite executives of large and small space users in this market segment. Where would you like to be 10 years from today? My goal is to continue developing a leadership position in the industry by giving corporate and healthcare clients end-to-end, conflict-free advisory real estate services which enhance their business operations. Her firms' services incorporate all the expertise needed to maximize value, from market knowledge, through structured negotiations and on to construction services. Manley's teams eliminate real estate headaches from the C-suite, and provide clients with mission-critical real estate services.