Terri Gumula, Citigroup

Name : Terri Gumula Title : Vice President Company/firm : Citigroup Years with company/firm : 1 Years in field : 15+ Years in real estate industry : 15+ Address : 390 Greenwich Ave, NY NY 10013 Telephone : 212.723.2503 Email : [email protected] URL : www.citi.com Real estate organizations/affiliations : YMWREA, ULI What was your greatest professional accomplishment in 2010? New York State Court Appointed Receiver for partially completed residential condominium projects, with a value in excess of $35 million dollars combined. What was your most notable project, deal or transaction in 2010? Developed and implemented (with execution at 30% over target) new business line for firm in bankruptcy. How do you contribute to your company and / or the industry? The best contribution is doing and excelling in what you do. It's important to focus on turning yourself into a business of yourself. Your boss becomes your customer, how are you doing? Do you deliver as promised? When it is promised? Think-how do I add value? It's easier to contribute when you understand what you are good at. I'm very good at analyzing situations with partial information available and have a wide berth of knowledge across finance, underwriting, legal, physical, leasing, marketing and sales that helps me tie disparate pieces of data together. What advice would you give to women just starting out in commercial real estate? My advice to any young person starting out is to focus on substance, learn as much as you can about everything. I'm always surprised at how small things that you never thought would be important are important. Learn how to focus on the details and the big picture simultaneously. One of my favorite sayings is "If you haven't failed you haven't tried hard enough." It's important to try and push your boundaries. Figuring out what you are not good at is important. How do you manage the work/life balance? Do you ask guys this question? Who or what has been the strongest influence on your career? I've had the opportunity to work with fabulous people who were self-made. They were so savvy. As a newbie, it was eye-opening to learn the owners knew more than their attorneys when negotiating loans and had a command of the minutae. They could tell you every tenant, their rent, when their lease ended, and the silk flower arrangement in the lobby was $125. Others taught me the value of patience and strategic thinking. Today we want everything to be a rush, but there is real value in thinking and not jumping to conclusions, to explore the topic in full and look at all the angles. What impact has social networking had on your business? Transactions remain a people based business. Connecting on-line is not the same as connecting in person. It's important to recognize that you're not buying a bond, you are buying an operating business. Every business is different. If you have a seniors project, chances are that social networking will be much less of an impact in the sales & marketing process than in a student housing project where facebook and other networking is important to your customer base. Personally, I don't read blogs much and don't twitter. I have found that they typically don't add a lot of value and they repeat the same information that has already been reported in the media. I only have so much time and the amount of information can be overwhelming.