There aren t enough women running commercial real estate firms, leading projects and making deals.

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1 1 of 5 03/05/2016 5:53 PM EVAN DUGGAN More from Evan Duggan ( Published on: May 3, 2016 Last Updated: May 3, :22 PM PDT A survey published in 2015 in the U.S. found women in just 14 per cent of leadership roles in commercial real estate. JOHANNES EISELE / AFP/GETTY IMAGES There aren t enough women running commercial real estate firms, leading projects and making deals. Women are dramatically under-represented in executive and senior leadership positions in the industry, and even less present as advisers and brokers, according to

2 2 of 5 03/05/2016 5:53 PM recent institutional research and interviews by The Sun with several prominent women in the local and national commercial real estate industry. Last year the Urban Land Institute (ULI) Women s Leadership Initiative published a survey in the U.S. that polled 1,234 female ULI members and focus groups of women who work in commercial real estate. The study found that only 14 per cent of ULI members who held jobs such as chief executive officers, executive directors or similar leadership jobs were women. In Canada, women are also holding few leadership roles. On March 30 at the Vancouver Real Estate Forum, a total of 59 commercial real estate experts and stakeholders took part in 15 panel discussions. Of those 59 speakers, only eight, or 13 per cent, were women, according to The Sun s count. Advertisement At CBRE, 22 per cent of executive positions at the firm across Canada are held by women. In B.C., the percentage of women leaders at the firm climbs to 30 per cent, according to numbers provided to The Sun by CBRE. I think that women need to view ourselves as leaders and to take steps to achieve those goals, said Ashley O Neill, CBRE s vice-president of corporate strategy. [Women must] take on roles that challenge us and not be afraid to jump in with two feet. If we perceive limits on ourselves because of gender or otherwise, how do we expect senior leaders to view us differently? O Neill said commercial real estate has a competitive and entrepreneurial edge with a lot of type-a personalities. It s an arena that may repel some women, but female leaders in mentorship roles could help new female recruits cope and thrive, she said.

3 3 of 5 03/05/2016 5:53 PM At Colliers International, women hold 12 per cent of executive or senior leadership roles in Canada, according to numbers the firm provided to The Sun. But when it comes to brokers those who advise and write deals only 7 per cent are female. I think [those numbers] are low, said Keri Fraser, Colliers senior director of people services for North America. I think we can do much better than that. Fraser said it s important not to speculate about what s preventing women from securing leadership roles and that Colliers is now in the process of studying the reasons. We re going to be interviewing females in our industry that are in what we call revenue producing roles, and women who have chosen not to go in, and really learn so we can figure it out, she said, noting that women, however, make up 69 per cent of support staff at Colliers. Avison Young, another firm with a major presence in Vancouver, said it had just one female managing director in Canada, but did note that seven of the 15 members on their global corporate leadership team are women. Sherry Quan, a principal at Avison Young in Vancouver and also the firm s global director of communications, said the shortage of women in broker roles is remarkable. She suggested women could be avoiding the income risks associated with real estate s commission-based system. Many women also juggle kids and home life with their careers, and unlike in residential real estate, you can t do commercial real estate part-time, she said. It may take a year to try to sell a shopping mall with no guarantee of a commission. In some markets, commercial real estate remains an old boys club, Quan said. There is such a predominance of men in management positions in commercial real estate, and companies need to break that mould and integrate diversity into their culture. She said most firms lack a critical mass of women that could form a support network in the male-dominated workplace. This lack of a support system is OK for a

4 4 of 5 03/05/2016 5:53 PM while, but the long cycle of getting into the business seems to have a large attrition rate for women. But solutions are at hand and progress is being made, say Quan and others. For instance, CBRE last year launched a Canadian chapter of its Women s Network, and has quickly grown to 110 members. The firm is also a lead funder of research by the Commercial Real Estate Women s (CREW) Network, which benchmarks and assesses obstacles that women face in the industry. At Colliers, the number of women enrolled in their adviser training is climbing, Fraser said, noting that the program is now 22-per-cent female. That s our future workforce of brokers, she said. So we re already seeing in the last couple of years some success in hiring more women into that program. Quan, who is the only female among 21 principals at Avison Young in Vancouver, said her firm has also launched a women s network and has a CEO that has been very vocal about how we need to have more diversity in our leadership going forward. But she said routines and exclusionary habits in the industry also need to change. Women need to be invited to business lunches, golf meetings and other clientdevelopment activities, she said. And human resources need to ensure there are no disparities in pay between genders. evan@evanduggan.com (mailto:evan@evanduggan.com) Twitter.com/EvanBDuggan ( Vancouver Flyers We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page ( for more information.

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