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The Real Estate Center adds value to classroom exercises by inviting real estate professionals to guest lecture in class. Their participation lends depth and perspective to class discussion, and students gain the extra benefit of learning from practitioners.
On Monday evening May 9, 2016 David J. Neithercut, CEO and President of Equity Residential (EQR), addressed Dr. Charlie Wurtzebach's Graduate RE 535 Institutional Real Estate Investment class. Mr. Neithercut began the conversation with a presentation of EQR's historical performance and strategy since its beginning as a public company in 1993 through their recent Starwood transaction completed earlier this year. Following the presentation, students asked questions about strategy, past and future, expected demographic changes affecting the apartment market, as well as specific performance and entity structure questions.
On May 2, 2016 Lewis Ingall (L), Senior Managing Director of Heitman's Client Service & Marketing Group and David Maki (R), Senior Managing Director and Co-Head of Heitman's Real Estate Debt Group, visited Dr. Wurtzebach's graduate RE 535 Institutional Real Estate Investment Class. Mr. Ingall and Mr. Maki presented a discussion of Heitman's global activities in the Institutional Fund Management business with special emphasis on portfolio strategy and development and client service and marketing. Particular attention was given to the real estate investment goals and objectives of US pension and endowment funds as well as the emerging role of Sovereign Wealth Funds.
On Monday April 18, 2016 John A. Kite, Kite Realty Trust Chairman and CEO and David Lazarus, Head of Real Estate Investment Banking and Senior Managing Director of Eastdil Secured, Wells Fargo Securities visited Dr. Wurtzebach's Real Estate 535 Institutional Real Estate Investment class. Mr. Lazarus began the guest lecture with a review of the Real Estate Capital Markets. Special focus was given to overall market conditions and the impact on publicly traded Real Estate Inve stment Trusts and the current climate for mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Kite then presented the Kite Realty Investor Update followed by a discussion of current conditions in the retail market. He also discussed differences between operating as a private company and a publicly traded company.
Following Mr. Kite and Lazarus presentations, students presented their analysis of several existing real estate investment trusts as merger or acquisition candidates. Each presentation was thoroughly discussed and the students were questioned by Mr. Kite and Lazarus.
 On April 5, 2016, Zachary Crowe presented a lecture to Professors Danielle Drabkin and Bill Conway's RE 350 Real Estate Analysis class. Zach is a Principal at The Carlyle Group focused on U.S. real estate opportunities. Zach's lecture provided an overview of the real estate investment process for private equity firms, discussing both qualitative considerations and valuation drivers. He then showed the students how these tools were applied in a successful, high-profile commercial real estate transaction in midtown Manhattan.
On April 4, 2016 Michael Episcope presented a guest lecture to Dr. Wurtzebach's RE 535  Institutional Real Estate Investment graduate class. Michael co-founded Origin Investments to create real estate investments and management expertise that were previously only available to institutions. Michael is the former President of the DePaul Real Estate Alumni Alliance, an official mentor to DePaul graduate students and a Sustaining Sponsor of the DePaul Real Estate Center. He rec eived his undergraduate degree in Finance and his Master of Science in Real Estate at DePaul University.
The focus of Michael's lecture emphasized the importance of the strength of the sponsor in the real estate investment process. That is, it is as much about the people you invest with as it is about the real estate you invest in. In addition, he shared Origin's investment philosophy that the most important decision a sponsor makes is in underwriting and determining to purchase price of any individual investment. During the investment holding period the operational expertise of the sponsor has a great impact on the performance of the investment, but fundamental and capital market factors outside the direct control of the sponsor also significantly impact performance.
 Dan Osten, DePaul alum (BSC 2003) and now regional director for Costar, did a hands on tutorial for students in Professor Susanne Cannon's introductory graduate course RE/FIN 530. Students will use costar for an assignment and two case projects. Dan guided them through the intricacies of the data and introduced them to the powerful research tool.
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