Real Estate Leadership and Outlook Event: Technological Impact on Markets, Operations, and Careers

Thank you to FWSF members Lysa Wollard and Swati Chopra, who provided summary notes and photos from the event

November 2, 2023 at St Mary's College of California, Moraga, CA

Financial Women of San Francisco co-hosted the event with the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) – East Bay and partnered with St. Mary's College of California School of Economics and Business Administration (SEBA) and the SEBA Finance and Economics Clubs.

Since the pandemic, we have seen rapid change in the geopolitical, economic and industrial environments on a global basis, and the pressure to change has been felt most acutely in the real estate and financial services industry here in the San Francisco Bay Area. This event focused on insights and recommendations by some of the top female commercial-residential real estate and financial executives with respect to technology, finance, portfolio management, research, acquisitions, development, and sales.

Key takeaways:

• Keynote presentation: Olga Koroleva, Founder and CEO of Capital Brain, gave the keynote and talked about the challenges she faces as a leader in the current environment. She talked about the difference between Risk and Uncertainty. Risk is having an unknown outcome but known probabilities for each outcome whereas Uncertainty is when there is an unknown outcome, and the probabilities are unknown. She advises focusing on what you can control and letting go what you cannot control. Then take effective action; don’t let fear guide you. The Summit and your next step are the only things that matter.
• Panel discussion: The SEBA students led the discussion with the panelists and asked each of the panelists to talk about what got them to where they are in their careers and for any advice they could provide for the next generation. The panelists also shared their perspectives on how technology will impact the future of the real estate industry and how critical it is to be adaptive and open to learning new technologies.

Panelists:

Alina Aeby, Global Coordinator for Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at National Association of REALTOR, Silicon Valley Proptech Association
Ginger Bryant, Managing Partner, Sares Regis Group of Northern California
Ashia Derksen, Chief Financial Officer, Shorenstein Realty Services
Cori English, Managing Principal, Cushman & Wakefield
Julie Gutzwiller, Chief Financial Officer / Chief Operating Officer, Bridge Partners