Real Estate Pride Roundtable: LGBTQ+ Leaders Discuss Authenticity at Work, Sustainability, and Reimagined Spaces

In front of professionals and executives from more than 120 companies at the Real Estate Pride Roundtable in New York City in April, dozens of speakers shared honest perspectives on how far the commercial real estate industry has come on LGBTQ+ inclusion and how much more it has to go.

The roundtable was the world’s largest gathering of LGBTQ+ real estate professionals, and the discussions at the Deutsche Bank Center featured executives from Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, CBRE Investment Management, Mortgage Bankers Association, and dozens of other speakers from nearly every real estate and financial services sector.

“The speakers were super successful professionals running their industries and that is a big striking point to me,” said Tres Seippel, Director of Construction Management at Arbor, who attended the conference. Arbor also sponsored the roundtable.

Hosted by Sam Chandan, Ph.D., Founding Director at the C.H. Chen Institute for Global Real Estate Finance at NYU Stern School of Business, and Deutsche Bank, proceeds from the roundtable support Pride scholarships and research initiatives. Several LGBTQ+ CRE students attended and were recognized as scholarship recipients, which Chandan, the chair of the Real Estate Pride Council, noted will help them grow their careers and build a more inclusive industry.

The Financial Imperative for LGBTQ+ Inclusion

U.S. companies benefit culturally and financially from inclusive work cultures. Accenture recently found that U.S. companies that aren’t inclusive leave a total of $1 trillion annually on the table due to higher turnover rates, lower productivity, and lower employee engagement.

Companies that fail to support LGBTQ+ employees don’t maximize their value because their employees feel they need to leave a large part of themselves – and their talents — at home, said Jon Tilli, Roundtable Co-Chair and Director, Commercial Real Estate at Deutsche Bank, during the panel.

Being Authentic at Work

Several speakers offered experiences of times they felt they should avoid mentioning their same-sex partners at work or share that they took a trip to a well-known LGBTQ+-friendly destination.

But there was also ample optimism, with one speaker sharing that by including her pronouns in her email signature, an employee finally felt comfortable recently wearing nail polish to a construction site. Others mentioned they’ve begun including their pronouns, such as he/him/his or she/her/hers, in their email signatures to share their identities with colleagues.

“Inclusion matters — everyone needs to be included for firms to keep moving forward – and that’s the message that Arbor wants to send by being at the roundtable,” said Adam Bell, Managing Director, Chief Marketing Officer at Arbor. 

While the importance of empowering LGBTQ+ colleagues to be authentic at work was mentioned throughout the day, speakers also stressed that non-LGBTQ+ colleagues or allies must also feel enabled to share their support.

Leah Fisher, Senior Vice President, Special Projects, Governance, and Risk and Arbor’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) task force lead, attended the roundtable and felt inspired by the achievements of LGBTQ+ colleagues who were present and their willingness to share their stories in an unvarnished and open manner.

“As a woman in this industry, I have my own struggles,” said Fisher. “But there was something humbling about bearing witness to the honesty and vulnerability of members of the LGBTQ+ community: what they’ve experienced, how they’ve engaged, and how they’ve shown up as their most authentic selves in the face of a society and industry that can present significant challenges.”

CRE Companies can be LGBTQ+ Allies

Brian Klinksiek, global head of research and strategy at LaSalle Investment Management, told attendees that 20 years ago, he mentioned to fellow roundtable speaker and former manager, Mary Ludgin, senior advisor & global investment committee member at Heitman, that he is gay. Ludgin was immediately supportive of Klinksiek’s identity and bravery in coming out, but she also advised caution and a steady approach in revealing his identity to colleagues and employers.

During the conversation, an attendee asked Ludgin if she would offer the same advice in 2024 to a young industry professional who identifies as LGBTQ+. Ludgin noted that the industry has become more accepting of different LGBTQ+ identities. But she said it’s still important to be cautious and know when and where to reveal various aspects of your identity and experiences.

Those at the roundtable advocated for companies to encourage and promote more allies and leaders like Ludgin, who have experience with navigating different situations, biases, and viewpoints. Taking steps such as these or starting an LGBTQ+ resource group can help create a safe space and show employees that their voices matter.

“For a firm to support the LGBTQ+ community, it doesn’t necessarily have to be big and flashy for all employees to feel welcomed and included,” said Seippel.

Reimaging Commercial Real Estate Spaces

It’s been estimated that 20% of U.S. commercial office space is vacant, including the iconic Flatiron Building in Manhattan, which will soon be converted to residential space. Its conversion is representative of a challenge and an opportunity in reimaging commercial real estate space.  

“It’s interesting to me how I walk into some newer residential buildings in New York City now, and I’m met with nature all around me, plants, green space, and spas – but I’m not getting that same experience outside,” said Tracy J. Passarella, Senior Project Manager at Gilbane Building Company. “There’s an opportunity to give tenants more wellness amenities inside buildings that they are really looking for.”

Slower Progress on Sustainability

Although sustainable infrastructure and practices have already demonstrated positive ROI for many firms, viewing sustainability from an ROI perspective is short-sighted, said Robbie Pinkas, Senior Vice President at PACE Loan Group, and Michael Samuelian, Founding Director at Jacobs Urban Technology Hub and Director, Campus Planning and Sustainability at Cornell Tech.

“We also need to be taking into account the benefits of keeping our planet, air, and water livable for us,” said Samuelian.

Pinkas and Samuelian discussed how New York City’s Local Law 97, which has a goal to reduce the emissions produced by the city’s largest buildings 40% by 2030 and to net zero by 2050, has not driven the level of change many expected. “About 20% of buildings in the city are impacted now, but by 2030 nearly 80% will be non-compliant if we do not create more urgency,” said Pinkas.

From building a more inclusive workplace to advancing sustainability, the speakers at the Proud Roundtable stressed that greater urgency is needed to continue making significant progress on social issues within commercial real estate.

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