Winter Issue 2022 - 30

developments
advantage for executing ULI's overall
DEI strategy. "
Collete English Dixon, a global
Alice Connell (center), a WLI
cofounder, attends a 2015 ULI
Fall Meeting reception at the
Contemporary Jewish Museum
in San Francisco. Connell
passed away in 2017.
governing trustee and member of
ULI's DEI Committee, says many
strides need to be made for parity
to be achieved in the industry. That
is true for Black, indigenous, and
people of color (BIPOC) women in
particular.
" One of the interesting problems
about attracting BIPOC women
into this industry is you've got to
get them in the pipeline to begin
with, " says Dixon, a ULI Chicago
member and executive director of
the Marshall Bennett Institute of
Real Estate at Roosevelt University.
" We all have some work to do
around that. "
The lack of diversity in commercial
real estate is an important
issue. More than 75 percent of
senior executive positions in the
commercial real estate industry
nationwide are held by white
men, according to a recent Bella
Research Group and Knight Foundation
study. Only 14.1 percent of
the positions are held by white
women, 1.3 percent by Black
men, and fewer than 1 percent by
women of color.
De Briere says " there has to
be intention around creating true
diversity " in the industry.
ULI district councils offer opportunities
for women who are members
to network, lead, and advance
their careers through the councils,
with 46 WLI committees in the
Americas region. Globally, 53 WLI
committees represent district and
national councils in 10 countries.
WLI also offers Prologis Achievement
Award Scholarships yearly for
10 women rising stars worldwide
who attend the ULI Fall or Spring
Meeting and are paired with a
mentor and invited to a product
council. There have been 70 scholarship
recipients to date.
Gwyneth Jones Coté, president
of ULI Americas, says, " WLI is
positioned well to continue its
high-impact programming and
ensuring women's voices are not
only heard, but regarded for their
expertise. " And this emphasis on
elevating women as leaders and
subject-matter experts is not a
temporary objective. " You'll see
this during our 10th anniversary
year and beyond. "
Stay tuned for future stories related
to the Women's Leadership Initiative's
10th anniversary that will
highlight more of WLI's history,
achievements, and stories.
KAREN JORDAN is a Los Angeles-based
freelance writer.
INSIDE THE uli foundation
ULI Climate Effort Gets
a Boost from Former
Global Chair Lynn
Thurber's $500,000
Donation
Lynn Thurber, chairman of JLL
Income Property Trust and former
ULI global chair, has donated
$500,000 to support the efforts
of the ULI Greenprint Center for
Building Performance's Net Zero
Imperative, a multiyear initiative to
accelerate decarbonization in the
built environment.
Lynn Thurber, chairman of
JLL Income Property Trust
and former ULI global chair.
Thurber, a member of the advisory
board and past chair of the
Institute's Center for Sustainability
and Economic Performance, says
her donation was motivated by the
need to avert catastrophic climate
change. " We must develop and
implement the changes necessary
to take each and every building
on the journey to net-zero carbon
emissions, if we want to leave our
planet in a livable position for our
grandchildren and for the generations
to come after them, " she
explains.
Thurber, a ULI trustee, also cited
the inspiration of Owen Thomas,
a member of the ULI Founda " When
Owen Thomas shared
with me his plan to launch
a Net Zero Imperative at
ULI with a very generous
personal gift, I was thrilled
and motivated to help. "
-Lynn Thurber
28
URBAN LAND
WINTER 2022
ULI/VELLUM MEDIA
Winter Issue 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Winter Issue 2022
