Power Women: Transwestern’s Nora Hogan Bleeds TCU Purple, Loves Brooches And Believes In Dressing For Success
This limited series profiles DFW Power Women who have made their mark in the Dallas-Fort Worth commercial real estate industry. Each of the women profiled will be honored at Bisnow's Dallas-Fort Worth Power Women event Nov. 12.
Transwestern principal Nora Hogan is a wealth of knowledge considering she has completed more than 22M SF of transactions for clients in major U.S. markets since 1984.
Hogan specializes in transactions for national and corporate clients and does everything from acquisitions and dispositions to build-to-suit oversight to facilities management.
She is a jack-of-all-trades and a master of all at the same time. She loves football — TCU in particular — and if you are looking to give her a Christmas gift, there is one thing she always wears to work.
“I graduated from TCU and bleed purple, but for the unveiling of the 12th man, I was maroon from head to toe,” Hogan said. “My trademark is brooches, and I wear a different one each day. Because I felt like a queen for being nominated [as a Bisnow power woman], I wore my Lion King with a crown for the picture. Coincidentally, I am in maroon again.”
If you work with Nora and don’t bleed purple, that’s OK. Her career motto is to take everyone — even those non-TCU grads — under her wing.
Bisnow: What did you dream of becoming as a child? How does your current career feed that inner child inside of you?
Hogan: Being happily married with six children. I am happily married, have no children, but have trained many young people right out of school. So, in effect, I had my six children and have a new adoptee, Hanna Henley, who has just joined our team.
Bisnow: If you could teach women growing in the industry today just one thing, what would it be?
Hogan: Dress for success. I had a young lady landlord rep show up to tour space late for a transaction worth $10M. She was wearing the latest ripped jeans. Without missing a beat, I said, "Oh my gosh, what happened, are you hurt, are your knees OK? It must have been quite the fall to rip your jeans that badly!" She got the message.
Bisnow: Who inspires you daily and why?
Hogan: My husband, Bob. He is the neighborhood ambassador willing to help anyone, always spreading the "Good News" and he turns dirt into magnificent sculptures, like the 12th Man at Texas A&M.
Bisnow: What is your biggest career failure and what positive lessons did it teach you?
Hogan: Getting fired as the No. 1 sales rep for a publicly traded company, because at that time I was told "a woman was not going to finish first." I went from a career I loved with a salary cap, to a career I really loved for the last 34 years with no earning cap.
Bisnow: Describe your greatest career accomplishment.
Hogan: Entering the business in the '80s during a severe recession. The agents around me were losing their homes to foreclosure. I didn't know anything different, and I just knocked on doors and closed 65 transactions my first year. None over 2K SF, and I bought my first home!
