Chicago Women Leading Real Estate [SOLD OUT]

Katie Jahnke Dale concentrates her practice in the areas of land use and zoning, public-private financing, public incentives, community and economic development, as well as general real estate. Katie's practice involves representing developers, purchasers, sellers and owners of institutional, residential and commercial property in securing development and zoning approvals, negotiating and implementing public-private development and financing arrangements and incentives, performing general and zoning due diligence, and negotiating and closing real estate acquisitions and dispositions. Katie has played a leading role in obtaining zoning and public financing approvals in several of Chicago's largest developments in recent years. In addition, she has led teams to secure zoning and Class L approvals for many of the significant projects in Chicago's Fulton Market District, one of the hottest neighborhoods for development in the United States. Katie serves as the Chicago office hiring partner and as a member of DLA Piper's Chicago and North American Pro Bono Committee.

Kimberly Dowdell, AIA, NOMAC, is the 2024 President of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Dowdell is also a principal with global design firm HOK, serving as firmwide director of strategic relationships. In 2019-2020, Dowdell served as national president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). Dowdell has devoted her career to laying foundations for architects to create positive social and environmental change on a local, national and global scale. She has intentionally connected a diverse array of built environment stakeholders to help advance her professional mission, which is “to improve people's lives, by design." At HOK, Dowdell co-chairs the firm’s Diversity Advisory Council (DAC) and co-founded HOK Impact, the firm’s social responsibility program. She also co-founded Social Economic Environmental Design (SEED), an organization that promotes design for healthy communities in 2005. Dowdell earned her Master of Public Administration at Harvard and her Bachelor of Architecture at Cornell, where she was elected by her fellow alumni to serve on the board of trustees in 2022.

As President of Fifield Companies, Erin Spears oversees national operations and leads our strategic growth initiatives. During her career, Erin has worked on over $3.5 billion of real estate transactions consisting of multifamily, office, retail and industrial projects across the country. She has directed the acquisition and development of $1.6 billion of investments including 4,600 multifamily units and 400,000 square feet of office buildings in Chicago, the Southeast and Texas. Prior to joining Fifield, Erin spent three years at Heitman as an Executive Vice President of Acquisitions for Heitman’s Value Fund. She was responsible for joint venture value-add acquisitions. Previously, Erin was Vice President of Multifamily Investments at Pearlmark and began her career as a financial analyst in investment banking at J.P. Morgan Securities. Erin graduated with honors from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a member of the National Multi Housing Council; the Urban Land Institute and a WLI Advisory Board member. Erin was named a Crain’s Chicago Business 40 Under 40, a Real Estate Forum “Woman of Influence” and Real Estate Forum Fifty Under 40. Erin is the proud mother of three young children, a Peloton addict and an eternally optimistic golfer.

Ms. Hassan is a Senior Vice President responsible for the sourcing and evaluation of investment opportunities. Since joining LaSalle in 2014, she has completed over $3.5 billion in property transactions across property sectors throughout the US and has also held asset management, portfolio management and capital formation responsibilities. Ms. Hassan earned a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois and an MBA with a concentration in Real Estate Finance and Investment from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University.

Carrie Szarzynski has more than 29 years of experience in the operations and management of commercial real estate and provides leadership and oversight to the management services division. She has extensive experience managing teams, day-to-day property operations, capital planning and management, construction oversight, and assisting with marketing and leasing. In her role, Carrie has been instrumental in the transformation that the Hiffman National management services department has undergone over the past three years. Under her guidance as Senior Vice President, the organization transitioned from individual teams to a harmonious collaborative group that makes each other better and keeps growing. She leads by example, and not only does she understand the real estate industry incredibly well, but she also has a fantastic talent for understanding individual strengths and weaknesses. Carrie focuses on the strength each person brings and a deep understanding of the industry to move the whole department forward. Carrie recognizes the value of the leadership team’s experience and leverages knowledge to streamline processes, add efficient new protocols, and solicit team members’ opinions. Somehow she balances all of her responsibilities, is available to all employees and clients, is on the Sync committee, has corporate responsibilities, is a BOMA mentor and speaker, has been interviewed and published by several real estate publications, and is helping launch and grow Hiffman’s national platform. Before joining Hiffman, Carrie worked with several real estate firms, including U.S. Equities Realty, GE Capital, JLL, and Equity Office.

Karoline Eigel is a commercial real estate broker with 20+ years of experience in commercial leasing for both landlord and tenant rep clients. Currently expanding the Healthcare Advisory team at Cushman & Wakefield, Karoline is utilizing her expertise to grow the burgeoning footprint in the Chicagoland market, leveraging her successful experience in healthcare advisory and portfolio management. Ms. Eigel is currently working with physician practice groups, hospital systems and investors in healthcare real estate across the country, providing strategic advisory and brokerage services, with a focus on the patient experience, service line growth projections, payer mix analysis, clinical space utilization and regulatory compliance. The Healthcare Advisory team represents Mag Mile Medical Pavilion, a newly developed MOB within a building located in the iconic 875 N Michigan Ave. Prior to joining C&W, Ms. Eigel lead the leasing for Harrison Square Chicago, a 13-acre life science and medical office innovation hub located within the Illinois Medical District. The first phase of the $1 billion redevelopment project included the Old Cook County Hospital building. The new iteration of the historic landmark includes a dual-branded 210-room hotel, 70K RSF for Cook County Health medical offices, a childcare center, and a food hall. As a commercial real estate consultant, she developed and managed leasing programs and marketing initiatives for national and international institutional investors and developers, working with landlord leasing teams to develop and implement leasing/marketing strategies. Notable clients include Advanced Dermatology, Accent Care, MedStar Health, Remedy, United Urology, Rethink Healthcare Real Estate and Hearn. Ms. Eigel is on the Board of Directors and is a mentor for the HEAR Foundation (HEARFoundation.org), which provides $20,000 college scholarships and four years of mentoring to excelling Chicagoland high school seniors who are outstanding citizens in financial need.