Progress And Pitfalls Ahead: South Florida CRE Leaders On Tackling Underrepresentation

First Horizon Corp. Chief Financial Officer Hope Dmuchowski has seen how stereotypes can work against women.

The company works with developers to finance projects, and in a male-dominated industry in which relationships lead to deals, gender has left Dmuchowski and other women in banking at a disadvantage.

“I hear from our commercial bankers all the time: ‘I lose clients, I lose this,’ because the person on the other side, the real estate developer said, ‘Yeah, but he can take me to golf, he can go have beers with me, and I can't do that with you,’” she said. 

Women make up 50% of the U.S. population, but occupied only 36.7% of roles in commercial real estate in 2020, according to the CREW Network, a global organization dedicated to advancing women in the industry. 

The underrepresentation of women in the industry is a longstanding problem.

But it’s not an insurmountable one, speakers said at Bisnow’s South Florida Women Leading Real Estate Awards on Aug. 30.

Advocacy from industry leaders, strong mentorship programs and a willingness among young women starting in the business to lean into their strengths will not only bring more women into leadership roles, but also strengthen the companies where they work, speakers at the event said.

“I was having a conversation quite recently with the international partner of one of the biggest brokers in the world, and he turned around to me and said, ‘But surely we don't still need International Women's Day,’” said Caroline Donaghue, director at the commercial real estate marketing and multimedia firm V1. “Part of the challenge we face is that people at the top don't know the challenges that women are facing every single day.”

Women accounted for only 25.6% of executive teams in commercial real estate and 29.6% of board positions in 2022, according to Bisnow’s annual survey of diversity in the industry. Out of 89 companies Bisnow tracked, only five had women serving as CEOs. 

That’s not only a problem for representation, but also for companies’ bottom lines. 

Research from McKinsey & Co. found that firms in the top quartile for gender diversity were 25% more likely to outperform the industry-median growth rate than companies in the bottom quartile.

Companies with women on their boards are more profitable, more productive and their workforces are more engaged, according to Credit Suisse Research Institute. And firms that have three or more women directors have 45% higher earnings per share than their peers with no female directors, MSCI found. 

While there are likely many reasons why companies with more women outperform other firms, speakers at the event said that diversity brings different viewpoints to the table that allow organizations to uncover hidden problems and unique solutions.

“For starters, it's a no-brainer to have a woman on board because it's going to increase your profitability,” Donaghue said from a stage at the Lakeside Village Expo Center on the University of Miami campus in Coral Gables. “But also, I think we bring a very different perspective to conversations when it comes to strategies.”

Coralee Penabad, a principal at the development firm Urban-X, said that input from a diverse group of stakeholders was core to the success of her firm’s development of Miami River Landing, a 315K SF shopping destination in the Mid-River district. 

“At my company, I'm one of the partners and the other partner we have is a male, and we are constantly bouncing ideas off of each other,” Penabad said. “I will see things from a completely different point of view, oftentimes, than what he will see, and when you're able to balance those points of view, you get to the best solution, or the best type of project or decision-making.”

In an industry dominated by men, a woman’s ability to provide novel solutions ultimately helps companies achieve better outcomes, Penebad said. 

“Remember that that's your superpower when you're in a room, speak what's on your mind,” she said. “It may not always be right, but it's your perspective and it makes a difference. It may spawn a series of discussions that end up resulting in an amazing outcome."

While research demonstrates that women and the perspectives they bring increase profitability, they remain underpaid across all levels of the commercial real estate industry. CREW found that women earning a salary made 90 cents for every dollar earned by men in the industry in 2020. The gap was even wider for commissions and bonuses, with women earning 56% less than men. 

“Needless to say, we have a long way to go,” said Arden Karson, the founder of the brokerage and development firm Karson & Co.

She and other speakers at the event stressed the importance of mentorship and helping to open the door for women coming into the industry.  

“By encouraging women to think about careers in real estate early on, that will be a great place to continue to make inroads, because it's just really challenging,” she said.

But Karson added that she’s started to see some positive change in the industry, noting that several men have recently told her they would prefer to work for women. 

Dmuchowski said that women breaking into the industry should seek out mentorship opportunities wherever they can find them in an industry that is still holding on to gendered stereotypes. 

“If you've ever done a loan with a bank, you've been asked to golf,” she said. “What do you think they're doing on the golf course? They're asking questions, or asking for advice or asking for mentorship. And so find your space where you can find an advocate, somebody who will tell you the hard truth.”