Chicago Deep Dish: Capital Markets & Future Opportunities

Collete English Dixon has more than 30 years in investment management with a focus on commercial real estate investing. Prior to her current role at Roosevelt University, she was Executive Director - Transactions for PGIM Real Estate (formerly known as PREI), a business unit of Prudential Financial, and co-leader of PREI’s national investment dispositions program. In that role, she oversaw the sale of more than 200 investment properties located throughout the US, with a total value of more than $8.7 Billion, on behalf of PREI’s investment funds. Prior to her role in dispositions, English Dixon was responsible for sourcing more than $2.75B of wholly-owned and joint venture real estate investment opportunities in the Midwest markets covering all property types, including office, rental and for-sale multi-family, hotel, industrial and retail properties. Collete’s experience also includes property development and asset management. In her current role, English Dixon is the Executive Director of the Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate at Roosevelt University where she is oversees all aspects of the undergraduate real estate major and the MSRE/MBA-RE degree programs. She is the first African American woman leader of a higher-education real estate program in the US. She is a member of the administrative team for the Heller College of Business and is also the program director for the university’s Hospitality and Tourism Management undergraduate and graduate degree programs. She is a member of the Board of Directors and a member of the Nominating Committee for Marcus Millichap, Inc., a member of the Board of Directors for Broadstone Real Estate Access Fund and a member of its Audit and Governance committees, a member of the Advisory Board for Waterton Associates, LLC and a member of the Board of Directors for Community Investment CorporationChicago and the Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation. She is a Past President of CREW Network, a Past Chair of the CREW Network Foundation, and a Past President of CREW Chicago. She is also a Global Governing Trustee and member of the Americas Executive Committee of ULI.

My Team provides balance sheet lending and banking services for commercial real estate owners and investors throughout Chicago and the Midwest. Loan sizes from $5mm to $30mm. Product types include multifamily, industrial, medical office, select retail, and select office.

Tom leads capital procurement and financing of CRG’s residential developments and acquisitions. He joined the firm in 2021 after nearly 10 years at McCaffery Interests, where he financed assets and development projects worth over $1 billion in value. In his previous role, Tom led a team responsible for planning, underwriting and financing urban mixed-use developments. He focused on acquiring land and value-add properties, structuring equity investments in joint venture development projects and providing advisory services on real estate investment strategies for institutions, pension funds and high net worth individuals. Prior to that, Tom was a Managing Director at McKinley, Inc. There he was responsible for asset management and client relationships for McKinley’s third-party management assets. He also lead a team through due diligence, repositioning and financing of multifamily assets in the McKinley’s owned portfolio. Tom began his career at Borders Group, Inc. where he worked in several finance and real estate positions. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Economics & Management from Beloit College, where he was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, and holds an MBA with High Distinction from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He lives in Chicago with his wife and two kids.