What’s the best way to prepare for a thriving commercial real estate career today and in the future? Leaders of real estate programs at the University of North Carolina, Ohio State and Clemson enlighten us.

Key Takeaways:

• Learn to be resilient and flexible.

• Interdisciplinary approaches provide a broad real estate education.

• There is a history of collaboration between higher education systems and the commercial real estate industry.

• Experiential learning is an effective way to build skillsets. You’ve got to do the thing!

This Episode's Guests

Dustin Read, Ph.D.

Director, Master of Real Estate Development Program, Clemson University

Dustin leads the Master of Real Estate Development Program at Clemson University. Previously, he was involved in leadership in the real estate programs at Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Some of his research interests include affordable housing, land use policy, and public-private partnerships. Dr. Read is a NAIOP Research Foundation Distinguished Fellow, an inductee into the Institute of Real Estate Management’s Academy of Authors, and a seven-time recipient of honors from the American Real Estate Society for his contributions to real estate theory and practice.

Donald D. Sheets

Executive Director, The Ohio State University Center for Real Estate

Donald has over two dozen years of leadership experience on Wall Street across several investment management firms, one of which he founded nearly a decade ago and recently sold. In addition to leading the Center for Real Estate at The Ohio State University, he also is on the faculty at Harvard University and serves as Chair of the Harvard Alumni Real Estate Board. His predecessor faculty appointments were at Columbia University, New York University and Auburn University.

Jeff Tucker

Executive Director, Wood Center for Real Estate Studies, University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School

Jeff is new to his role leading the real estate program at the University of North Carolina, having started in mid-2023. Tucker has more than 20 years of experience in private equity, with the last 16 focused on real estate. He most recently served as co-chairman and CEO of Century Bridge Capital, a firm based in Beijing and Dallas that is focused on middle-class residential developments in China.

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