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Mission

Our mission is to raise the bar with respect to REIT education with a sharp focus on sector differentiation. All REIT Academy venues will be taught live by professionals that have decades of successful REIT and REIT related experience.

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Vision

The vision of REIT Academy is to be a well-received bridge for working professionals to connect with seasoned executives that teach our classes and host our webinars. Becoming a leader in this effort is paramount.

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Values

We are seasoned experts in the REIT industry and seek to impart our wisdom to those who want to learn and grow in this field. We won't settle for anything less than delivering the best —- to our students and participants.

Our Story

Jonathan Morris of REIT Academy

In the early 1990's, U.S. commercial real estate developers and owners faced challenging circumstances. Many had accumulated excessive debt levels for new development projects with no tenants. Soon, construction loans would be coming due with nowhere to turn. The U.S. Government stepped in and established the Resolution Trust Corporation or RTC to take over failed projects and even failed lenders. Forming a REIT and going public became a potential panacea for many companies, some were marquee names, who had found themselves in an untenable predicament.

Between 1993 and 1994, approximately 100 commercial real estate developers and owners converted to the REIT structure and launched their IPO. Professor Morris worked through the conversion of a large apartment REIT and helped launch the IPO in 1994. He ran the acquisitions effort post-IPO. The industry has continued to grow rapidly since then.

Now with a $1.5 trillion market cap with approximately 190 public equity REITs, the industry has grown geometrically. Attorneys, investment bankers, lenders, accountants, securities analysts, consulting firms and many more disciplines are engaged by public REITs. Yet, many of these professionals – and those from the REITs themselves – will find tremendous value through understanding the full scope of public and private REITs, how it is intended to operate, grow, capitalize and report to stakeholders. Moreover, the direction of the industry, and each of the many asset classes that make up the industry will be examined, discussed and debated with seasoned guest speakers every other week. Finally, the emergence and extreme importance of ESG will be a key focal point.

Our Team

DAVID AUERBACH
Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/david-auerbach

Based in Dallas, TX, David is an Institutional Trader with over 20 years of experience in the Real Estate Investment sector with a particular focus on REITs. He is currently an Institutional Trader for World Equity Group, a full service, independent brokerage firm based out of Chicago, IL. David started his career at Financial Marketplace Incorporated where he was responsible for opening retail accounts and meeting with firm clients and prospects to help build portfolios followed by a tenure of over a decade at Green Street Advisors where he was a Vice President of Institutional Trading where he executed trades on behalf of hedge funds, mutual funds and pension fund clients focused on the REIT industry.

David is a frequent speaker and writer for MoneyShow and has contributed to The Property Chronicle. He has been quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Financial Times, GlobeSt.com, and REIT.com among other publications.

David is a mentor through the Discord platform as well as LinkedIn and is also a founding Board Member at REIT Academy. He holds an MBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a Bachelor of Business Administration and Finance from the University of Texas, Austin. In his spare time, David is an avid follower of the rockband Phish and a terrible golfer.

JULIANA HESS
Senior Director, Strategy & Global Outreach | Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/hessjuliana

Based in Washington, DC, Juliana is a Corporate and ESG strategist, investor, and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience working in domestic and international markets.

Currently, Juliana is in her final year in Georgetown University's master's in real estate finance executive program. She has focused her studies and research on Sustainable Finance and ESG/Responsible investment and practices.

Before her graduate studies, Juliana spent ten years working in highly entrepreneurial settings as a strategy consultant for CEOs, and management teams in various industries, most notable tech. Before that, she spent another ten years working in international strategy for globally recognized PanEuropean legal services firms. Her work contributed to broadening their global footprint. She led a wide range of innovative strategic and operational initiatives that strengthened the firms' internal operations and brand value and reputation, resulting in increased revenue and market share.

Juliana is also an ESG and Impact advisor to MedAsnwers, a VC-backed health-tech Impact startup working to democratize Health Care and the co-founder and lead of ESG Impact Collaborative, a women-led organization with a mission to demystify ESG and promote its purpose through collaboration, candid conversations, and intellectual exchanges with thought-leaders, senior executives, and rising talent across industries and disciplines.

Juliana received a Bachelor's degree in International Affairs from American University. She also earned a certificate from the NYU Stern Business School in Sustainable Finance and ESG Investment and a French Culture and Civilization diploma from the Sorbonne in Paris. Juliana grew up speaking English and Spanish at home. She has a working knowledge of Dutch and French. When not in school or working, she enjoys refurbishing recycled furniture, photography, Pilates, rowing, watching foreign films, reading, leading her daughters' book club, and mentoring young professionals.

EVAN HUDSON
Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/evanhudson

Based in New York, Evan is a partner at the Wall Street firm, Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, in their Real Estate Capital Markets group. Clients and peers recognize him as an expert in structuring real estate investment vehicles, including private funds and REITs (publicly traded, non-traded and private). He has advised clients in raising billions of dollars of equity capital. These funds have flowed to sponsors through IPOs, follow-on public offerings, and private placements, creating a voluminous track record of helping clients grow our nation's cities and infrastructure.

Evan represents some of the largest private REITs in the world concerning asset management on the institutional side. Furthermore, Evan advises REITs on disclosure issues and corporate matters. Before joining Stroock in 2018, he spent three years as the Real Estate Capital Markets Practice Group's co-chair at Duval & Stachenfeld LLP.

Evan frequently writes and speaks on REITs and other real estate investment vehicles, equity capital-raising options, market conditions, corporate governance and securities law, and he is regularly featured in Alternative Investments Quarterly, Commercial Observer, The DI Wire, National Real Estate Investor and The Real Deal. He has participated in writings issued by the Investment Program Association, now the Institute for Portfolio Alternatives, of which he is an active member and chair-elect of the Industry Products Committee. Prior to this, he served on the Legislative & Regulatory Committee of the Alternative & Direct Investment Securities Association.

Evan holds a bachelor's degree (magna cum laude) from Harvard College and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.

HALL JONES, CFA
Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/hall-jones

Based in Winchester, Massachucetts, Hall Jones, CFA is an experienced buy side REIT portfolio manager and analyst. He worked at AEW Capital Management, LP for more than 20 years, beginning his AEW career as an Equity Analyst and becoming an Assistant Portfolio Manager four years later. In 2006, he rose to become a Director and Portfolio Manager for AEW's REIT dedicated portfolios. Prior to AEW, Hall was an Equity REIT Analyst at First Union Securities which later merged to become Wachovia Securities, and later Wells Fargo Advisors.

Hall graduated from James Madison University with a BBA and holds an MBA from the College of William and Mary. He later added a Masters Degree from Georgetown University in Real Estate. He has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst designation from the CFA Institute and the Fundamentals of Sustainability Accounting credential from the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board.

ALEX PETTEE, CFA
Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/alex-pettee-cfa-ba22a553

Based in Rowayton, Connecticut, Alex Pettee, CFA, is the founder of Hoya Capital Real Estate, an SEC-Registered Investment Advisor working to make real estate investing more accessible for all investors. He is President and Director of Research for Hoya Capital, an SEC-registered investment advisor. Hoya Capital advises individual and institutional accounts focused on publicly traded commercial and residential real estate companies. Hoya Capital is the advisor to HOMZ - Hoya Capital Housing ETF - a diversified real estate fund listed on the NYSE.

Alex's commentary on the US residential and commercial real estate markets has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg TV, CNN, Forbes, National Real Estate Investor, TD Ameritrade Network, and Fox Business and his commentary on the ETF marketplace has been featured in ETF.com, ETF Trends, Benzinga, Zacks, ETF Express, ETF Strategy, and Bankless Times.

A dual-degree holder and two-sport athlete at Georgetown, Alex played baseball and track for the Hoyas and studied Finance and Real Estate. Alex is a CFA Charter holder and holds a Series 65 license. In his spare time, he volunteers as Treasurer for Greens Ledge Light Preservation Society and is a founding Board Member at REIT Academy.

CRAIG SMITH, CFA
Founding Advisory Board Member
linkedin.com/in/craig-smith-620852104

Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, Craig is a Real Estate Finance & Investment executive and educator with over a decade of experience focusing on REITs, Asset Management, M&A, Investment Research, Corporate Finance, and Valuation. He is currently the Head of Research & Property at Anchor Stockbrokers; his responsibilities include business development, mentorship, and overall responsibility for the research offering (including coverage of the SA REIT sector). He is also a learning facilitator for MIT's first online Commercial Real Estate Analysis & Investment Certificate. In this capacity, Craig is a subject matter expert and provides practical support to participants related to the learning content. Before Anchor Stockbrokers, he was an associate director for Sub-Saharan Africa Capital Markets at JLL and an Associate Director, Indirect Investments UK & Europe at LaSalle. He also worked at STANLIB and Standard Bank Group, two renowned South-African based Investment and Financial Institutions.

Craig is a regular market commentator related to the listed property sector in South Africa and real estate markets more broadly in sub-Saharan Africa. He has spoken at numerous conferences (locally, regionally, and internationally). He has been featured in various local and international real estate publications, including PERE News, Bloomberg, Reuters, Financial Mail, Moneyweb, etc.

Craig is an adjunct faculty member at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he lectures the real estate finance program to Master's students. He is also a committee member of CFA Institute Society South Africa, RICS South Africa, SAPOA, and a founding Board Member at REIT Academy. He holds an MSc in Real Estate Finance & Investment from the University of Reading and a BComm (Honours) in Financial Analysis and Portfolio Management from UCT. Craig enjoys reading, spending time with his family and friends, walking, playing tennis, and the occasional round of golf in his spare time. He currently lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.