Mary Ludgin is one of the best big-picture, strategic minds in the commercial real estate investment business. She is the Head of Global Research at Heitman, a global real estate investment management firm with $45.5 billion in assets under management. The initial interview focused mostly on the effects of COVID on the built environment, with a fascinating discussion on ripples of the COVID crisis post-vaccine, both from a national and global perspective. Recorded a week prior to the George Floyd killing and the resulting national outcry, Matt had a follow-up conversation with Mary on June 3rd to discuss issues relating to social and racial equity in our country, the current unrest, and opportunities for the real estate industry to do better.

Mary is Heitman’s Senior Managing Director, Head of Global Research and an equity owner of the firm. She is a member of the firm’s Board of Managers, Global Management Committee, North American Private Equity Valuation Committee, and Private Equity and Debt Investment Committees. She is the author of numerous articles and research studies relating to real estate markets, portfolio management and strategy. Prior to joining Heitman, she was an urban planner for the City of Chicago and she worked in retail site location.

Mary received an AB from Vassar College and an MA and PhD from Northwestern University. She is a Governing Trustee of the Urban Land Institute and sits on its Global Board of Directors. Mary also chairs ULI’s Chicago District Council. Among other professional affiliations, she served two terms on the board of the Pension Real Estate Association and was its president. Mary is also a former president of the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries. She was named a fellow of the Homer Hoyt Institute in 2000, is a docent for the Chicago Architecture Foundation and is a member of the board of the Metropolitan Planning Council of Chicago.

Leading Voices in Real Estate has tried to present conversations with leaders in the real estate world from a diverse set of backgrounds, with different perspectives, and from all sectors of the industry. We will be working to bring more leaders of color into the conversation and will be thinking, with all of our guests, how our industry can better address inequities internally within our companies and in the work that we do.