Back in the early 1980s, I was a real estate major at the University of Florida. That, to be sure, was an oddity. Almost no one – and I mean no one – had a specific focus on real estate as a major.
Fast-forward 30 years, and now it’s almost commonplace thanks to the UF Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies. So many young people are now able to obtain the very specific training needed for this industry that was so elusive in my day.
My first job was an internship with Kelly Bergstrom of JMB Realty in Chicago. So when I had a chance some 15 years ago to get involved with the center that bears his name, I jumped at the chance.
I’ve been paying it forward ever since, sponsoring scholarships when I can and, in general, using my experience and connections to help young people find their careers in real estate at all kinds of companies.
I’m really proud of my involvement with the Bergstrom Center. I do it because it’s something that needed to be done when I was in school – and no one was doing it.
So it was a real pleasure recently to host Episode 305 of Fried On Business live from the 2015 UF Bergstrom Center Real Estate Trends & Strategies Conference in Orlando. We talked on-air with a number of top-flight professionals, including:
– Paul Ellis of CNL Commercial Real Estate, talking about how he helped to build the commercial division of the company.
– Todd Jones of Cushman & Wakefield, talking about how to overhaul your approach to property taxes.
– Kendall Almerico of FundHub.biz, discussing crowdfunding in commercial real estate.
– Robert E. Lee of Silver Portal Capital, talking about private REITs and other ways of generating capital for real estate deals.
Each of these guys is committed to mentoring the next generation of practitioners in our industry, as is the University of Florida.
What sets UF apart is the personal network that has developed among the real estate grads, and I love being a part of it. By helping them move their businesses forward, mine moves forward, too.
Click here to listen to the interviews from the 2015 UF Bergstrom Center Real Estate Trends & Strategies Conference.
