The Critical Issues Seminar committee has been working since last summer to develop this program of keynote speakers and topics. In addition to Neil Shah (RICS and ARES Director of Critical Issues Seminar) and Steve Pyhrr (SynerMark Properties, Inc. and ARES Executive Director), the Seminar Committee is directed by Terry Dunkin (Appraisal Institute and Dunkin Real Estate Advisors), Doug Sawyer (CCIM Institute and Sawyer Properties), Ron Throupe (University of Denver and American Valuation Partners), and Larry Wofford (University of Tulsa). This year, the Committee designed a 4.5 hour program of keynote topics and speakers that address the major topics of mutual interest to our industry and academic members.

The six topics and keynote speakers on each topic, with 45-50 minutes for each topic, are the following:

  • The National/global Outlook and Capital Flows: Robert White, CRE, FRICS, and Steve Williams, FRICS, MAI, both of Real Capital Analytics (RCA). Bob is the Founder and President of Real Capital Analytics, a firm that brings transparency to the investment markets by providing real-time data of capital flows and prices of commercial properties. He publishes the widely-read reports Global Capital Trends and US Capital Trends, covering all markets globally, providing investment market data and analysis to all segments of the real estate community, from buyers, developers, brokers and lenders. Steve is the former President of the 140,000-member Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). He is a global advisor to RCA and a founding partner of the New York valuation practice, Williams-Murdoch. He divides his time between the USA, Europe, and Asia, advising the capital markets about the value of securitized assets.
  • Real Estate Market Cycles By Property Type and geographic Markets: Glenn Mueller, Ph.D., Glenn is a professor at the University of Denver Burns School of Real Estate & Construction Management, and teaches investment, development and real estate capital markets. He is also the Real Estate Investment Strategist for Black Creek, formerly Dividend Capital, and a national expert on real estate market cycle research and investment strategy. He has over 100 published articles in areas of real estate market cycle analysis, real estate securities analysis (REITs), public and private capital markets, portfolio analysis, investments, and diversification analysis. His well known publications, Real Estate Market Cycle Monitor and Real Estate Market Cycle Forecast, are quarterly publications that analyze the present and future of more than 50 MSAs throughout the United States by major property types (multifamily, office, industrial, retail and hotel/motel) by current and future stages of the market cycle – – recovery, expansion, peak, oversupply, recession, bottom, and their impact on occupancy, rent rates and property value.
  • Demographic Impacts and Forecasting Future Property Performance: Andrew Florance, Founder, Director, President and CEO, CoStar Group, Jay Spivey, Senior Director of Analytics,  and John Affleck, International Economist with CoStar Group. CoStar’s recent innovations in real estate analytics have been developed extensively the last 5 years through CoStar’s purchase of Property and Portfolio Research (PPR), LoopNet, and the development of Apartments.com. Demographic changes have a profound impact on commercial and residential property performance, which will be discussed and analyzed in this presentation. The Analytics Group has developed and deployed a new forecasting system that produces forecasts for all 5+ million commercial and multifamily properties in the U.S. and U.K., for all key real estate variables including vacancy, demand, rent, price, and cap rate. A top/down system of forecasts begin with metro-level models which produce regional and market level forecasts, which are then applied to submarkets and finally to specific properties and locations depending on relative rents, vacancy levels, local economic drivers and recent trends.
  • Technology and Disruption: Joseph G. Nahas, Jr., CRE, FRICS, is Senior Vice President, Institutional Marketing and Investor Relations of Equus Capital Partners and the 2018 Chair of the Board of Counselors of Real Estate. He is also an adjunct professor of real estate at Villanova University School of Business. KC Conway, MAI, CRE, Director of Research & Corporate Engagement, Alabama Center for Real Estate, Chief Economist, CCIM Institute. The rise of new technologies will have an immense impact on commercial and residential properties, investments, equity and debt financing, jobs, work environments, and living environments. The widespread adoption of cloud computing and mobile devices are having a profound effect on how people work and play. Innovations such as 3D printing applications, smart sensors, driverless cars, robotics, and artificial intelligence will radically change the way we use, measure and value the built environment. The real estate profession will need to plan and adapt in this new environment. Joe will examine this developing field of study that produces more questions than answers from today’s fast-paced technological changes.
  • Educating Current & Future Real Estate Professionals: Stephen Roulac, Ph.D., is the founder and CEO of Roulac Global, an international real estate consulting firm, has written hundreds of articles, and authored or edited over a dozen books. He taught at the Stanford Graduate School of Business for ten years, University of California, Berkeley and the University of Ulster, Ireland. His interdisciplinary teachings and approach to real estate education incorporate a strong and integrated academic and practice orientation that will drive future real estate curriculums and programs in academics and industry. Douglas A. Sawyer, CCIM, CIPs is President/Owner of Sawyer Properties and was President of CCIM Education Foundation and the Virginia Association of Realtors. He has taught CCIM courses throughout the U.S. and globally –– Moscow, St. Petersburg, Warsaw, London, Taipei, and Cairo. As a Board Member of ARES, he has been a director of the Critical Issues Seminar for many years and spoken extensively on the future of education in academics and industry.
  • Summary, Conclusions, and Insights: Larry E. Wofford, Ph.D., FRICS, is the Davis D. Bovaird Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Tulsa, formerly Professor of Finance and Real Estate at The University of Tulsa, and Chairholder of Real Estate at the University of Hawaii. He developed several businesses, including the award winning Route 66 Harley-Davidson dealership in Tulsa. He is widely published and an author and coauthor of two textbooks, and a leading futurist thinker on the subject of academic-industry collaboration in education and research. Larry will summarize our afternoon of presentations and discussions on the above six topics, and offer insights and ideas on “where do we go next” as leaders in real estate education and research.