Jennifer Raymond, WLI Chair – Houston and President of JPR Commercial Real Estate welcomed the group and stated the organizations mission to raise the visibility and number of women leaders in ULI and the real estate industry.  “ULI Houston re-launched its local WLI in November 2015 with an initial focus on infiltration”, said Erica Henning, Past Chair of WLI.  To date, female membership has grown to 28% of Houston membership and 11 women serve on Global Product Councils.

WLI Houston built momentum in 2019 and has hosted several events as well as encouraged several qualifying women to apply for the Prologis Scholarship to attend the 2019 ULI Fall Meeting in Washington DC this October. We were excited to have two ULI Houston women, Cortney Cole, Managing Director of JLL Capital Markets and Alison Jarvis, President of Jarvis Civil Engineering, receive the Prologis Scholarships.  The purpose of the sponsorship is to support the professional development of ULI women members through participation in the Fall Meeting, and to advance the mission of WLI.  

Further, Hines has been a long supporter of WLI Houston, as well as the global WLI efforts by offering grants for outstanding programs supporting programs to develop women in leadership. At the 2019 Fall Meeting in Washington, D.C, four District Council WLI groups were awarded WLI Hines Innovation Grants. The awards, totaling $25,000, which represents the second of three years of WLI Hines Innovation grants. Last year, Hines generously committed to grant WLI – Houston District three annual $5,000 grants to support its WLI efforts and programs in the region, which has allowed our programs to grow and initiate the Off the Record series in the spring.

In 2020, WLI will commence the year with Dinner & Dialogue for the entire ULI Houston membership, which will be held January 16, 2019 at River Oaks Country Club.  Erica Henning, ULI Global– WLI Board member, will have a fireside chat with Gayle Starr. Gayle Starr, Advisor for Prologis, First Republic Bank and Bridge 33, and former Managing Director, Global Capital Markets at Prologis. Erica Henning, founder of ESH Investment Group will sit down with Gayle who will share her journey to become the leader she is today including challenges and success found along the way.

The spring will follow with hosting to two Off the Record events, small group dinners up-close-and-personal with two of the most dynamic and engaging real estate and land use leaders who are making things happen in Houston, featuring Susan Hill and Edna Meyer Nelson. Stay tuned for more on these events and more.