The ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative is delighted to announce the recipients of the WLI Prologis Scholarship Program in connection with ULI’s Fall Meeting in Los Angeles, October 23-26, 2017.

Senior women at Prologis created the grassroots group Breakthrough that supports the retention of women and identifies and removes barriers to advancement for Prologis across the globe. Breakthrough’s goals resonate with those of WLI in that Breakthrough strives to create a work environment where women feel connected and empowered, while creating a business culture that offers opportunities for success and recognizes the value of a gender-diverse workforce.

The Scholarship program includes a complimentary registration to the Fall Meeting as well as up to $2,000 in travel expenses. At the Meeting, recipients will be hosted by senior WLI members at a Product Council as well as at all WLI branded Meeting events. Following the Fall Meeting, ULI will post major takeaways from each recipient’s experience.

Having many outstanding applications, the WLI Selection Committee announced the ten outstanding recipients of the Fall Meeting scholarship:

Salem Afeworki, ULI Orange County/Inland Empire

Salem Afeworki, LEED GA, ENV SP is the Founder and Program Director of Value Sustainability, a leading provider of advisory services in sustainable business practices, climate change and community engagement headquartered in Orange County, California. She is responsible for the company’s integrated strategy to deliver customer solutions to meet their sustainability challenges and operate in a way that advances environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic success. Salem is a member of Los Angeles County Sustainability Council and also serves at the City of Irvine Green Ribbon Committee. In this capacity, she advises cities, counties and transportation agencies on how to best address environmental challenges and convert them to opportunities. In addition, she is a United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (UN SDSN) Local Pathway Fellow and is currently working with cities in Orange County to implement some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) locally. Prior to founding her firm, Salem has held numerous management and senior consultant roles in engineering and financial services firms, both in the U.S and internationally. She was awarded the 2016 ULI OC/IE – Emergent Leadership Award for the Category of Engineering and a Certificate of Recognition by Orange County’s Third District Supervisor Todd Spitzer. She is also a founding member of the District Council’s Women Leadership Initiative (WLI) and serve as a Young Leader representative to the group. Working with WLI members, she regularly organizes events to promote the advancement of women in real estate industry.

Kathleen Diohep, ULI San Francisco

Kathleen recently joined the University of California, San Francisco as a Senior Real Estate Officer bringing her over 20 years of experience in public/private partnerships to the mission of securing real estate for the campus and medical center. In prior roles with the City of Vallejo, Port of San Francisco and Presidio Trust, she had pivotal role in the real estate transactions for Mare Island, Pier 70, and early projects at the Presidio Trust.  Kathleen’s projects as a real estate consultant include land leases to support the Giants Ballpark, business plan for NASA Ames as a multi-user real estate project, and tax increment analysis of the UCSF hospital impacts on the Mission Bay project. Kathleen holds a MBA from the Haas School of Business and a bachelors in Economics from UC Davis.  Kathleen has been a member of ULI since 2005. In July 2017, Kathleen was appointed to the City of Vallejo Planning Commission.

Mariah Gratz, ULI Kentucky

Mariah Gratz, the CEO of Weyland Ventures, works to bring new life to urban communities by revitalizing the built environment. She believes in creating distinct urban projects that combine office space, residential units, restaurants, shops, event space, entertainment venues, and urban park space to form dynamic 24-hour, mixed-use neighborhoods full of character, stories, and vibrancy. Mariah has been with Weyland Ventures since 2009, and last year became CEO of the Louisville-based urban real estate development and management company. She holds degrees in biomedical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine in London, England. She completed her MBA in August 2016 at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

Allison Gray, ULI St. Louis

Allison is the Director of Research at Colliers International.  Allison performs economic and statistical analysis for the St. Louis commercial real estate market.  This includes quarterly research of the office and industrial markets for comprehensive market reports, maintenance of a lease/sale comparables database, and numerous occupier/landlord report production.  Allison is a proud St. Louis City resident and enjoys that her work at both Colliers and ULI allows her to impact her city in a positive way.  Allison has been an active member of ULI and is currently a member of the Programs Committee and the Women’s Leadership Initiative.  Most recently, she organized the “Why Every Neighborhood Needs a Brewery” program which highlighted the growth of the craft brewery industry and its impact on the revitalization of neighborhoods throughout St. Louis.  Allison holds a Master of Economics and Finance from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.

Vivian Kwok, ULI Toronto

Vivian is the Director, Asset and Client Services, Mortgage Operations at Manulife Financial Corporation, a leading international financial services group providing customers with forward-thinking solutions for their most important financial decisions since 1887. Vivian directs a staff of 13 and is responsible for overseeing the operational activities and practices of Manulife’s commercial mortgage servicing area. Vivian was formerly an Associate at KingSett Capital Inc. where she acted as the subject matter expert on various commercial mortgages activates, including loan administration, funding and compliance. Vivian is actively participating in ULI Toronto Women’s Leadership Initiative and is the Chair of ULI Toronto WLI Communications Team. Vivian is a lifetime volunteer currently servicing as mentor under ULI Toronto District Council Mentorship Program and is one of the 2016 ULI Toronto District Council WLI Champions. Vivian holds an Honors Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Geography from the University of Toronto

Amy Malloy, ULI Arizona

Amy Malloy joined Evergreen in April of 2016 and manages retail development and redevelopment projects throughout Arizona, California, and Colorado.  Prior to Evergreen, Amy was Assistant Vice President of Development at Macerich.  During her almost ten years at Macerich, she managed projects throughout the Scottsdale-Phoenix Metropolitan Area, in Southern Arizona and in Northern Arizona, specifically concentrating on the entitlement and redevelopment/development of Scottsdale Fashion Square, Kierland Commons, Biltmore Fashion Park, and Arrowhead Towne Center. Malloy is a member of ULI and serves as Chair on the Arizona District Council’s AZ-Technical Assistance Panel (AZ-Tap) Committee, on the Women’s Leadership Initiative, as well as served on the 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, and on the current 2017-2018 Trends Day Committee.  Malloy holds a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Arizona, and a Bachelor of Arts from St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN.

Caitlin Moriarty, ULI New York – Buffalo

Caitlin is the Director of Architectural History at Preservation Studios, an historic preservation consulting firm located in Buffalo, New York, that specializes in historic tax credit projects. Over the past six years, she has written dozens of National Register nominations and Part 1 applications establishing the significance of buildings and complexes undergoing rehabilitation. Caitlin leads the UrbanPlan program in Western New York and is a member of the local Women’s Leadership Initiative Steering Committee. She previously served on the Programming and Marketing Committees. Caitlin holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where her research focused on neighborhood identity, and a B.A. in Urban Studies from Brown University.

Jessica Newhouse, ULI Houston

Jessica Newhouse founded Curve Real Estate after fifteen years of working in various corners of commercial real estate. She has a successful track record of working with executive leadership to optimize asset and enterprise value by identifying organizational needs and implementing solutions. Her efforts have led to increased and improved deal activity, operating and capital cost savings for portfolio holdings, and decreased overhead expenses. She is able to execute on operational changes while balancing the intricacies of change management among the organizations’ employees and stakeholders. Prior to founding the advisory practice, Ms. Newhouse held leadership positions in acquisitions and asset management for several REITS, in addition to research and consulting for Ernst & Young’s Transaction Real Estate group and a national brokerage firm. In her most recent role with a major software provider for the commercial real estate industry she worked with some of the largest global owners and service providers to navigate their implementations of new software in conjunction with broader market adoption. Ms. Newhouse received her Bachelors of Economics from Texas A&M University in College Station, and her MBA from Rice University in Houston. She is an active member of the Urban Land Institute.

Birgit Werner, ULI Switzerland

Birgit serves as the head of the real estate division and “The Circle” for Munich/Zurich Airports, managing up to 15 employees and complex projects entailing EUR 30 mn – 1 bn in investments. She has established knowledge pools and processes as well as a well-functioning team with strong identity in an environment not prepared for real estate strategy, site and project development. In addition, she has guided the development of the largest single site at Zurich Airport into an innovative mixed-use destination with 200,000 m² floor space with a CHF 1 billion investment in a politically high sensitive environment to the end of the preliminary project stage, setting the stage for its current realization. Birgit holds a degree in architecture at Technical University Aachen, Executive MBA at University of St. Gallen, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Network of Directors University of St. Gallen.

Corey Zehngebot, ULI Boston

Corey Zehngebot, AIA, AICP, works as a Senior Urban Designer and Architect for the Boston Planning and Development Agency (formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority). There, she works assiduously across scales, but most enjoys connecting her many interest-dots across agencies, sectors, and people. Primary responsibilities include a) conceptualizing, leading, and managing urban design initiatives and design guidelines b) conducting design review for downtown and neighborhood projects as part of compliance with Boston Zoning code, and c) assistance with the design, substance, and management of planning initiatives and studies throughout Boston. She received a B.A. with distinction from Yale University, and a Masters of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design.