CORAL GABLES, Fla. (Feb. 18, 2022)—The 10th annual Real Estate Impact Conference, hosted by the University of Miami School of Architecture, Patti and Allan Herbert Business School, and School of Law, will convene outstanding entrepreneurs and community and industry leaders to explore the exciting opportunities for reimagining the future as the post-pandemic horizon comes into view.
This year’s conference focus is “THE MIAMI MOVEMENT: Building The Global, Entrepreneurial, Tech-Friendly City.”
The groundswell and momentum that was unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the pace of change and triggered a reconsideration of how we conduct virtually every aspect of our daily lives. The pandemic challenged longstanding assumptions, required rapid adaptation by businesses and municipalities, and fueled a wave of rethinking and innovation in every sector of the real estate industry in virtually every nation. Nowhere is this more evident than in South Florida, where an unprecedented influx of entrepreneurs, venture capital, and technology-based companies has amplified Miami’s global connections and drawn international attention.
WHO: The conference will open with a keynote conversation between Sheila Johnson, founder and CEO of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, co-founder of Black Entertainment Television (BET), and the only African-American woman to have ownership in three professional sports franchises, and Laurie Silvers, co-founder of the SyFy Network, Co-CEO of Hollywood.com, chair of the University of Miami Board of Trustees, and two-time alumna of the University. Silvers earned her Juris Doctor from the School of Law in 1977.
At 2:30 p.m., Eric Feder, president of LENx, which drives a focused strategy within Lennar Corporation to integrate technology solutions across the homebuilding industry, will moderate a panel comprised of Jason Ballard, co-founder, and chief executive officer of Icon; Amit Haller, chief executive officer of Veev, and Kenneth A. Smuts, president of Renco, USA, to explore “Alternative Building Solutions.” Ballard, Haller, and Smuts will present three alternative building technologies with enormous implications for the future of real estate, city-building, and lighter, quicker, less expensive construction methods and materials. Each technology is already being used on major development projects in the United States and abroad, with Renco set to unveil its technology for the first time at the University of Miami Real Estate Impact Conference.
Bernardo Fort-Brescia, principal of Arquitectonica, Sonny Kalsi, Co-CEO of BentallGreenOak and former head of global real estate for Morgan Stanley, and Marcelo Kingston, managing partner of Multiplan, will participate in a panel discussion on “Global Real Estate Investment and Development” at 4 p.m. Each of these international figures brings vast experience and timely insights on global real estate markets and the emergence of Miami and South Florida as the most sought-after destination for entrepreneurs, venture capital, and technology-based companies since the start of the pandemic in early 2020.
The closing keynote conversation features a conversation with Marcelo Claure, former vice chairman of SoftBank, Sandeep Mathrani, chief executive officer of WeWork, and City of Miami Mayor Francis X. Suarez. Claure recently completed nine years in leadership roles with Brightstar, Sprint, WeWork, and SoftBank. At SoftBank, Claure was responsible for $350 billion in assets and launched new high-performing funds including the SB Opportunity Fund and the largest venture capital fund in Latin America. The audience and the global media are now anxiously anticipating news of Claure’s next major venture.
For more information, contact reimpact@miami.edu. Any member of the media interested in registering for conference credentials should email Megan Ondrizek with University Communications at m.ondrizek@umiami.edu.
