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Leaders to watch - Lynn Smith, Cushman and Wakefield

by Bobby L. Hickman

May 1, 2008

When Lynn Smith began her commercial real estate career, she often was the only African-American woman at industry meetings. Her desire to increase minority representation in real estate led her to found the Global Diversity Summit in Commercial Real Estate.

The third annual summit will be held July 21-23 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Built around the theme "Reinventing Real Estate – Faces and Places," it brings together minority commercial real estate professionals for a series of presentations by senior executives, education opportunities and networking events.

Smith, a broker with Cushman & Wakefield, entered the industry in 2003.

"When I attended conferences, I found very few minorities to network with – especially successful ones who I could learn from so I could grow in my career. So in 2004 I wrote a plan to do something on a national level that would bring together movers and shakers in the industry."

smith.lynn It took two more years until the first conference was held in 2006. Smith says, "When I attended other mainstream conferences, I reached out to everyone I could find: African-Americans, Latinos, Asians, Middle Easterners." Last year's event drew more than 500 and showcased top minority commercial real estate executives.

During her five years in the industry, Smith says, minority representation has grown only slightly. The industry employs 100,000, but only 36 percent are women and less than 1 percent are African- American.

Smith says one goal of the summit is "helping the industry and some mainstream companies recognize they are missing out on a talent pool that could help their bottom line. People of color want to know more about the industry, and they have skill sets and talents the companies could tap into. Throughout its tradition, commercial real estate is an industry has lacked diversity."

Smith says speakers and panelists at the summit are all senior level executives and entrepreneurs who "have made remarkable headway in the industry as minorities. The summit is not just for people who are new people – it's to allow everyone to network across all levels."

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