IIJournals JPM-Special Real Estate Article Collection | Página 10

Susan Hudson-Wilson: A Rising Tide That Lifted the Commercial Real Estate Industry BRET WILKERSON N O T FO R D is a managing director at Hawkeye Partners, LP in Austin, TX. bwilkerson@hawkeye-partners. com SPECIAL R EAL ESTATE ISSUE 2013 portfolio management and research at John Hancock Properties and the editor of the seminal book Real Estate: Valuation Techniques and Portfolio Management, published by what was known then as the Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts. In fact, this marked the culmination of a decade of professional development and advancement. After graduating in 1976 from the University of Vermont with a degree in economics, Susan did her graduate work at Boston University. Initially, her work focused on labor and regional economics, leading her to join Data Resources Inc. (DRI) in 1980 as a senior economist in the state and local government practice of the Regional Forecasting Group. She was a determined and opinionated member of a group of young economists determined to bring quantitative analysis and econometric forecasting techniques to the ways that governments and businesses forecasted their revenue and expenses. Susan quickly established a reputation as a strong voice among strong voices and someone who thrived on applying research to real-world issues. Once she discovered the clear need that real estate investors had for local and regional economic analysis, her future career path was set. Susan left DRI in 1983 to create a research function in the real estate group of Unum Life Insurance Company in Portland, Maine. Maine would remain central to Susan throughout her life; she was always U S usan Hudson-Wilson was a force of nature. Everyone who encountered her during her career quickly realized this. Taken from us far before her time, she made an impact on the real estate investment industry and applied real estate research that will long be remembered. This issue of The Journal of Portfolio Management is dedicated to her memory and to her lasting legacy. One small indication of the impact of her loss: This is the first JPM special real estate issue since the inception of the series in 2003 that does not benefit from her strong input as co-editor. Many knew Susan primarily from her frequent appearances as a speaker and moderator at industry association events. She will long be remembered for her passionate and provocative presentations, almost always challenging conventional wisdom, forcing the audience to think and react. On any given day, you may have agreed with her or vehemently disagreed. Perhaps her strongest legacy was to make everyone she encountered think more deeply before they made investment decisions. This was no means an accident, as Susan pursued an agenda throughout her entire career: to bring quantitative analysis to the management of real estate portfolios (and she was never afraid of “breaking a few eggs” to achieve this). It may have appeared that Susan burst on scene in 1988 as the vice president for TR IB is a head of research and strategy at Bentall Kennedy (US) LP in Boston, MA. [email protected] IS DOUG POUTASSE TI O N DOUG POUTASSE AND BRET WILKERSON THE JOURNAL OF PORTFOLIO M ANAGEMENT 21 Copyright © 2013 Institutional Investor Journals LLC. Not for distribution. JPM-POUTASSE.indd 21 9/17/13 9:47:11 PM