PREA 2003 Scholarship Winners

This scholarship was awarded to eight graduate students majoring or concentrating in real estate. Each will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship. An essay contest was distributed to schools with masters degree programs in real estate. Our PREA Scholarship was quite successful again this year. We had 62 submissions from most of the top real estate schools in the country. Competition was stiff, with many high quality essays. Scholarship recipients were selected by the scholarship committee.

PREA would like to thank the scholarship committee for coordinating the contest and selecting the finalists, and the students who participated this year.

Scholarship Recipients are:

• Luis Castillo, University of California, Berkeley
• John T. Collura, Northwestern University, Kellogg School
• Allen Freeman, University of California, Berkeley
• Martin Healey, University of California, Berkeley
• Laurent Xavier Luccioni, Northwestern University, Kellogg School
• Kevan McCormack, University of Texas at Austin
• Christopher R. Pecoraro, University of Southern California
• Jeffrey Clay Thomas, University of North Carolina

Luis Castillo is a 2004 MBA candidate at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business. Luis spent the summer working for a real estate private equity firm focusing on the acquisition of distressed office and hotel assets across the country. He has also worked in the Apartment Investment Group of Arroyo & Coates, a San Francisco based commercial real estate brokerage firm. He is actively involved in the Berkeley Real Estate Program and a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Latin American Business Club. Luis received his Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from Boston University.

John Collura graduated cum laude from Amherst College in 1997 while majoring in economics and serving in the student government. After graduation, he worked for one year as a consulting associate at Cambridge Associates, Inc., an investment consulting firm in Boston. John then spent over three years with RREEF Real Estate Investment Managers in San Francisco where he acted as an analyst and associate in the Acquisitions Group evaluating real estate investment opportunities. This past summer, John worked as a summer associate in Originations for GE Real Estate's Partners Group analyzing preferred equity and mezzanine debt investments. At Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, John is a co-chair of the Real Estate Club and is majoring in real estate, finance, and management & organizations.

Allen Freeman is a second-year MBA student at the Haas School of Business at the University of California Berkeley where he is focusing on Real Estate Development and Finance. Prior to attending Haas, Allen was a management consultant for Accenture Ltd and Xelus Corporation in Paris, France and Santa Monica, CA respectively. This summer, Allen worked as a Development Associate for JSM Construction, a Southern California-based multifamily apartment developer. Allen is Vice-President of the Berkeley Real Estate Club and a member of the Urban Land Institute. In 2003, Allen participated on the Cal Bank of America Low-Income Housing Challenge Team. He currently serves on the board of a local Smart Growth community group, Livable Berkeley.

Martin Healey is pursuing his MBA, with a concentration in Real Estate, at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. Upon graduation in May of 2004, Martin intends to pursue a career in real estate investment, most likely within an Opportunity Fund or other institutional investment vehicle. Martin is currently President of the Berkeley Real Estate Club and was a member of the Berkeley team that won the inaugural UT Austin Real Estate Finance Challenge in November 2002, beating out teams from eleven other top MBA schools. During the summer of 2003, Martin worked with the Commercial Properties department of The Archon Group (a Goldman, Sachs Company) in Dallas, TX.

Laurent Luccioni is currently a second year MBA student at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, with career interests in real estate investment and finance. Last summer, he worked as an associate with Cherokee Investment Partners, a real estate private equity fund that acquires and revitalizes environmentally impaired properties. Prior to pursuing his MBA, Laurent had over five years experience as a civil and environmental consultant and served as expert witness in environmental litigations. He is a licensed Professional Engineer and has a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Last June, he passed Level I of the CFA exam and was awarded the Chookaszian Prize in Risk Management. His industrial affiliation includes membership in ULI and AIMR.

Kevan McCormack is currently a class of 2004 MBA student at The University of Texas at Austin: McCombs School of Business where he is focusing his graduate education in Real Estate Finance. During the summer of 2003, Kevan worked at Metropolitan Capital Advisors, Ltd., a top mortgage brokerage and investment banking firm in Dallas. After graduation, Kevan plans on returning to the Real Estate industry to gain experience in both finance and leasing before fulfilling his career goals in real estate development. Prior to pursuing his MBA, Kevan McCormack graduated summa cum laude from Texas Tech University with a degree in Interior Architecture. After earning his Bachelors degree, Kevan worked with O'Brien and Associates Architects in Dallas where he was responsible for the design and construction management of several projects involving industrial, office, retail, and hospitality product types.

Chris Pecoraro earned his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Arizona. He is a Certified Management Accountant and Licensed Real Estate Sales Person. During his career he has assisted in structuring over a billion dollars in commercial real estate loan transactions as a Senior Real Estate Analyst for GMAC Commercial Mortgage in Los Angeles. He is a past board member for the Institute of Management Accountants (Scottsdale Chapter). He has also studied abroad in Spain, and he has traveled throughout Europe. He is pursuing a MRED degree and a MBA from the University of Southern California. His ambition is to pursue a career in real estate asset management, managing real estate investments for institutional investors from acquisition or development through the exit strategy.

Jeff Thomas is currently a second year MBA student at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School, where he is concentrating in real estate. Prior to business school, Jeff was an Associate at JP Morgan Mortgage Capital where he worked three years underwriting and securitizing CMBS product. He began his career at Beers Construction Company (now Skanska) as a project accountant. This past summer, Jeff interned in the acquisition group at Wells Real Estate Funds in Atlanta. He is a member of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Real Estate Club, and the ULI and earned his BS in Business Administration from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997.