NAREIM Fellows Class of 2024/25 announced

NAREIM, the industry association dedicated to the business of real estate investment management, is pleased to announce its 2024—2025 class of Jeff Barclay Fellows.

Each year, NAREIM awards fellowships to five outstanding graduate students in real estate programs across the United States. More than 65 students from 15 schools around the US applied for the Fellows program this year.

The fellowships aim to identify and nurture the next generation of real estate investment management business leaders through a unique learning and networking opportunity with senior industry executives.

The five members of the 2024—2025 class of Jeff Barclay Fellows are:

• Eric Rutledge, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Eric is pursuing an MBA with concentrations in Economics, Finance and Entrepreneurship while working as an Associate at Rosewood Property Company, where he is responsible for sourcing, underwriting and supporting the execution of new industrial and self-storage opportunities. Prior to joining Rosewood, he worked as an Analyst at Crow Holdings Capital in Dallas where he focused on acquisitions and asset management across all property types. Eric is an active member of The Real Estate Council.

• Matthew Ghidotti, Columbia Business School

Matt is an MBA candidate at Columbia Business School, where he is studying Real Estate and Finance. Prior to business school, he worked for Silver Hills, a multifamily developer in Cleveland, Ohio. He graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point with a degree in Business Management and Environmental Engineering. In the military, Matt served as a special operations officer and Blackhawk helicopter pilot. Matt completed an internship at Welltower as an Investments Associate in New York this summer.

• Peggy Ghasemlou, MIT

Peggy is currently pursuing her graduate studies at the Center for Real Estate at MIT. Prior to that she worked as an architectural project manager in her home country of Iran. Peggy is a Goldie Scholar and the founder of GIRD (Girls in Real Estate Development), where she mentors girls from disadvantaged backgrounds about real estate and capital markets opportunities. She is passionate about the intersection of sustainability, real estate and finance and plans to write her thesis on this subject.

• Bernadette Mead, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Bernadette's passion for real estate and community development was ignited during her formative years in the Philippines, where she witnessed the devastating impact of typhoons, fueling her commitment to creating resilient communities. Bernadette is both a Goldie Scholar and a Finance Fellow at Kellogg, and has earned a spot in the inaugural cohort of the Toigo Foundation’s Toigo Real Estate Intensive Program. Before beginning her MBA, Bernadette was in Freddie Mac’s Multifamily Asset Management and Operations group.

• Micah Nelson, Wisconsin School of Business

Micah Nelson is a second-year Real Estate MBA student graduating in May 2025. Micah is Co-President of the University of Wisconsin Real Estate Club and is also a member of the university’s Real Estate Private Equity and Applied Real Estate Investment Trust (AREIT) programs, where he collaborates with select graduate students to manage alumni-sponsored private equity and REIT funds. This past summer, Micah deepened his industry expertise through internships at both a public REIT and a private industrial real estate developer and investor.

Read more about the NAREIM Fellows program and the Class of 2024/25 here.

The program is named after the late Jeff Barclay, former NAREIM chairman, Managing Director and Head of Acquisitions for Clarion Partners, and head of Goldman Sachs' real estate group.

Thanks go to the NAREIM Fellows judges including: 

• Josh Myerberg, JPMorgan Asset Management

• James Pinkerton, Bailard

• Beth Zayicek, Invesco Real Estate

• John Orrico, RealPage

"Through the Jeff Barclay Fellows program, NAREIM provides invaluable opportunities for emerging real estate leaders to engage with the industry while fostering connections and fresh perspectives that are critical for the future," said James Pinkerton, Senior Vice President of Bailard and one of the judges for the Class of 2024/25. "Bailard is honored to be part of a program that champions the growth and development of next-generation talent from across the country."

The 2024–2025 class of Jeff Barclay Fellows are invited to join the annual NAREIM Executive Officer meeting to network with C-suite leaders and discuss the future of the  real estate investment management industry.

About NAREIM

NAREIM™ (the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers™) is the industry association dedicated to the business and organizational strategy of real estate investment management. Founded in 1990, NAREIM has been the home of real estate investment management benchmarking and best practice education in 10 functional areas including Architecture, Engineering & Development; Asset Management; Capital Raising & IR; Data & Information Management; DEI; Executive Officer; Legal, Compliance & Risk; Portfolio Management; Sustainability; Talent Management. NAREIM today represents real estate investment management firms with combined AUM of $3.4 trillion. 

For more information, visit www.nareim.org