NAREIM celebrates the next generation of commercial real estate leaders through the NAREIM Jeff Barclay Fellows program.
Named after the late Jeff Barclay, former NAREIM Chairman, Managing Director and Head of Acquisitions at Clarion Partners, and Head of Goldman Sachs' Real Estate Group, the NAREIM Jeff Barclay Fellows award is given to outstanding graduate students with the goal to provide insights into the future of real estate investment management.
For more information on the program, contact IvyLee Rosario.
Applications Closed: Fellows Class of 2026-2027
Eligibility
Graduate Students committed to pursuing a career in commercial real estate or real estate investment management. Students must either currently be enrolled or graduating within the application period to be eligible.
Application Requirements
- Email your one page resume in PDF format using the following naming convention [SCHOOL_Last Name_First Name]
- Submit answers to the following questions (200 words or less per question) in one page:
- What initially drew you to this field?
- What do you hope to gain from this fellowship?
- NAREIM's mission is centered on building community and creating opportunities for meaningful engagement. What's something about you--your values, experiences, or passions - that isn't reflected on your resume but connects to that mission?
Send the above to IvyLee Rosario by May 29, 2026, 11:59pm ET.
Thanks go to the NAREIM Fellows judges for selecting the Class of 2026-2027. Judges are chosen from the NAREIM Executive Officer community and included:
Jim Strezewski, Blue Vista Capital Management
Haley Gallagher, Continental Realty Corporation
Paul Nasser, Intercontinental Real Estate Corporation
Maggie Coleman, Manulife Investment Management
Bob Geiger, Partner, Engineering & Science
Welcome to our Jeff Barclay Fellows Class of 2026-2027, four outstanding students from DePaul University School of Real Estate, Fordham's Gabelli School of Business, MIT Center for Real Estate and NYU Stern School of Finance & Real Estate.
FELLOWS CLASS OF 2026-2027
DePaul University - School of Real Estate
Ebubechukwu Iwenjora is a graduate student in Real Estate at DePaul University with interests in acquisitions, asset management, and property management. He is currently a Summer Intern at IBT Group LLC, where he is gaining experience in real estate development and project execution. Before pursuing his master's degree, he worked for three years in Nigeria as a site engineer and in the Quality Assurance/Quality Control department at Cappa & D'Alberto, one of Nigeria's leading construction firms. At DePaul, he has serves as a student ambassador, earned multiple scholarships, and actively participated in industry and community initiatives.
Fordham's Gabelli School of Business
Ellen Lai is an MBA candidate at Fordham's Gabelli School of Business (Class of 2026) and a Goldie Scholar. She began her real estate career with a summer internship at Solid Rock Group before joining Navigation Capital Group on the Real Estate Acquisition team. Prior to business school, she worked in real estate audit at Deloitte Hong Kong and later drove sales growth at Mandarin Oriental. Ellen holds a BBA in Accounting and Finance from the University of Hong Kong and has lived and worked across Taiwan, Hong Kong, Beijing, Chile, and the U.S. Active in the Goldie Initiative, Girlgang, and LiRE, she is passionate about expanding access and opportunity for women in commercial real estate.
MIT Center for Real Estate
Michael Khamis is a Master of Science in Real Estate Development (MSRED) candidate at the MIT Center for Real Estate and recently completed a summer internship in acquisitions at TA Realty in Boston. Prior to MIT, he spent five years as a general contractor in Washington, DC, before co-founding a boutique construction management firm in 2022. Alongside his civilian career, Michael served over eight years as an Infantry Officer in the Maryland Army National Guard and is a 2019 graduate of the U.S. Army Ranger School. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from George Washington University.
NYU Stern School of Finance & Real Estate
Claudio Lopez is an MBA candidate at NYU Stern concentrating in Finance and Real Estate and is an Acquisitions & Development Associate at Diversified Properties, LLC, a vertically integrated real estate investment and development firm in Northern New Jersey. His responsibilities include underwriting acquisition and development opportunities across multifamily, industrial, self-storage, and senior housing throughout the Northeast, spanning pro forma modeling, capital formation, due diligence, and entitlements. He began his career at OceanFirst Bank, performing credit surveillance on the bank's construction loan portfolio. Claudio earned his BS in Finance and Real Estate, cum laude, from Monmouth University.
BENEFITS OF BEING A FELLOW
C-suite networking
Opportunity to attend NAREIM’s Executive Officer Meeting each year. This is an unrivalled opportunity to network in small groups with some of the leading C-suite and executive officers in private real estate investment. NAREIM meetings are not based on panel discussions but small group roundtable work, where you will sit and participate in conversations challenging members on how they are building and scaling their firms. All costs are covered by NAREIM.
NAREIM Fellows participate in the Executive Officer Meeting, attending discussions, networking, and activities.
Networking with NAREIM Board of Directors
Fellows have private discussions with NAREIM’s Board of Directors.
More networking
The opportunity to participate in NAREIM’s functional group in-person meetings running from October to September to understand how the real estate investment management business truly operates, and the challenges and opportunities ahead for each group. Travel costs are met by students/universities.
NAREIM covers the following functional groups:
- Architecture, Engineering & Development
- Asset Management
- Capital Raising & Investor Relations
- Data & Information Management
- Executive Officer
- Hispanic Real Estate Roundtable
- Legal, Compliance & Risk
- Portfolio Management
- Sustainability
- Talent Management
For more information on the program, contact IvyLee Rosario.