The Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship
Fellowship Recipients 2007
Previous Recipients
The Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship honors the memory of Heather Smith, a member of the Boston real estate community who was aboard American Airlines Flight 11 on September 11, 2001.
Awarded annually, the Fellowship is presented to female students at the MIT Center for Real Estate based on financial need, career objectives, and academic standing. To date, over $100,000 has been awarded, and recipients have gone on to work for prestigious real estate firms and investment banks that include Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, and Forest City Ratner.
The Fellowship was created by Heather's family, friends, and real estate associates to provide "a living legacy and a message of hope" in tribute to Ms. Smith by helping women in financial need who show exceptional promise. Awards are presented each year at a benefit for the Heather Smith Foundation.
Heather Lee Smith was a member of the Boston real estate community for five years. She started her career at Koll Bren Schreiber Realty Advisors working as an analyst, then progressed to Beacon Capital Partners in July of 2001. She was a member of New England Women in Real Estate (NEWIRE), and was also the fiance' of Mike Jammen, MIT/CRE Class of 1997.
Fellowship Recipients 2007
On February 26th, 2007, three women in MIT/CRE's Class of 2007 were named to receive the Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship, bringing to ten the total number of awardees. Nadia Di Carlo, Marianne Ganster, and Katie Nash were chosen based on numerous factors, including financial need and outstanding career promise.
Nadia Di Carlo graduated from Wellesley College in 2001 with a B.S. in Economics and Italian. She began work at the Investment Banking Department of UBS Warburg in the Real Estate, Lodging, Gaming and Leisure Group in New York. In 2003 she joined the London investment team of Curzon Global Partners, a global real estate investment management firm, where she was responsible for the origination, underwriting, and execution of pan-European real estate investments in the office, retail, and logistics sectors. Nadia left Curzon in 2005 to manage a Boston-area residential development project backed by a private investment group.
Marianne Ganster graduated from Boston College in 2001 with a B.S. in Economics. She served for a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer with a non-profit economic development organization in Chicago, then began work as Assistant Project Manager at Affirmative Investments, an affordable development consultancy in Boston. Before enrolling at MIT, Marianne worked for three years at Boston Capital, a real estate investment firm specializing in equity investments for multi-family housing. She focused on the acquisition of multi-family properties, and was responsible for the deal structuring and underwriting of low income housing tax credit properties.
Kathryn Nash graduated from Wesleyan University in 1998 with a B.A. in Economics. She began work as an analyst at the Associates for International Resources and Development, a consulting firm specializing in international economics. She was then hired as an economist for McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC) Analytics, where she contributed to forecasting the building start activity for residential, commercial, industrial, and institutional structures on both national and metropolitan levels. She also analyzed the markets for different building types, and reported on macro construction trends within many of the nation's largest cities.
Award Committee and recipient Amy Merritt, 2006
Previous Recipients
2006 - Amy Merritt
Citiline Resortline Companies
Amy writes: "This fellowship is truly a gift of financial freedom, and it will enable me to pursue and achieve my career goals that much more quickly. To show my appreciation for this tremendous opportunity, I will strive to exemplify in my career and personal life those qualities of honesty, teamwork, and a strong work ethic that Heather so clearly expressed." She adds, "This spring, I am hoping to identify a junior project management position for a real estate developer in the southeast and am greatly looking forward to working in development again!"
2005 – Karen Jia Ying Hu
New York City Housing Preservation & Development (HPD)
Karen writes: "I'm currently working as a project manager in the Planning & Pipeline Development division of New York City's Department of Housing Preservation & Development (HPD). I manage the development of affordable housing projects on City-owned land and work on larger comprehensive planning processes for neighborhoods in the South Bronx. I've always been committed to the idea of building affordable housing and there's no better place to do it than in the city where I grew up, for a mayor that has put forth one of the most ambitious 10-year housing plans in the nation's history. The Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship has made it much easier for me to pursue public service work because I am less encumbered by graduate school debt. Moreover, I am honored to be part of a cohort of women that is reshaping the real estate industry in its own image."
2005 – Shwetha Subramanian
Project Manager, Forest City Ratner
Shwetha writes: "After graduating from CRE last summer, I was fortunate to find a tremendous job opportunity with Forest City Ratner Companies. I am a project manager in residential development and I work on major developments projects in the New York area. I have no doubt that the CRE education and Heather Smith Fellowship contributed greatly to my career advancement."
"I still recall writing my personal statement for my application to the CRE and to the Fellowship program. Both helped me distill my goals, but my application to the Fellowship in particular helped me focus on what I wanted to achieve both as a person and woman in real estate. Though a private developer, Forest City Ratner believes in social entrepreneurship, themselves employing and promoting women in real estate. I am involved in realizing Affordable housing and Sustainable development goals on projects, both of which are also personal areas of interest."
2004 – Bonnie Campbell
Project Manager, Two Trees Management
Bonnie writes: "I am pursuing exactly the kind of work that I hoped for coming out of the CRE: redevelopment. In particular, I am working for a company, Two Trees Management, that specializes in converting existing industrial and institutional buildings into other uses— residential, commercial, cultural and arts space. Most of our development takes place in a part of Brooklyn known as DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), which is right on the East River. Over the past 5 years, my company has been successful in transforming this once defunct industrial enclave into a vibrant residential and commercial neighborhood, with a major emphasis on the arts. In September, I completed the conversion of an old waterfront boiler building into a fabulous art gallery for a non-profit women's art collaborative called Smack Mellon. Currently, I'm managing two large redevelopment projects with both residential and mixed-use components."
"Being honored with the Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship continues to be an amazing part of my professional and personal success. Foremost, it was through the Fellowship that I was introduced to the company where I now work. Thanks to Mike Jammen and Aubrey Cannuscio, both of whom I met through the fellowship, I got my foot in the door here at Two Trees. More importantly however, in pursuing redevelopment in New York City, I often think about the legacy of Heather Smith and the role of the built environment in shaping our attitudes toward the past and present. Thanks to this legacy, I feel humbled and inspired to be a part of building this City's future."
"On a personal level, my commitment to carry on Heather Smith's legacy of honesty and ethics has continued to drive me. I am an active member of my new community here in Brooklyn, and I am very engaged in the dialogue around beneficial real estate development strategies for both Brooklyn and New York as a whole."
2004 – Heather Clark
WinnDevelopment
2003 – Hongyu Cai
Vice President , Goldman Sachs
Hongyu writes: "The fellowship has inspired me to live up to Heather's spirit and integrity, as well as her commitment to the wellness of the society. I enjoy the global exposure in my current job and devote my time to community services outside of my work. I want to thank the Heather Smith Foundation and CRE for providing me with all the opportunities."
2003 – Tamara Larsen
Associate, Lehman Brothers
Tamara writes: "I am currently working in New York in Lehman Brothers' Global Real Estate Group. Being a recipient of the Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship has made me feel even more deeply my responsibility to actively support the continued and increased presence of women in real estate. With this in mind, I have endeavored to present myself as a potential resource, mentor, and advocate for younger women in the industry or those who are interested in real estate finance."
