Berkshire Property Advisors visits Cornell’s Program in Real Estate

Frank Apeseche
CEO & President
Berkshire Property Advisors  

Top executives from Berkshire Property Advisors are visiting Cornell’s Program in Real Estate (PRE) from Monday, November 15 to Thursday, November 18. While at Cornell, Frank Apeseche, CEO of Berkshire Property Advisors, Dan Stravinski, Senior Vice President of Human Resources, and Dean Holmes, Baltimore Divisional Vice President will be conducting guest lectures, mock interviews, and hosting various career development and information sessions for real estate students.

Mr. Apeseche and Mr. Stravinski will instruct students during the Real Estate Marketing and Management course taught by PRE Director Dr. David Funk. They will also be lecturing students from the Strategic Hospitality Management class, which is taught by Professor Cathy Enz.

The executives will also meet graduate and undergraduate students for mock interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday and will conduct mentoring sessions with their respective mentees at Cornell. Mr. Apeseche and Mr. Stravinski will be presenting a Real Estate Job Search Session during a brown bag lunch which is organized for Tuesday afternoon.

Dan Stravinski
SVP-Human Resources
Berkshire Property Advisors

Real Estate students can also look forward to a Compensation workshop with Mr. Stravinski on Wednesday evening. The workshop is being organized by the Associate Real Estate Council (AREC) at Cornell.

After attending the workshop conducted by Mr. Stravinski last year, Doug Solinsky, PRE 2011, said “I really enjoyed Dan Stravinski’s break-out session. He explained many different elements of compensation, and shared with us how different real estate companies structure their pay packages. He also advised students on negotiating strategies and tactics, and explained compensation from a company’s point of view. It was an extremely useful session and, when it was over, I think all students were better prepared to negotiate their next salary.”

Berkshire Property Advisors is one of the United States’ most experienced investors and managers of multifamily real estate assets. Berkshire delivers a complete range of integrated investment and management services, including acquisition of debt and equity, development, redevelopment, property management, asset management, finance and portfolio management services. They are reputed to be a trusted sponsor that implements innovative, value-added and opportunistic strategies which result in returns that significantly outperform benchmark risk-adjusted returns.
Berkshire has sponsored over 40 multifamily investment portfolios, including seven discretionary, institutional multifamily equity funds, six multifamily mortgage funds, two publicly traded REITs, and multiple joint venture relationships with some of the most prominent real estate investors in the world. They employ nearly 1,000 professionals and have an apartment portfolio that encompasses 30,000 units in 28 markets.
Berkshire’s previous visits have been very well received by the Cornell students, several of whom now work for Berkshire. The interactions were highly informative and educative. Students have gained insights on what employers look for in prospective employees and this has helped them to be better prepared for job interviews. Cornell’s PRE looks forward to hosting Berkshire Property Advisors next week.

Visit Schedule:
Monday, November 15, 2010
10:10 – 11:25am Strategic Hospitality Management with Cathy Enz at Statler 198
11:40 – 12:55am Strategic Hospitality Management with Cathy Enz at Statler 198

Tuesday, November 16, 2010
8:40 - 9:55am         Real Estate Management and Marketing with Dr. Funk at Statler 291
10:00 - 11:30am Mock Interviews at Statler 537
1:00 - 2:15pm         Real Estate Job Search Session with Frank Apeseche/Dan Stravinski at the Terrace Lounge, Far West Side (Brown Bag lunch)
2:30 - 4:00pm         Mock Interviews at Statler 537
5:30pm Dinner with mentees in Collegetown
7:00 - 8:15pm         AREC presents:  Frank Apeseche, TBD
9:00 pm Chapter House for informal reception after AREC event

Wednesday, November 17, 2010
8:30 - 11:30am Mock Interviews (Undergraduate Minors Only) at Statler Interview Rooms
7:00 – 8:30pm         Compensation Workshop with Dan Stravinski at TBD

Thursday, November 18, 2010
8:40-9:55pm         Real Estate Management and Marketing at Statler 291
12:00pm         Lunch with Seminar guest and students