Sarah Brown Spends Summer Down Under
Dual degree student Sarah Brown is making the most of her opportunity for two summer internships within her three year dual MBA/MPS-Real Estate program. Last summer the Australian-based Macquarie Capital Advisors, one of the world’s largest real estate investment firms, hired her to work with their property group in New York City. This summer Macquarie has invited Brown back for a return internship but this time had her pack her bags for Sidney, Australia to work within the Learning and Development Department.
“I’m enjoying my position so far, and am working with the business to develop training modules for technical competencies, a performance management toolkit and an online induction for new hires,” said Brown, adding “ I think the combination of my real estate and business education with my human resources background has uniquely equipped me to add value through this position.”
Prior to entering her graduate studies at Cornell Brown worked for Citigroup’s HR Management Associate Program as one of the few undergraduates admitted to the leadership development program. After one year with Citigroup’s Fixed Income HR Generalist team, Sarah moved to the Consumer Bank, applying her organizational re-design capabilities to the Decision Management group and talent development skills to several international businesses. She then moved to Singapore to work on a $20 million strategic project for the Asia-Pacific Consumer Bank, which was the beginning of her international work experience.
“Sarah has a tremendous mix of real estate knowledge and work experience, particularly in the human resources area, and it is terrific that Macauarie has recognized her talents and invited her back,” said David Funk, Director of the Cornell Program in Real Estate, adding that her international, real estate, HR, and dual degree experiences are a unique skill set.
As the summer of 2008 drew to a close and given her background in human resources, she discussed her desire to gain experience in Macquarie Capital’s Learning & Development department as well as gain international experience. She was offered her current position with the team in Sydney, which she began in May 2009 and will extend through August. During the summer of 2008 Brown worked on several large acquisition deals, spanning a range of sectors, including large-scale residential, industrial and hotel/entertainment space.
Brown, an Ithaca native, graduated from Cornell University with a bachelor’s degree in industrial and labor relations. Her experience at Citigroup included market analysis and benchmarking to develop an innovative compensation strategy and framework to support high-growth in 12 countries. Returning to the US, she was promoted to Vice President and moved to Maryland, where she developed employee relations and negotiation skills. She has also provided leadership to the Program in Real Estate’s career services efforts by co-authoring the Real Estate Career Guide and will be working with Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) to conduct benchmarking studies as part of her graduate assistantship.