Julie L. Romey

Principal
Keyser Marston Associates, Inc.

  • PRE Year: 1999
  • Concentration: Real Estate Finance
  • Hometown: Fullerton, California

Looking back:

After working in the real estate industry for seven years in San Diego, I knew that I was committed to a career in real estate.  However, the business had become more complicated as Wall Street developed into a larger factor in development projects.  Therefore, Cornell’s Program in Real Estate was a perfect fit to help me take my career to the next level.  While I had been told by several Real Estate programs that with my experience I could teach most of the classes they offered, the PRE allowed me to design a curriculum that filled the holes in my experience.  The PRE did indeed help me take my career to the next level and every time I have to explain return on investments or a complicated financing structure to a city council, I am glad that I took the time to further my education.

Being a member of the second class of the PRE meant that the kinks were still being worked out.  However, the ability of the PRE staff to listen to the students and adjust to our needs was remarkable and the result is an advanced degree program in real estate that is superior to any I have since come across.

Career:

Prior to going to Cornell, I spent seven years working in the following areas of the industry in San Diego:  market analysis, site selection analysis, and public-private partnerships with a specialty in affordable housing.  As I enjoy having new challenges, I decided that consulting was the area of the industry in which I was drawn to.  After graduating from the PRE, I spent a year as a consultant in the Los Angeles office of Ernst & Young’s Real Estate Consulting Group where I analyzed real estate businesses and helped devise strategies for firms with large real estate portfolios.  About the time I decided that I wanted to be closer to the ‘dirt’, the Los Angeles office of Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. approached me about returning to the firm.  I had worked for KMA in San Diego for three years and knew that the firm was a good fit for me.  KMA specializes in public-private partnership transactions and represents the majority of cities and redevelopment agencies in California (see http://www.keysermarston.com for more information).