2017 Summer Internships: Tiya Jain, Prologis

Pier 1 office of Prologis in San Francisco

 

When I began looking for an internship, my goal was to find an organization that could appreciate my background. I had worked in India for several years before enrolling in the Baker Program. I was delighted to be offered a summer internship in New York at Prologis, a global investor and operator of industrial real estate.

The internship gave me a good perspective on the industry and on why Prologis is the market leader in the niche business segment. I was exposed to various functions in the company during the 3-month internship. Through the capital raising team, I was able to get a deeper insight into the risk return objectives of institutional investors consisting of the largest sovereign wealth funds and pension funds.

Although I was based out of the Manhattan office, I had the privilege of visiting Prologis’s properties in New Jersey and Oakland and understanding in greater depth the technical components of an industrial asset. The property managers explained to me the importance of dock pockets, ceiling heights, seals, clear heights and the skill to match the same with the right tenants. I sat in on investment committee conference calls for development deals in Europe. I was also exposed to interesting market level information on regional leasing calls that discussed pushing occupancies from 95% to 98% in the north east region.

Being an international, I felt welcomed in the environment, as Prologis has placed diversity as a top organizational objective. Both being an international and a woman in real estate, it was reassuring to see the industry and an important component of it embrace diversity and make tangible strides towards inclusion.

One of the best parts of the internship was making a presenting to our CEO, Hamid Moghadam. All the interns who spent the summer with Prologis, were invited to San Francisco to apprise the top 50 executives of the company on research projects aimed at increasing the bottom line of the company. Within a span of few hours we received education on tax incentives in Chicago suburbs, roofing costs, infill development and GIS mapping, corporate pension funds, etc. Through the Q&A, we were able to learn from the best minds in the company as to the challenges and positives relevant to the topic at hand. It was also an incredible experience to interact with the business heads for capital deployment, investments and PLD ventures in the San Francisco office.

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