As soon as I arrived in Ithaca to start my masters in Real Estate at the Baker Program at Cornell University in August 2015, I sat down for lunch with my second-year mentor, Julio Duran. He told me about his summer experience at PGIM Real Estate Latin America (formerly Prudential Real Estate Investors). PGIM RE is the Global Investment Management branch of Prudential Financial Inc, and the firm has more than $65 billion in gross assets under management across the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific. I knew that if I wanted to learn real estate investment from a top institutional investor, it would need to be with a major player such as PGIM Real Estate.
Working for such a large and fully-structured company came as a complete shock to me. One week of orientation at PFI’s headquarters with more than 250 interns left me completely astonished, and I was blindsided by the size and magnitude of the company. Adherence to compliance and standards comes as a key part of the experience at PGIM Real Estate, something that was completely new to me; all the previous companies I had worked at did not have comparable structures and procedures. This aspect of my experience was also part of what I wanted to obtain, as working for a global company (if you have had similar experiences like me) really changes your perspective toward business and everyday life.
While interning within the Transactions group at PGIM Real Estate, I have had amazing opportunities to actively participate in acquisitions, dispositions, developments and joint ventures for projects in Latin America. My tasks have ranged from assisting with the underwriting of a deal to writing up investment committee reports. Being part of the investment committee meetings and listening to senior professionals within the company has helped me broaden my horizons and understand real estate from a macro level. Being able to intern in such a large company provides opportunities like these, where I can listen to discussions about the real estate market, specific deals, cap rates, strategies and many other important topics. Everything here is an experience, and the bar is set higher than I could have imagined. One of the things that has been completely new to me, and part of the knowledge I have acquired throughout the summer, has been an investment-banker detail-focused mentality (which I initially lacked), that I know is helping me grow to become the real estate professional I have wanted to become since deciding to apply to the top Real Estate Master’s program.
Here in the Latin America office, I have also had the opportunity to learn directly from senior real estate professionals including the Head of Latin American Transactions and the Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of the Americas for PGIM Real Estate.
One of the most important things I have realized over the past year is how much this experience, being part of the Baker Program, has helped me reach my goals. It would have been 10 times more difficult to reach my current situation if I had not decided to join this program. Both the faculty and my classmates have been key components to what could eventually be a great career with a top private equity real estate investment firm. After this experience, I feel prepared to undertake any challenge within the private equity real estate industry. I know that I will finish my internship as a much stronger professional with a much clearer view of the path that I want to engage professionally.
