Highlights from this year's Fall Editorial Advisory Board Meeting

We just completed our 2024 Fall Editorial Advisory Board meeting for our Institutional Real Estate Americas publication. The event was held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of this week at the Ritz Carlton, Half Moon Bay, which is situated on picturesque bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean about twenty miles or so south of San Francisco.

This year’s board members included senior investment officers from 26 different institutional investors (Corporate, Public and Taft-Hartley pension plans, insurance companies and family offices) and representatives from ten leading consulting firms. Joining them were 37 investment managers and service providers who sponsor and underwrite the controlled circulation of the publication.

The members of the board represent the interests, viewpoints and concerns of our more than 2,000 institutional investors who subscribe to and read the publication each month. The investor members of the board collectively control more than $7.9 trillion in total investment capital, of which more than $488 billion is invested in real estate. The consultants advise more than $25.8 trillion in total capital, of which more than $544 billion is invested in real estate. And the investment managers collectively manage more than $8.4 trillion in total AUM, of which $1.4 trillion is invested in real estate.

We hold two of these meetings in the US each year, one in the Fall on the West Coast, and one in the Spring, on the East Coast. Board members typically serve for a one-year term. About 25% of this Fall’s investor and consultant participants were first time board members who have never attended this kind of event in the past.

This year’s board meeting opened with a networking cocktail reception and buffet dinner set on the lawn in the courtyard fronting the ocean, followed by continued networking opportunities at the bar. We convened for an early breakfast followed by facilitated roundtable discussions focusing on the topics submitted in advance by the board members themselves comprised of the issues that are keeping them up at night these days, and the greatest challenges they feel they’re facing in managing their portfolios. The results of these discussions then form the basis for the development of our editorial calendars for the remainder of the year, while helping board members understand the forces that are driving current investment decision-making at our investor and consultant organizations.

In the late afternoon, we broke for a social networking and team building exercise resulting in the building of nine bikes which we then donated to a local charity serving under privileged children in the region.

We then all hopped on a bus which took us to Maverick’s restaurant near the site of the world-famous Maverick’s surfing competition, and then, returned to the hotel to continue our networking and team building activities.

The next morning, we reconvened for breakfast followed by another two hours of roundtable discussions, after which we adjourned and sent everyone home.

Hallmarks of these events:  No speakers at meals or during formal discussions sessions. Our objective is to engage our board members in talking amongst themselves, so they and we can all learn from each other. There’s also no marketing at these events – no self-promotion, no side meetings, no corning of investors in the hallways allowed. (Anyone violating these policies risked being “Gonged” and the further penalty of not being invited to participate in future events). Finally, discussions are always confidential. What is said in the room, stays in the room. Nothing anyone says will be quoted or attributed to any of the participants in our newslines, publications or social media posts. This latter policy enables participants to engage in truly open and candid discussions, making these events fairly unique in the industry.

We are grateful to our board members for participating in these events each year, and for doing such a wonderful job of representing the interests of our readers and constituents around the globe.