This is the fourth annual installment of Bisnow’s DEI Data Series, an ongoing investigative project that examines the diversity of the boards and executive leadership of the biggest companies in commercial real estate. Over the years, this award-winning series has amassed a cache of data that continues to shine a spotlight on racial and gender inequality at the highest ranks of the industry. To read this year’s data analysis, please click here. To read the entire series, please click here.
More than three years removed from the murder of George Floyd, the attitudes inside commercial real estate firms toward diversity, equity and inclusion have morphed from initial enthusiasm to fatigue, and now fear of backlash.
With the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down affirmative action at universities and what is expected to be a contentious election year — combined with the slowest commercial real estate market in over a decade — proponents of diversity in commercial real estate are pushing harder than ever to keep their agenda from coming under attack.
“The Supreme Court’s ruling … put a stake in the ground that has really taken the wind out of the sails for diversity across the landscape,” said Ken McIntyre, the CEO of the Real Estate Executive Council and a director on the boards of Newmark and Acadia Realty Trust.
“Even in corporate boardrooms, their companies are now wondering whether they should embrace diversity initiatives,” he added. “And if they do, they are being counseled to do it very carefully.”
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Miriam Hall over at Bisnow
