Students

Real Estate Development students bring a wide array of talents, experiences and backgrounds to the program. Below is just a sampling of students who have taken advantage of the program's offerings.

Leslie Pitman (May 2009) went to Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana and received a Bachelors Degree in Residential Property Management with a Minor in Marketing, magna cum laude. She moved to the Washington metro area in January 2004 to work for Southern Management.  She worked first as a Leasing Manager and was promoted to Assistant Property Manager at Graduate Hills and Gardens in College Park and then on to Powder Mill Village as an Assistant Property Manager.

She began her graduate studies at Maryland in the fall of 2006 with scholarship assistance from Southern Management. David Hillman, CEO and Founder of Southern Management was one of the early advisors and signature supporters of the MRED program. In April of 2007, Leslie began working as an Assistant Property Manager for the Peterson Companies at the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg. She was then promoted to Property Manager at the exciting and challenging new mixed used development at National Harbor in February of 2008.

This May, Leslie received a Master';s of Real Estate Development at the University of Maryland as well as the Dean's Outstanding Graduate Award.

Sarina Sethi (May 2009) graduated from Maryland's Smith School of Business in May 2007, earning a B.S. in Marketing. For about a year, she worked at a small Business Software Solutions firm as an Account Manager/Marketing Associate. Her mother had read about the MRED program in the Bethesda Magazine and informed Sarina about it.  In the summer of 2008 she had already started the pre-application process for the MBA Program but after reading about the MRED program she became really interested in it. Sarina says "I was really excited to begin it and am glad I had the opportunity."  She started in the Fall of 2008 on the accelerated track.  One of her classes that first term was RDEV 688M  with Adjunct Professor Herbert Behre. The course fulfills one of the MRED requirements to take a course that deals with asset and property management. The M class focuses primarily on Commercial Office properties. Richard Cohen, President of Axent Realty/Willco inquired whether any students during the term were interested in an internship and Sarina was one of the applicants, who got the job, which she is still doing while finishing her last two classes for the degree this summer. Her team also was asked to take their asset enhancement  project to the Axent offices to present to all of Mr.Cohen's staff.  An exciting day for the students, and some interesting new ideas to enhance value of existing office property in Washington, DC for the companies property managers.

A  big thank you to Herb Behre and Richard Cohen for "discovering"  Sarina as part of our MRED program. Sarina, when we talked with her  after graduation, was happy to say, "I have learned so much from the program and am excited to go out into the work field full time in the fall and apply it all!"

Jordan Steffy from Lancaster, PA, is a recent graduate of the MRED program. He finished his degree this August. He previously earned a B.S. degree in Kinesiology from the University of Maryland.  He plans to attend law school in 2010.  His sights are set on Georgetown University.

His most notable achievement while here at the University of Maryland was being quarterback on the football team.  He was a three year letterman.

His notable achievement outside of school, is his founding of the Children Deserve A Chance program in Lancaster, PA.  The mission on the website reads:

"Driven by the spirit of mercy and compassion, the mission of the Children Deserve A Chance foundation is to aid in the financial, emotional as well as spiritual development of underprivileged and disabled youth." 

The latest undertaking for Steffy is devoting the next 8 months to raising $500,000 to build a developmental center in Lancaster, PA; the website states "With more than 13,00 youth between the ages of 5 - 18 living in Lancaster, approximately 12,000 are not being provided with of any sort of space to engage in outreach or extracurricular programs.  The mission of the Center is to fill the void by offering not only a safe haven for kids to attend after school, but also affording the opportunity to develop personal relationships with their peers as well as mentors and staff members. The 4,000 - 8,000 square feet Center will also serve as a catalyst for the youth to establish a sense of self-worth, accountability and pride in their community."

Steffy says "hopefully we will take our unique concept to reach at risk kids to four other East coast cities including D.C. I've been training kids from Maryland, DC and Northern Virginia recently to serve as mentors to these young athletes."

For more information on this program, visit: www.childrendeserveachance.com