Across the spectrum of commercial real estate, women are tasting power as chief executives, chief financial officers, company presidents and brokers as never before. And their ability to create value for their companies is the driving force behind their elevation to the corner office.

In Los Angeles, Janet Neman, senior managing director at brokerage firm Charles Dunn generated $160 million in sales over the last 12 months, and has been a top producer for 10 years in representing private and institutional investors as they acquire and sell portfolios.

In Chicago, Gwendolyn Butler was named president and CEO of real estate investment firm Capri Capital Partners after overseeing more than $500 million in new pension fund commitments to Capri. And in New York, because of her skill in devising a long-term strategy and helping to accumulate a portfolio of 31 properties totaling 8.9 million sq. ft., Joanne Minieri was promoted to president and chief operating officer of Forest City Ratner, a subsidiary of Cleveland-based developer Forest City Enterprises.

But women have a long way to go before achieving parity with men at the highest levels of commercial real estate, just as in other industries. Fewer than 25 women occupy CEO positions in the Fortune 1000. Among the 169 publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REITs), only three are run by female CEOs, according to the Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network. In a 2005 CREW survey, 32% of male respondents held the title of president, CEO or chief financial officer, compared with 13% of females.

“The reason there have not been more women leaders in real estate is that few women went into it 25 to 30 years ago. It takes that long to rise to the top,” says Peter Linneman, professor of finance and business and public policy at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Traditionally, commercial real estate was a family-dominated business, and most families focused on their sons, he says. “Over the next 15 to 20 years we are going to see a lot of top women leaders emerge, as talent is going in now.”

Among the 17,000 members of the Washington, D.C.-based Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International, more than half are women, an increase of about 25% from two decades ago, says Henry Chamberlain, president. But he estimates that fewer than 5% of member CEOs are women.

That percentage is likely to rise as more women earn MBA degrees, which Chamberlain believes hold the key to the C-suite. Companies need asset managers who can conduct financial modeling and pencil out costs, he says. “I've been here 23 years. The number of women has been rising steadily.” Half of BOMA's local associations now have women presidents.

This may be an ideal time for a woman leading her own company, says Lynn Smith, founder of the Global Diversity Summit in Commercial Real Estate. At the July gathering in Atlanta, representatives from several cities showed up, eager to find women and minority contractors. Memphis was particularly enthusiastic, sending a team of 19. “They were calling and calling,” before the event, Smith says. “[They were] going after minority companies, contractors and developers to come and do business there.”

Unequal pay

In the CREW Network survey of 1,834 male and female industry participants published in 2005, 58% of men reported income over $150,000, but only 24% of women reported income at the same level. Three times as many women as men had income below $75,000.