Andrew Hunt, Vieth Director for the Center for Real Estate, Marquette University

Andrew Hunt received the NAIOP Wisconsin Chapter Associate of the Year award at the chapter’s Annual Meeting in January 2022. Associates are industry professionals who are engaged in facets of the commercial real estate industry that complement development.

Hunt, an active member of the NAIOP Wisconsin chapter off and on since 2010, has served on the Developing Leaders Committee and participated in the DL All Star Program, which is designed for members 35 years of age and younger. Hunt has also been involved with the NAIOP Minnesota, NAIOP Chicago, and NAIOP Colorado chapters. In 2021, he was named a NAIOP National Developing Leader of the Year award winner, a distinction bestowed on only four DL’s across NAIOP’s nearly 20,000 members nationally. He was also named NAIOP Wisconsin’s “Rising Star” award winner in 2014, and in 2021 was named to the Milwaukee Business Journal’s “40 Under 40” award winner cohort.

In his role leading academic real estate initiatives at Marquette University, Hunt routinely seeks to engage a deeper connection between NAIOP as an organization and students as members, part of what he calls a “lifelong support network for students on their path to becoming passionate industry leaders in their own right.”

How has your association with the Developing Leaders and NAIOP Wisconsin helped you in your career? NAIOP has helped my career in numerous ways, most notably by providing me with an incredible network of mentors from all over the country. During various crossroads in my career, I have been blessed with advice and guidance from these talented people. NAIOP has also served as an important source of continuing education in my career with conferences and panels that present the most cutting-edge ideas in our industry. Furthermore, I am so grateful to NAIOP’s advocacy for us all and efforts to work on public policy that benefits the growth and success of commercial real estate.

The Corporate DL Award is an impressive achievement. What aspect of this recognition had the most impact on you? The honor of winning the NAIOP Developing Leader Award has truly been a “full circle” moment for me. My most memorable internship in college was working for Larry Pobuda, at the time a developer in Minnesota. That summer, Larry gifted me a student membership and took me to several events, where I witnessed firsthand the network he had developed with other NAIOP members. I didn’t fully grasp the importance at the time, but Larry learned that summer that he was to become NAIOP Chairman in a few years, leading the organization nationally. I am so grateful that he exposed me to this organization so early on in my education and taught me the value of meaningful relationships in our industry. Since then, I have had the utmost respect for NAIOP and remained an engaged and enthusiastic member. Today, I try to have the same impact on every student in our program. Winning this award has only strengthened that resolve to share all the great things about this organization with future generations of leaders – our students!

How does a program for high school students of color potentially impact the commercial real estate industry?

I remember when NAIOP member Mike Riopel first approached myself and Jim Villa (NAIOP WI CEO) in January 2020 wanting to talk about this idea for a high school summer program focused on real estate for students of color. Other NAIOP chapters had partnered with a few organizations to run some summer programming, and he came away inspired by these examples. Jim and I signed up right away, and the rest was history.

At Marquette we founded, and continue to support, the ACRE (Associates in Commercial Real Estate) Program in 2004, which trains men and women of color to be better prepared for investment, development and management in commercial real estate in the community. With nearly 300 graduates of ACRE over the last 17 years, many had started asking us over time if we had considered doing something at the high school level.

Our work with REEX has been a perfect fit, and we’ve been inspired by so many NAIOP members stepping up with their ideas, their volunteer time, and their financial support to ensure we continue reaching underrepresented high school students, nearly all of whom have never considered a career path in real estate prior to this program. Although our first year was virtual, it was a massive success, and something we’re so proud to continue this year and every year as we seek to provide more opportunities to support diversity in our industry.