Center for Real Estate
Center for Real Estate Alumni Profiles
Marquette Center for Real Estate alumni are making tracks in the real estate industry. We are proud to shine the spotlight on these graduates.
Check back often for additional profiles.
Theron May
Bus Ad '07
Marquette was the only choice for Theron May; he grew up listening to Marquette stories told by his father Robert, his Uncle Steve, Aunt Lisa and Grandparents Joy and Howard Fink.
Theron entered Marquette in August 2003 and quickly determined he wanted to be a student in the newly established Real Estate Major. With a hunger to learn more and see the application of his studies in practice, he worked with program faculty to develop a student organization with the simple goal of getting out of the classroom and visiting current commercial real estate projects where students could apply classroom knowledge.
The Real Estate Club has grown from 6 members in 2005 to over 60 members in 2008. The Club’s first trip was to the 650,000 sq. ft. Summit Place redevelopment in West Allis and in April 2007 they had the opportunity to meet with real estate tycoon Sam Zell in his Chicago boardroom, learning how one person created Equity Group Investments, the largest apartment and office building owner in the country.
After graduating from Marquette in 2007 with a double major in Real Estate and Entrepreneurship, Theron joined Imperial Realty Company in Chicago where he works in the Property Management Department.
Pat Biernacki
Bus Ad '08
Pat started his career in May 2008 with Iconic Development of Evanston, Illinois. Iconic Development is a demographically driven real estate development company specializing in environmentally-friendly development and redevelopment of targeted asset classes including student housing, senior housing, and distressed assets.
Just one week after graduating from Marquette, Pat moved to Idaho to manage the rehabilitation of a 147-unit student housing project. In his current role as a Project Manager, Pat recently assisted with the acquisition of a 175-unit apartment building in Denton, Texas. Iconic’s plan for this project is to create green living space for students attending the University of North Texas.
With every project that he works on Pat is able to apply the knowledge he gained during his time as a MU real estate student. He said he particularly uses the principles learned in the Cases and Fundamentals of Real Estate classes on a daily basis. All of these principles and the cases that were studied allow Pat to be able to think outside of the box and propose unconventional ways to address questions and concerns. Pat also acknowledged that one of the most challenging aspects of his current position has nothing to do with real estate. He says that managing and being a fair leader, while keeping the company goals and mission forefront in his mind, are difficult tasks when supervising a team of individuals with a wide range of experience. Pat says that acting as the president of the Real Estate Club in his senior year helped prepare him for his supervisory responsibilities.
This summer Pat will be busy managing projects in Idaho, as well as actively pursuing opportunities to acquire more assets in growing university markets around the country. He considers himself to be extremely fortunate to be a member of Iconic’s team and looks forward to learning from the challenges ahead.
For more information on Iconic Development visit Iconic Development.