WOMEN OF INFLUENCE

Clare DeBriere, EVP & COO, The Ratkovich Company

Real Estate Southern California | October, 2008

In addition to DeBriere's EVP title, she also serves as the LA-based company's chief operating officer. As such, she is responsible for overseeing the acquisition, development, financing and marketing of all the company's properties. In the past 12 months, DeBriere has overseen the $32-million revitalization of the 30-story, 500,000-sf 5900 Wilshire building.

"For the last decade, real estate was seen by many investors as a commodity rather than an operating business that it is," she states. "Through this cycle, the creation of value in real estate will shift from those who profited through financial engineering–cap rate compression, unsustainable underwriting, implementation of Wall Street-created debt instruments and historically low interest rates–to those who create value through operations."

On the topic of women in commercial real estate, she states, "Women will continue to play active and important roles in this arena." DeBriere serves as chair of the UCLA College of Letters and Science History Advisory Council. She is also active in the TUSK Foundation and the Pet Orphans Fund.