Artemis’ Summer Program Trains Diverse Talent

WASHINGTON, DC—When Deborah Harmon co-founded Artemis Real Estate Partners in 2009, she and fellow co-founder Penny Pritzker looked around to find other women-owned real estate private equity investment managers.

They couldn’t find any.

That shouldn’t have been too surprising: Currently, less than 1% of industry capital is managed by women-owned firms and only 1.2% by minority-owned firms. That was, more or less, the environment Artemis entered ten years ago. Since then, however, it has made its mark, delivering top quartile performance and results as well as widening the circle of opportunity for those underrepresented in the real estate industry.

“It’s not enough to be diverse ourselves, or to have provided $2 billion of capital access and mentoring support to emerging and diverse operating partners. We believe we have a responsibility to build a diverse entry-level talent pipeline for the real estate industry,” Harmon tells GlobeSt.com.

So seven years ago Artemis created an intensive Summer Enrichment Program to expose freshman and sophomore college student to all aspects of the real estate industry. Of the 87 students that have graduated from the program, more than 80% have been diverse. In 2019, the company welcomed a class of 27 students, 85% of which are minority and/or female.

“Demand for the program has continued to increase each year. Our maximum capacity for participants is 27 and this year we had more than 100 total applicants,” says Harmon.

The program is based on the premise that a variety of factors, including race, gender, income, and zip code can significantly overshadow a young person’s ability or work ethic when it comes to accessing and pursuing a quality education and a lucrative career.

“Talent is evenly distributed but not evenly developed,” Harmon says. “As a result, our industry misses out on bringing some of the best and brightest into the fold. We are committed to developing talent wherever it exists to further the success of those in our industry, and to widen the circle of opportunity for those typically underrepresented in our ranks.”

Participants visit major real estate development projects and gain exposure to leading real estate firms, CEOs and institutional investors. The program culminates with small-group case study presentations to Artemis’ Investment Committee, where students gain hands-on experience underwriting, analyzing and presenting real-time Artemis investment opportunities.

Harmon reports that almost half of past Summer Enrichment Program participants have gone on to have internships or job placements in the banking, financing or real estate fields at institutions such as Blackstone, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Eastdil, and Morgan Stanley.

For example, Lena Duffield, a 2015 program participant, is currently a real estate acquisitions analyst at Morgan Stanley.

“The Artemis Summer Enrichment Program provided me with the crucial foundation of industry knowledge and technical skills I needed to compete successfully for future opportunities,” Duffield says. “Without the Artemis program, I would not have had the confidence or credentials necessary to pursue a career in real estate private equity acquisitions.” She describes the Artemis program as a “crash course” in the real estate industry with tutorials in each asset class and technical skills, to overviews of possible career paths. “Starting the program, I knew I was interested in pursuing a real estate career; however, without the wide perspective the program gave me on the industry, I would have had trouble picking the right direction to take my career,” Duffield concludes.

Olivia Cherry, a 2017 program participant, is currently a student at Vanderbilt and intern at Blackstone Group.

“As a liberal arts major who attends a university with no undergraduate business school, Artemis’ Summer Enrichment Program provided me an introduction to and education in the real estate and finance industries,” Cherry says. “The program prepared me to obtain internships at Goldman Sachs in the investment banking division, The Blackstone Group in real estate, and receive offers from Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, among other firms. I continue to recommend the program to younger students on a similar path.”