Midwest Women of Influence

CHICAGO-The Midwest encompasses many things – from the college towns of Ann Arbor, MI; Madison, WI and Bloomington, IN; to the farm country of Nebraska and Iowa; to the urban cores of Chicago and Detroit. What follows are commercial real estate's women of influence in the Midwest as published by Real Estate Forum; women with backgrounds as diverse as the region in which they operate.

• Alexandra Jackiw, Managing Director, Residential Client Services, McKinley – Ann Arbor, MI

A temp job writing a federal grant to fund an elderly day-care center in Terre Haute, IN proved to be a launching pad for a career in multifamily that’s spanned 35 years. Alex Jackiw was asked to manage the center after the grant was approved, and she rose through the ranks to become the Terre Haute Housing Authority’s director of housing programs. Three years later, she moved into the private sector and never left. Jackiw has worked for several large publicly traded multifamily firms with portfolios as large as 25,000 units. Since joining McKinley earlier this year, she’s overseen Midwest and Southeast portfolios on behalf of the firm’s third-party clients. She is also chairman-elect of the National Apartment Association and is slated to become chairman of the board in 2013.

• Elaine Melonides, Managing Director, Service Lines and International Director, Corporate Solutions, Jones Lang LaSalle -- Chicago

Spanning 25 years in global commercial real estate, Elaine Melonides’ resume is full of major clients and big deals, such as a 280,000-foot project for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Midwest portfolio and the early renewal of BP’s global transactions contract. An expert in transaction advisory services, Melonides has handled more than eight million square feet in deals. After joining JLL’s tenant rep group and getting her MBA, she worked her way up to her current role in 2011. JLL recently named her National Transaction Advisory Services Lead, a key position within the corporate solutions practice, and a 2012 “Top Achiever.” Part of JLL’s operating and executive sales committee, Melonides manages all corporate solutions’ service lines, new product and service development and over 9,000 employees. She had an instrumental role in founding JLL’s Diversity Council.

• Ann Tomlinson, Senior Vice President, Leasing Services, MB Real Estate -- Chicago

One of Ann Tomlinson’s greatest achievements over the past 12 months has been taking Chicago’s Citigroup Center at 500 W. Madison to 93% leased. She did that by signing such credit tenants as Grainger, AIG, the federal government and Navteq, contributing to a total value in excess of $359 million. But Tomlinson isn’t a single-song performer; her experience also includes property and construction management. She believes the best approach to property management and leasing is listening, understanding the tenant and the tenant rep’s requirements and fitting those into an overall strategy. “Chicago is witnessing businesses gravitating away from suburban markets and moving toward central downtown locations,” she says. “No doubt this is due in large part to the dynamic, young and educated workforce available in the city.” Tomlinson sits on the women’s board at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and is a supporter of the Hubbard Street Dance Theater there.