RLJ Lodging Trust has become an Industry Fellow of the Center for Real Estate and Finance (CREF) at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration. RLJ Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly traded real estate investment trust focused on acquiring premium-branded, focused-service, and compact full-service hotels. The company’s portfolio consists of 144 hotels in 20 states and the District of Columbia, with a total of more than 21,000 rooms. Their properties are geographically diverse and concentrated in major urban areas and dense suburban markets that provide multiple demand generators from business, leisure, and other travelers.
“We value our long-standing relationship with RLJ, and we are honored to announce this new collaboration,” said Jan deRoos, HVS Professor of Hotel Finance and Real Estate and executive director of CREF. “We are pleased to welcome them to the Industry Fellows program.”
Kate B. Henriksen, senior vice president of investment and portfolio analysis at RLJ, will represent the company at meetings of the CREF Industry Fellows. Since joining RLJ, Henriksen has overseen the underwriting on completed transactions totaling over $4.2 billion. Prior to joining RLJ in 2002, Henriksen served as a director of development, planning, and feasibility at Marriott International. Henriksen’s experience also includes consulting on and appraising over $4 billion in existing and proposed lodging facilities for HVS International. She is a 1996 graduate of the School of Hotel Administration.
“Becoming an Industry Fellow gives us the opportunity to expand our commitment to the real estate industry while supporting real estate education and research,” said Henriksen. “We look forward to cultivating the next future leaders in real estate with the partnership of a global educational institution like the Center for Real Estate and Finance at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration.”
The CREF Industry Fellows program is the cornerstone of the center’s outreach efforts. It has been in development since CREF was founded in 2009 and now has 25 members who help fund the annual Cornell Real Estate Case Competition, seminars on current industry topics, student travel to real estate investment conferences, as well as faculty research.
Source: Cornell Center