Amber House
Market Associate - Southern California
University of Wisconsin
What's your background?
I studied economics and urban studies at the University of
California San Diego. After graduation, I worked as an
Associate Project Manager for a developer that built
affordable housing throughout San Diego County. I did that
for five years, then went to Business school at the
University of Wisconsin in Madison and got my MBA with a
specialization in real estate. Our Real Estate MBA class was
12 students so it was very small, personalized and very
targeted. It was a great way to understand the industry. I
felt very well prepared transitioning back into the
workplace with this experience.
How is it that you came to Northwestern Mutual?
My manager here is a UW alum and she was my mock interviewer
when I initially visited the business school. So I met her
early on. I also made a connection with someone from
Northwestern Mutual at the National Black MBA Association
MBA career fair. And finally, they came to recruit MBAs
prior to my graduation, and that's really when the
relationship was solidified.
As an Associate in Underwriting, what do you do?
Northwestern Mutual Real Estate invests in a number of
different types of commercial real estate such as
apartments, industrial, office and retail. The deals are
initiated in one of our eight field offices around the
country, and once they're vetted in the field, the deals
come to us in the Milwaukee home office, where we lead them
through the final approval process. We do an analysis of the
opportunity to make sure that, from the company's point of
view, we're objectively looking at the deal pricing and
taking into account the market conditions. Once we identify
the strengths and weaknesses of the deal, we present our
findings to our internal approval board and if it's
approved, we work with our legal team to draft the approval
letter.
How many deals to you have going at any given
time?
In four months, I've underwritten 15 deals. So, maybe one
deal a week, sometimes two. It's a lot of work, but it's
really fun because you're constantly busy and challenged.
There's very little down time.
What do you like best about what you do?
I like how I'm always looking at new markets and deal types.
I'm challenged to quickly get an understanding of the market
and see the big picture. It's almost like an adrenaline
rush. I enjoy the workflow and variety of work.
How would you describe the culture at Northwestern
Mutual?
It's very collegial, open door and collaborative. We're all
on the same team. At the end of the day, we all want to get
to a place where we're looking at a deal that everyone is
comfortable with. And since that's the undertone of
the work we do, everyone is open about sharing their
experience and their expertise.
What's next for you here?
One of the
other things that drew me to this position is the
opportunity. People here typically spend around three years
in underwriting. After that, I'd love to have a region that
I'm responsible for and where I can establish roots. As a
market associate in the region, I'd work alongside the
producers, asset managers or the regional director in that
office to help with identifying and cultivating client
relationships.
Anything else about your experience so far that you'd
like to share?
My experience at Northwestern Mutual hasn't just been in
real estate. I like to network and learn from other groups
and individuals within the company. We have great employee
resource groups and I've met a lot of people I can relate
to. I've been involved in the women's employee resource
group, the African American employee resource group and the
Hispanic employee resource group. That's been really fun to
enrich my experience here.