New Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship (CREE) director, Roderick Maribojoc, brings extensive real estate development experience to Mason.
Prior to joining Mason, Maribojoc worked with the MS in Real Estate program at the Kogod School of Business at American University. Here’s a short Q&A with Maribojoc to learn more about him and his plans for the center.
What is your Real Estate Development background?
I work with private equity groups to invest their funds and manage their properties. I have been doing this since 1993, when I graduated with my master’s degree from American University. Most of the projects I have been involved in have been value-add investments, where I take properties that have fallen out of favor due to physical, financial, legal, marketing or management problems, put together a business plan and a team to solve the problems and identify opportunities, and make the properties attractive and valuable again for users and the community.
I find a lot of interesting challenges and also professional satisfaction in turning projects around, and this also has allowed me to learn about many communities and cities around the country.
What brought you to Mason? What made you interested in working with CREE?
I have long been a resident of Northern Virginia; in fact, I have lived not far from the Fairfax campus for the last 20 years. I have long admired the growth at Mason that I have witnessed over the years.
Working with CREE was an opportunity to be part of this, and to engage more deeply with the local real estate development community and support the development of the next generation of real estate professionals and leaders who will shape the way our communities will look in the future.
What are your plans with CREE? Any new initiatives you hope to implement?
CREE has many great programs that will be continued and new ones that can be considered that both students and industry professionals will find interesting and useful in their careers. I hope to work more closely with academic and industry groups and expand our research activities.
CREE will strongly support the MS in Real Estate Development program and will promote its growth and reputation.
At Mason, the MS in Real Estate Development is a cross-disciplinary program drawing on the expertise of faculty members within the School of Business, School of Public Policy, and Volgenau School of Engineering. The program also has the unique advantage of having access to the Center for Real Estate Entrepreneurship. The center acts as a catalyst between the MS in Real Estate Development program and the real estate industry. It provides students with a forum for professional development and offers them unique opportunities to connect with the real estate development community.
