The State of Technology and Real Estate
4:00 - 4:50pm Klarman Hall Mainstage
Panelists:
Daniel Carr
Co-Founder and Managing Partner | Alpaca Real Estate
Daniel Carr is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Alpaca Real Estate. In this capacity, he is responsible for the Firm’s investment strategy, capital markets, asset management, portfolio management and is a member of the Investment Committee and and the Board of Directors of ARE. Mr. Carr has over a dozen years of institutional real estate experience investing in traditional and adjacent property sectors, throughout major markets in the U.S. and across the risk spectrum.
Prior to forming Alpaca Real Estate, Mr. Carr was a Principal with global alternative investment manager Ares Management (NYSE: ARES).
Wan Li Zhu
Co-founder and Managing Director | Suffolk Technologies
Wan Li Zhu is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Suffolk Technologies, a built environment venture capital firm investing in and accelerating construction and real estate innovations. Affiliated with tech-forward construction leader Suffolk, Suffolk Technologies has backed over 30 ConTech and PropTech startups across AI & automation, sustainability, supply chain, financial services, and smart building themes. Suffolk Technologies also runs built environment startup accelerator BOOST, providing hands-on company-building support, and access to industry-wide partnerships and piloting for early stage companies.
Wan Li is an experienced technology investor and was previously a Partner at Fairhaven Capital, a Boston-based VC firm that has invested over $430M in enterprise software and deep tech. Wan Li also founded and runs MIT Alumni Angels, which has backed over 100 MIT-affiliated startups in technology and life sciences. Prior to venture capital, Wan Li held product and marketing leadership roles at Microsoft in Dynamics CRM. Wan Li holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from MIT in Computer Science.
Heather Widman
Partner | Building Ventures
In her role as partner, Heather spearheads Building Ventures’ investment activities within the real estate tech (i.e., proptech) sector. In addition to her investment activities, she serves as a director on several boards and advises portfolio companies leveraging her two decades of experience in developing and bringing tech products to market. Heather is involved in the real estate tech community through organizations including CREtech, CRETI, NAIOP Technology Forum, Building Intelligence Group, and Women In PropTech. She is also active in the broader venture and startup ecosystem particularly through her role on the steering committee of All Raise.
John Macomber - Moderator
Senior Lecturer | Harvard Business School
John Macomber is a Senior Lecturer in the Finance unit at Harvard Business School. His professional background includes leadership of real estate, construction, and information technology businesses. At HBS, Mr. Macomber's work focuses on climate adaptation and the future of cities, particularly as aided by the private finance and delivery of public infrastructure projects in both the developed and emerging worlds. His teaching combines infrastructure finance (including public-private partnerships), investing in resilience (notably in the face of sea rise in some areas and drought in others), economic development, and the impact of new technologies in delivering new infrastructure and making old infrastructure more efficient. His most recent book is Healthy Buildings: How Indoor Spaces Drive Performance and Productivity (Harvard University Press, 2020)