Clare De Briere

Biography: A trusted advisor with deep expertise in the real estate industry, business strategy, and team building, Clare De Briere has served as a C-Suite executive in a privately held development company, a senior executive in a publicly traded global corporation, and has chaired non-profit volunteer boards. Currently, Ms. De Briere serves as the Vice Chair and Treasurer, and Chair of the Finance and Compensation Committees for the Global Board of the Urban Land Institute (“ULI,” a global, 48,000-member research and education institute), is the Chair Emeritus of ULI’s Americas’ Executive Committee, and chairs the Nominations Committee. Ms. De Briere is also currently serving as the Board Chair of the Central City Association in Los Angeles. Ms. De Briere was the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of privately held commercial development company, The Ratkovich Company. Over her 26-year tenure at the company, Ms. De Briere, in partnership with the company founder, grew the company into a nationally recognized, development, and construction- and property-management enterprise. While there, she negotiated for the acquisition and disposition of millions square feet of development across multiple asset classes, negotiated and concluded over a billion dollars of equity and debt with global institutional financial partners, negotiated millions of square feet of leases with public and private companies, educational institutions and government agencies, and personally oversaw the strategic development of each of the company’s projects and teams. (On average, the company’s projects achieved an overall retention rate of 86%, well above the industry standard though the provision of exceptional customer service.) Ms. De Briere’s global corporate experience comes from her role as Executive Vice President and Regional Manager in Los Angeles for Skanska USA Commercial Development, a division of Skanska. Over the course of six years, she led the company’s expansion into Los Angeles, developing the strategy for all acquisitions and development in the region while sitting on the national Senior Leadership Team, and being part of the broader senior leadership of Skanska, globally. While at Skanska, Ms. De Briere provided leadership in multiple Limited Duration Teams focused on adaptive reuse, DEI, Women’s Leadership, reduction in force, and sustainability, among others. In 2024, Ms. De Briere co-founded Catalyst Property Company, a US-based commercial development company focusing on third party real estate services. In early 2025, after developing the short-, mid- and long-term strategies for the company, developing the marketing strategy (the primary focus of which was providing unparalleled customer service) and collateral marketing materials, building the start-up team, and participating in the first several assignments earned by the company to ensure that the strategy was being implemented successfully, Ms. De Briere exited the company, as planned, post launch. Currently, Ms. De Breire is serving as Senior Advisor to the Board of Towne Park, acting as a strategic advisor and liaison to the commercial real estate community. Ms. De Briere is an accomplished thought leader and speaker on all areas of real estate and urban development as well as topics such as leadership and leader development, DEI, city and community planning, real estate development, adaptive reuse, sustainability and historic preservation. Ms. De Briere’s financial experience is a culmination of both her employment and her volunteer board work, spanning from general P&L management to strategic and capital investment decision making and capacity planning. Ms. De Briere sits on the UCLA Ziman Center Board, and on the executive committee of the USC Lusk Center Board. In addition to her role on the Global Board at ULI, she is a Global Governing Trustee, a member of the governance committee and a former chair the ULI Los Angeles District Council. She has been named on the Los Angeles Business Journal’s 500 Most Influential People in LA and their Women Making a Difference lists multiple times and has been on the Real Estate - Southern California’s Women of Influence list for every year for over a decade. Ms. De Briere is one of the founding members of the Advisory Board of the UCLA History Department; and served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the Los Angeles Conservancy. Ms. De Briere is a frequent speaker and thought leader on leadership, real estate, and civic engagement (ABC News, LA Times, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, UrbanLand Magazine, Urban Land Institute key note speaker, Connect Media, and Bisnow among others) in addition to guest lecturing at both the University of Southern California and the University of California, Los Angeles) Clare De Briere received her BA in History from the University of California Los Angeles, and her masters of real estate development degree from the University of Southern California.