The Multifamily Executive Conference’s annual CEO Power Panel brings together a team of the industry’s top executives to discuss their approach to the multifamily market, from current market strategies to preparation for future events. The panel will convene on the first day of the conference, which runs Oct. 2-4 at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Village Green CEO Diane Batayeh returns as a panelist this year, joined by Tom Toomey, CEO of UDR, and Robert Hart, president and CEO of TruAmerica. Moderated by Hanley Wood and Meyers Group CEO Jeff Meyers, the panelists will examine the state of capital markets, supply and demand, construction trends, and property valuation trajectories, as well as share their strategies for building strong organizations.
MFE checked in with Toomey and Batayeh for a few multifamily insights ahead of the event.
MFE: What does the future look like for the multifamily industry and its fundamentals?
Toomey: While the entire industry will benefit from our demographics, and the fact that in many markets we are not building enough, the companies that make the best use of their employees and technology will excel.
Batayeh: The ever-increasing thirst for data will drive the multifamily industry in the way we operate as well as interact with all stakeholders, including client-owners, residents, and employees. How we collect and utilize as well as how we protect such sensitive data will be an even more important focus given the cybersecurity risks that are inherent in our industry. Business intelligence is driving decisions, and real-time data access as well as transparency are key trends defining relationships. This trend is sure to drive the development and enhancement of even more technology focused on business intelligence-defining decision-making as well as cyberdefense.
MFE: What can multifamily companies do today to prepare for tomorrow?
Toomey: Over time, successful businesses have always been great at listening to their customers and associates. We believe today and into the next decade the most important change these two groups point to is the continued implementation of technology solutions.
Batayeh: At Village Green, we were one of the early adapters of business intelligence and made the necessary investment to enable data scraping from multiple software and workflow digital tools used at the property and enterprise level. This allowed us to process and analyze relevant metrics that then drove proactive decision-making. As the demand for visibility and ease of data transfer to all stakeholders continues to increase, companies should proactively build the infrastructure that would allow more self-sustaining data libraries.
Additionally, we conducted an internal audit of our IT and cyber infrastructure to identify any vulnerabilities and have spent the last couple of years building a cyberdefense strategy and investing in additional risk mitigation tools. This is an important focus for all companies to have in our industry given the high level of sensitive data we house.
Registration is still open for the MFE Conference.
