Founding Members

Platinum Equity Members

Peter Bell Pabst Farms
James Imhoff, Jr. First Weber Group
Dennis Klein CD Smith Construction
Barry Mandel Mandel Group
Jim McShane McShane Construction
Roger Thrun WHR Group
Bob & Jeff Weyers, Paul Klister Commercial Horizons

Gold Equity Members

Bruce Adreani Norwood Builders
First Data Corporation  
Opus North Corporation  
Steve & Rhonda Stratman  

Silver Equity Members

James Devine  
Steve & Mary Evans  
Tom Kuesel Kuesel & Co.
Robert Mahoney CBRE
John Pfefferle Pfefferle Investments
Mr. & Mrs. William A. Shiel  

Bronze Equity Members

James Barry III The Barry Company
Don & Win Biernacki  
Norris & Nanine Eber Abbell Associates
Joe Horning Shorewest Realtors
John Heller & Francis Brzezinski Interstate Partners
Gerber's Law, S.C.  
David & Bonnie Krill  
Patrick Mulcahy US Bank
Ogden & Company, Inc.  
Max Rasansky CBRE
David Shrock Marquette University
Mark Spaeth Schenck Business Solutions
Timothy Spillane Jones Lang LaSalle
Richard Spinell Mid-America Real Estate Group
Don Tolva The Store House Company
US Bancorp Foundation  
US Bank Commercial Real Estate Lending Division  
Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, S.C.  

Equity Members

Margaret Bernhard Marquette University
Mark Eppli & Eliza Webb  
Lee Hackett American Appraisal Associates
Michael Kelly Blue Ribbon Management LLC
Patrick Knoelke Custom Truck & Equipment
Charles Ries Marquette University
Robert Schmidt Boulder Venture
Gary Stein CBRE
Nicole Truog UW-Madison
Douglas Wheaton  

History

Marquette was the first Jesuit university in the nation with an undergraduate curriculum in commercial real estate. In 2002 the College of Business Administration, with the help of Peter and Betty Bell and their generous gift endowing a chair in real estate, initiated efforts to establish a major program in the area of commercial real estate by hiring Dr. Mark Eppli as the Bell Chair in Real Estate. Under his leadership, these efforts were highly successful, attracting students, outreach, research, and relationship building with the industry. The Center for Real Estate was established in 2008 through the efforts of Founding Members who contributed more than $600,000 in initial operating funds. Work continues on building an endowment to permanently fund and operate the Center for Real Estate. The CRE was the founding educational partner for the Associates in Commercial Real Estate (ACRE) program, a minority outreach program that provides commercial real estate training, networking and mentoring opportunities.