Dear Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center Community:
Center Director, Professor Joe Gyourko, announced at this year’s Fall Members’ Meeting that after 27 years, this will be his last year serving as the Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Director of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School. Professor Gyourko will formally step down at the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, 2025.
Since its founding over a quarter century ago, the Center has experienced tremendous growth in its ability to serve and educate all of its constituents: students, faculty, supporting members and the broader real estate industry. Those core missions will continue to be served when, on July 1, 2025, Professor Maisy Wong, will become the new Director of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center at the Wharton School.
Professor Gyourko remarked at the announcement of the transition that the Center could not be in better hands. Professor Wong brings a wealth of experience and invaluable expertise to her new role. She has been a familiar face at our Fall and Spring Members’ Meetings over the past few years and also serves as the Assistant Director for the Center’s Grayken International Program which extends our programs to Europe and Asia. Professor Wong teaches as part of the Real Estate Department faculty and is the James T. Riady Associate Professor at the Wharton School. For many years, she taught the introductory Real Estate Investments & Analysis course. More recently, she developed the new, and wildly popular, Global Real Estate course for undergraduates and MBAs. Professor Wong is a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and on the editorial board of the Journal of Urban Economics. Maisy earned her undergraduate degree from the University of California at Berkeley and her Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
At the formal announcement at our Fall Members’ Meeting last month, Professor Wong expressed gratitude to Professor Gyourko for his many years of leadership and service. Having worked closely with Professor Gyourko and Managing Director Susan Sessa, she is excited to assume this important role and looks forward to serving the community of the Zell/Lurie Real Estate Center.
At the Fall Meeting Joe Gyourko took the time to offer his sincere gratitude to everyone at Wharton and in the industry who helped build the Center into the thriving and vibrant organization it is today and expressed his gratitude for the support that he knows Maisy Wong will be offered as she leads the Zell/Lurie real estate program into the future.