Kristin Staffeldt is a Senior Portfolio Analyst in the Real Assets area at the University of Chicago endowment, which has around $8.5 bn in assets under management. She has spent most of her career in a range of roles in real estate, having focused on land economics in her university degree.

Our discussion covers the nuances of real estate investing, how it fits an institutional portfolio and how she became interested in it. We also touch on how the current Covid crisis is impacting the sector and how longstanding trends have been accelerated.

We then turn to Kristin’s own journey, the people who have been mentors throughout her career, the networks she has found most useful and the skills that she has developed as her career has progressed.