The number of women who have joined ULI has more than doubled in recent years, from 20 percent of ULI’s nearly 28,000 members to more than 13,000 female members today, which equates to 29 percent of the organization’s 45,000 members. In celebration of this growth, Urban Land is spotlighting some trailblazing women in commercial real estate, all of whom are members of the ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative.
Emma West, partner at Toronto-based Bousfields Inc., says it was the women who were part of the WLI Toronto Committee when she first joined who were instrumental in her professional development. West now sits on the ULI Americas Board and is Chair of WLI for the Americas.
“There were many amazing women who were on that committee who were informally mentors for me because I saw how they were doing things, and that informed how I was going to be as a leader,” says West, who is also an Americas Executive Committee member and a former chair of WLI Toronto. A former triathlete, she also helped found the Toronto Triathlon Club.
She especially credits an informal mentor, John van Nostrand, whom she met in a previous job at PlanningAlliance, now known as SvN. Van Nostrand, she says, was one of PlanningAlliance’s founding partners and greatly impacted her.
“He had a significant influence on how I think about being a leader and, most importantly, on how I evaluate the people that I’m working with,” West says. “I know in a lot of places, people are looking at the level of experience, or what they’ve done, or where they studied. He had the ability to see the potential in people and gave them room and support to go to the next level in ways that other organizations wouldn’t.”
She finds it equally rewarding to now pass along her own wisdom and experience to the next generation as she mentors others in the industry. She says helping young leaders advance in their careers means a great deal to her, both through her role as ULI District Council Chair in Toronto as well as a global governing trustee and vice chair of the DEI Americas Committee.
“I’m always trying to find ways, even if it’s not someone that I’m formally mentoring, to help them grow in what they’re doing so that they can achieve what they want to achieve,” West explains.
Her first big break came at PlanningAlliance, where the intense exposure to commercial real estate provided the first opportunity for West to serve as partner. Before that, West knew little about the industry. After working a couple of contract positions with the federal government and a not-for-profit organization during an economic downturn, she landed her first full-time, permanent job at Dillon Consulting, a firm that focuses on engineering, planning, and environmental science. Her eight years there gave Westa deep dive into land development, including road construction, site contamination, and storm runoff.
“What I ended up focusing on there was the planning side of it, which included master-planned communities, thinking about how you balance all of those important things that you need in a community,” she says. “Because that was a large organization that was doing all of that work in-house, it was great exposure for me to see all of the things that you need to think about when you’re trying to develop a piece of land.”
West has now been with Bousfields for more than eight years. But in reflecting back on her entire career, West concedes it can be challenging to remain true to yourself while still being an effective leader.
“[It’s about] balancing that with all of the things that you need to think about as a leader, and how you can find a way to be comfortable in your leadership based on who you actually are, because we’re all going to approach work a little bit differently,” she says. “We’re all going to approach how we interact with people differently and find a way to follow some of the conventions for leadership, but to be your authentic self through the process. I’d say that’s a big challenge, and that kind of takes time and lots of good exposure to other leaders to see how you can balance that for yourself.”
West says she is most proud that she’s now been able to serve as a partner at two of the largest consulting firms in Greater Toronto.
“Particularly my first invitation to become a partner was a major accomplishment,” West recalls. “It gives you credibility in the outside world, outside of your organization when you’ve got that title of partner because people realize that you have achieved things. You are responsible for the work. You’re responsible for your team, and that’s just been such a great opportunity.”
She says she’s also inspired by her own mentees as she watches them strive for their goals. Reaching out to ask for help from people more seasoned in the field is something West says she would definitely have advised her 24-year-old self to do, no matter how intimidating it can be.
“You just have to go for it,” says West. “The worst that can happen is they say, ‘I’m sorry. I’m too busy.’ But I would say more often than not, people who are more experienced are willing to have a coffee with you or willing to build a relationship and help advise you as you’re trying to figure out this world. Have the courage to reach out to people because getting connected into the network, understanding kind of the rules of the game of work, all of that is going to help you succeed.”
