Fireside chat at a real estate event

04 / GIVING BACK

Helping the next generation of Real Estate Professionals land careers




















In some of my free time I serve as the Founder and Director of the REFA Analyst Program and Head of Events at the University of Miami’s Real Estate Finance Association.



Through my work I expose members of our organization to industry professionals across all areas of real estate from my personal network. Once they are exposed to the industry I train them to be competitive in the process of recruiting to the part of the industry that interests them most.

Building REFAs Industry Event Calendar: Fall 2026

This semester I built 93% of REFA's event calendar myself, more than a dozen speaker events, site visits, and firm visits.

  1. Habitat Group, VP of Capital Markets

  2. Wolfson Development, Founder & CEO

  3. JLL, deal teams across multiple business lines

  4. Berkadia, Senior Managing Director, debt placement

  5. South Florida Appraisal Institute, panel of senior appraisers

  6. Stream Realty, deal teams across multiple business lines

  7. KKR Real Estate, Head of Acquisitions & Partner

  8. BridgeInvest, VP of Originations

  9. Wharton, Moelis Advance Access Program Director

  10. Columbia Business School, Associate Director of Admissions

  11. Design District Tour, Executive Vice President of Leasing

  12. Bal Harbor Tour, CEO Whitman Family Development

The semester closes with our State of the Market panel, bringing together professionals across debt, equity, capital markets, economists, and institutional allocators, so students leave with a full view of how the market actually fits together.

Each event gives students a direct look at what these jobs actually entail, and puts them a room with senior professionals they'd otherwise have little opportunity to meet.

Wolfson Development Fall 2026 | StWD Site Visit spring 2026

Structured Education for Students

The Real Estate Finance Association is one of the most competitive student organizations on campus, admitting roughly 30% of applicants. All members complete a mandatory four-week industry education series, and from there, members can choose to join the Analyst Program, a hands-on track that takes students from industry fundamentals to a full investment thesis by year's end.

Fall
The education series covers how the business works and its core terminology. After completing it, members become eligible for the Analyst Program, though it's not required, those who commit build financial modeling skills and prep for interviews ahead of the REFA case competition each spring. The competition awards $3,000 split among the top three teams, and top performers are named Miami Business School Real Estate Advisory Board Scholars, earning a fully hosted three-day trek to New York to visit firms like BGO, Blackstone, KKR, and ACORE Capital.

Spring
Students continue modeling coursework and organize into strategy-based teams, multifamily, industrial, hospitality, and retail equity, and public and private debt, to answer a common interview question: how would you invest $100 million? Each team builds a full investment thesis with a proposed deal, capital structure, and return projections, presented at year's end to senior industry professionals. Many also compete in external case competitions to test their work against other schools and get in front of more firms before recruiting begins.

Throughout the program, students get ongoing support on networking, resumes, and interview prep, with direct mentorship from program leadership.

Analyst Program Inaural Cohort: Case Presentation

Nicolas M. Riveira

Miami, Florida