Diversity & Entrepreneurship in Corporate and Commercial Real Estate
Moderator:
Brandi McDonald
Limestone Commercial Real Estate
Brandi McDonald serves commercial clients as a President for Limestone Commercial
Real Estate completing 12.4 million square feet of brokerage transactions, representing
a total value exceeding $2.3 billion. For 22 years she has demonstrated that serving at
her highest enables her clients to perform at their best.
She recently completed six years as executive managing director in Newmark Grubb
Knight Frank’s Houston office, where as a specialist in global corporate services, Ms.
McDonald empowered global corporations to convert facilities to business enablers and
unlock capital to fuel their business.
Ms. McDonald joined Newmark following a corporate services role at Transwestern as a
managing director and senior vice president. Credited with elevating Transwestern's
national platform, she served on its board of directors, national tenant advisory services
steering committee, and managed the Houston tenant advisory services division.
Prior to joining Transwestern, Ms. McDonald served as a principal of the Trammell Crow
Company, where she was a founding member of the corporate advisory services platform
of the firm's headquarters and launched Trammell Crow Company's corporate advisory
services division in the Houston office.
Panel:
Ed Ryland, CCIM
ARVO Realty Advisors
Ed Ryland has over 30 years of experience in real estate brokerage, consulting, and tenant and
landlord representation. Prior to forming ARVO Realty Advisors (formerly Ryland Enterprises), Mr.
Ryland spent five years with ERA Real Estate and four years with Century 21, and was consistently
a top producer. He holds the highly recognized CCIM (Certified Commercial Investment Manager)
designation, considered to be the PhD of commercial real estate, which is earned after successfully
completing a designation process that ensures CCIMs are proficient not only in commercial and
investment real estate theory, but also in practice.
In addition to his real estate experience, Mr. Ryland has a well-rounded background in business.
From 1980-1982, he served as assistant manager for Beneficial Finance, where his responsibilities
included portfolio management, loan decisions, legal document review, collections, supervision and
marketing. Mr. Ryland spent two years with the Texas Comptrollers Department licensing new
businesses, performing inspections to ensure compliance with respective laws, compiling daily,
monthly and annual reports explaining tax laws, handling negotiations and completing sole proprietor
and corporate tax forms.
During the course of his real estate career, he has received several awards, including Top Closed
Transactions, Top Lister, Top Sales, Top Producer and 1990 Realtist of the Year. As a result of
his on-going involvement in the real estate community, Mr. Ryland has gained recognition among
his peers.
Tana Deshayes
Marathon Oil
Tana Deshayes holds the position of Corporate Resources Manager at Marathon Oil Corporation. In that role, she oversees all corporate real estate transactions, and leads a department that manages more than 1 million square feet of office space throughout the United States. Tana also oversees Marathon Oil’s Global Travel Department, which manages the company’s worldwide travel program, as well as the corporate credit card and expense account systems.
Tana began her career with the company in 2001. Since then, she has held several roles in the Marketing, Global Supply Chain, International Commercial and Administrative Services organizations. Tana earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Houston.
Tana sits on the Corporate Guild board for Dress for Success Houston, and is currently participating in the Leadership Academy with Inspire Women.