Jama Kriz has come full circle in her 23-year commercial real estate law career. After serving 15 years as region counsel to Eden Prairie-based Supervalu Inc., Kriz has returned to the Minneapolis-based law firm Leonard, Street and Deinard to work in its real estate practice. Kriz started her career at Leonard Street as an associate in 1990 and later became a shareholder.
She spent eight years at the firm developing experience in leasing, residential development and affordable housing. She left in 1998 to join Supervalu, where she served as primary legal counsel to seven of the grocer's retail banners, helped manage the firm's real estate development and provided counsel on mergers and acquisitions, transportation matters, retail credit and lending, and contract work. Supervalu is undergoing a transition after the $3.3 billion sale of five of its grocery store chains. Supervalu General Counsel Todd Sheldon and several other executives recently left the company.
Q: Why pursue a law career?
A: I had actually always wanted to be a doctor, but in college discovered that I hated lab classes and thought that wasn't a good fit. ... I thought about law school and applied at some schools and ended up at the University of Minnesota Law School. I did my second-year summer clerk experience with Leonard Street and then joined them in 1990.
Q: Why real estate law?
A: I was pretty certain I didn't want to be a litigator; I didn't want to be in court. ... I liked the transactional work because at the end, everybody's happy. ... For example, [my clients might say], "I sold my property; now I have money," or "Now I have a property I want to do something with."
Q: What were your responsibilities at Supervalu?
A: I handled their real estate for the banners of the company I was working with, including development when they were doing new stores, acquisitions when they were buying stores, leasing issues after they were in stores, and divestitures for different regions of the country.
