Mark Reiling

Executive vice president of asset management for Investors Real Estate Trust

After working at the Minneapolis office of Cassidy Turley and its predecessors for three decades, Mark Reiling has joined Investors Real Estate Trust (IRET), a Minot, N.D.-based public real estate investment trust. He's one of four executive vice presidents and is based in Eden Prairie. Reiling was president of Colliers Towle Real Estate for 18 years, and most recently, was senior vice president and principal at Cassidy Turley.

He has extensive expertise in brokerage, finance, consulting, expert witness testimony, development and asset management, which is acting on behalf of owners to manage their investments. In his new role, Reiling will manage IRET's entire portfolio, consisting of more than 12 million square feet of commercial property and 9,100 apartments. About half of IRET's properties are in Minnesota and the rest are located throughout the Upper Midwest. Reiling will help with IRET's strategic direction, including acquisition and disposition of properties.

QWhy make the move to IRET?

AThe coaching I used to give my salespeople was to focus on the clients that get the most out of what you do best. I took my own advice. Asset management and running a real estate company are what I do best and I found the perfect fit with IRET.

QTalk about IRET's strategic direction.

APart of my job is looking at what we should own - the types of properties and where --and what we shouldn't own, and at the right times dispose of those that don't fit so we have a better story to tell to Wall Street and the marketplace.

QDo you see IRET as an up-and-coming company?

AYes. We're definitely on the go and want to grow ... . In the real estate investment trust world, size does matter, so when you hit some critical size thresholds the availability of capital gets better, the pricing gets better.

QWhat will be most challenging?

AI certainly have some new learning curves about being part of a public company. Obviously, I have to learn about new markets and be able to make recommendations about what cities we ought to be growing in and retreating from or new markets to enter. I'm not an expert on Omaha or Lincoln, Neb., or the Bakken. There are geography and property-related challenges.

Liz Wolf is an Eagan-based freelance writer. She can be reached at wolfliz@aol.com.