Trademark Property Co.'s newest executive made the move to Texas in the depths of the summer and its triple-digit temperatures, but Soumi Biswas said she found the heat and humidity a welcoming change from her prior address of Green Bay, Wisconsin, and it reminded her of her hometown in Kolkata, India.
Biswas was named director of asset management for the Fort Worth-based mixed-use real estate investment, management and development firm, responsible for overseeing property operations and client relations. In her new role, she will direct the efforts of financial analysts, manage the institutional assets and work on special acquisitions and divestiture projects.
With a background rooted in financial advisory and real estate, the majority of Biswas' new role at Trademark Property is already in her wheelhouse but the MBA graduate in finance and business analytics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is new to the retail part of the business.
"I've worked on mixed-use, but pure retail is very new to me and there's been a steep learning curve," said Biswas, who describes her role as an owner representative who serves as a bridge between tenants and landlords. "My financial modeling skills are very transferable but understanding the levels of co-tenancy and how this is the lifeline of the entire retail real estate ecosystem is very new to me."
Biswas isn't fretting over the learning curve. Instead, she reminds herself of the advice given to her in Wharton's business school that not only helps shape the perspective she brings to Trademark, but guides her during times of uncertainty, something the economy has a lot of right now.
"If things get better, head in that direction. If things are getting worse, change course," she said, adding rarely in business — as in life — does everything turn out as planned. "It's the importance of being anti-fragile. If you find yourself in unchartered waters, you can remain resilient by adapting rapidly."
In hiring Biswas, Trademark CEO Terry Montesi said he expects her to play a key role in helping the firm continue to be extraordinary stewards of the firm's mixed-use, retail and institutional services portfolio.
Properties in that portfolio include Galleria Dallas; Alliance Town Center in Fort Worth, Texas; Market Street in The Woodlands, Texas; Zona Rosa in Kansas City, Missouri; Annapolis Tower Center in Annapolis, Maryland; Bridgewater Commons in New Jersey and North Point in Alpharetta, Georgia, in the Atlanta area.
Prior to Trademark and coming to Texas, Biswas was a freelance portfolio manager and financial adviser.
She previously worked with Goldman Sachs in New York within its real estate financing group. She also has design, planning, procurement and business development experience at PS Group and CBRE, both in India.
Along with her Wharton education, Biswas earned a master's degree in city planning from the Indian Institute of Technology and her undergraduate degree in architecture from Jadavpur University.
She is also a member of the Council of Architecture in India and the Institute of Town Planners in India.