Originally Published by Prudential.
As a leader in the real estate defined contribution marketplace, PGIM Real Estate continues to strengthen its defined contribution platform by promoting David Skinner to global head, hiring Sara Shean as an executive director and expanding its capabilities outside of the U.S. PGIM Real Estate is the real estate investment business of PGIM, the $1 trillion global investment management businesses of Prudential Financial, Inc.
PGIM Real Estate launched one of the first daily-valued real estate fund vehicles for U.S. defined contribution plans in 2006. Since then, PGIM Real Estate has grown its defined contribution platform to more than $2.2 billion in assets under management as of June 30, 2018, more than tripling its assets under management since 2014. These assets are managed across two daily-valued strategies that invest in PGIM Real Estate’s open-end commingled funds, with allocations to public real estate securities to provide daily liquidity.
“In recognition of the evolving trends in pension systems in the United States and around the world, PGIM Real Estate is bolstering its defined contribution practice and capabilities to better serve plan sponsors and their consultants,” said Mark Chamieh, global head of business development for PGIM Real Estate. “The expansion of our defined contribution platform is aligned with our commitment to helping these sponsors incorporate direct commercial real estate and real estate securities into their portfolios to improve participant outcomes.”
Skinner has been promoted to global head of PGIM Real Estate’s defined contribution practice expanding his U.S. coverage in addition to his role as a portfolio manager for PGIM Real Estate’s two daily-valued real estate portfolios. Skinner will partner with PGIM Real Estate senior leadership globally to further evolve product development strategy for defined contribution markets in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Shean joined PGIM Real Estate as an executive director and a senior member of the defined contribution practice. She will primarily focus on developing relationships with U.S.-based defined contribution plans and their consultants. She will also work to expand PGIM Real Estate’s defined contribution products. Based in Madison, New Jersey, Shean reports to Skinner.
PGIM Real Estate’s defined contribution platform leverages the full breadth and depth of PGIM’s multi-manager model, through its partnerships with PGIM’s institutional defined contribution practice, led by Josh Cohen, and QMA’s multi-asset target date funds platform. PGIM Real Estate has been working with plan advisors for more than a decade to promote the benefits of including direct commercial real estate and real estate securities within defined contribution plans. The company also took a leadership role in the formation of the Defined Contribution Real Estate Council (DCREC) in 2013 to further education, advocacy, and best practices for such investments.
Skinner has 20 years of defined contribution experience and more than 30 years of investment management industry experience. In the seven years that Skinner has led PGIM Real Estate’s defined contribution platform in the U.S., assets under management have tripled. Skinner is currently on the executive board of the DCREC and was formerly co-president from 2012 to 2015. He also sits on PREA’s Defined Contribution Affinity Group.
Shean has nearly 20 years of defined contribution experience across various asset classes and multi-asset portfolios. Prior to joining PGIM Real Estate, she served as the head of Institutional Defined Contribution for Cohen & Steers. Earlier, Shean was a vice president and senior defined contribution investment strategist with JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services. Shean has a bachelor’s degree in applied economics and business management from Cornell University and is a certified financial planner. She sits on the boards of the Defined Contribution Institutional Investment Association (DCIIA) and DCREC and is a member of the National Association of Government Defined Contribution Administrators (NAGDCA).
