Jan 05, 2010
John P. Simon To Teach In DePaul’s Real Estate Program
John P. Simon To Teach In DePaul’s Real Estate Program
John P. Simon, a Chicago real estate industry veteran who has held management roles at firms that include CB Richard Ellis and Cushman & Wakefield, is bringing his three decades of commercial real estate experience to the classroom at DePaul University this January. Simon, who earned a master’s degree in taxation from DePaul in 1979, has joined the faculty of the university’s College of Commerce as an adjunct professor of real estate and will teach a course on real estate valuation.
"Our students will greatly benefit from John’s extensive knowledge of markets, market analysis and valuation, as well as his wide contact base in the commercial real estate industry," said Real Estate Chair Susanne Cannon, the Douglas and Cynthia Crocker Director of the Real Estate Center at DePaul.
Simon, who will continue in his role as partner at The Simon Group while teaching at DePaul, said he plans to provide students with a practitioner’s view of the real estate business. "I’ve been in the industry for 35 years and there are things in the textbooks that, while technically correct, don’t outline the full reality of the business," he said. "My goal is to help students become functional and marketable with skills that go beyond the textbook."
Simon’s teaching position represents a homecoming for the 53-year-old Loop resident. "I have a deep history with, and respect for, DePaul," he said. "I received my tax degree at DePaul, my wife got her MBA there, my daughter studied law at DePaul, and my son is in the real estate graduate program."
At The Simon Group, Simon manages the origination, analysis and placement of real estate investments in the Midwest, specializing in the capitalization of investment real estate and multi-market portfolios through direct sales and structured transactions. He has represented more than 100 different companies, in excess of 300 transactions, totaling more than $4 billion in value across all property sectors and regions of the country.
Simon spent 20 years as a senior vice president specializing in traditional and structured investment sales and asset recapitalization at CB Richard Ellis. In this capacity, he was primarily responsible for the management of institutional accounts, disposition of real estate portfolios and transactions involving multifamily assets, including the largest real estate portfolios in the firm’s history. At Cushman & Wakefield he led the Midwest branch of the Apartment Brokerage Services Group. Prior to that, he worked with Holliday Fenoglio Fowler in Chicago as senior managing director and with Cohen Financial as managing director of its apartment division.
Simon earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Loyola University Chicago. He has been a certified commercial investment member since 1994 and is a certified public accountant.
Students at DePaul's business school can now take a class in real estate valuation from John P. Simon, who brings more than 30 years of experience in the real estate industry to the classroom.