LHBS officially kicked off the Professor-In-Residence Program in 2024, a groundbreaking initiative aimed at fostering meaningful collaboration between academia and the corporate world. At the heart of this program lies the opportunity to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge learned in the classroom and real-world application. Erin Moran, Business Council member and Vice President Brokerage & Office Leasing at JLL, hosted the first pilot engagement. Read on
This new initiative is a joint effort between the LHBS Corporate Relations Officer, Faculty Department Chairs and the Business Council. Together, they match faculty interests with willing organization participants and Business Council member hosts. The aim is to create dynamic and mutually beneficial experiences that enrich the professional development of our faculty and strengthen practical learning for students.
This immersion experience includes the opportunity for professors to shadow executives and discuss real time business problems and industry specific intricacies. To date, four professors have participated with members of the LHBS Business Council in the areas of logistics, accounting, marketing, and commercial office leasing.
Program Spotlight
Jonathan Daigle, PhD, LHBS Graduate Program Director and Associate Professor of Finance was partnered with Erin Moran from JLL – a full-service global real estate company – to explore how the challenges of leasing an office building in the current environment impact owners’ financing. Together, Professor Daigle and Erin toured a sampling of Class A assets in central Jersey while discussing what today’s tenants are looking for to encourage a “return to office” and the landlords’ costs to provide such amenities. They talked through the high-level components of an office lease and the expenses landlords are facing to make deals: free rent periods, tenant improvement / construction allowances, and commissions, to name a few. Professor Daigle also had the opportunity to sit down with JLL’s Capital Markets for a discussion on how interest rates are impacting property values and what the market is expecting in the years to come for the landlords who go “underwater” – when they owe more than what the asset is worth.
“Textbooks are great, but they have limitations,” says Daigle. “This opportunity allowed me to ask questions and gain insights into the industry’s current state and future direction.”
Professor Daigle then turned his “day at the office” into a future case study for his students in both Corporate Finance and Real Estate Finance, Investment, and Taxation this spring. The aim will be to increase students’ level of knowledge about the commercial real estate market (namely the office segment) by identifying potential solutions to reduce vacancy levels in an office building and evaluate how those proposed solutions directly impact landlords’ financials. Professor Daigle has invited Erin to the case study presentations and participate in an overall discussion about what they’ve learned in the finance classroom and how it can be applied in commercial real estate. Interesting fact: one of the buildings that Jonathan and Erin toured during their day at the office is currently “underwater.” Maybe the students can find the answers! We will share highlights of the classroom discussion in Part II of our spotlight.
Professor Daigle also used this initiative in his professional development. He presented his experience and case study at the Financial Education Association Annual Meeting in San Antonio where other professors expressed interest in incorporating his case study into their courses!