MRED alumnus Guillermo Gonzalez used education, connections to start consulting agency

Guillermo Gonzalez (MRED '11), founder of Connecticut-based Gonzalez Advisory, began his career in architecture but wanted more experience in the business side of real estate. This desire led him to pursue a Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) degree from ASU.

Guillermo Gonzalez (MRED '11), founder of Connecticut-based Gonzalez Advisory, began his career in architecture but wanted more experience in the business side of real estate. This desire led him to pursue a Master of Real Estate Development (MRED) degree from ASU, which provided the tools to eventually start his own consulting firm.

The W. P. Carey School of Business spoke with Gonzalez to learn about his journey, and how his ASU MRED experience led him to starting his own business.

Why W. P. Carey?

Gonzalez earned his bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Mendoza in his home country of Argentina. After graduation, he moved to the United States, starting as an intern, then taking a position with the top architect Cesar Pelli in New Haven, Connecticut.

"I worked mainly on commercial real estate projects for prominent developers," Gonzalez says. "So, I started becoming very curious about the role of the developer and what would bring all these projects to life, from an economic standpoint."

That curiosity led Gonzalez to Arizona State University and the MRED degree program. "The main reason I had for going to W. P. Carey was because the master's in real estate development was offered by a school of business. I was coming from an architecture background, so I had all that knowledge.

"Many other programs are offered by a school of architecture or a school of design. I wanted to learn more about the business side of real estate and how to think like someone who came from business school."

Why real estate?

After graduating from the W. P. Carey MRED program, Gonzalez was equipped with a well-rounded education and began his development career in speculative multifamily investments and acquisitions in New York City.

Soon after, he began working for a consultant specializing in clients who owned and developed affordable housing properties. The experience and education from W. P. Carey made it possible to find his niche and build a career there.

"Everything that this program teaches is fundamental and necessary to have," Gonzalez says. "It gives you all this flexibility, because you can be working in a smaller niche or part of a bigger area."

The experience he gained working in the affordable housing sector as a consultant, along with his "entrepreneurial nature," helped Gonzalez get to a point where he felt comfortable and confident enough to open his own consulting firm five years ago.

Gonzalez Advisory, based in New Haven, Connecticut, assists clients with the development and preservation of affordable housing, and its specialty is in repositioning properties that receive assistance from the federal government. Public housing, a program established in the 1930s as part of the New Deal, provides affordable, quality living spaces to low-income families. Gonzalez's firm advises clients on repositioning aging public housing properties into modern, socially sustainable communities.

What's next?

The MRED program emphasizes environmentally and socially minded real estate development, and this concept has always had its place in Gonzalez's work.

"Affordable housing is rewarding to work in," he says. "It's a ‘positively impactful' part of real estate, also like building environmentally friendly buildings. During the MRED program, we were also reminded the success of a project doesn't depend just on the project itself, but it also depends on how it integrates with the community."

One of the areas of the industry that Gonzalez sees future improvement in is the environmental impact of development and construction. He called out the Inflation Reduction Act passed in 2022, which features sustained investments in clean and renewable energy. He believes this will help accelerate the changes that had already begun in real estate development, but were previously moving slowly.

Gonzalez also foresees a potential shake-up in who the major names of the industry will be. "When the game changes, it means that other people will have opportunities. Everything gets corporate, and then you end up with the same three or five players that dominate the market," he says."When something disturbs the market, there is more opportunity for those who adapt to the changes quickly, but also for new players."