Every year, Directors & Boards assembles a list with directors to watch. This year, I have been selected one of them. Very honored to be among a group of inspiring, smart women who are all making a difference in their respective boardrooms.
Here is a link to the full article, Gender Diversity in the Boardroom - what a difference a year makes.
Merrie Frankel has extensive experience in REITs, real estate capital markets, credit ratings, restructuring and workouts. She serves as a director of Agree Realty Corporation, a retail net lease REIT, chairs the nominating/governance committee, and sits on the audit committee. She is the president and founder of Minerva Realty Consultants, LLC, providing independent REIT advisory services and litigation support. Frankel has held positions as a ratings analyst, portfolio manager, investment banker, and tax attorney for Moody’s Investors Service, Argo Funds, EY, Cushman & Wakefield, J.P. Morgan and Salomon Brothers Inc.
Frankel is an Adjunct Professor at NYU and Columbia and was one of 50 “Women of Influence” for Real Estate New York in 2008. She is a trustee of the Urban Land Institute and board member of FWA of New York and the Martha Graham Dance Company. She holds J.D./MBA degrees from Hofstra University and a B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania.
Corporate governance after COVID-19: COVID-19 accelerated many trends in 2-1/2 months that might have taken another three to five years to develop. It fostered even greater communication between management and boards, a deeper review of portfolios, and a segregation of businesses that were “essential” vs. “non-essential” via an entirely new lingo. Themes such as tenant/client exposure, cost of capital, leverage, business pipeline, and dry powder have never been more important. Successful companies will be stronger, more resilient and agile.