National CRE News In Your Inbox.

Sign up for Connect emails to stay informed with CRE stories that are 150 words or less.

Sub Markets

Property Sectors

Topics

Chicago & Midwest  + Midwest  | 

Women in Real Estate 2019: Tara Hovey Empowers Optima to Adapt to the Marketplace

Since assuming her role as president and COO of Glencoe, IL-based Optima, Inc. in 2015, Tara Hovey has led the capitalization and financing of more than $1.5 billion in real estate, including construction financing for new developments, recapitalizations and building dispositions. The second-generation leader has empowered Optima to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace.

Under her leadership, the 40-year-old firm—founded by her parents David and Eileen Hovey—has developed two new phases of an existing Optima community in Scottsdale, AZ; completed the development of four additional projects; bought eight land sites; and launched plans for four new luxury multifamily communities, both rental and for-sale, designed to elevate the live-work-play experience in its core markets of Chicago and Scottsdale.

These are just a few reasons we chose Hovey as one of the 2019 Women in Real Estate Award winners. Connect Media’s Women in Real Estate Awards honor the achievements and inspirational stories of women who have reached respected positions of leadership and play key mentorship roles for others.

Because of her position at Optima, Hovey has the ability to move the needle in increasing the number of women in commercial real estate. She seized on that opportunity earlier this year by signing Optima to join The Chicago Network Equity Principles Pledge, with a goal of achieving gender equity in leadership roles by 2030. Here, Optima has a strong head start: the organization as a whole is 44% women, non-executive management roles are 43% women and the executive team is 25% women.

For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Paul Bubny

Connect

Inside The Story

Meet the 2019 Women in Real EstateConnect With Optima’s Hovey

About Paul Bubny

Paul Bubny serves as Senior Content Director for Connect Commercial Real Estate, a role to which he brings 16-plus years’ experience covering the commercial real estate industry and 30-plus years in business-to-business journalism. In this capacity, he oversees daily operations while also reporting on both local/regional markets and national trends, covering individual transactions across all property types, as well as delving into broader subject matter. He produces 7-10 daily news stories per day and works with the Connect team and clients to develop longer-form content, ranging from Q&As to thought-leadership pieces. Prior to joining Connect, Paul was Managing Editor for both Real Estate Forum and GlobeSt.com at American Lawyer Media, where he oversaw operations at both publications while also producing daily news and feature-length articles. His tenure in B2B publishing stretches back into the print era, and he has served as Editor in Chief on four national trade publications. Since 1999, Paul has volunteered as the newsletter editor of passenger rail advocacy groups (one national, one local).

  • ◦People
  • ◦Development
New call-to-action
New call-to-action