ULI Chicago’s Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) held its third Breakthrough Series event honoring Molly Meyer, CEO and Founder, Omni Ecosystems. Guests were treated to a bird’s eye view of representative projects, courtesy of Omni’s in-house drone pilot, while Molly described combining her rigorous academic background with real-world carpentry experience to implement her vision for accessible and active urban green space.  Following the presentation, and a passing rainstorm, guests were able to view Molly’s work first-hand at Omni’s industrial loft penthouse and green roof.

Molly described creating a vertically integrated multi-disciplinary team of experts that has allowed her company to evolve from early ultra-light green roofs, to customizing new systems for living walls, and even inventing a new “supersoil” to increase stormwater storage capacity and reduce the reliance on storage tanks.  She cited her company’s collaborative approach as key to meeting client demands and overcoming seemingly impossible challenges, such as a truck malfunction resulting in frozen, instead of refrigerated, plants thirteen days before deadline. While guests were intrigued by Omni’s experiments harvesting rooftop wheat (will we see a ULI craft beer?), they were also impressed by Omni’s value-add metrics and measurable returns to a project’s bottom line.

ULI Chicago WLI Executive Board members used the event as an opportunity to announce and thank the inaugural slate of annual ULI Chicago WLI FY19 Sponsors. WLI Platinum Sponsors include Chicago Title Insurance Company and Ventas, Inc.  WLI Gold Sponsors include Bucksbaum Retail Properties, LLC, Cushman & Wakefield, HFF, L.P., and TCF Bank.

The Breakthrough Series was established to highlight and celebrate the accomplishments of women in the Chicago real estate market.  If you have a recommendation of someone WLI should feature in an upcoming event – please let us know.

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