Gwendolyn L. Butler '84, President and Chief Operating Officer, Capri Capital Partners

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Gwendolyn L. Butler is the President and Chief Operating Officer of Capri Capital Partners LLC, one of the country’s leading institutional real estate investment management firms. Ms. Butler is the first African American female President and COO in the commercial real estate investment management industry and at Capri Capital Partners oversees all investment, finance and marketing personnel of the firm. Ms. Butler joined Capri as Chief Marketing Officer in March 2007 and has led Capri's institutional capital raising. In that role she has overseen more than $500 million in new commitments to Capri from leading public pension fund investors.

Ms. Butler has 32 years of institutional lending and investment management experience, including serving as Executive Director of UBS Global Asset Management and Managing Director of Bear Stearns & Co. Ms. Butler started her career in 1977 as a corporate finance banker at the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company and was the first African American female appointed Vice President in the bank’s commercial lending division.

Ms. Butler is Chair of the National Association of Securities Professionals, the leading national organization for minorities and women in the securities industry, and previously held the position of Treasurer of the organization. Ms. Butler was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Securities Professionals in 2003, and in 2004 served as a Co- Chair of the organization’s 15th Annual Pension and Financial Services Conference. Ms. Butler is President Elect of the Board of Directors at the YWCA Metropolitan Chicago, and serves on the organization’s Executive Committee.

A native Detroiter, Ms. Butler attended Louis Pasteur Elementary School, Hampton Jr. High School, and Samuel C. Mumford High School. Ms Butler received a Master of Management in Finance from the J. L. Kellogg Graduate School of Business of Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Michigan. Ms. Butler has received numerous awards and acknowledgements, including being named "One of the Most Powerful Women in Business" by Black Enterprise magazine, one of the “100 of America’s Best and Brightest Black Women in Corporate America” by Ebony magazine, and one of the “Remarkable Women of Color Presidents” by the Chicago Chapter of the National Association of Securities Professionals.