Editors’ Note

The recipient of a bachelor’s degree in real estate from the Wharton School of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania, Ivanka Trump joined The Trump Organization in 2005, where she currently serves as Vice President. Prior to being a member of the real estate team, Trump served as Project Manager for Forest City Ratner Companies in the Retail Development division and worked as a fashion model part time. In 2007, she partnered with Dynamic Diamond Corp to launch The Ivanka Trump Collection, the line of jewelry she designed, which she introduced at her flagship retail store on Madison Avenue.

Company Brief

Headquartered in the Trump Tower in New York, The Trump Organization (www.trump.com) is a premier real estate company with holdings that include the Trump International Hotel & Tower, Trump World Tower at the United Nations Plaza, and Trump Park Avenue. In addition, Trump Organization owns the Mar-a-Lago Club and Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, Florida; Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts in Atlantic City, New Jersey, which includes Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort; and is developing properties in Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, and Dubai. Additionally, it has developed Trump University, an online university which offers courses in real estate development; Trump Model Management; and The Apprentice; and co-owns the Miss Universe, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA pageants with NBC.

The Apprentice has been very successful. Many people think of the Trump name and brand almost as an entertainment company, but your roots are in real estate.

Trump has always been associated with real estate and always will be. The Apprentice, you may notice, is really about all things Trump. We constantly promote our projects by ulitizing this and other forms of media. So The Apprentice has been a tremendous vehicle. In fact, the third season is currently airing in Dubai, where it is the number-one television show.

Your time must be pulled in many different directions. How would you describe your role in the business?

The role is evolving, which is what makes what I do so much fun. I would say 95 percent of my time is spent on our various real estate endeavors, just because we have so much going on. Ramping up our hotel operations is also a big part of what I do.

Traditionally, we have been known as the premier condominium and golf course developers. However, our hotel on Central Park West in New York is a great example of our abilities in the hotel sector. We’re now using that hotel, Trump International Hotel and Tower, as a platform to expand into other markets. Chicago is the location of the first new construction hotel we are opening, and we are very excited about it. In fact, Chicago is one of 13 new-construction hotels that we have in our development pipeline.

Do you try to achieve a consistent feel among the properties?

The main element in all of our properties, whether it is a hotel, a residence, or a hybrid of the two, is luxury. That said, there is a unique character to each of our buildings. For example, Trump SoHo has a much funkier edge than some of our other buildings which require a more sophisticated level of luxury. We try not to look at ourselves like many hoteliers do, where we have a development template, and that template is uniform. We don’t operate like that. Each of our properties is unique. Every property in our portfolio is built for the market in which it exists. This approach has left us with an amazing collection of unique, architecturally significant, and luxurious buildings that are emerging all across the world.

Are you optimistic that the residential side of the market can maintain the strong growth it has been experiencing, especially in New York?

For the Trump brand, yes. We launched Trump SoHo a month ago, and we are already at starting prices in excess of $3,000 per foot, which is incredible.

There are a lot of companies where the brand is strong in and of itself, but that brand has nothing to do with the real estate. I don’t think that this trend will last. The buyers say, “What do you know about building a quality product? What do you, as a fashion label or restaurant brand, know about execution? What do you know about efficient floor plans?” Trump consistently delivers a high-quality product. In fact, our buildings look better built than in their rendered form. Not many can say that, so we’ve been very successful.

The climate is changing, but I don’t think that necessarily hurts a strong developer. The professionals – those who have been around a long time and consistently deliver a great product – will survive the bad times and become stronger because of it. At the same time, a lot of the riffraff gets weeded out along the way.

When projects are in development, how important is the right partner?

A large part of what I do is to proactively explore and educate ourselves on foreign markets that we are seeking to enter, whether they are emerging or established. This allows me to meet with some of the biggest, most important local developers, the “Trumps” of these respective areas, to determine if there are deals to be made.

When you’re developing in certain economic climates, you often need a strong local partnership – that local knowledge. A lot of people have lost their shirts by assuming they can do it by themselves, especially overseas. If you don’t have those local connections, you’re at a serious disadvantage. So we always look to find the strongest partners in the markets that we’re interested in entering.

How have the much-talked-about challenges of being in a prominent family business affected you?

I love the motivational force behind bearing my last name, and being the child of someone so accomplished. A lot of children of wealthy, well-known, accomplished parents have a tendency to be somewhat handicapped by that pressure. But you can harness it and use it to motivate you and propel you forward.