The Runstad Department of Real Estate officially launched its annual BSRE Mentorship Program on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, bringing together students and industry professionals for an evening of connection, conversation, and career exploration. The kickoff event gathered mentors representing a broad spectrum of real estate disciplines, including asset management, leasing, brokerage, market research, legal counsel, investments, finance, and development. This gathering provided mentors and mentees with their first opportunity to meet in person and begin building meaningful professional relationships. This year’s population of mentors includes Runstad Advisory Board members, MSRE alumni, BSRE alumni and other Seattle-based real estate professionals.
Throughout the evening, mentors shared insights into their career paths, while mentees discussed their fields of interest and current studies. Mentors also fielded questions from students about their professional goals and offered practical perspectives and insights on the realities of working professionally in commercial real estate.
Students and mentors were free to move between tables so that all students in attendance had the opportunity to connect with a multiple real estate professionals, as well as with their peers in the department. These conversations offered students the chance to network with professionals from a wide variety of backgrounds and specializations and to connect classroom knowledge with real-life examples.
Graduate Staff Assistant and MSRE student Cole McArthur also joined the event to share his experiences in commercial real estate with undergraduate mentees and their mentors.
The Runstad Department of Real Estate extends its sincere thanks to all of our 2026-2027 mentors, Runstad staff and faculty, and undergraduate student ambassadors Leo Lee and Lily Gu, whose dedication and hard work made the event a successful and meaningful launch of the BSRE Mentorship Program.
