Brian BelardiMatt Salerno ’26 sat in his Principles of Real Estate class, captivated by the guest speaker — a water polo Olympic gold medalist turned commercial real estate broker. When the talk ended, Salerno bolted from the classroom and tracked the speaker down in the parking lot.
“How do I get my foot in the door?” he asked. “Can I shadow you for a day?”
That encounter led to a chain of introductions, a summer internship, and eventually a shot at putting a deal together, experience that set him on a path to a role after graduation.
The Alexander E. Hayden School of Real Estate at Chapman University sits at the center of one of the country’s most active commercial real estate markets, and it was built to take advantage of the location. By connecting students like Salerno with industry leaders, real-world projects, and mentorship opportunities, the program is building a pipeline of talent that contributes to both the region’s economy and the industry’s future.
The school was established in 2024 with a $5 million gift from Alex Hayden ’95, vice chairman at CBRE, one of the world’s largest commercial real estate services firms. A Chapman business graduate, Hayden built a career advising major companies worldwide and leading a team of more than 50 professionals. The gift aimed to elevate Chapman’s presence in real estate education and give students access to the kind of network Hayden himself built over decades.
“Chapman was instrumental in shaping my career and personal development,” Hayden said. “I’m thrilled to give back in a way that can help the next generation of real estate professionals succeed.”
The school houses Chapman’s Master of Science in Real Estate (MSRE) program, launched in 2020, along with an undergraduate major added more recently. It has grown from 15 students in its first cohort to 30, and an Executive Advisory Council of 40+ industry leaders has formed around it. The school pairs industry access with training in emotional intelligence and the ability to read people and navigate relationships as fluently as a balance sheet.
Where The Deals Are
Each year, billions of dollars in commercial real estate transactions move through Orange County, with deals involving industrial properties, office and apartment buildings, and retail centers.
The region is home to a dense network of industry leaders, including firms like LBA Greenlaw Partners, Harbor Associates, and Bixby Capital. Its NAIOP chapter, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, is one of the largest in North America, an indicator of the market’s scale and influence.
For students, that proximity matters. Access is built into the curriculum. The Hayden School brings 70 to 80 guest speakers to campus each year, many of them senior executives actively working in the market. In the spring course, Real Estate Leadership in Evolving Markets, only a handful of sessions take place at Chapman. The rest happens in the offices of firms like Greenlaw Partners, R.D. Olson, Northwestern Mutual, and Trammell Crow.
Students sit across conference tables from the executives who run those firms. At the Lido House hotel in Newport Beach, developer Bob Olson walked students through a decade of underwriting side by side with actual results, including how projects held up through COVID.
“That model is intentional,” said Steven L. Ames, executive director of the Hayden School. After 26 years at Affinius Capital USAA Real Estate, where he helped source portfolios that grew firm assets under management to approximately $60 billion, Ames came out of retirement to help build the program.
“To my own surprise, having already retired, here I am,” Ames said. “It’s been satisfying to take all my experience and relationships and contribute to something meaningful.”
READY FOR THE ROOM
Access gets students in the door. The program is designed to make sure they’re ready once they’re inside through multiple hands-on learning experiences such as real-world projects and mentorship opportunities, as well as new initiatives under development that will systematically enhance critical thinking, decision-making under uncertainty, leadership, teamwork, resilience, and emotional intelligence.
“Reading a room and understanding how people make decisions — that’s been a superpower in my career,” said Hayden, who co-founded Chapman’s MSRE program with Perry Schonfeld, principal and chief operating officer of LBA Realty Properties | LBA Logistics.
The preparation shows up in how students present themselves and their work. Each year, Chapman fields a team in the NAIOP Orange County Real Estate Challenge, pitching development proposals to a room of industry professionals. Chapman has won four of the first five competitions.
HIGHEST AND BEST USE
There is a misconception that commercial real estate is about quick money and a polished image.
The reality is “you build a reputation one step at a time, one relationship at a time, one deal at a time,” Ames said.
Salerno has already started that process. He took over as president of the Chapman Real Estate Association, which has grown to 270 members. After graduation, he will join Hayden’s team at CBRE. What drew him to the field was its tangible impact.
“You’re actually putting people in space,” he said. “That affects their day-to-day life.”
