Richard Mack
- Lecturer of Real Estate
Contact Information
- Primary Email:
rmack1@wharton.upenn.edu - Office Phone:
215-898-9687
- office Address:
4th floor Dinan Hall
3733 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Overview
Mr. Mack is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of MREG. Before founding MREG in 2013, Mr. Mack was one of the founding principals of AREA Property Partners (founded in 1993 as Apollo Real Estate Advisors) and served as the Chief Executive Officer of AREA’s North American business and a member of that firm’s U.S. and European Investment Committees. Over 20 years at AREA, Mr. Mack was involved in the investment of billions of equity capital in debt and equity real estate transactions on behalf of AREA’s primarily institutional investors, and was personally responsible for creating new business lines to capitalize on evolving market trends, including an in-house development business and a subordinate debt business. Before AREA, Mr. Mack was a member of the Real Estate Investment Banking Department at Shearson Lehman Hutton.
Mr. Mack serves on the Wharton School of Business Undergraduate Advisory Board. Mr. Mack serves on the Board of Trustees of both the Randall’s Island Sports Foundation and the Child Mind Institute, and on the Board of Directors of the 92nd Street Y. He is president emeritus of the HES Community Center in Canarsie, Brooklyn and a member of the Robin Hood Foundation’s Housing & Homelessness Committee. Most recently, Mr. Mack was elected as Chairman of the Board of the Metropolitan Council on Poverty. Mr. Mack earned a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law.
Teaching
All Courses
REAL3750 - Real Estate Disruptions
In the years before Covid, real Estate started to change dramatically for the first time in perhaps one hundred years. Covid and its aftermath led to further disruptions. This class will examine how technology is changing in many facets (all) of the industry. This course will address how technology has already changed the demand for real estate and how it will likely change how real estate is used, designed, developed, constructed, managed, leased, maintained, and financed. Among many questions to be considered: Can you crowd-fund real estate development? Will the office business become a part of hospitality? Can we build new buildings like we assemble legos? How will autonomous vehicles affect the demand for space and property values? What is the future of new data analytics services? What are the effects of working from home on cities and various real estate asset classes? This team-taught course will bring together a recognized industry leader and Wharton faculty. Includes a broad set of guest lecturers (Start-up entrepreneurs, incumbents, non-RE technology specialists, etc.). We believe there is no single approach to gaining insight into disruptions and change under uncertainty, so we will propose a mix of approaches, including in-depth case studies, interactions with guest lecturers who handle those issues daily, learning from economic history and other industries, and drawing from core economic concepts. REAL 3750 can be counted toward the Wharton Undergraduate Technology, Innovation and Analytics (TIA) requirement.
REAL8750 - Real Estate Disruptions
In the years before Covid, real Estate started to change dramatically for the first time in perhaps one hundred years. Covid and its aftermath led to further disruptions. This class will examine how technology is changing in many facets (all) of the industry. This course will address how technology has already changed the demand for real estate and how it will likely change how real estate is used, designed, developed, constructed, managed, leased, maintained, and financed. Among many questions to be considered: Can you crowd-fund real estate development? Will the office business become a part of hospitality? Can we build new buildings like we assemble legos? How will autonomous vehicles affect the demand for space and property values? What is the future of new data analytics services? What are the effects of working from home on cities and various real estate asset classes? This team-taught course will bring together a recognized industry leader and Wharton faculty. Includes a broad set of guest lecturers (Start-up entrepreneurs, incumbents, non-RE technology specialists, etc.). We believe there is no single approach to gaining insight into disruptions and change under uncertainty, so we will propose a mix of approaches, including in-depth case studies, interactions with guest lecturers who handle those issues daily, learning from economic history and other industries, and drawing from core economic concepts.