CREW Up: Inside Hilary Provinse’s Leadership Playbook

December 15, 2025

CPE’s Laura Valean sits down with Berkadia’s veteran leader to discuss team diversity and the shifting expectations of CRE’s next generation.

As the daughter of a Washington, D.C.–based real estate private equity executive, Hilary Provinse grew up around the industry, but her early career on a ‘90s Wall Street trading floor shaped her resilience and sharpened her leadership instincts. Today, as executive vice president and head of mortgage banking at Berkadia, she manages a 400-person capital markets team spanning mortgage banking and investment sales.

Provinse is a 2018 CREW Network Distinguished Leader and Berkadia is a CREW Network Gold Level Partner. Commercial Property Executive Senior Editor Laura Valean invited her on the CREW Up podcast for a candid conversation about leadership, career evolution and women’s progress in commercial real estate. Navigating today’s reset in financing values, she reflects on the importance of understanding people’s strengths, building diverse teams and meeting clients where they are.

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“You have to accentuate people’s strengths and then supplement their weaknesses,” she said, noting that collaborative teams consistently deliver stronger outcomes.

Throughout the conversation, Provinse also shares insights into how investor expectations have evolved, why analytical sophistication and human connection go hand-in-hand, and how ego—when left unchecked—can derail even the most talented leaders. The veteran investment banker also looks ahead to the next generation entering CRE, exploring their confidence and intentionality, and the role leaders must play in shaping their development, especially in an era transformed by AI and new tools.

Here’s a snippet of the conversation:

(0:57) Supporting vast teams in today’s financing environment
(3:07) How to identify people’s strengths and align them with their roles
(5:00) How diverse teams support modern investors
(7:48) Being a woman on Wall Street in the ‘90s
(9:30) How women’s roles in CRE have evolved
(11:36) Why young women should consider a CRE career
(13:56) Lessons from her father
(15:45) Lessons from leaders she didn’t admire
(17:40) Welsh’s leadership style
(18:51) Mentoring the next generation
(21:48) Definition of success
(24:10) Women leaders shaping the future of CRE
(26:07) How being part of CREW Network has helped her
(27:35) What career would she have liked to embrace if she weren’t in real estate finance