Pam Herbst

Pam Herbst is a seasoned real estate executive with over 40 years of experience. After an illustrious 26-year career at AEW Capital Management LP, a Boston-based global real estate investment advisory and asset management firm where Pam served as Managing Director and Head of Direct Investments, Pam retired in December 2021. During her tenure at AEW, Pam was instrumental as her division was the largest of AEW’s three North American business units with over $30 billion of gross assets under management. Pam was responsible for the firm’s core and value-added investment mandates, and overseeing the execution of such mandates through both open and closed-end commingled funds and large separate accounts on behalf of corporate and public pension funds, endowments, and foundations. Pam successfully led the growth in assets under management from $5 billion to over $30 billion; and, she was responsible for the investment of ~$2 billion of client equity annually, as well as actively rebalancing portfolios by selling $1.5-2 billion (GAV) each year and reinvesting the proceeds. Her real estate experience includes all property types, across both debt and equity, and includes the development of portfolio strategy and execution, capital raising and client relationship management, active asset and portfolio management, fund structuring and formation, asset acquisitions, and sales including joint venture negotiations and structuring, securing asset and portfolio level debt, asset valuations across the platform, investment performance results benchmarking, and deal restructurings/workouts. Prior to joining AEW, Pam was a Managing Director at Copley Real Estate Advisors, a Boston-based real estate investment advisory and management for 15 years. Upon a merger with AEW, Pam was asked to head the newly formed Direct Investments business.

In addition to Pam’s primary responsibilities running the business, she was a member of AEW’s Management, Investment, and Risk Management Committees as well as the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee, and the Environmental, Social & Governance(ESG) Committee. Pam was instrumental in the development and advocacy of both diversity and ESG practices at the firm. Outside of AEW, Pam was actively involved in industry organizations including the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers (member and past Chair), Massachusetts Chapter of the National Association of Office and Industrial Parks (past Treasurer of the Executive Committee and a member of the Board of Directors), and Urban Land Institute (Investment Committee member, product Council Chair, and past Trustee). Pam is active on the Board of Directors of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and the Merrimack Valley, where she serves as the Chair of their Administration and Finance Committee and is a past member of their Investment Committee. She also served as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board and Chair of the Real Estate Committee for The Home for Little Wanderers, the oldest family service organization in the U.S. Pam is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts (B.A.) and Boston University (M.B.A.).