Press Release
HEC Paris and Wisconsin School of Business
forge Partnership for Global Real Estate Education
Jouy-en-Josas, 30 October 2008
HEC Paris will partner with the Wisconsin School of Business of the University of WisconsinMadison in the development and delivery of a new Real Estate program at HEC, part of the
HEC Real Estate Chair sponsored by Morgan Stanley and Unibail-Rodamco. Ranked #2 by U.S.
News & World Report among leading Real Estate programs in the United States, the Wisconsin
School of Business will contribute its experience and bring a truly international dimension to
HEC’s program.
Under the partnership, Wisconsin School of Business Professors François Ortalo-Magné and
Timothy Riddiough will teach HEC Paris’ first-ever Real Estate Finance course in spring 2009.
Professors Ortalo-Magné and Riddiough are world-class leaders in real estate finance and
economics, have extensive experience in teaching real estate courses to undergraduate, MBA
and PhD students, and are active in a number of real estate professional circles.
Ortalo-Magné is Chairman of the Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics at
Wisconsin. Riddiough is Academic Director of the department’s James A. Graaskamp Center
for Real Estate.
“This unparalleled global real estate education initiative builds onto Wisconsin’s rich tradition
of connecting students with real-world leaders and superior specialized expertise that informs
tomorrow’s markets,” said Michael Knetter, dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “We are
pleased to partner with HEC and provide their students the opportunity for a world-class
Wisconsin education that includes access to renowned faculty, cutting-edge research, prominent
alumni, and global networks for success.”
The Real Estate Finance course will be taught as part of a Certificate in Real Estate offered to
HEC Paris students enrolled in MSc in Management, MBA and CEMS programs. In addition to
HEC’s own permanent faculty, the new Real Estate program will feature practitioners from
Morgan Stanley Real Estate, Unibail-Rodamco and other corporate partners, including bankers,
developers, architects, and lawyers.
“What the recent mortgage meltdown and subsequent spill over into financial markets proves is
the pressing need to train highly qualified practitioners capable to handle the increasing
sophistication and securitization of the global real estate sector,” says Alessandro Citanna,
Professor of Economics and Finance at HEC Paris and head of the Real Estate program. “We are
pleased to welcome two of the world’s leading researchers in real estate finance and economics
to help HEC roll-out its new Certificate program.”
Last June, HEC Paris together with the HEC Foundation, Morgan Stanley Real Estate and
Unibail-Rodamco established a “Real Estate Chair” at HEC Paris to promote academic and
business education across Europe in the fields of real estate economics, finance and
management. The Certificate in Real Estate program is made possible by this Chair. HEC Paris
is considering whether to offer the Certificate as an independent program in the near future.
----About HEC Paris:
A leading academic institution in France and Europe, HEC specializes in education and management
research. HEC offers a complete and unique portfolio of academic programs to the leaders of the future:
HEC Grande Ecole (Master of Science in Management), Specialized Masters, MBA program, Part-time
MBA, Executive MBA (Paris, Beijing and St. Petersburg), TRIUM Global Executive MBA (New York,
Paris and London) and PhD.
Founded in 1881, HEC has a permanent faculty of 104 professors, 3200 students -30% of whom are
international. Over 8500 managers and executives are trained in the executive education programs every
year. HEC was recently ranked the #1 graduate business school in Europe by the Financial Times.
For more information, visit: www.hec.edu.
About Wisconsin School of Business Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics:
The Wisconsin School of Business Department of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics is one of the
oldest academic real estate programs in the world, and consistently ranked as one of the top three real
estate programs in the United States. Wisconsin awards Bachelors, MBA and PhD degrees and covers:
finance, appraisal, market analysis, commercial and residential development, green-sustainable
development, real estate capital markets, real estate law, and urban land economics. The curriculum also
includes hands-on projects and substantial opportunities for travel and field work in the U.S. and abroad.
The James A. Graaskamp Center administers the MBA real estate program and enlists the assistance of
faculty and top professionals in the presentation of outstanding educational programs, conferences, real
estate executive education courses and symposia on topics of relevance to the industry.
For more information, visit: www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate
Alessandro Citanna, PhD
Alessandro Citanna joined the HEC Department of Economics and Finance in 1999 after having taught at
McGill and Carnegie Mellon. He is currently Professor of Economics and Finance and Morgan Stanley/
Unibail –Rodamco Chair of Real Estate.
He visits regularly the Graduate School of Business of Columbia University. His research focuses on
financial economics, in particular the economics of incomplete markets, and economic theory, with an
emphasis on matching markets and the connection between markets and contracts.
Professor Citanna holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.
François Ortalo-Magné, PhD
François Ortalo-Magné is Associate Professor and Robert E. Wangard Chair of Real Estate at the
Wisconsin School of Business of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also serves as Associate
Researcher at the Toulouse School of Economics. His research focuses on housing markets with emphasis
on the interactions between housing and credit markets and on residential brokerage. He has advised
governments and professional groups in France, the UK and the US on housing policy matters and runs
the annual member survey for the US-based Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate.
Ortalo-Magné earned his PhD in Economics at the University of Minnesota. He taught at the London
School of Economics prior to joining Wisconsin.
Tim Riddiough, PhD
Timothy Riddiough is Professor and E.J. Plesko Chair of Real Estate at the Wisconsin School of Business
of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is best known for his work on real options, mortgage pricing,
and land use regulation. Professor Riddiough has served on the boards and as a consultant for numerous
organizations. He teaches courses in Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Capital Markets, and
Microeconomics.
He earned his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was a tenured professor at M.I.T.
prior to returning to Madison.
The HEC Real Estate Chair is sponsored by Morgan Stanley Real Estate and Unibail - Rodamco.
Media Contacts:
HEC Paris
Elisabeth de Réals
Phone: + 33 1 39 67 94 23
Email: dereals@hec.fr
Wisconsin School of Business
Melissa Anderson
Phone: + 1 608 262 9213
Email: mkanderson@bus.wisc.edu