Leadership Initiatives

What are ULI Atlanta’s Leadership Initiatives?

Local Product Councils

Local Product Councils are interdisciplinary groups of active ULI members that offer opportunities to connect with peers, explore emerging issues in depth, exchange insights, develop programming, and engage with industry leaders. The councils listed below are active within ULI Atlanta and are available by invitation or application only.

Executive Committee Governance
Each Local Product Council is led by an Executive Committee composed of ULI member leaders who provide critical operational and programmatic oversight. The Executive Committees are responsible for:

  • Setting the strategic direction of the council, including thematic priorities and annual focus areas.
  • Shaping program content by developing agendas, identifying speakers, curating site visits, and ensuring discussions remain relevant and aligned with ULI’s mission.
  • Managing membership, including prospecting new members, reviewing applications, and maintaining a balanced, interdisciplinary cohort.
  • Stewarding council culture, ensuring meetings support candid dialogue, active participation, and substantive peer-to-peer exchange.
  • Overseeing governance and operations, including meeting structure, attendance expectations, and adherence to ULI’s broader mission and standards.

This leadership structure ensures each council remains high-functioning, impactful, and mission-driven.

Membership Expectations
Membership in ULI Atlanta’s Local Product Councils includes the following requirements:

  • Active participation in all council meetings. Terms are three years, with an opportunity for renewal. Meeting dates are established at the beginning of each calendar year.
  • Active ULI membership and annual council dues of $400 for private-sector participants and $200 for nonprofit and public-agency participants.
  • Sponsorship of ULI Atlanta is not required for council participation but is strongly encouraged to support the ongoing work and mission of the organization.
Creative Development Council (CDC)

Launched in May 2016, the Creative Development Council was created in response to the surge in innovative development across metro Atlanta. This education-focused council aims to broaden members’ perspectives, relationships, and resources so they can better support ULI’s mission to build sustainable, inclusive, and equitable communities. Key topic areas include small-scale and infill development, adaptive reuse, creative housing solutions, and regional connectivity.
Participation: By invitation only
Staff Contact: Lance Morsell

Capital Markets Council (CMC)

Formed in 2014, the Capital Markets Council engages members in substantive discussions on capital market trends and major financial issues shaping the real estate industry. In partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the council structures content to encourage robust, two-way dialogue among senior-level experts.
Participation: Executive-level; by invitation only
Staff Contact: Lance Morsell

Livable Communities Council (LCC)

Established in 2013 through the merger of the Livable Communities Council with ULI Atlanta, the Livable Communities Council convened its inaugural 50-member cohort in 2014. The LCC advances ULI’s mission to shape the future of cities by focusing on affordable housing, transit investment, connectivity, and cross-jurisdictional collaboration. The council prioritizes impact-driven engagement, with members serving as both thought leaders and practitioners of responsible development.
Participation: Executive-level; by invitation only
Staff Contact: Lance Morsell

Other leadership initiatives

CFL

The mission of ULI Atlanta’s Center for Leadership (CFL) program is to cultivate leadership and life-strategy skills by teaching how the Atlanta region gets built and how these decisions shape the future of the built environment. During the program, participants provide thought leadership on a critical Atlanta regional issue through an mTAP (mini-Technical Assistance Project). Working in teams of 4-5, participants are responsible for sharing their professional expertise and advice to develop recommendations for the client. All projects are completed on a pro-bono basis and provide participants an opportunity to give back to their communities in meaningful ways that advance the ULI mission of shaping the future of cities for transformative impact worldwide. Over the course of CFL’s sixteen-year history, participants have advised over 60 sponsor organizations, municipalities, and public agencies on complex real estate and land use challenges. To see the final work product, all past mTAP projects are archived here.

CFL Alumni Council

Established in 2024 to sustain engagement among graduates of ULI Atlanta’s Center for Leadership (2010 onward), the CFL Alumni Council provides a platform for continued learning, peer connection, and thought leadership in real estate. The council focuses on designing educational programming, supporting current CFL classes through selection and mTAP advising, and advancing ULI’s mission by fostering a diverse, informed, and collaborative alumni network.

  • Participation: CFL Alumni-level; By invitation only
  • Staff contact: Barbra Hardy
Etkin Scholars

The ULI Etkin Scholars Program introduces college and university students to the resources available through ULI membership and seeks to integrate those students into the ULI path of learning. Through this program, ULI District Councils identify a cohort of graduate and undergraduate students and provide them with a welcoming and concrete entrée into ULI knowledge at the local and national levels with funding support, free ULI student membership, creative programming, networking, and learning opportunities throughout the academic year of their scholarship.

WLI

The mission of the ULI Women’s Leadership Initiative is to raise the visibility and number of women leaders in ULI and the real estate industry. In 2020, the Women’s Leadership Initiative (WLI) launched “The Leaders” with the goal to increase the presence of women in the real estate and land use industry, especially in leadership positions and board rooms, as speakers at industry conferences, subject matter experts and everything in between. This program has since been rebranded as our ChangeMakers cohort to recognize female leaders making an outsized impact in the built environment of our region.

YLG Mentorship

The mission of the YLG Mentorship Program is to foster an exchange of professional ideas, friendship, and expertise among young real estate professionals and industry veterans. This program matches young professionals (mentees) with experienced professionals (mentors) for guidance and support while offering mentors an opportunity to strengthen ties with the young, future leaders of the local real estate community and ULI.