Adrienne Bain

Adrienne Bain boasts nearly 20 years of experience in commercial real estate finance. And though she survived the great recession of 2008-2009, like many others, nothing prepared her for the pandemic of 2020. At the time, she was the Southwest and West region manager at Citizens Bank with a portfolio of just over $2.2 billion in commitments. Prior to the pandemic, she spent 50% of her time on the road visiting offices in Texas and California, but business travel came to a screeching halt in March 2020.

Rather than sit around with little to do, Bain saw an opportunity to put her skills to good use. She jumped in with both feet and assumed management of a stalled construction project resulting from a change of use and was able to quickly resolve it via a full pay off. She took over two very large syndicated retail REIT credits and implemented a portfolio management strategy that resulted in a recovery on one facility that offset losses on another for an overall net gain. She also modified a hotel loan that led to an early pay off.

She saw an opportunity to broaden her skill set that not only helped her organization, but also opened doors to additional opportunities. She set an example for others to follow.

In addition to her responsibilities at Citizens, Adrienne is a co-founding principal at B Squared Group, a privately held commercial real estate investment, development and management firm that specializes in multifamily assets. When the pandemic hit, Adrienne worked with her tenants to determine what lease modifications were necessary to keep residents in place while ensuring timely rent payments. She even paid for one tenant to stay in a hotel for a few days to assist with immediate quarantine needs. In the end, Adrienne was able to achieve 100% rent collections with very little turnover.

Adrienne is also a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion. After the tragic events surrounding the death of George Floyd last year, she recommitted herself to advocating for social justice, specifically helping to advance women and people of color in CRE. She serves as the global board liaison for the DEI task force for Commercial Real Estate Women (CREW) Network.

These are just a few of the reasons we chose Adrienne Bain as one of the Atlanta & Southeast 2021 Women in Real Estate Award winners. Connect CRE’s Women in Real Estate Awards honor the achievements and inspirational stories of women who have reached respected positions of leadership and play key mentorship roles for others.