In the early 2000s, Ken Mitchell saw firsthand how women can benefit the land acquisition and development industry. He had been hired to grow a land development subsidiary within a home building company, and all the land guys were, well, guys. As he grew the team, Mitchell pulled women on board.
“At the time, I was the only home builder in the country with around 50% of all senior land acquisition and development jobs held by women. We gave them a chance, and they crushed it,” he says, as owner of Mosaic Realty based in Colorado. “Women in land don’t have to take a back seat to anybody. They earned it and proved it with me 20 years ago.”
When Mitchell came across Erica Sinner’s posts on LinkedIn and the work she was doing to start Ladies in Land, he was an immediate fan. He says, “Because women have earned a seat at the table in the land business, it’s important to further their professional development with meaningful mentoring, continuing education, and enlargement of their knowledge base.”
“It’s hard to do all that in the heat of the battle to find the right property in the right location at the right price. Ladies in Land’s lunch and learn programs are ideal—quick snippets of high impact training coupled with the all-important connectivity that drives our business success,” Mitchell adds.
It was allies like Mitchell that prompted Sinner to create the Male Land Patron Membership, where men could (remotely) learn alongside women, offer support through event hosting or sponsorships, and share professional insight through leading Lunch and Learn events. After all, Ladies in Land’s first membership payment came from a man and their first corporate membership in Texas as well, Sinner says.
“Most female driven organizations want to leave the men out where I embrace it and welcome us to learn together in a unique way. Men are the driving force in many great partnerships for women and to leave them out of the picture doesn’t make sense. We need them just as much as they need us. It’s balance,” says Sinner.
Roughly 40% of Ladies in Land’s speakers are men who want to educate members on topics that can help everyone grow and learn. This support enhances the experience of everyone in the sector and opens the door to more opportunities as well.
When asked why men should support the group, Mitchell says, “Senior leaders like me should support all junior level land professionals. It’s a difficult profession to learn and to get right and it involves a complexity of skills that I seldom see in other professions. We need to give back because our success has been driven by great mentors early in our career. I’m gender blind in this regard, because I view men and women to be equally competent for the profession, they just sometimes get results in a different way. Not better, just different. For some reason, I’m mentoring more men than women at any given time, and perhaps that is because women are more hesitant to ask men for help. They don’t know which of us has a bias or still suffers from the ‘good old boy’ thinking that was predominant in the early years of my career.
“The one thing I try to focus on is being a welcoming mentor who looks on land professionals as just great people, without regard for gender. Women have already proven to me that they are competent, deserve respect, and worthy of our time. We need more great land professionals.”
What Men Are Saying
Rick Rosenberg, managing principal at DPFG: “We are big supporters of Ladies in Land having participated and sponsored programs both in Austin and Nashville. We believe that everyone in the land development space benefits from more knowledge of how it can be done better. Women are becoming an increasingly large part of the industry and Ladies in Land provides a unique point of access to those current and future leaders. Ladies in Land represents a great opportunity for me to spread awareness of how our firm assists developers in financing their projects more effectively.”
Brett Walker, president and managing partner at Parkside Capital: “I was happy to support Ladies in Land from day one because women advancing in our industry strengthens the entire land and development community. Their work is opening doors, elevating voices, and shaping a stronger future for all of us. As a father of two daughters, I see the important work Ladies in Land is doing to also pave the way for future generations to have meaningful careers in land.”
Matt Robinson, P.E., principal and senior director of land development at BGE, “BGE elected to invest in Ladies in Land to support the professional development of our team, foster new relationships in an inclusive environment, exchange insights with industry leaders, and contribute to the ongoing advancement of land development across our communities. Team members in Texas, Florida, Georgia, and North Carolina have already built meaningful connections through their local chapters, strengthening both their networks and our collective impact.”
Pfilip Hunt, partner at Wrathell Hunt & Associates: “I thought it would be fun and important to meet with Ladies in Land because it seems to be a male dominated industry on the surface, but I was really surprised at the great turnout when over 25 ladies attended both our special district finance presentations in Nashville and Jacksonville proving that the ladies really want to be knowledgeable and engaged in the land business.”
What’s Next
Mitchell will be speaking at Denver’s first Ladies in Land Lunch and Learn on Aug. 29. He will be speaking on the evolving role of archaeological documentation in land development and how future practices can shape responsible, informed growth. The session will tie into Mitchell’s in-person three-day retreat in Moab and Bluff, Utah, on Oct. 13-15, that is open to builders and developers.
