Building on the Trump Brand

An Interview with Ivanka Trump, Vice President, Real Estate Development and Acquisitions,

EDITORS’ NOTE Ivanka Trump distressed golf courses. we’re very ex- partnerships to allow us to expand internation- joined The Trump Organization in cited about the growth and develop- ally. so the jewelry business, despite the dif- 2005, where she currently serves as ment of our golf portfolio. fi cult climate, has been a great one for us, and Vice President. Prior to being a mem- we’re also increasingly starting to we continue to grow it. ber of the real estate team, Trump look at hotels for purchase, and addi- i also recently signed a shoe deal with served as Project Manager for Forest tionally, a main part of our focus will marc Fisher, so i will have a great line of shoes City Ratner Companies in the Retail be on commercial real estate, although that will be coming out in spring 2011. Development division and worked we’re a little bit out in front of that You published a book not long ago as a fashion model part time. In right now. that received tremendous acclaim in the 2007, she partnered with Dynamic On the hotel side, the Trump market. What made you feel it was the right Diamond Corp to launch the Ivanka Hotel Collection seems to be a time to write a book, and did you enjoy the Trump Collection, the line of jew- strong and growing part of the process? elry she designed and introduced at Ivanka Trump business. Are you surprised at how i did enjoy the process, but it wasn’t some- her fl agship retail store on Madison quickly that part of the business thing i had initially set out to do. it was a reac- Avenue. Trump received her bachelor’s degree in has grown, and how broad do you antici- tion to the letters i received, both from young real estate from the Wharton School of Finance at pate that getting? people and their parents, asking advice for the University of Pennsylvania. in a time when there aren’t many new ho- those in their early years. to be able to bring tels under construction, it’s a great validation them that advice on a peer-to-peer level was COMPANY BRIEF The Trump Organization of the work we’re doing that we’re still sign- helpful, and that was shown by the fact that (www.trump.com) is a premier real estate com- ing new deals. we signed a management con- within the fi rst week of launching, it was on the pany with holdings that include the Trump tract recently in asia on a building that is under New York Times bestseller list. International Hotel & Tower, The Trump World construction. the developers had become dis- In this economy, the perception of Tower at the United Nations Plaza, and Trump illusioned by the existing management group, luxury has been mostly negative. Has it Park Avenue. Headquartered in the because they realized it was a brand without the gone too far, and do you worry that the true in New York, Trump Organization also owns infrastructure to support it when things get a bit meaning of luxury and what it brings has the Mar-a-Lago Club and Trump International more challenging. that’s an area where we’re been lost? Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida; Trump looking to grow. time is highly corrective and useful in that Hotel & Casino Resorts in Atlantic City, New but one of the reasons we’re so strong in regard. luxury is often badly defi ned by people Jersey, which includes Trump Taj Mahal Casino this space is that we speak the same language who don’t really understand what it is. it’s not a Resort; and is developing properties in Chicago, as the developers. most hotel companies don’t marketing gimmick, it’s not a marketing term – Las Vegas, Miami, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, own their real estate and have never developed the product that you’re delivering to people has and Dubai. Additionally, it has developed anything. so when we’re working with a devel- to be substantive, and able to withstand the test Trump University, an online university that of- opment partner, either when we build our own of time. too many people were interpreting fers courses in real estate development; Trump hotels or do a more traditional hotel manage- things that were trendy as luxurious and they’re Model Management; the apprentice; and co- ment contract, we can add tremendous value not always simpatico. so people became a little owns the , Miss USA, and Miss Teen through the construction process, which is very bit obsessed with the fl uff and stopped looking USA pageants with NBC. benefi cial to our partners. towards substantive purchase, and that’s chang- also, on the hospitality side, for years, ing now. if you develop quality and a product Given the recent economic crisis, where do we’ve run best-in-class residential buildings. that can endure over time, there will always be you see the market today? the compliments we get from the people who a demand for that. in terms of real estate, there are some waves live in those buildings and the people that visit You have been approached many times that have yet to hit us, such as commercial real those buildings are unsurpassed. so it seemed for brand extensions of the Trump name. estate. we were fortunate in that my father has like a natural extension to bring that compe- How do you take advantage of the oppor- been through cycles before and has learned tency into the hospitality space, and we’ve been tunities without losing the exclusivity for from those cycles. so we started pulling out of doing very well. which you are known? real estate investments, growing annuities, and Your jewelry brand has received a lot you have to be smart and disciplined, and developing management companies, like our of credit for the quality of the product. able to see if there is a space for you to succeed hotel company, around 2005. now we’re start- Are you happy with how that business has by doing something that’s either better or that’s ing to see tremendous opportunities. we’re in developed? not being done by anyone else, and then you a great position to mobilize our resources and my president is just starting a road show have to make sure to do things that aren’t dilu- to avail ourselves of the great opportunities that to bring in international accounts. we already tive of your brand. so as i create my own brand are starting to pop up all around us. have a partner in Kuwait that we’ve been selling and as i work to reinforce the trump brand, that initially, starting in late 2008 and continu- a tremendous amount of jewelry through, and is something that i spend a tremendous amount ing into this year, we have been purchasing we’re looking for international strategic retail of time thinking about.• volume 33, number 2 posted with permission. copyright © 2010 leaders magazine, inc. 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