2021 IREM 30 Under 30 Recipient

Olivia’s real estate career has leapt from airplanes to burgers to buses, but there are two common threads linking her professional experiences. Her passion for real estate is coupled with a driving sense of purpose, a quest to use her hard-won skills to help make the world a better place. She is also drawn to opportunities that allow her to conduct long-term planning and asset use analysis. Olivia was born and raised in Texas and has 9 years’ experience in the real estate industry. She is a licensed real estate broker and holds a B.B.A in Real Estate Finance and Development from the University of Texas at San Antonio, an A.A.S in Real Estate Management from San Antonio College, and Commercial Real Estate Certificate from Cornell University. After leaving college and residential property management behind, she accepted an opportunity to become a government contractor assigned to the Air Force Civil Engineering Center. In her role as real estate specialist, she managed a portfolio of 19 Air Force bases and was tasked with identifying operating inefficiencies and potential audit issues. She reviewed and analyzed federal real estate leases, permits, rights-of-way, and licenses with public and private entities. At the conclusion of her Air Force assignment, she joined Whataburger, a Texas treasure known for generously giving back to the community. At Whataburger, Olivia was responsible for strategic management of the corporation’s real estate assets including negotiating lease buyouts, disposing of real estate, expanding restaurant properties, site selection of corporate training facilities as well as managing condemnation cases. Presently, Olivia is the Manager of Real Estate for VIA Metropolitan Transit, the public transit system serving San Antonio. At VIA, Olivia manages a diverse real estate portfolio of transit system real estate spanning a service area of 1,209 square miles. She is responsible for land acquisition, facilities utilization and capital project coordination including the negotiation of joint use agreements with city, state and local municipalities. Olivia remains purpose driven in applying her skills to move forward VIA’s larger mission of connecting the San Antonio community to jobs and opportunity.