Case Study: Finding a REIT Tax Expert in One of the Industry’s Most Specialized Talent Markets

The Challenge

A mid-sized, publicly traded hospitality REIT engaged UNITY Executive Tax on an exclusive retained basis to confidentially recruit its next Vice President of Tax.

The company owns a large, geographically diversified U.S. hotel portfolio and operates within a highly specialized tax environment involving REIT qualification, partnership and joint venture structures, real estate transactions, and hotel ownership.

The company was also in a period of significant acquisition activity, making strategic tax expertise particularly important. The new VP of Tax would have primary responsibility for tax planning and complex transaction structuring while also overseeing the tax provision, managing outsourced tax compliance at a high level, and leading the tax function.

Finding the right executive presented an additional challenge: the universe of experienced REIT tax leaders is exceptionally small.

Because the company had an incumbent Head of Tax, the search also needed to remain highly confidential. In the close-knit REIT tax community, discretion was critical throughout every stage of the recruiting process.

Why UNITY Executive Tax

For this search, tax specialization went one step further.

Before founding UNITY, Robyn Steward spent nearly nine years in EY’s real estate tax practice, with a significant focus on REITs. That firsthand technical experience provided a unique advantage in understanding both the position and the executives being considered for it.

REIT taxation is highly specialized. Effectively assessing candidates requires an understanding of areas such as REIT qualification and testing, partnership taxation, complex transaction structuring, and ASC 740 within a REIT environment.

Rather than relying solely on resumes and job titles, UNITY Executive Tax could speak the language of the candidates and conduct an initial technical assessment before presenting them to the client.

Equally important was our access to the REIT tax community. Years of experience within the industry created longstanding relationships with tax professionals throughout the sector, including executives active within the Nareit community.

Following an in-person meeting with the CFO and Controller to discuss our background and approach, the company selected UNITY Executive Tax exclusively on a retained basis to lead the search.

Our Approach

We conducted a nationwide search focused specifically on experienced REIT tax executives who could combine deep technical expertise with the leadership capabilities required for a highly visible Head of Tax role.

Because the qualified candidate universe was so limited, this was not a search that could be effectively conducted by simply advertising the position and reviewing applicants. It required identifying executives throughout the REIT industry, assessing their backgrounds individually, and directly recruiting candidates who were not necessarily looking for a new opportunity.

Throughout the engagement, we partnered closely with the CFO and Controller.

Each week, we conducted a standing video meeting to review the search and discuss every candidate under consideration. Our detailed status report provided leadership with visibility into:

• Candidate background and relevant REIT experience
• Current status within the search process
• Comparative candidate rankings
• Compensation expectations
• Relocation considerations
• Recommended next steps

This structured process allowed us to continuously calibrate the search with company leadership while maintaining momentum and confidentiality within a very small professional community.

The Result

The nationwide search ultimately identified an exceptional tax executive willing to relocate to Texas for the opportunity.

The selected candidate was a CPA and attorney with more than 20 years of publicly traded REIT tax experience, including more than two decades with one of the nation’s largest publicly traded REITs.

His experience aligned closely with the company’s needs and included tax planning, complex transaction structuring and modeling, partnership and REIT compliance, tax provision, and leadership of tax professionals.

Most importantly, he brought the depth of REIT expertise required to step into a highly specialized tax leadership role and support the company’s continued growth and acquisition strategy.

The UNITY Executive Tax Difference

Some executive tax searches require specialization within an already specialized profession.

REIT tax is one of those markets.

The number of executives who combine deep REIT technical expertise, public company experience, transaction and structuring capabilities, tax provision knowledge, and executive leadership experience is extremely limited. When confidentiality and relocation are added to the requirements, the candidate universe becomes even smaller.

In these searches, tax technical expertise isn’t simply helpful—it’s a competitive advantage.

UNITY Executive Tax combines decades of executive tax recruiting experience with firsthand Big Four tax expertise and deep relationships throughout the tax community. That allows us to understand the technical nuances of the position, credibly engage highly specialized tax executives, and assess candidates at a level traditional executive recruiters often cannot.

For companies searching for tax leaders in highly specialized areas such as REITs, that depth of expertise can make all the difference.