Barbara is a retired global investment banking executive and currently the Co-Founder of the Saxum Young Professionals (Saxum YPS) non-profit global initiative. She is a graduate of Texas A&M University with a BBA in Accounting and a Masters in Real Estate Economics.
Barbara spent 30 years in the global commercial property and structured financing sector, working throughout the USA, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe, Middle East and Africa. She was involved in creating and leading several firsts for the industry, including: the Investment Real Estate Research part of the National Association of Realtors; a hotel development in post-communist Nicaragua; the utilization of securitization to combine performing and non-performing commercial mortgage loans into one transaction while at the Resolution Trust Corporation (RTC); a web-enabled platform (eZQuote) to automate the origination of large balance commercial mortgage loans for the global property industry while at JP Morgan; and the intermediary commercial property structured financing sector for EMEA while at CBRE. She was responsible for over $15 Billion USD of commercial property transactions during her career.
Barbara was a frequent speaker at global industry events and universities throughout the US and EMEA. She was involved with creating a women’s leadership center in Washington DC, the Yuma Study Center, as an Executive Director and Board Member. She has also been involved with helping the poorest of the poor in Nicaragua through the American Nicaraguan Foundation and Food For The Poor. She has been on the Advisory Board for the Real Estate School at Texas A&M University and an initial recipient of the The Texas A&M Women’s Legacy Award. Barbara is currently an Advisor for the Saxum Visitor Center in Abu Gosh, Israel.
Barbara lives with her husband of 28 years, Alvaro Pereira, in Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA. They are Co-Founders of the Legatus Fort Lauderdale Chapter and Founding Members of the Legatus Jupiter Chapter. Barbara and Alvaro have three children, Gabriel, Veronica, and Rebekah.