Related a perfect fit for powerhouse de Franca: Susan M. de Franca, president, Related Residential sales LLC.

Susan de Franca has real estate in her blood. Born and raised in New York City to a real estate family whose dinner table discussion was always about who was buying and selling what to whom, she got her first job in the business while still at college.

By 26, de Franca was heading a 45-strong team at MJ Raynes Development Corporation running two major residential portfolios and her Filofax was a Who's Who of New York City real estate.

She not only survived the 'great crash' of the late 90s, but her career flourished selling luxury apartments and working with some the pioneers of residential marketing in New York City.

Today, at the age of 46, de Franca is president of Related Residential Sales at powerhouse development firm, The Related Companies, L.P.., where she is responsible for a multibillion dollar portfolio that includes some of the finest residences in the world.

She says it's her privilege to come to her Time Warner Center office every day to work with some of the industry's most accomplished professionals and practice a profession she always dreamed of.

"I work with some of the smartest people in the business and having direct access to these people on a daily basis is invaluable. It's a demanding environment, and challenging--no-one ever rests on their laurels. It's also a very supportive environment. Each division understands how we are all connected, that one is not more important than the other and that our strength is in our team.

"And here, it's management by inspiration and imitation. When you see [chairman and CEO] Steve Ross, [vice chairman] David Wine, [president] Jeff Blau and [executive vice president] Bruce Beal, all very successful, but people who still work as if every minute counts, their passion and dedication is inspiring."

Charting her rise through the industry, it seems inevitable that de Franca would end up at Related, a company which embodies all of the qualities she herself holds true.

Like all of the principals at Related, she lives in a company-owned building which, she says, enables the firm to deliver on its brand promise. "We are experiencing every day what it is we are promising our customers. There is a sense of pride in ownership for the people in this company and I believe that's what distinguishes Related among other developers. "When I look back and think of the properties I worked on, I pride myself in being part of a successful team. I have worked with some of the most talented people in the business. What I have is my reputation and that's invaluable. I feel strongly about being aligned with Related Companies because it's an extension of who I am."

de Franca graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from St Francis College in Brooklyn and studied real estate appraisal, finance and investment at Marymount Manhattan College.

The oldest of four girls, she said she always assumed a position of leadership and responsibility among her siblings, a role she has successfully parlayed into her professional career.

In 1979, while still at college, her father introduced her to Martin Raynes who, along with Cadillac Fairview, had just purchased 201 East 66th Street with a view to converting the property to coops.

"That started that whole conversion trend in the eighties," she recalled. "I started working with the marketing company, Sulzberger-Rolfe--they were like the Sunshine Group or Marketing Directors of their day-and we had a whole portfolio of rental to coop conversions.

"I worked for that company for two years while I finished my degree and that's how I got indoctrinated into coop and condo conversion business and understanding it from a very young age."

By the time she graduated, Raynes had formed a partnership with Bernard Mendick and, with First Executive Life Insurance Company, taken on the prestigious McArthur Foundation portfolio to guide it through a conversion from rental to condo and coop.

de Franca worked with Mendick and Newmark's David Greenbaum on the 2000-unit Lincoln Towers on West End Avenue and then, when the company acquired the Bing & Bing portfolio, she helped form resale and executive rental divisions.

"When I joined Raynes in 1981, we had 35 people on the staff and by 1985, it had grown to 450 employees. We were the largest converter in New York back in the 80s and at that point."

She credits her ability to remain calm, deal with conflict and work in a team for the success which led to her remaining with the B&B portfolio under First Executive after Raynes partnership dissolved in 1990.

First Executive hired her to run the portfolio until the asset was disposed of and she stayed with the firm to help re-brand it as Classic Properties. It was then she first met investor, Aby Rosen, when she sold him one of the apartments in the portfolio he ended up buying with partner, Michael Fuchs, and ultimately becoming her boss.

Still a fledgling development company, de Franca said she felt unchallenged by her role and parted ways with Rosen and Fuchs in 1993 to work with developer, Bruce Eichner, on projects that included The Richmond at 210 East 80th Street and Central Park Hotel's Manhattan Club.

When Eichner began pursuing development opportunities in South Beach, Florida, de Franca--who by now had a young daughter--was reluctant to make a full-time move to the Sunshine State and began seriously considering an offer to work for developer, Donald Trump.

However, she was intrigued by an offer at Louise Sunshine's firm, which had just landed the Related account in Manhattan. "I had heard great things about Louise and, what I new about Related I parlayed into my experiences at MJ Raynes. They had a great reputation and I felt more comfortable making the decision to work with Louise on the Related account."

From the outset, de Franca clicked with Related and its concepts. She recalled, "In a strong market, that's when you need the most dedication and talent but, there are a lot of successful people out there who don't really understand the business.

"[When the market crashed] we had to dispose of or reposition. It meant you had to work that much harder, you had to come up with marketing programs, work diligently, embrace the brokerage community and be confident about your product.

"At B&B, I was on the front line with our units. I would go to the bank meetings when they wanted to know what our strategy was. I was able to gain the confidence of the lenders because I told them the truth--I didn't tell them what they wanted to hear. I was always on the front line and knew how the market was responding to our product. I think the result of that was it gave me a lot of credibility.

"Some people can coast on through life but, at some point, you are going to be called on that.

"A lot of developers are very skeptical about working with marketing companies because they think their interests aren't always aligned. When I was working with Louise Sunshine and representing Related, they got to understand me and see that the decisions I made on a daily basis were long-term and from an owner's perspective.

"I got that mentality working at MJ Raynes. Understanding that every decision and action that you make are an extension of the company."

For the next two years, she worked for Sunshine marketing Related's first brand new luxury condo, the Robert Stern designed Chatham at 181 East 65th Street. It was one of the city's most successful condo properties, breaking the sales record when broker, Dolly Lenz, sold the penthouse for over $10 million. Nothing like that had sold on Third Avenue before and it was a catalyst for new developments on the market that soon broke the $1,000 psf price point.

There followed a string of highly successful projects that included the Park Imperial at 230 W56th Street, 80% of which was sold at over $1,100 psf within just three months.

de Franca saw an opportunity to take her career to the next level when Rosen and Fuchs and their partner, Trevor Davis, invited her to join their firm, Davis & Partners, overseeing their entire portfolio of luxury rentals and condos.

Although both Sunshine and Related were reluctant to see her go, de Franca joined Davis & Partners in the fall of 2000 and thrived in her new role.

However, the impression she had made on Stephen Ross had been indelible and, in the spring of 2001, he invited her to consider a position with his firm.

"At that point, they were getting ready to bring Time Warner Center to market. The Sunshine Group was the exclusive marketing and sales company, but Related thought, with a $1.1 billion sellout, it would be wise to have someone in position that had hands-on experience."

On the heels of the success of the TWC project and as Related began to purse other condo properties, de Franca was invited to create Related Residential Sales, under the direction of the company's housing mastermind, David Wine.

"David knew the strategy that had worked on the rental side and believed in building the for sale side to really strengthen the organization, and that's what we have done in the past two years."

Indeed, the sales division has grown from just two to over 40 people overseeing $3.5 billion of properties under development in New York, Boston and Los Angeles.

Related's recent decision to exit the Las Vegas market is one that sits soundly with de Franca and her view of the firm.

"Sometimes you have to put your ego aside and say "This is not where we should be right now.' We want to deliver to our buyers and we don't have the certainty to be able to do that in Las Vegas. It was the responsible decision to make."

Related certainly does have confidence elsewhere in the country and its sales division is currently overseeing new developments that include The Clarendon in Boston's Back Bay area, the super luxury tower Century City Los Angeles on the site of the former St Regis Hotel and, in downtown LA's Grand Avenue, a luxury condo at Related's planned mixed used development across from the Frank Gehry designed Disney Hall.

In New York, the division is ready to launch two new properties: The Veneto at 250 East 53rd Street, the 34 story condo tower with interior design by Adam Tiahny, of Per Se and Le Cirque fame: and The Caledonia at 450 West 17th Street, the rental-condo hybrid that's a joint venture with Taconic.

On Roosevelt Island, Related has just seven remaining units at its Riverwalk Place and it will being accepting rentals at One Carnegie Hill on East 96th Street next month after selling 170 of the 198 for sale apartments.

With rental tenants seen as prospective buyers, Related Residential Sales has developed the Inner Circle program that keeps them informed about new properties coming to market and provides flexible lease terms for those who decide to move to another related managed building.

And the just-closed acquisition of the Equinox sports clubs has de Franca excited about further improving the life experiences of Related's tenants and owners.

"Every day, we are working on someone's home and there's something very intimate about that," she said.

"I love looking at a vacant piece of land and dreaming up a vision of what it could look like, who will live there, what their experiences will be and then to sit with the architect and designer- it's not just bricks and mortar, it's changing the landscape and it's impacting people's lives."