Polly Nyberg
Senior Editor
Polly Nyberg currently serves as a consultant to a number of national non-profits and funders. She is currently working as a Senior Design Consultant to the Neighborhood Development Collaborative, and as a Senior Editor for the Real Estate Review. Under the auspices of The University of Maryland
and the Neighborhood Development Collaborative, she organized and managed a 2005 and 2010 symposium on the future of senior housing design. She has served on the advisory board of the schools of architecture at the University of Minnesota and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Prior to becoming a consultant, Ms. Nyberg was Midwest Regional Director, based in Chicago, for the Fannie Mae Foundation. She managed a 10 state region for the Foundation, providing grants to area non-profits in the community development focus area. She worked extensively with the architecture/design community in Chicago, as well as with the mayor’s office regarding predatory lending concerns. She created the James A. Johnson Fellowship Program for the Foundation headquarters in Washington, D.C.
For 17 years, Ms. Nyberg served as Community Affairs Manager for The St. Paul Companies (now Travelers Companies, Inc.) in St. Paul, Minnesota. During this time, she created and managed numerous national award winning programs, including a $12 million national grants program, and a $24 million real estate/tax credit program for the corporation. In 1991, she received the Scrivner Award from the National Council on Foundations, funded by the Rockefellers Brothers Fund, for a neighborhood fellowship program she created. The award is given annually to one funder on a nationwide basis who demonstrates creativity, risk taking and integrity in their grant making
Alan Ruby
Senior Editor
Alan S. Ruby is a Senior Editor for the Real Estate Review. He presently manages the Architectural Services Division of Fentress Incorporated, a Washington D.C. area based real property planning firm providing architectural and analytical services to the Federal Judiciary, General Services
Administration, and other federal government agencies. Mr. Ruby has more than 30 years professional experience practicing with large international architectural firms including the Omaha, Nebraska office of Leo A. Daly, and major U.S. corporations including Mutual of Omaha and Pacific Bell.
He studied Architecture and Urban Design as an undergraduate at the Ohio State University and holds a Masters Degree in Regional Resource Planning from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Throughout his career, Mr. Ruby has utilized his combined background in architecture and planning to look beyond the individual building and focus on the urban fabric. He has applied this interest to projects such as new cities in Saudi Arabia, U.S. Military bases in Europe, and infill redevelopment in American cities. Mr. Ruby is an avid scuba diver and cyclist, and a long-time collector of modern art.
Susan Ruby
Senior Editor
Susan Ruby is a Senior Editor of the Real Estate Review. She was previously a City Planner and Housing Finance Professional with local governments in Ohio, Nebraska, California and Virginia. During an over thirty year career, she was a Project Manager, Division Manager and
Assistant Planning Director, with responsibility in such areas as Comprehensive Planning, Zoning Administration, Housing and Community Development, Facility Planning and Capital Improvements Programming.
Ms. Ruby attended Washington University in St. Louis, and the Ohio State University where she received a Bachelor of Arts, Cum laude, and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She attended the Masters program in City and Regional Planning at Ohio State, and later the program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where she received a Master’s of Science in Urban and Regional Planning, with a focus in housing policy. Susan was a Charter member of the American Planning Association and a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners for over twenty years. She was an officer in APA in the States of California and Nebraska.
Margaret McFarland, JD
Editor in Chief
Margaret McFarland is the Editor-in-Chief of the Real Estate Review. She has been involved in the real estate development arena from multiple perspectives for over three decades. She is currently the Director of the Colvin Institute of Real Estate Development at the University of Maryland’s
School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation and the home of the Graduate Programs in Real Estate Development at the University. Dr. McFarland teaches development law, process and ethics, and overseas curriculum development and student advising for the real estate programs. She is affiliate faculty with the School’s historic preservation program and has been honored by the University’s Provost and President for her research and editorial work.
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Prior to taking on the venture in College Park, Dr. McFarland served for five years as General Counsel to the District of Columbia Housing Authority providing advice and counsel for numerous complex real estate transactions as DCHA became the leading developer in multiple severely depressed communities in Washington, D.C. She previously has served as counsel to Maryland’s housing finance and insurance agencies, moving up to General Counsel to the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, including its housing finance and insurance agencies, for over a decade. She also served briefly as General Counsel to the Historic St. Mary’s (Maryland) City Commission.
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Dr. McFarland began her career as an urban planner for the Toledo-Lucas County (Ohio) Plan Commissions and upon completing her law degree at the University of Michigan, joined O’Melveny & Myers in private practice in Washington, D.C., assisting clients financing hotel, office and retail properties.
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Dr. McFarland has an A.M. degree in Urban Studies from the University of Chicago and a J.D. degree awarded by the University of Michigan. She serves as an outside director of the Neighborhood Development Collaborative, a non-profit corporation with properties in Georgia, Texas and Nevada. She is a member of the Board of Directors of the American Real Estate Society, which is the association of University professors of real estate.
Jiemin Wu
Assistant Editor
Before joining the Ph.D. program of Urban and Regional Planning at University of Maryland, Jiemin Wu earned her Master of Public Policy Degree from Georgetown University in 2013, where she awarded the degree with a thesis on "The Relationship between Chinese Rural Migrants' Job Stability and
Their Housing Conditions in Cities". Prior to Georgetown, Jiemin got both her first Master Degree of Management (major in Land and Real Estate Development) and Bachelor of Management (major in Land Real Estate Development) from Renmin University of China.
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​Jiemin has several internships and part-time job experiences at public sectors, international research institutes and well-known real estate companies, like China Ministry of Land and Resources, Landesa Rural Development Institute, Beijing Joint Foundation Real Estate Research Center and China National Real Estate Development Group Corporation. In addition to her practical experience, she also has some academic research experience, so far she has published eight articles in Journals and at international conferences.
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​Her research interests including Housing Policy, affordable real estate, urban economics and special policy for China’s Urban & Rural Integrated Development. Jiemin currently works with Dr. Margaret McFarland at the Colvin Institute and the Real Estate Development program and with Professor Marie Howland at the Ph.D. program, as well as serving as Assistant Editor of the Real Estate Review.