Name:  JIANGYANG (“Yang”) ZHANG

Company/Organization: TGY Partners (my own company)

Current position (and what do you do) and for how long: Partner, almost 7 years

Place of birth/hometown: China

School attended: University of Southern California (Los Angeles), PhD in Engineering.

The most satisfying part of my job: Working on my own thing, building a small team from scratch, working on system and scale, and conquering new deals.

Your strongest leadership quality: I tend to be a good listener.

Career/Leadership advice: Jeff Bezo’s “Regret Minimization” framework

Who do you most admire and why: business owners and entrepreneurs, especially those who started with almost nothing.

Goal yet to be achieved: complete my 1st ground-up new construction project in Pittsburgh.

What is the coolest real estate project/land use challenge you have participated in? Armory Lofts in Oakland CA. Adaptive reuse of 24 unit apartments from a former Armory building. Back in 2018, I left the tech world briefly and worked for 3 months on a construction site.

Favorite quote: Life rewards action.

Favorite movie: The Shawshank Redemption

Favorite vacation spot: Puerto Rico (I spent a few months of every year there)

Favorite cause: USC Jenny Wang Teaching Awards (a scholarship I set up for my grandmother)

Favorite restaurant: Jose Enrique (San Juan, Puerto Rico)

Family: brother (Germany), sister (Australia), Parents (China)

Hobbies/Interests: Traveling, Fitness, Languages.

Why ULI is important to me and my career/company:  I left the Silicon Valley tech world to pursue my passion in real estate. ULI has offered me an excellent opportunity for an “outsider” person like me to make new connections in the real estate world.