Article
3 CBRE Women Who Are ‘Accelerating Action’ to Achieve Gender Equality
March 6, 2025 5 Minute Read
CBRE’s Michèle Boutet could be considered a trailblazer among women in commercial real estate.
In 1996 she helped establish the company’s Montreal office with her mother Jacqueline Boutet, her husband Pierre Lacroix and CBRE Toronto’s Ramsay Lunan. At the time, the mother-daughter duo were among a handful of female real estate brokers in Montreal.
“My mother showed me that women could have successful commercial real estate careers,” says Boutet, who specializes in office tenant representation. “More women now work in the industry, but we’re still underrepresented in brokerage roles.”
The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is Accelerate Action. At the current rate of progress, it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity, according to data from the World Economic Forum. So Accelerate Action emphasizes the importance of decisive steps to achieve gender equality. It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.
We asked Boutet and some of her CBRE colleagues about how they are accelerating action as women in commercial real estate.
CREW Contributions
Last year Boutet received CREW M’s Tribute Award for her contributions to the Montreal chapter. She joined the branch in its early days, including serving a term as president, during which time she helped set up the annual Gala Excellence. Award finalists and winners were published in La Presse’s business section, giving them visibility in the Quebec business world. “I wanted to recognize and promote young women in our industry,” says Boutet.
Boutet says she owes her commercial real estate success to working hard and negotiating the best deal for every client. “It can be difficult for women to integrate into male-dominated industries but we can’t let that stop us. We have to lean in on our strengths.”
Finding Support
Katie Sapieha started her career on CBRE Calgary’s research team in 2008 and soon joined a top industrial team, becoming the only female broker in the office. She received CBRE’s 2013 Rookie of the Year Award, speaking to the potential she showed as a commercial real estate sales representative.
She switched over to office leasing, joining John Fisher and Stuart Watson’s team in 2016. In 2023, Sapieha received a Connect CRE Women in Real Estate award for the Alberta & Prairies Region for her outstanding performance and commitment to client success.
Today Sapieha serves on the board of directors of NAIOP’s Calgary chapter and on the board of the Toni Kohn-Woodward Foundation, an organization that supports young women at risk in Calgary. “I’ve always been lucky to have the support I needed to succeed,” she says. “Participating in local organizations lets me give some support back to my community.”
Sapieha encourages young female brokers to be confident in their abilities and to seek support from colleagues. “We’ve made strides as women but some things like having kids as a broker are still hard,” she says. “My male colleagues have been some of my biggest supporters and have looked out for me over the years. It’s taught me that you need to align with people who believe in you and find support from partners and colleagues. Doing it alone isn’t feasible.”
Removing Barriers
Emily Sisnett joined CBRE Canada in 2024 as Vice President of People. Originally from New York City, she found her way into recruitment while pursuing a career in Law. She then worked in human resources at Barclays Investment Bank in the U.S. and the UK and TD Bank in Toronto before joining CBRE in 2024.
“I was ready for a change and (CBRE Canada President and CEO) Jon Ramscar’s vision aligned with mine,” says Sisnett. “He views CBRE not just as a real estate services firm but as an employer of choice in Canada.”
Sisnett is helping the People team improve the employee experience through more targeted on-the-job learning, additional coaching for People leaders and platform improvements. “We’re taking a back to basics approach,” she says. “We want the People team to make every interaction as smooth as possible while also becoming trusted advisors to our leaders.”
Sisnett is also overseeing a pay equity study and building on CBRE’s high-performance culture to give employees equal opportunities to grow into leadership roles. That includes revamping the Canadian Diversity Equity and Inclusion infrastructure through executive sponsorship and leadership participation in employee business resource groups.
Sisnett hopes to help remove barriers for women in the workplace. “Women often have different paths to leadership than men,” she says. “Calling that out and planning for it allows us to be proactive in structuring equitable opportunities for women.”
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