Rachna is Heitman’s Chief Diversity Officer and a member of the firm’s Global Management Committee and DEI Council. She is also an equity owner of the firm. Rachna’s responsibilities include advancing Heitman’s inclusion and equity strategies in support of continuing to foster the firm’s strong culture of belonging and collaboration. Prior to this, Rachna was a Vice President at Nuveen leading their Inclusion, Diversity & Equity efforts and served as the subject matter expert to business leaders and employees on all aspects of Inclusion and Diversity. In this role, she developed and executed Nuveen’s D&I strategy, created a scorecard inclusive of DEI metrics to track progress, identify opportunities, and utilize as a coaching tool for leaders on continued success, and launched a Culture and Inclusion Council focused on cultivating a collaborative culture and promoting DEI values. Previously, Rachna served as a Vice President at Heitman, where she led the firm’s global recruitment efforts, was a member of the global DEI council, and co-led the DEI function within the Human Resources group. In her former role, Rachna placed significant focus on building partnerships with a variety of organizations, expanding the firm’s reach to underrepresented candidates, and redesigning the internship program to become a pipeline of diverse talent. She has also held Talent Acquisition roles at SmithBucklin and Northwestern Mutual.

Rachna received a BS in Financial Counseling & Planning from Purdue University and holds a certificate in Diversity & Inclusion from Cornell University. She is also Chair of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Manager’s (NAREIM) DEI Committee and an advisory board member of Roosevelt University’s Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate.