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Wendy Berger Shapiro » contact
Principal
Wendy Berger Shapiro is principal of WBS Equities, LLC. Over the last 16 years she has been involved in the real estate business as a lender, property manager, broker and consultant, as well as an investor.
Wendy began her career at American National Bank and Trust Company of Chicago (a subsidiary of First Chicago, now Chase) in Commercial Lending. Wendy spent several years as a principal with Berger Realty Group, an 80-year- old family owned Real Estate business where she focused on residential and industrial property management and development. She was responsible for managing 3,000 apartment units, 200,000 square feet of commercial space and 250,000 square feet of industrial space.
Aside from her experience in the real estate field, Wendy spent 9 years working with technology startups. Wendy was employee number 11 at Orbitz, the Travel web site founded in 2000 by American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United Airlines. Wendy was Director of the Enterprise Planning at Orbitz and focused on strategic planning. Prior to Orbitz, Wendy co-founded and was COO of Neoglyphics Media Corporation, one of the country’s first web site development firms. Neoglyphics grew from a small start-up to a corporation with a staff of more than 150 employees before it was sold in March 1998 for $65 million. Wendy is also the founder and Board Member of PC Discovery, a provider of technology support services for small to mid-sized companies. PC Discovery acts as an outsourced IT department for companies too small to have in-house IT departments.
Wendy earned her MBA in Finance and Real Estate from Northwestern University’ s Kellogg School of Business. She received a B.S., cum laude, in Finance and Marketing from Syracuse University.
In her spare time Wendy is an avid triathlete, having completed 20 Olympic Distance triathlons. Wendy is currently active on several committees within the Jewish Federation/Jewish United Fund of Chicago. Wendy is a recent graduate of the Wexner Heritage Program, a two-year study program founded and funded by Les Wexner, Founder and CEO of Limited Brands. She served on the Board of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Chicago (2001 – 2007), The United Jewish Communities National Young Leadership Cabinet (1998 – Present), The Hillel Governing Commission (1996 – Present), was the Chair of the JUF High Tech Committee (2000 – 2003), and served on the Board of Directors of The Chicago Software Association (2002 – 2004). Wendy currently serves on the JUF Real Estate Leadership Committee, is helping to create and Executive and Professional Women’s Networking Group and the Leadership and Development Committee, all within the Jewish United Fund of Chicago. Wendy was appointed as the first chairman of the Blue Knot, the National Jewish Tech Initiative. Wendy volunteers for The Marwen Foundation and Wendy served until 2004 as Vice-President and Membership Chair at The Standard Club of Chicago and as a member of the Board of Directors (1994 – 2004). Wendy is also a member of the Economic Club of Chicago.