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Jill Ferrari has more than 30 years of experience in private real estate development, legal practice, and consulting, with a focus on complex brownfield redevelopment projects. She is the co-founder of Renovare Development, which was named the 2025 “Developer of the Year” by Michigan RE Journals.
Her practice includes commercial real estate development, economic development incentives, commercial real estate finance, nonprofit corporations, and small business startups. She works with a wide range of clients, including commercial real estate developers, municipalities, and entrepreneurs.
Jill has been widely recognized for her leadership and contributions to the real estate industry. She is the 2025 Phoenix Award winner from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for her lifetime of work in brownfield redevelopment. She was named “Woman of the Year” by the Detroit Women’s Leadership Network in 2023, a Crain’s Detroit “Notable Executive in Real Estate” in 2021, a GlobeST Magazine “Woman of Influence” in 2021, a 2017 “Woman of Distinction” by the Wayne State University Council on the Status of Women and a 2016 winner of the Melvin Simon Award from the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) Foundation.
She serves on the National Advisory Board for the Urban Land Institute’s Terwilliger Center for Housing and is a founding board member of the Women’s Sustainable Development Initiative, a nonprofit organization supporting emerging women developers working in low-income communities. In addition, Jill is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, where she teaches Real Estate Design and Development Fundamentals.
Outside of her professional work, Jill is an award-winning screenwriter and science fiction enthusiast. She will take any opportunity to wear a costume.
Jill ferrari is also a co-founder of Schenk & Bruetsch’s ELEVATE Practice Group with Lindsey Johnson. Her ideal clients include female commercial real estate executives, entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives, adoptive parents and more.
As both an entrepreneur and an adoptive parent, I am deeply passionate about supporting women executives and small business owners in achieving their business goals through strategic legal and advisory services. Women are powerful drivers of economic growth, and their influence continues to expand—particularly in commercial real estate, where their leadership is helping shape the industry’s future. I’m proud to partner with Lindsey Johnson to launch a dedicated Practice Group focused on serving women executives and business owners, and I look forward to the meaningful impact this initiative will have for our clients and our firm.
As a co-founding board member of the Women’s Sustainable Development Initiative and a National Advisory Board Member for the Urban Land Institute Terwilliger Center for Housing, I am dedicated to advancing women’s leadership, promoting equitable development, and driving sustainable change across the industry. Because women don’t just build buildings…they build communities.
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