Alexandra Daum ’05 recently joined Yale University as the Associate Vice President for New Haven Affairs and University Properties. Prior to this role, she served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD). She founded Field Properties, a real estate investment firm in New Haven and held roles at Trammell Crow Residential and Bain & Company, both in the San Francisco area. Alexandra received a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in New Haven with her husband and their two children.
*Published in the 2024 Alumnae Bulletin
How would you characterize your career thus far?
It has been a mix of private and public sector with an emphasis on building out communities and focusing on economic and physical development of the places we live and the communities that surround us. I’ve done real estate development for multi-family apartments for a big developer in California; I’ve worked for myself buying small apartment buildings and fixing them up; and I worked for the state, most recently as Commissioner of Economics and Community Development and funded developers and cities trying to build up spaces like housing and community centers. At Yale, I run our University Properties portfolio and our New Haven Affairs, ensuring that the New Haven environment is as vibrant a place to live as possible.
Can you elaborate on your specific areas of expertise?
One of my strengths is being able to think little picture and big picture at the same time. I’m one of those people who likes to roll their sleeves up and get into the details. A lot of our spaces are small buildings or a small retail space, but each one of those tenants is important. I pride myself on being willing to get in the weeds and also being able to step back and say, where are we heading in the next five years in downtown New Haven?
What do you find most rewarding about your position at Yale? Most challenging?
This new job gives me an opportunity to work on something I personally believe in, which is how wonderful the city is and how much potential it has to grow and prosper. I’ve lived in New Haven for the last six years, and I just think it’s a magical city with so much culture, so much intellectual horsepower. It’s also a manageable, lovely small city. I find it really rewarding that now, through my job, it’s my official mandate to try to make New Haven better and to make sure that people all over the world recognize how great it is.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Every day is pretty different. I’m constantly keeping my eye out for opportunities to expand our footprint. I make sure that our tenants are happy. I spend a lot of time going into our stores downtown and finding out what it feels like on the ground. Certainly, leasing empty spaces is very important. I also interface with the community. I make sure those are really productive interactions, for example, if we’re trying to get zoning approvals for a new building or we need to close a street for commencement.
Did your educational path lead you to your professional pursuits?
When I was at Chapin, I was particularly focused on languages (I was obsessed with Latin). I also pursued a liberal arts degree in college. I do have an MBA, but it wasn’t specialized in real estate or anything like that. I think the critical thinking skills I developed are so important. I’ve done a lot of related but different things in my career, and you can’t start a new job every three years or so, which is what I’ve done, without these skills, without the ability to enter a new environment and pick up information quickly and figure out what’s important and how people interact.
For how long were you at Chapin? What resonates most about your years there?
I was at Chapin from Kindergarten to ninth grade, then I went to boarding school. Chapin is an awesome academic foundation. I’m really grateful for the all-girls environment. I felt like Chapin was the kind of place where it was cool to be smart. I was grateful I could be a little awkward and still have so many friends. My favorite teacher was my English teacher, Mrs. McCreery. She had high standards. I really appreciated that about her. Mrs. Chapin was also amazing. She was my seventh grade History teacher. She and Mrs. McCreery had a lot in common. They were friendly and nice, but if you did a bad job, they would tell you.
In what ways do you feel Chapin prepared you for college and the adult world? What particular skills (academic, artistic, social, emotional) or interests did Chapin help foster?
I went to Groton, which is an extremely challenging boarding school, and Harvard, and in both places, I just felt so well prepared, especially with the critical reading and writing skills and the ability to focus in on what was essential.
What advice would you give to current Chapin students or young alums who may be interested in pursuing a career in government or higher education or related fields? How might you consider yourself a role model for young people?
I don’t know if I espouse the role model title, but I would tell them that they should have faith in their own skills and abilities to take on new challenges. If you believe in yourself, then you can try new things, and you can succeed if you have the right attitude and you’re willing to work hard. Another piece of advice: I would encourage people to think critically about where you want to live and make sure you love the place and the community.
How do you like to relax and decompress?
I read a lot. I also enjoy walking around New Haven. I always say that it’s the same size as a New York neighborhood. Sometimes I miss New York, especially all the restaurants, but right now, we’ve got everything we need right here.