Biography
Ursula’s 30+ year career has explored and embraced the cross section of commercial real estate and economic development. Her role at Ancora taps into both disciplines. Ursula assesses potential new markets and institutional partners, and actively finds, develops, and often sources funding for partnerships and tenants that generate innovation buzz and substance.
Ms. Powidzki led the core economic development functions for the State of Maryland’s Department of Commerce, including finance, strategic industries, and business development. During her six years there, she established robust connections with the region’s technology entrepreneurs and organizations, universities, and investors.
Prior to the Department of Commerce, she was a senior portfolio manager with MMA, a U.S. publicly held real estate finance company, and
subsequently, an affiliated company, IHS, that invested in multi-family and land development projects and companies in South Africa. She played a leading role in establishing the infrastructure for the $225M South African equity fund, and at MMA, managed diverse debt and equity portfolios in commercial real estate.
Ursula earned a B.A. from Brown University and completed Executive MBA coursework at the Wharton School.