Ms. Catherine Buell

Catherine Buell is the Managing Principal of Wellness Real Estate Innovations (WREi), where she helps reimagine how places can better support health, connection, and everyday life. WREi works with real estate leaders and changemakers who are ready to try something different, using wellness centered approaches to build communities that actually work for the people who live in them. Before launching WREi, Catherine created and launched Amazon's $2 billion (now $3.6 billion) Housing Equity Fund, helping create and preserve more than 21,000 homes across Seattle, Arlington, and Nashville. She is a 2024 Harvard Loeb Fellowship Fellow and a recent visiting instructor at the Harvard School of Continuing Education, where she explores what's next at the intersection of housing, aging, and community. Her career spans senior leadership roles across the public and private sectors, including President and CEO of Atlanta Housing, Chair of the D.C. Historic Preservation Review Board, and Executive Director of the St. Elizabeths East Campus in Washington, D.C. Her work has earned local and national recognition, including Washington Business Journal Real Estate DEI Champion ('23), Most Powerful Washingtonian ('21, '22), and Women Who Mean Business ('21), the ULI Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award ('22), Atlanta Tribune Women of Excellence ('18), and the D.C. Historic Preservation Chair's Award ('15). She serves on the board of the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum and is a founding board member of Aging While Black. She is also a proud alumna of Leadership Greater Washington ('22), and Leadership Atlanta ('18). You can catch Catherine in conversation on podcasts ranging from Icons of DC to Risking Old Age in America, and as the creator and host of her LinkedIn series, Sip & Solve. A startup kid at heart, Catherine blends a deep love for community engagement with a sharp instinct for innovation.