William Talbot

William serves as Chief Investment Officer/Partner of Maslow’s Campus Communities and oversees all of the company’s investment activities. Over the past 25-plus years, William has proven himself as a nationally recognized leader with exemplary strategic financial, capital markets and transactional acumen, being widely recognized as an expert in the unique fundamentals and operational aspects of student housing and residential real estate.

William began his career in commercial real estate with Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, serving as an Acquisitions Analyst from 1998 to 2001, where he sourced, underwrote, performed due diligence, and assisted in closing in all facets of commercial real estate on behalf of pension and investment funds.

In 2001, William joined American Campus Communities as a Director of Investments and over his tenure serving many capacities as Director of Asset Management, Vice President of Acquisitions, SVP Acquisitions/Investments, and ultimately serving as Chief Investment Officer and Executive Vice President from 2012 to 2023. In his capacity as CIO, William oversaw all aspects of the company’s investment activities along with the company’s market research department. William has extensive transaction experience, having been directly involved in the execution of nearly $30 billion of transactions, including over $21.5B of mergers and acquisitions, $5.5B in development and $2B in dispositions. This includes over 70 public-private partnerships with some of the nation’s premier institutions, including Disney, Princeton, University of Southern California, among the many successful partnerships. William has successfully structured over $3B in joint ventures with leading domestic and global institutional equity firms, with specific expertise in structuring win-win solutions for all involved.

Mr. Talbot was directly involved in the execution of the company’s IPO, becoming the first student housing company to go public in 2004 and helping prove the student housing industry as an institutional investment class. William also helped lead and execute the company’s successful $13 billion take-private transaction with Blackstone in 2022 despite turbulent market conditions.

William is nationally recognized as an industry expert related to investments/transactions including numerous keynote speaking engagements and featured expert panelist at events around the world including Interface Conference, NMHC, Property Week UK, ULI, Bisnow, University of Texas McCombs School of Business Real Estate Challenge and IMN Student Housing Forum.

Mr. Talbot has served numerous leadership positions within the industry and community. He helped form the first Student Housing Council within ULI, including serving as Chair of the Board. William helped lead the recruitment of council membership, which now represents the forty top executives within the student housing industry. He assisted in establishing the council as the premier forum for leaders in the student housing sector to discuss, shape and champion positive and responsible visibility for the student housing industry. In addition, William has served on NMHC’s Finance Committee, Executive Committee and Student Housing Executive Committee (including Vice Chair). Beyond industry leadership, William believes in providing leadership within the community, serving on the board of the Boys and Girls Club of the Austin Area for over a decade, including serving as Chair of the Board, as well as serving as a founding board member of Entryway Central Texas which focuses on empowering and providing at risk persons with training, job opportunities and housing within the multi-family industry.

William received a B.A. in economics and Spanish in 1996 from Vanderbilt University. He currently resides in Lakeway, Texas with his wife Sonja and two children.