BOSTON — Boston Real Estate Times has unveiled a powerhouse speaker lineup for its March 4, 2026 summit, “The Great Office Reinvention: What Actually Works in 2026 and Beyond?” — a forward-looking forum focused on practical strategies reshaping the office sector.
The morning summit will take place from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at the Burlington Marriott Hotel, convening leading voices from across New England’s commercial real estate industry at a pivotal moment for the office market.
To register for the summit, please click here.
As hybrid work, capital discipline, cost pressures, and evolving employee expectations redefine the sector, the summit will move beyond theory to spotlight real-world solutions delivering measurable results. The program will examine how office portfolios are being repositioned to drive financial performance, strengthen workplace culture, enhance tenant experience, and create long-term asset value.
Featured Speakers
Michael Keimig
Head of Office & Industrial Real Estate, Wayfair
Keimig oversees strategy and execution for Wayfair’s global real estate portfolio, which spans more than 30 million square feet across office, headquarters, logistics, and industrial assets. Since joining the company, he has led complex, high-impact initiatives, including the company’s landmark 2025 Boston headquarters consolidation, large-scale global sublease negotiations, and industrial network restructurings designed to optimize cost, efficiency, and long-term flexibility.
A trusted advisor to executive leadership, Keimig operates at the intersection of corporate strategy, capital allocation, and workplace transformation. His expertise includes portfolio optimization, lease structuring, capital deployment, risk management, and aligning physical space with evolving hybrid operating models.
Prior to Wayfair, he held senior global real estate leadership roles at Rapid7 and Sonos, where he managed portfolios across North America, EMEA, and Asia-Pacific. His experience navigating growth cycles, market contractions, and shifting workplace expectations gives him a uniquely pragmatic perspective on what is truly working in 2026.
Suzanne Leblanc
Director of Corporate Real Estate, FM
Leblanc is widely regarded as one of New England’s most accomplished corporate real estate executives, bringing decades of leadership experience across financial services, global technology, telecommunications, and risk management sectors. Over the course of her career, she has held senior real estate leadership positions at State Street Corporation, Dassault Systèmes, Santander Bank, and Nokia.
Her expertise spans enterprise-wide portfolio strategy, workplace innovation, financial planning, project delivery, and operational excellence. Throughout her career, she has championed the evolution of corporate real estate from a cost center to a strategic business driver—aligning workplace environments with talent strategy, productivity goals, and long-term corporate growth.
At FM, Leblanc oversees complex global portfolios with a disciplined focus on performance, resilience, and adaptability. Her leadership emphasizes thoughtful planning and execution at a time when companies must balance employee expectations with financial accountability and long-term risk management.
Reetika Vijay
Managing Principal, IA’s Boston Studio
Vijay is a recognized leader in workplace strategy and human-centered design, guiding organizations as they rethink how physical space shapes culture, collaboration, and performance. As Managing Principal of IA’s Boston studio, she has played a central role in driving the firm’s strategic growth while fostering a culture rooted in creativity, accountability, and continuous improvement.
Her work focuses on designing experience-driven environments that enhance utilization, retention, employee well-being, and organizational identity. Vijay brings a deep understanding of how design, data, and behavioral insights converge to create workplaces that employees are motivated to use — not mandated to occupy.
Under her leadership, IA’s Boston studio has earned recognition as one of the region’s top workplaces, reflecting her commitment to building high-performing teams and delivering measurable impact for clients navigating the post-hybrid era.
What the Summit Will Explore
The March 4 program will tackle the most pressing questions facing office owners, occupiers, and investors in 2026 and beyond:
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The post-hybrid office reality and what employees and tenants truly value
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Design strategies that drive utilization, retention, and ROI
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Tenant experience as a competitive advantage
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Repositioning and reinvestment decisions — upgrade, convert, or reimagine?
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Technology, data, and real-time utilization metrics
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The future of the Boston office market
“The office conversation has fundamentally changed,” said Upendra Mishra, Publisher of Boston Real Estate Times. “In 2026, the question is no longer whether offices matter — it’s how they perform, how they inspire people to come in, and how they create long-term value. This summit is about what actually works.”
Boston Real Estate Times’ summits have become must-attend forums for developers, investors, brokers, architects, engineers, lenders, and policymakers seeking actionable insight into New England’s evolving real estate landscape. Additional speakers and panelists will be announced in the coming weeks.
