roberta sydney

MBA '83

Roberta Sydney is an Independent Director, executive and business builder experienced in diverse real estate development and financial services ranging from large, traditional organizations to young, entrepreneurial companies.

Current Board Experience:

Roberta chairs the Compensation Committee and serves on the Board of Plaxall, Inc., a private plastics and real estate company and serves as an advisor to several real estate technology companies, including Rental Beast, Embue, and Doorbell. She chairs the Sydney Associates Board and Investment Committee, skillfully managing the complicated dynamics surrounding family succession and transition. In the non-profit arena, Roberta serves on the board of C200, and Chairs the Finance Committee as Treasurer. She also sits on the Board of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where she serves on the Neuroscience Advisory Committee and the Board of Overseers Executive Council.

In addition, she is a member of the following organizations:

  • National Association of Corporate Directors, Governance Fellow

  • American College of Corporate Directors, Masters Professional Director Certificate

  • Massachusetts Women's Forum

  • Marathon Daffodils, Co-Founder

Roberta is a practical visionary, a solutions-oriented leader who delivers results for shareholders. Roberta couples her intellectual curiosity with deep analytic capabilities to manage the unknowns and variability of today's business climate. She is respected for achieving consensus by extracting the essence of divergent points of view. Roberta possesses a unique combination of skills: financial transaction experience, marketing expertise, IT systems implementation experience, and a proven track record in real estate development.

Roberta is a sought after speaker on Real Estate and Governance topics at universities and organizations such as The MIT Center for Real Estate, Harvard Business School, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, Women Corporate Directors, and the Private Company Governance Summit. Her article, "Find Your Volume Button: Moving Successfully from Corporate Leadership to the Entrepreneurial World" was published in Ivy Exec in April, 2017.

In 1999, Roberta launched Sydney Associates, Inc., where she serves as CEO. Sydney Associates is a mid-size real estate developer, asset and property manager that has developed 9MM square feet of commercial property, averaging an annual shareholder return of over 12%. In this capacity, she earned a reputation for working comfortably across disciplines to navigate win-win land purchases and multi-year commercial leases, permitting approvals, and financing and construction of commercial real estate. Roberta's infectious drive and perseverance have resulted in major real estate transactions, with representative clients such as Bank of America, Trader Joe's, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, AT&T, and CVS.

Earlier, as a Principal at State Street Advisory Strategies, Roberta pioneered a new division to market institutional grade investment management services to Registered Investment Advisors for their high net worth clients, garnering $175M in new assets in its first year.

As a Senior Vice President at BayBank, Roberta spearheaded the Mortgage Division's leap to number 1 in the market by rejuvenating real estate broker calling efforts. As a result, purchase mortgage volume increased by 50% and broker­referred business increased over 100%. She also expanded market research and subsequently launched new image campaigns.

Roberta holds an MS in Real Estate Development from MIT, an MBA from Harvard, and an undergraduate degree from Wellesley College. She is fluent in French. She maintains an active real estate brokerage license, has earned the NACD CERT in Cybersecurity Oversight, and lives in Boston, Massachusetts.