Stanford Alumni Real Estate Council (SREC)
Emerging Leaders (EL)
Our SREC EL Members are the future.
Emerging leaders in the industry, they come together with their like-minded peers and fellow alums to accelerate their careers. They network, learn together, exchange ideas, and build year-round and lifetime connections.
Found in all aspects of real estate and the built environment, their ideas and actions are changing the industry.
Interested in becoming an SREC EL member? Inquire Here.
Preferred Name: Laura
Last Name: Fingal-Surma
Degree String (e.g. MBA '25): ('06)
Job Title: Founder
Company Name: Urbanist Ventures
Bio: Laura Fingal-Surma is the founder of Urbanist Ventures, a startup studio and angel fund championing bold new ideas at the frontier of urbanism. Flagship portfolio company Swyft Cities is transforming real estate with a gondola-like transit solution that beats driving and enables density. Previously, Laura was a pioneer behind the Yes In My Back Yard movement for abundant, affordable housing and built the first national YIMBY organization. Laura is a member of SPIRE’s Stanford Student Impact Fund Committee. She always wished for a Stanford YIMBY group to emerge, and returning to campus with SREC has inspired a side quest to literally #GrowStanford — and help it subvert short-sighted NIMBY constraints that are counter to the national interest. Laura graduated from Stanford with Honors and Distinction, and as a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned a B.A. in Urban Studies with a concentration in Architecture & Urban Design. Born and raised in Silicon Valley, Laura has always been an early adopter. She fell in love with urban life in Paris, lives in San Francisco with her spouse and twins, and still misses urban exploring with the Detour app.