Prior to founding Leo Search Partners, Neda was a Partner at highly respected boutique real estate focused executive search and organizational consulting firm with a national practice.  Throughout her search career, Neda has successfully led and executed on high-profile search engagements for C-suite and senior leadership roles, including divisional leads, as well as mid-level positions across real estate sectors and various disciplines.  Notable assignments include COO for a privately held organization;  National Head of Development for a publicly traded company; General Counsel and a full legal team build for a privately held/family-owned organization; Head of Human Capital, US for an international company; and countless others.  

Prior to her career in executive search, Neda spent 15+ years within the real estate industry across C-suite legal and operational roles for well-established and vertically integrated real estate investment, development, and construction firms. Throughout her extensive career in both executive search and the real estate industry, she has built numerous successful teams in a variety of disciplines within real estate companies.  Each placement and team build assignment has further enabled her clients (and her former firms) to build on their successes, achieve their goals and progress towards significant growth and prosperity.

Neda is an active member of ULI-New York. She is currently a member of the DE&I Committee and co-chairs the subcommittee on Partnerships.  Neda is a former member of ULI-New York District Council Executive Board, and the outgoing Co-Chair of ULI-NY Program Steering Committee from July 2020 to June 2022.  Neda has been a mentor to the upcoming generation of real estate professionals though ULI-NY Mentorship program since September 2020, and she is also a frequent presenter or panelist at a variety of industry conferences.  Neda is also the Co-Founder of the Real Estate Alumni Club for the University of Rochester, formally launched in October 2022.

 When not working with or on behalf of clients, Neda spends time with her family and their rescued rat terrier mutt, Lucky,  who never tires of wanting a good scratch.  During recreational periods, you can find Neda on the tennis court, running, stand up paddleboarding, on the Peloton trying to beat her prior records, or learning a new hobby.  She enjoys business books and the Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, and multiple podcasts such as Adam Grant’s Work-Life, NPR’s How I Built-This and others.

Neda earned her Juris Doctorate from Temple University School of Law, Cum Laude, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with High Honors from University of Rochester, Cum Laude.