Daddy's girl

Ivanka Trump is late for an interview because a meeting with her dad, Donald, lasted an hour longer than planned. Something came up with the closing of three new projects, so the developers called a last minute pow-wow with the lawyers. Although arranging a meeting is not a big deal because Ivanka's Manhattan office is on the same 26th floor as her father's at the Trump Organisation's Fifth Avenue headquarters in Trump Tower, the young woman is apologetic.

"I am so sorry," she says, fending off three more phone calls and asking her assistant Darcy McNutt to handle them for the moment. "We were closing the financing for three new developments that I am working on, and things came up. We are really busy."

No doubt. Donald has so much confidence in his 25 year-old, Wharton School of Finance educated daughter, that he has involved her in 33 national and international real estate projects after only two years in the business. Ivanka joined her dad's Trump Organisation in 2005 after working for a year as a project manager in the US$1.1bn retail development division of Forest City Ratner Companies in Westchester, New York. That year was crucial to her career as she gained valuable work experience before jumping into Trump territory. She coordinated tenants and learned about the day-to-day travails of the real estate business through developer Bruce Ratner.

When Ivanka began working for her father, she tackled small, easy jobs to prove her worth. She handled leases and learned to be thorough. But shortly after her orientation, she was given a tremendous workload. Having been exposed to every aspect of real estate development from pre-planning, evaluating and analysis, to construction, marketing, operations, sales and leasing, she was ahead of the game. Now she is involved in all of the deal evaluation and development, side by side with her dad and older brother Donald "Don" Trump, Junior, who will be 30 years old on New Year's Eve. Eric, two years younger than Ivanka, just joined the company.

"Ivanka has done a terrific job with our 33 projects around the globe," says Donald Trump, Sr. "She's a dynamo who gets things done."

As striking as she is competitive and dedicated to development, Ivanka has been named vice president of real estate development for the Trump Organisation. However, she prefers not to be saddled with a title. "I report to dad," she says simply. "It's informal, we're like a mom and pop organisation. I give him the status of my projects. He is very demanding but okay to work for."

Don, who is now executive vice president for Trump Organisations' development and acquisitions, agrees: "I had an incredible trial by fire with my dad. He runs a tight ship. I have to work hard and so does Ivanka. There is no free ride around here. We were raised with a strong work ethic from both of our parents."

Ivanka has indeed inherited that family trait. Her mother, Ivana, who once ran the Trump Castle (now Trump Marina) in Atlantic City by flying there nearly every day, and the Plaza Hotel in New York City that Donald bought in 1988 for US$407.5m when Ivanka was a little girl, is a 24/7 workaholic like her ex-husband. This may have something to do with why they fell in love, but then later divorced. So it was no surprise that during the recent July 4 holiday, when the celebration fell on a Wednesday, and many people took off the whole week to escape the city, Ivanka was in her office Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.

"I am actually going to the Hamptons over the weekend which is very unusual for me," she admits. "I spend most of my time travelling to our projects around the world. I travel at least once a week because we have a lot going on. So there isn't much time for anything else."

Her responsibilities are vast, including the expansion of the Trump brand into hotel creation to go along with the residential developments, golf clubs and casinos. "We hadn't really expanded that much into hotels so now we are doing it," she explains. "We are great builders, so why should we, or anyone else stay in another hotel? When we own our own, we can control service."

Ivanka loves travelling to Chicago to work on the US$900m Trump International Hotel & Tower, a 92-storey, 2.6 million sq ft property on the Chicago River.

There will be retail activity as well as the residential and hotel component of the property.