Jul22493 23. Jul22493 Real estate, often described as a business of buildings, is increasingly becoming a business of decisions. This, at least, is the opinion of Isabel Munoz, the CEO of Keredge SA, based in Geneva. As she is named the Strategic Transformation CEO of the Year in this programme, and Keredge itself is recognised as offering the Best Long-Term Real Estate Asset Stewardship 2026 – Switzerland, we caught up with this iconic figure in Swiss real estate leadership and innovation for more. Buildings often remain standing for generations. What changes their trajectories are the decisions around them, such as when to invest, when to reposition, when to challenge an established practice, when to preserve what already works, and when to exit. Making these decisions is where Keredge excels, with the company today managing a significant portfolio of privately held real estate across Switzerland. Managing these assets is only the beginning, and it is just as much about questioning how these assets can perform sustainably. Having worked across private, institutional, and public real estate, Isabel Munoz knows how to look at the same asset in different ways. A diverse career has seen her responsibilities grow constantly, with the questions she has had to answer shifting from the asset itself to investment and risk, capital allocation, strategy, organisations, and people. The weight of this shift became clear in 2021, when Isabel took the role of CEO at Keredge, and with it the responsibility of creating the conditions for good decisions to be made not only by her, but also across the whole organisation. Blending her experience in real estate with a healthy dose of curiosity, Isabel is guiding Keredge towards a more intelligent, deliberate way of owning real estate. The organisation is being strengthened from the inside as a result, with the quality of its data improving, the knowledge it develops of each asset deepening, its key capabilities being brought closer to the business, and its team becoming more selective in how capital is allocated. Essentially, it is all about anticipating what every asset needs before circumstances force the client’s hand. A big part of how the team do this is by listening to people and their position, rather than relying on the data alone. Isabel is responsible for managing the relationships behind this, and then swiftly executing solutions once the problems are understood. Collaboration is an instrumental part of how Isabel approaches her leadership responsibilities, and she sees her job as being to create clarity around where Keredge is going and why, before providing the team with enough room to figure out how to get there. As Isabel herself added: “I believe people perform at their best when they understand the purpose behind them and feel genuine ownership of the outcome.” Since Isabel has assumed her current position, Keredge has experienced measurable progress operationally, financially, and environmentally, but the biggest and most significant change has been cultural. As its people increasingly connect what happens at asset level with the broader strategic picture, the organisation becomes more than the sum of its individual expertise. Isabel is immensely proud to be leading the charge on this. The next steps for Keredge are all about turning what it has already discovered into a more systematic way of managing and investing across its portfolio. Having already strengthened its understanding of its assets, improved the quality of information available to it, and developed a more active approach to value creation, the opportunity it is looking to take advantage of now is using this intelligence to be even more proactive. Looking beyond the immediate performance of an asset and asking what it can become also aligns Keredge with Isabel’s own career goals, which are to continue to learn, build, and transform. She is also fascinated by making consequential decisions, the result of a constant career evolution. Doing this in real estate – which is a tangible business, but one where the most important elements often happen before renovations, investment, and financial results – is something Isabel is especially proud of, but this is not a solo effort. In closing, Isabel told us: “Leadership can provide direction, but lasting change happens when an organisation is able to take an idea further than any one person could.” This real estate CEO in Switzerland has created the conditions for this to happen, and the longterm real estate value creation Keredge SA is nurturing as a result has led to both her and the organisation being featured here in the European CEO of the Year Awards 2026. Contact: Isabel Munoz Company: Keredge SA Web Address: https://keredge.ch/ Strategic Transformation CEO of the Year 2026 (Switzerland): Isabel Munoz & Best Long-Term Real Estate Asset Stewardship 2026 – Switzerland
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