UDR, Inc.

Greetings and welcome to UDR's fourth quarter 2020 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are on a list and only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If anyone should require operator assistance during the conference, please press star zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Director of Investor Relations, Trent Trujillo. Thank you, Mr. Trujillo.

You may begin. Welcome to UDR's quarterly financial results conference call. Our press release and supplemental disclosure package were distributed yesterday afternoon and posted to the investor relations section of our website, ir.udr.com. In the supplement, we have reconciled all non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP measure in accordance with Reg G requirements. Statements made during this call which are not historical may constitute forward-looking statements. Although we believe the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be met. A discussion of risks and risk factors are detailed in our press release and included in our filings with the SEC. We do not undertake a duty to update any forward-looking statements. When we get to the question and answer portion, we ask that you be respectful of everyone's time and limit your questions to one plus a follow-up. Management will be available after the call for your questions that did not get answered during the Q&A session today. I will now turn the call over to UDR's chairman and CEO, Tom Tooney.

Thank you, Trent, and welcome to UDR's fourth quarter 2020 conference call. On the call with me today are Jerry Davis, President, Mike Lacey, Senior Vice President of Operations, and Joe Fisher, Chief Financial Officer, who will discuss our results. Senior officers Harry Alcock, Matt Kozad, and Chris Van Enns will also be available during the Q&A portion of the call. Throughout 2020, UDR was able to actively and successfully combat many of the challenges brought on by the pandemic. This was a direct result of our company's strategies. In particular, our diversified portfolio, the versatility of our next generation operating platform, outsized cash flow appreciation from our 2019 acquisitions, and 2020 capital recycling activities, and the ongoing dedication of our UDR teams. In 2021, maximizing cash flow remains our primary goal. To achieve this goal, we segment growth drivers into what we can and cannot control. Things we can control include the ongoing rollout and successful implementation of our next-generation operating platform, employing dynamic pricing across our portfolio to maximize revenue growth, and utilizing our value creation mechanism, including selling low-cap assets and recycling proceeds into creative uses, such as acquisitions with operational upside and DCP investments. So far this year, these factors have contributed to continued stability in our build revenue and improvement in occupancy and lease rate growth. Mike will provide more color on our operating trends later in the call. The early year results, when combined with the strength of our platform, our diversified portfolio across markets and product types, and our creative approach to capital allocation, allow us to provide 2021 earnings guidance. which Joe will discuss further. As we move forward, we will continue to closely monitor factors that are out of our control. These include the speed in which vaccinations proceed, what this means to cities reopening and emergency regulations, and how these will drive forward rent growth trends. In short, what worked for 2020 should continue to work in 2021. I remain highly confident that we, as an industry and a company, will be better positioned 12 months from now. The path to get there will continue to be slow, but the inevitability of a recovery is just a matter of when, not if, in our minds. Moving on, ESG remains a cornerstone of how we operate our business and invest our capital. Over the past three years, we have dramatically improved how we report our ESG accomplishments to our stakeholders. I'm proud that this was recognized in late 2020 by Grespi, who named UDR a top performer in ESG among global real estate firms. Moving forward, our intent is to continue to refine and improve our ESG goals, while also providing comprehensive metrics to our stakeholders as we share our continued success in the years ahead. Last, I've had the honor to lead UDR's team for 20 years, been active in the apartment industry for 30 years, and have lived through multiple cycles. UDR's team has always risen to the challenge, just as we did in 2020, and will continue to do so in 2021. I'm confident in the direction of our company, what we are actively doing to improve how we conduct business through the next generation operating platform, and our ability to handle any obstacle that comes our way moving forward. With that, the executive team would like to thank all our associates for their dedication and service, unwavering focus on executing our strategy 2020. And in closing, I'm reminded that every year presents its own set of unique challenges, and I'm confident that the UDR's ability to adapt whatever 2021 may bring. With that, I will turn the call over to Mike.