Wurtzebach has extensive experience in the real estate industry, most recently as managing director and property chief investment officer of Henderson Global Investors (North America) Inc., where he was responsible for the strategic portfolio planning and the overall management of Henderson's North American business. This included responsibility for Hendersons overall product offerings, encompassing institutional equity, property and retail equity, and fixed interest. As property CIO he worked directly with the firm's property portfolio managers developing client investment strategies. He chaired Henderson's North American Property Investment and Management Committees. He was also a member of Henderson's Global Senior Management Team.

Prior to joining Henderson in 1999, Wurtzebach was president and chief executive officer of Heitman Capital Management and president of JMB Institutional Realty. In addition, Wurtzebach was the director of the Real Estate and Urban Land Economics program at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin until 1986.

He has co-authored or co-edited several books, including "Modern Real Estate," co-authored with Mike Miles, and "Managing Real Estate Portfolios," co-edited with Susan Hudson-Wilson. Additional publication experience includes authorship of numerous academic and professional articles. A frequent featured speaker at professional and academic gatherings, he was the 1994 recipient of the prestigious Graaskamp Award for Research Excellence presented by the Pension Real Estate Association (PREA). He is a member of the American Real Estate Society and a past president and director of the Real Estate Research Institute.​​