Achieving Success

We have been producing our Executive of the Year Awards, in some format, for 18 years now. Determined by a peer vote but based on a ballot put together by our editorial team, the awards honor top-level commercial real estate executives for achievements and strategies of the past year.

Suzann Silverman, Editorial Director

But this longstanding program does more than offer insight into which industry leaders are regarded by their colleagues as the year’s standouts. Since executives who stay ahead of trends often serve as trailblazers for the entire industry, their accomplishments provide larger lessons in how real estate companies can succeed in up and down markets, navigate policy changes and technological advancement, and master shifting corporate and consumer preferences. Meanwhile, at the ground level, they offer a litmus test for fresh strategies that might be worth considering.

Take, for example, David Simon’s Simon Venture Group, which supplies capital to young technology companies coupled with other incentives in order to nurture cutting-edge retail innovations. Or Greystar Equity Partners VIII L.P., Bob Faith’s new discretionary commingled fund that targets undercapitalized or mismanaged assets, thereby growing the firm’s platform for handling opportunities in its major markets. Grace Huebscher’s merger of Beech Street Capital into Capital One is producing synergies that expand options for current clients and provide resources to pursue new ones. And, of course, forward-thinking executives guide a wide variety of initiatives to grow and diversify in foreign markets.

Read the full editorial in the December 2014 issue of CPE. Access is free!