Even though futurists were on hand at the CoreNet Global Summit in Seattle to predict a world we can hardly imagine (with flying cars) these are exciting times to be a part of the corporate real estate (CRE) profession.
Indeed, almost 3,000 corporate real estate end users, service providers and economic developers convened to consider the current (and future) state of CRE, with expert speakers providing thought leadership on a wide range of topics from facilities management and food service to robots, blockchain and artificial intelligence.
And among those, the best of the best was selected in several categories at CoreNet Global’s annual Recognition Dinner.
LEVERTON won the H. Bruce Russell Global Innovator’s Award for innovation in corporate real estate. The artificial intelligence company develops and applies deep learning technologies to extract, structure and manage data from corporate documents in more than 20 languages. That technology is now powering Savills Studley’s Knowledge3 platform, which delivers proprietary data visualizations and analytics
Microsoft and the Rocky Mountain Institute won the association’s Sustainable Leadership Award, while Microsoft and LEVERTON won the Professional Excellence Award.
And, CoreNet Global Named Stephen Dunn, Director of Workplace at CSRA, Inc., as the Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year.
Dunn, affiliated with the CoreNet Global Mid-Atlantic Chapter, was instrumental in the development of the Bossier City (LA) Integrated Technology Center (ITC) in which state and city partnerships leveraged economic development incentives to create more than 800 jobs in the technology workforce. Dunn’s major initiatives also included building a Workplace team, communicating with the lines of business and right sizing the CSRA portfolio.
The H. Gordon Wyllie, MCR, Young Leader of the Year Award was presented to Rosario Carbonell, MCR, Executive Director, KMC Savills, Inc., from the CoreNet Global Philippines Chapter.
Carbonell mentors and trains the tenant representation services team within KMC Savills. She also helped develop the business model for KMC’s sister company, KMC Solutions, which gave KMC MAG Group a competitive edge in the service market.
Also recognized were top-rated faculty (e.g., in the MCR and SLCR designation programs), new MCR, MCR.w and SLCR designees, top-rated Summit speakers, and Chapter of the Year, with the Hong Kong Chapter and the UK Chapter coming out on top.
And Emory University won the CoreNet Global Academic Challenge, a new initiative that provides a forum for students to generate real-world corporate real estate solutions. These young leaders represent the future of our profession and it was thrilling to see them compete at the Summit.
The next time we see them, they may well be directing their corporate real estate teams from their autonomous, flying cars.