Executives of the Year Awards

Executives of the Year Awards



On March 5, Commercial Property News recognized 15 executives, notably two corporate real estate executives and two corporate service providers, for their outstanding performance in real estate last year. Winners of the awards, an integral part of the annual Commercial Property World conference, were selected by 163 of their peers across the industry, including the Commercial Property World Advisory Board. Below, we profile these four executives and salute them for their accomplishments in the corporate real estate arena.







Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year (tie)



Phil Cyburt

President Boeing Realty Corp.



Boeing Realty Corp. president Phil Cyburt has been working closely with other parts of The Boeing Co. to ensure that the aerospace giant's real estate management strategies are integral to helping achieve Boeing CEO Phil Condit's goal of a leaner, more efficient, more competitive corporation. The wholly owned subsidiary headed by Cyburt has been a major contributor to the company's three-fold increase in profit margins. Part of his success has been attributed to his approach of treating each operating unit within the larger company as a customer, evaluating its needs and following a duration-matching strategy. Surplus properties are analyzed intensely, with some being rolled into the company's development portfolio for optimal value; 4 million square feet were disposed of last year.

Cyburt's goals now: the continued right-sizing and optimization of the company's $9 billion portfolio of 120 million square feet and surplus land.

One of his biggest responsibilities last year was coordinating efforts to find a new location for Boeing's world headquarters outside of its birthplace and former headquarters city of Seattle. A variety of service providers, including Cushman Realty (now part of Cushman & Wakefield), were brought on board to help evaluate the potential of different cities and different buildings. Ultimately, the company chose 270,000 square feet in 100 N. Riverside Plaza in Chicago over properties in other cities that were anxious to get their tenancy, such as Dallas and Denver. For such a monumental deal, the search only took seven weeks?a feat attributed to teamwork.

But with that task completed, Cyburt still has more streamlining to be do, particularly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks resulted in a projected 20 percent drop in jetliner orders, necessitating the corporation's elimination of as many as 30,000 jobs over the next year or so. At the same time, Boeing expects to almost double its presence outside of the United States, with more than 20 new offices planned to open around the world. Boeing Realty is working with Peregrine Systems on a Web-based platform to standardize all real estate and facilities work worldwide; the lease administration and asset management module is up and running and a project management portion is in the works.





Corporate Real Estate Executive

of the Year (tie)



Tom Meador

Senior Vice President of Global Procurement and Real Estate American Express Co.



Many companies with a presence in or near the World Trade Center were left devastated in many ways following the Sept. 11 attacks that brought down what were New York City's two tallest buildings. But the need to get back to "business as usual" forced many Downtown tenants to scramble for space where their operations could get back up and running.

Few reacted as quickly as the real estate division of multi-national corporation American Express Co., and senior vice president of global procurement and real estate Tom Meador played a crucial role in leading the company's efforts. Not long after it became apparent that its downtown Manhattan space?1 million square feet in 3 World Financial Center in addition to some space in 7 World Trade Center?could not be occupied at least for the short term, Meador's team sprang into action. Like others, the company looked to the city's suburban markets for a solution, and before long had signed two leases in New Jersey for more than 500,000 square feet and another for 175,000 square feet in Stamford, Conn.

American Express' real estate team has been thinking strategically and proactively about the space it occupies. It signed an exclusive 10-year contract with Trammell Crow Co. to provide transaction, property and facilities management services worldwide for its 19 million square feet of operations. The assignment was a clear departure from its prior practice (it had been working with five different service providers in the U.S., each handling a different region and each in its own way) but is considered a smart move to better align the company's overall business strategy with its real estate operations. It is also expected to go a long way toward standardizing policies and procedures throughout the company's worldwide portfolio, which includes space in 58 countries.



Property Services Executive of the Year (tie)



Bruce Mosler

President of U.S. Operations Cushman & Wakefield Inc.



Bruce Mosler, president of U.S. operations for Cushman & Wakefield Inc., has made incredible strides in bolstering the property services giant's army of personnel and services. Since being promoted to his current position in the latter part of 2000, he has been instrumental in recruiting individuals and groups that have given Cushman & Wakefield renewed and invigorated expertise. He has been key in both identifying the company's strategic initiatives and making those initiatives a reality. The result is a company that is increasingly formidable as a competitor in the marketplace and as a top service provider for clients both in the United States and around the world.

During this time period, Mosler recruited Pamela Zoellner, formerly a logistics company's real estate executive, in an effort to gain more muscle in the industrial sector. He spearheaded Cushman & Wakefield's strategic purchase of The Apartment Group, giving it its first real entry into the multi-family investment sales business. He lured away top brokers from competitors in markets such as New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and Boston. And he increased its retail services acumen by forming an alliance with Baum Realty Group in Chicago.

Not one to miss opportunities, Mosler, in the first weeks of 2002, continued Cushman & Wakefield's march toward new and strengthened capabilities by promoting David Gialanella to head U.S. retail brokerage, launching a hospitality asset recovery services group, establishing a new unit dedicated to the valuation and appraisal of multi-family properties and launching the new Cushman & Wakefield Alliance aimed at enhancing some of its core product lines, beginning with six handpicked firms as its first alliance members.

All of these accomplishments pale in comparison to the merger of Cushman & Wakefield and the former Cushman Realty Corp., which closed last summer. Mosler had no small hand in making this landmark deal happen and in integrating the high-powered brokerage and service troops from both sides of the merger. Credit for the retention of virtually all of Cushman Realty's top-notch brokers belongs to a few, but Mosler was clearly instrumental in making the deal and subsequent integration a relatively smooth process, resulting in what is now a $900 million powerhouse. Looking forward, he is working closely with chairman John Cushman on specific deals as well as on getting the company's message out to clients.



Property Services Executive

of the Year (tie)



Earl Webb

CEO of the Americas Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.



As CEO of the Americas for Jones Lang LaSalle Inc., Earl Webb is the point person for clients in the United States and four other countries and oversees a staff of 2,500. Under his leadership, the company's U.S. operations landed a number of significant client contracts and brokerage assignments during 2001, including the $725 million sale of Citigroup Center in Manhattan on behalf of client Dai Ichi Life Investment Properties and the sale of 500 W. Monroe St. in Chicago to Shorenstein Cos. in January of this year. Jones Lang LaSalle saw the renewal of its property management and leasing roles for New York City's Grand Central Station, which it redeveloped a number of years ago.

Last year, Jones Lang LaSalle/Americas was instrumental in landing a sizeable management account, in tandem with Trammell Crow Co., for Bank of America. The assignment doubled the amount of property Jones Lang LaSalle manages for the bank, to 30 million square feet in the Western U.S., Chicago and New York City, and added another almost 2 million square feet in Europe, Asia and Latin America.

The Bank of America deal is a good example of the efforts by Jones Lang LaSalle's new account management group, a business segment formed under Webb's leadership and headed by Bruce Ficke.

Webb also oversaw the alignment of Jones Lang LaSalle's various services?consulting, leasing and management, corporate property services, tenant representation, project development, etc.?into two core groups in an effort to best serve two core groups of clients in the most efficient way possible. One group targets the end user, while the other focuses on investor clients. If the Bank of America assignment and a more recent, global assignment for Microsoft Corp. are any indication, the move appears to be a smart one for Jones Lang LaSalle.