IREM REME Awards Celebrate Real Estate Management Excellence

At this year’s IREM Executive Edge conference in Salt Lake City, the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) announced the winners for its inaugural REME Awards, which recognize a higher level of excellence in the field of (you guessed it) real estate management. More specifically, the REME Awards are for the companies and practitioners in any and every asset class and market who not only help advance the management industry by starting and sharing innovative business practices and initiatives, but also deliver the most exceptional service and value for their clients. The REME Awards go hand in hand with IREM’s philosophy of maximizing real estate investment value while promoting ethical business practices and superior management.

This year’s winners in particular had a wide spread of initiatives—from an innovative leadership development program to a summer workforce program employing teenagers in low-income properties, from a program focused on ending homelessness to sustainability programs designed to repurpose coffee grounds and diseased trees. From left, Hokua premier residential manager Duane Komine, ARM; Bentall Kennedy SVP Cheryl Gray; Continental Management EVP Gary Offernbacher; Draper and Kramer Regional Property Supervisor Kimmberly Donnelly; and The Quadrillion president Dr. Deborah Phillips, CPM.

“I am thrilled to congratulate the 2015 REME Award Winners—and to recognize them for their leading-edge business practices and for fostering innovation within the real estate management industry locally and globally,” says Lori Burger, CPM, 2015 IREM president, Eugene Burger Management Corp, AMO, Rohnert Park, CA. “I’d also like to extend a special thanks to ABM for being the founding sponsor of the 2015 REME Awards.”

But the REME Awards aren’t only a confidence booster. As IREM president-elect Michael T. Lanning, CPM, IREM secretary/treasurer, DTZ, AMO, Kansas City, MO, put it, “A REME Award on display in your office tells anyone who walks in the door—clients, tenants, residents, colleagues—that you or your company have achieved something extraordinary. It’s a conversation starter and a door opener to unlock new business opportunities. As an organization, we’re extremely proud of all the winners.”

Corporate Categories 

Recognizing Companies for Real Estate Management Excellence

Leadership: DDG—New York

Through DDG’s ThreeSixty Leadership program, property management professionals can broaden their knowledge base, enhance their skills, spark their interest in the industry and grow personally so they can take advantage of future leadership opportunities.

Work Place Environment: MEB Management Services, AMO—Phoenix AZ

MEB’s Big Audacious Miracle (BAM) program plans on ending homelessness by  encouraging employees to reach out to local communities and make sure that every person has a home.

Corporate Responsibility: People: Continental Management LLC—Bingham Farms, MI

Continental’s  Summer Workforce program provides valuable work and educational experiences for teenagers who live in the company’s low-income managed communities.

Corporate Responsibility: Sustainability: Bentall Kennedy—Toronto

Bentall Kennedy’s ForeverGreen strategy reduces the amount sent to landfills while driving improvements in waste diversion numbers through the creation of an E-Waste Challenge for shopping centers during Earth Week, a “coffee footprint” program that repurposes coffee grounds into sustainable soil and a program to repurpose diseased trees into valuable wood products.

AMO of the Year: Draper and Kramer Inc, AMO—Chicago

Founded in 1893, Draper and Kramer is a vertically integrated property and financial services company that helps clients across the nation and beyond with debt arrangement, equity financing for commercial properties, management of all property types, project management, condominium conversion services, advisory, risk management/insurance, and consulting and valuation services.

Individuals Categories 

Recognizing Individuals for Real Estate Management Excellence

ARM of the Year: Duane Komine, ARM, Hokua—Honolulu, HI

Duane Komine, ARM, is the premier residential manager in Hawaii since 1985 and the general manager of the award-winning, mixed-use luxury condominium Hokua. Working closely with the Board of Directors led by president D. Scott MacKinnon; Hawaiiana Management Co Ltd (Mike Hartley, president), and the Kobayashi and MacNaughton Groups (Kathy Inouye, COO, and Duncan MacNaughton, chairman), Duane is a three-time recipient of the IREM Hawaii Chapter 34’s ARM of the Year award. An ARM since 1989, he is VP of the Hawaii ARM Executive Committee and has been elected as the Friends of IREM co-chair for his local IREM Executive Board.

CPM of the Year: Dr. Deborah Phillips, CPM, The Quadrillion—McDonough, GA

Dr. Deborah Phillips, CPM is the president of both The Quadrillion (an international consulting firm) and the Georgia Apartment Industry Education Foundation. She’s also the lead instructor in their Residential Property Management programs and teaches distance learning courses and assists in the curriculum development for other real estate programs. Dr. Phillips completed her Ph.D. from Georgia Tech, where her research focused on Resident Satisfaction and Employee Engagement. Debbie also holds a Master of Science degree in Housing & Consumer Economics, with an emphasis in Seniors Housing, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Consumer Journalism.

Bisnow issues our hearty congratulations to all of this year’s winners. If you’d like to see videos about the winners, click here.