Breakout Sessions
Three educational breakouts session address key topics playing a role in the Southern California Real Estate market.
Breakout Session 1: A New Generation of Green
Learn practical applications of recent innovations in green technology.
Moderator
John Rowen
Senior Vice President, Operations and Engineering Services
PM Realty Group
As Senior Vice President of Operations and Engineering Services for PM Realty Group, Mr. John Rowen oversees approximately 35 projects consisting of over 8,000,000 square feet and has responsibility for the overall profitability for the Southern California Region. During Mr. Rowen’s 40-plus years in the business, he has performed numerous operational due diligence inspections and reviews focusing on total facility systems, staffing, and the development of repair and retrofit strategies to improve asset value.
Mr. Rowen has extensive experience in facility operations, maintenance, and management. He has held senior management positions on both the ownership and contractor sides of the business with companies such as Fluor Corporation, The Irvine Company, OneSource, and Shorenstein, LLC.
Panelist
Dave Pogue
National Director of Sustainability, Institutional & Corporate Services
CB Richard Ellis
As National Director of Sustainability, Institutional & Corporate Services, Dave Pogue is responsible for the leadership of CB Richard Ellis’ sustainability programs for the property and facilities management portfolio across the Americas. Mr. Pogue manages the development, introduction and implementation of a wideranging platform of sustainable practices and policies, working closely with Facilities Management, Project Management, Global Corporate Services and Asset Services to focus on achieving a consistent balance of maximum financial performance and responsible environmental stewardship.
Prior to leading sustainability programs, Mr. Pogue was Senior Managing Director of the Western Region and was responsible for all Asset Services operations in the western portion of the United States, overseeing service delivery for office, retail and industrial real estate properties totaling more than 250 million square feet.
Mr. Pogue also served as Executive Vice President, Ownership Services, for Insignia/ESG in the Western Region and joined CB Richard Ellis with the company’s acquisition of Insignia. Before joining Insignia, he was Director of Management Services for CB Commercial in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Previously, he was a Regional Partner and Senior Vice President with the Koll Company in San Jose. During more than a dozen years with Koll, he was credited
with establishing the Asset Management Division for both the San Jose and Pleasanton regions.
Panelist
Craig D. Sheehy, CPM, LEED AP
President/CEO
EnVision Realty Services
Mr. Sheehy started Envision Realty Services in 2007 as he felt there was a growing and unmet demand for properties that are built or retrofitted to be resource-efficient and that are equipped with advanced energy saving technologies and have policies and programs in place to achieve LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Craig has become a sought-after speaker in the Real Estate Industry, educating the industry on Green Development, strategies & low cost/no cost operational efficiencies that can be incorporated into commercial buildings. Real-life, state-of-the-art green building practices not only improves our impact on the environment, but also improves our net operating income.
Mr. Sheehy was Appointed Vice Chair of Governor Schwarzenegger’s Real Estate Industry Leadership Council, where his role is incentivizing the private real estate sector into incorporating energy efficiency and green buildings into their projects. He is the Past President of BOMA Internationals Pacific Southwest Region and Past Chair of the BOMA BEEP program.
Mr. Sheehy graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelors Degree in Public Administration.
Panelist
Brenna S. Walraven
Managing Director, National Property Management
USAA Real Estate Company
As Managing Director, National Property Management, Brenna is responsible for the leadership, support and direction for national property management services for USAA Real Estate Company’s 67 million square foot portfolio. With over 20 years experience and through partnering with Energy Star and USGBC, has successfully lead a national effort of improved energy efficiency and environmental stewardship – including leading USAA’s portfolio program pilot efforts with USGBC and USAA’s eight Energy Star Partner of the Year awards, the first real estate company to be so recognized. Brenna is past chairman for BOMA International, current vice chair of the Real Estate Roundtable Sustainability Policy Advisory Council, serves on Governor Schwarzenegger’s Real Estate Leadership Council and has testified before Congress on issues of energy efficiency and sustainability.
Brenna is a graduate of University of Southern California with both a MBA in Finance, emphasis in real estate, and a BA in Economics
Breakout Session 2: The Power of Social Media in Commercial Real Estate
The ways we communicate have evolved. Learn how to harness the power of social media to improve your business practices and career path.
Speaker
Dan LaBelle
Chief Operating Officer
LiveWire Marketing
Dan LaBelle has spent the last 19 years advising businesses on how to increase profits with strategic marketing and creatively executed tactics. During that time he has worked in almost every corner of the marketing world: High priced advertising agencies with famous names on the door; small marketing shops where he had to wear several hats at once, public relation firms that taught him the value of the right press contacts; cube farm corporate jobs with their over-worked marketing teams; shoestring start-up companies set on changing the world and more.
For the last 10 years Dan LaBelle has taken all these diverse experiences and put them to good use by growing his clients’ businesses as the Chief Operating Officer of LiveWire Marketing.
Breakout Session 3: The Future of Service
Insights and ideas for the future from a panel of experienced commercial real estate service providers.
Moderator
John G. Combs,
Principal and Founder
RiverRock Real Estate Group, Inc.
John Combs is Founder and Principal of RiverRock Real Estate Group, Inc., a West Coast-based commercial real estate service firm headquartered in Newport Beach, California. He also is founder and Principal of Cornish & Carey RiverRock. RiverRock services over 13 million square feet of office, industrial and retail properties throughout California from 11 offices.
Prior to launching RiverRock, John served as COO of Insignia/ESG for the Americas and Asia. He was also the President of U. S. Property Services for Insignia/ESG, Inc. John was responsible for all regional offices and service lines of an approximately 300-million-square-foot portfolio of office, industrial and retail properties. John was also a member of the Executive, Financial, and Strategic Planning committees for Insignia/ESG.
Prior to leading that company’s national property services, John was Chief Executive Officer of O’Donnell Property Services, Inc (OPSI), which Insignia later purchased. OPSI was a real estate service company for 24-million-square-feet of properties in California. He had previously served as President of OPSI since its formation in 1990. Before that, he was Vice President in charge of property management for Vantage’s North Dallas Division overseeing 6-million-square-feet.
John holds a Master’s degree in Business from the University of Dallas and a Bachelor’s degree in real estate from Southern Methodist University. He is a Certified Property Manager (CPM) ® and holds a California Real Estate Broker’s license. John was the 1994 President of the Institute of Real Estate Management (IREM) in Orange County, which is one of the largest and most active chapters in the country and is the only IREM-OC President to have received the National Gold Award for Best Large Chapter in the Country. He won CPM® of the Year in 2009 awarded by the Orange County Chapter.
Panelist
Steve Jones
Co-CEO/Chief Operating Officer
Universal Services of America
Steve Jones presides over all company operations and began his career with Universal Protection Service in 1996, bringing with him over a dozen years of proven management experience within the service industry. Mr. Jones was one of the youngest managers ever to hold an executive level position within BFI, a fortune 200 company. Prior to that, he was the youngest Regional Sales and Marketing Manager in the country for one of the largest uniform service companies in the U.S. While at Universal Protection Service, Mr. Jones has educated himself in all aspects of the security industry and was heavily involved in emergency preparedness training after the events of September 11th. Mr. Jones’ emphasis throughout his career has focused on building and maintaining long term client-customer relationships. As a graduate of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, Mr. Jones holds a BA in Political Science and an MBA from University of Redlands. Steve is an active member in ASIS, BOMA, IFMA and IREM, and sits on the board of directors for Universal Protection Service, Taycor Financial and the Century City Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Jones participated in the joint terrorism task force for Los Angeles, representing the private security industry. He worked with the LAPD, LAFD, DOT, FBI, Department of Homeland Security and Arch Angel to develop a plan for conducting a city wide evacuation in the city of Los Angeles in the event of an act of terrorism. Mr. Jones is regarded as one of the top speakers on preparing for the threat of terrorism and has given these seminars to the nation’s top building owners and managers, over 5,000 tenants within office buildings, and to the Building Owner and Management Association in San Diego, Oakland, San Francisco and to CAI in the Inland Empire. Mr. Jones has also spoken on identifying and preventing workplace violence, earthquake preparedness, handling bomb threats, the threat of the bird flu, handling Anthrax threats, and utilizing and implementing mutual aid. Mr. Jones has written articles on parking safety for Security Management magazine and has lead over 500 emergency preparedness table top training exercises with management teams across the country.
Panelist
Jim Proehl
Executive Vice President /Managing Director
Western Division
Jim Proehl is Executive Vice President, Managing Director for the Western Division of PM Realty Group. As Managing Director, Mr. Proehl has the responsibility of managing a portfolio of over 25 million square feet in 11 western states with a staff of over 200 real estate professionals. Mr. Proehl has been with PM Realty Group since 1994, during which time his success with coordinating the repositioning of numerous projects has helped fuel the growth of the Western Division.
Jim has over 25 years of diversified real estate experience which includes asset management for Metropolitan Life, and office development, finance, and property management with Williams Realty Corporation and Tooley & Company. Prior to PM Realty Group, Mr. Proehl held the position of Development Manager for Tooley & Company where he managed the development of two high-rise class A office buildings, each in excess of 400,000 square feet.
As a Senior Asset Manager with Metropolitan, Jim managed a Colorado and Kansas commercial real estate portfolio valued at over $300 million, including 23 office buildings, a hotel, and two retail centers.
Mr. Proehl began his real estate career at Williams Realty Corp., where he was an Associate Development Director with responsibilities of coordinating the legal, planning, financial, design, and construction management for two mixed-use projects in Kansas City and San Antonio. In addition to his development experience at Williams, Mr. Proehl gained a thorough understanding of the financial reporting requirements of working for a publicly traded company.
Mr. Proehl holds an MBA from the University of Tulsa with an emphasis in real estate, and a Bachelors degree from Southeast Missouri State University.
Panelist
Paul Saccone
President
Able Engineering Services
Paul Saccone serves as President – Able Engineering Services (AES). He is responsible for the company’s 2700 employees and 450 million-square-foot portfolio under management. AES is a privately held, comprehensive engineering services and energy management provider headquartered in San Francisco, CA. The company specializes in maximizing the life of building systems, preventing operational disruptions, reducing maintenance costs, developing energy-management strategies, and resolving challenging facility maintenance issues.
Previously Mr. Saccone served as vice-president – corporate engineering, construction, and energy at Equity Office. He was responsible for the strategy and execution of Equity Office’s energy operations, security, and life safety as well as for the leadership direction and management of the company’s engineering and construction functions at the national level.
Mr. Saccone directed Equity Office’s industry-leading energy function, which included procurement, conservation, monitoring, investment, and education and training as well as, environmental compliance.
Mr Saccone has served as a keynote speaker at the U.S. Conference of Mayors for the National Summit on Energy and Environment, The Real Estate Roundtable, Realcomm and BOMA International. Mr. Saccone is a member of American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and Association of Facility Engineers (AFE).
He holds a BS ME from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy (MMA).
Panelist
Steven M. Zaccagnini
Executive Vice President, ABM Industries, Incorporated,
CEO ABM Engineering, ABM Security and Ampco Parking
Mr. Zaccagnini currently oversees the Engineering, Energy, Parking and Security divisions of ABM Industries, Inc., and is an executive officer of the parent company. These four divisions generate revenue of nearly $1.3 billion annually and operate throughout the United States. Steve joined ABM in 2001.
Prior to joining ABM, Steve was a senior vice president for Jones Lang LaSalle, a career that began in 1989. Steve held positions of increasing responsibilities in the property management, leasing, facilities and business development areas for JLL. He began his JLL career in Denver before moving to Southern California in 1991.
Steve and his family have resided in Dove Canyon, CA since 1994 following assignments in San Diego and Santa Monica.