Sunday, July 1, 2007

PARTNERING FOR PROFIT: REGIONAL COMPANIES BAND TOGETHER TO BUILD A NATIONAL PLATFORM

Black Enterprise - By Robert Janis

Every business owner wants to be certain that his or her operations are as efficient as possible. This desire applies equally to the operations of a business owner's client supply chains--the network of vendors a company relies on to conduct business, from service providers to manufacturers of products.

Concordis Real Estate, a national real estate services corporation operating through seven regional companies that provide real estate services to businesses and commercial investors, exemplifies supply-chain efficiency. The companies in the network are Concordis Key Advisors in Philadelphia; Concordis MCCG in New York City; Concordis Frontier Commercial in Chicago; Concordis AGUIRRE in Dallas; Concordis Ryland in Houston; Concordis Freeman Group in Washington, D.C.; Concordis Northbridge Group in Oakland, California.

Each company oversees delivery of real estate services in its region and relies upon the others to offer services nationwide. Such services include feasibility and market studies, investment property sales, architecture, engineering, construction management, asset management, tenant and landlord representation, portfolio management, property valuation, risk assessment, and real estate development and planning.

All founding companies of Concordis Real Estate, created in May 2002, are owned by women or minorities. The concept originated with Cushman & Wakefield, one of the largest commercial real estate firms in the world.

Initially, the idea was to create a diverse supplier program in the service of real estate exclusively for Cushman & Wakefield, but the firms' principals expanded on that idea. A. Ivan Boone, president of Concordis Frontier Commercial and the first president of Concordis Real Estate, says that once the original principals started meeting, "we all thought it would be necessary to form a single, national company owned and controlled by us. That company could then team with Cushman, but would have its own infrastructure to stand on its own in the marketplace." The capital needed to start Concordis came exclusively from the member companies; Cushman & Wakefield did not invest in the firm.

What makes this alliance work, says Boone, is that each company has established relationships, knowledge, experience, and the capacity to execute business in its respective local market. "We bring the talent and skills of all the offices together," adds Boone.

According to Boone, the formation of the consortium involved creating the governing documents and erecting an administrative infrastructure. Then, the new firm spent time doing research and analysis with focus group discussions; and corporate clients. The alliance has experienced some growing pains. "We began with all the organizational duties being shared among the local offices. So people had to split their responsibilities to maintain Concordis as well as their own local office. That was a problem," Boone recalls. "But over the last five years Concordis has progressed into a company that has its own full-time core staff, including an operations director, a strategic planner, and a business development professional."

Concordis' business model has proved successful, with the company achieving consolidated annual transaction volume in excess of $180 million in 2006. Boone suggests that companies in such industries as technology, furniture, architecture, law, and accounting could use the Concordis model to expand their businesses.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Earl G. Graves Publishing Co., Inc.COPYRIGHT 2007 Gale Group

Friday, August 1, 2003

INTERVIEW WITH IVAN BOONE OF FRONTIER COMMERCIAL BY THE CHICAGO BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION

Ivan Boone is a co-founding principal of Concordis Real Estate, Inc., the nations largest minority owned commercial real estate services firm and President of  Frontier Commercial, LLC. As a commercial real estate professional for nearly 20 years, he has served some of the nations leading corporations on commercial real estate assignments across the United States. The following interview was conducted by Kathy April-Barr, past President of the Chicago Chapter of the National Black MBA Association.

August, 2003

Ivan is an Associate Member of the Chicago Chapter and joined to benefit from others who do have the MBA. Of course the most common myth about membership is that you have to have an MBA…..not true.

After graduating from Morehouse College, Ivan began working in banking at Harris Bank & Trust Co. in the Master Trust department, the group that handles pension and profit sharing plans for major corporations. From there Ivan went to Mesirow Financial as a financial analyst supporting real estate brokers in the firm, and got bit by the real estate bug. The greatest thing about this job was not the salary, earning $1,500 a month but the opportunity to learn the real estate business.

After 4 years, Ivan went to work for Stein & Company as a commercial real estate broker handling corporate real estate accounts for large corporate clients, such as Ameritech-Illinois, Bank One and Federal Express. After gaining more experience, Ivan considered working more as a general broker with a broader portfolio of clients that he might develop directly. He didn't leave to be an entrepreneur at the time, but when he looked at the market place for general brokerage roles, he was met with the opportunity to be a founding partner with East Lake Commercial. Here, he had the opportunity to increase his share of ownership with performance based growth. This really launched him into entrepreneurship.

Ivan formed Frontier Commercial, L.L.C. a real estate brokerage, consulting and advisory firm in the summer of 2000. Frontier Commercial primarily represents corporations and aids them in securing facilities that house their business operations whether it is office/industrial or retail in nature. They also help organizations in disposition of real estate as the organizational needs change. Clients have included Alliance Imaging, Lockheed Martin, Cook County government, Home Depot, North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, State of Illinois, The Aspen Institute and a host of local Chicago small to medium sized firms. Ivan describes these assignments as more opportunistic than predictable …. "We were just primed at the right time to get this business". As a result, business growth was difficult to manage.

To establish a more meaningful platform for future expansion, Ivan helped form Concordis Real Estate and serves as the current President and CEO. Organized in May of 2002, there are nine member firms and it is the nation's first corporate real estate services partnership comprised exclusively of minority and women-owned business enterprises. Concordis Real Estate has established a multi-year co-marketing agreement with Cushman & Wakefield, one the nations leading real estate services organizations.

KAB: Describe the relationship between Cushman & Wakefield (C&W) and Concordis?
IB: In essence, when C&W has a client(s) or opportunity that clearly demonstrates a demand for diversity they will look to Concordis to meet that demand and in turn when Concordis and its members require additional capacity and expertise from a larger partner they will look to C&W. Because of this commitment, Concordis and C&W are building infrastructure and a shared platform to execute the work once it's won. We've removed the prerequisite of having to get acquainted over the deal.

KAB: Is Concordis a firm in which you own "X" % or simply a consortium of sorts?
IB: Member firms each own an equal interest but it is not an operating company as it functions today. It could become a single operating entity through future consolidation.

KAB: A C&W press release refers to primary obstacles of minority supplier programs; describe what some of those obstacles were.
IB: Clearly size is an issue. As corporations streamline their vendor usage, Frontier Commercial's size alone was insufficient to garner large corporate clients. There was limited possibility for individual Concordis companies to win major regional or national accounts on their own. Secondly, the perception of depth of resources. There has been a 180 degree turn going from Frontier's resources to Concordis resources and finally C&W resources. We don't have many capacity conversations anymore; which allows us to move quickly into the project and how to get the work done.

KAB: The Press release also noted that Concordis was formed to ensure minority and women-owned firms participated in real estate services that resulted from a contract Hewlett Packard (HP) awarded. Would this type of venture have worked if Concordis came prior to the contract? In other words, in reverse?
IB: It could have worked. It would still have been a strong competitor in the marketplace, but; it's always true that no one wants to be first to test a new system. Having a company the size and stature of HP gives instant credibility to allow others to join with confidence.

KAB: Who birthed the idea of Concordis?
IB: Concordis evolved from an invitation to be part of the real estate services team for HP's United States portfolio. The invitation came from C&W, who in the summer of 2001 was about to take on responsibility of the entire portfolio. In the realization that teaming one-to-one with C&W on this account represented an immediate solution to Hp's request for diversity, we realized it also represented a huge strategic problem for Concordis firms in future years. i.e., if C&W decided 5-years down the road to get out, it would remove sub-tier partners as well. Concordis was a strategic solution to pull minority companies together in an independent structure such that it could survive if C&W and HP went away. C&W immediately embraced the concept and entered into a multi-year marketing agreement with Concordis for expanded services.

KAB: How many of the members are Women-owned Business Enterprises vs. Minority Business Enterprises?
IB: 2 are WBEs and the remaining are MBEs. A condition of Concordis membership is certification.

KAB: How much was Frontier Commercial L.L.C. worth prior to the Concordis deal?
IB: Broker firms are difficult to evaluate, there's a joke that you're only as good as your last deal. This is very true in real estate. Real value, however, is always a function of future projected income. Without multi-years contracts, our value is inconsistent and difficult to measure. Concordis real estate as a collective group is doing about $15mm in revenue which we should be able to build on with predictability.

KAB: How is Concordis positioned for growth?
IB: First, we have benefit of being the first national organization to occupy this space. We've seen increased interest by corporations extracting benefit from diversity strategies for the bottom line. This trend will continue as a result of globalization and changing demographics. That's the macro-level. Second, we are finding that our platform is not easily reproducible. It's become of real interest to remaining WBEs and MBEs operating in the market place and minority and women real estate professionals. . Concordis has become a magnet to draw and entice talent in ways many of the main stream firms can't because there culture is different and many brokers have gone as far as they can.

KAB: How do you market?
IB: We try to identify companies that have expressed interest in achieving benefits of diversity. From a tactical marketing perspective, we are all members of certified organizations which provide some forum for linkages and networking. Additionally, because we have an agreement with C&W and they have embraced Concordis as value added, we are being introduced to numerous C&W clients as a way of meeting there needs. This leverages the C&W sales force.

KAB: What are the strengths & weaknesses of this collaborative type company?
IB: Strengths are that we have experience and talent on a national basis which is unmatched in the marketplace. We have backing of some of the largest real estate providers in C&W and support of some of the nation's largest corporations. Weaknesses, we must work hard to unify the standard processed between Concordis firms. We must get independent companies to think and act as one! We additionally still need to get the word out; we're still now doing enough to let people know that we're here. Now that we are on the national scene, there is a lot of work to be done.

KAB: What can compare to entrepreneurship?
IB: It's like having a baby. It's a lot of hard work before you see results. Yet, when you see the results you forget about the pain.

KAB: Hardest part of Entrepreneurship?
IB: Collecting money…..but seriously. Establishing fee-sharing arrangements, which happen when a client is served by multiple vendors, can be a challenge. When defining everyone's value in a collaborative process, all parties perceive their value differently. You have to resolve this to everyone' satisfaction.

KAB: What's next for you?
IB: From a business standpoint, I look forward to evolving too simply, the business manager and going a year without doing a transaction myself. Nirvana will be reached when I'm completely out of a tactical role and relying on a team of professionals to execute. Short of that, I'm still a practitioner. The reason I'm probably president of Concordis is because I'm willing to lay it all out there on the line. I'm so confident we're going in the right direction and that really is what entrepreneurship is all about; no nets. I view a salary job as risky because you're always subject to the discretion of others taking it away.

KAB: What are you doing when you're not running your business?
IB: Spending time with the loves of my life, my wife and two daughters.

KAB: Last thoughts for our readers?
IB: Don't be afraid to trust people. Too many budding entrepreneurs feel like someone is going to steal their great idea. In the end the market rewards those who get it done, not those who necessarily had the idea. Move fast and build supporters; share your thoughts and ideas, although a risk, nothing will happen until you put it out there. Too many business plans are in the drawer, fearful that others will take it and they ultimately become obsolete. I'm one of those people; I've got a drawer at home full of ideas, none of which ever saw the light of day. Most people walk by money opportunities everyday without bothering to look. The value of an idea is not the idea itself but the ability to deliver. Once you determine you have the capacity to create, you'll continue to develop them. Most entrepreneurs re-create themselves 4 to 6 times; it doesn't matter if the business fails, because they'll create another one tomorrow. So I speak from experience…which as far as I know is the best teacher.

For more information please call Ivan at 312-893-0470.

Concordis Frontier Commercial
208 S. LaSalle St.
Suite 1340Chicago IL 60604

Wednesday, April 16, 2003

FIRST NATIONAL MINORITY AND WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESS GROUP FORMED TO SERVE REAL ESTATE INDUSTRY

C&W and HP lead effort in the creation of Concordis Real Estate, a unique real estate services solution

New York, April 16, 2003---Cushman & Wakefield, the world’s preeminent real estate services firm, and HP today announced the launch of Concordis Real Estate, a corporation wholly owned by nine independent minority and women-owned real estate firms across the United States. In announcing the launch, Cushman & Wakefield also formalized its national marketing agreement with Concordis.

Through the strategic alliance, Cushman & Wakefield and Concordis will develop and refer business to each other. The relationship between Cushman & Wakefield and Concordis is the first of its kind in the real estate industry and marks a new paradigm for the services sector as a
whole.
Concordis was formed to insure that minority and women-owned real estate firms participated in a range of real estate services that resulted from a contract HP awarded to Cushman & Wakefield for the management of HP properties in the U.S. In addition to HP, the alliance already boasts Sears and Discovery Communications among its initial clients.

“Over the last three decades, corporate America has increasingly realized the value of diversity in the workplace and with the supplier channel,” said Cushman & Wakefield President, U.S. Operations Bruce Mosler. “The real estate industry has lagged in this regard, but this alliance is a giant step forward. Our agreement with Concordis gives the end user a solution for meeting their diversity objectives and marks a milestone in the history of the services sector.”

Mr. Mosler said working with minority suppliers is business as usual in Corporate America today, outside of the real estate industry. “There is a recognition that corporations exist in a diverse environment,” he said. “Our clients are already there. Cushman & Wakefield now has taken the lead in the real estate industry and provided the only national solution for corporate
America, but we also gratefully acknowledge HP for its guidance and support in helping to give birth to this innovative approach to minority business development.”

Pandit Wright, Senior Vice President of Administration and Director of Human Resources at Discovery Communications said, “Given the historical lack of diversity inside the large real estate firms, we are very glad to see Cushman & Wakefield working with Concordis.”

Derrick Banks Mashore, executive managing director, Global Corporate Services, Cushman & Wakefield, said the primary obstacles to a minority supplier program in the real estate industry were all overcome by the Concordis platform. The real estate industry had problems identifying minority firms, reviewing their track records, reducing the number of vendors to a workable quantity and identifying firms with broad geographic reach and expertise.

“Concordis is the whole package: geographically diverse, broad service offerings, experienced quality professionals,” he said. “We are proud to team with Concordis member firms as they are known and respected by the marketplace and by Cushman & Wakefield. For example, while HP and Sears were introduced to Concordis by C&W, Discovery Communications was introduced to C&W by Concordis member The Freeman Group.”

Ivan Boone, president of Concordis, said the alliance between Cushman & Wakefield and Concordis “clearly provides a mutual advantage to both parties. Neither Cushman & Wakefield nor Concordis would have succeeded alone in acquiring the business of Detroit Police and
Fireman’s Pension Fund. Together we were the best choice.”

“The creation of Concordis represents a powerful change in the way that diversity service providers do business with corporations in the real estate industry and beyond,” said Jo-Ann Butler, HP’s Director of Multicultural Procurement & Sales Support. “HP is delighted to be a driving force in support of this important initiative and hopes that other corporations will join our efforts.”

About Concordis
Concordis was organized on May 15, 2002. The nine firms from across the U.S. joined together at Cushman & Wakefield’s global headquarters in New York to create the nation’s first corporate real estate partnership comprised exclusively of minority and women-owned business enterprises. Concordis is comprised of the following companies:

• Aguirre Corporation - a facility solutions concern, based in Dallas.
• E.L. Martin & Co. - a commercial real estate consulting and brokerage company, based in New York City.
• The Freeman Group, L.L.C. - a commercial leasing and consulting company, based in Washington, D.C.
• Frontier Commercial, L.L.C - a real estate brokerage, consulting and advisory firm, based in Chicago.
• Harris Smith Design - a firm of architects, interior designers, and planners based in New York City.
• Mayfield Gentry - a real estate services firm based in Detroit.
• Northbridge Group- negotiates the purchase and disposition of real estate and is based in Oakland, Calif.
• ConcordisRyland. - a commercial real estate services firm based in Houston.
• Thomas Coats and Assoc. - a real estate advisory firm based in Chicago.

About Cushman & Wakefield
Cushman & Wakefield is the world’s premier real estate services firm. Founded in 1917, through a combination of our Cushman & Wakefield offices, Alliance and Associate offices, the firm has 158 offices in 48 countries around the globe, and 11,000+ talented professionals. Cushman & Wakefield delivers integrated solutions by actively advising, implementing and managing on behalf of landlords, tenants, and investors through every stage of the real estate process. These solutions include helping clients to buy, sell, finance, lease, and manage assets. We also provide valuation advice, strategic planning and research, portfolio analysis, and site selection and space location assistance, among many other advisory services. To find out more about Cushman & Wakefield, please call 1-800-376-3133, or visit the firm’s Web site at:


###