Mount Vernon Triangle CID President & CEO, Kenyattah Robinson, Receives Prestigious Awards For Outstanding Professional Achievement And Community Commitment

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Kenyattah Robinson, President and CEO of the Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District (MVT CID), has been recognized with two prestigious professional awards: the Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award for 2016 from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and the President's Award from the African American Real Estate Professionals in Washington, DC (AAREP DC).

"Earning these awards is tremendously humbling," said Robinson. "I consider myself very fortunate to have had the opportunity to help public sector organizations leverage public-private partnerships to fulfill their mission objectives in my prior work, and to now lead an organization as dynamic as the Mount Vernon Triangle CID. The Mount Vernon Triangle community – its residents, office workers, visitors, business leaders – exemplifies the type of collaborative leadership needed to build strong, authentic neighborhoods as Washington, DC continues on its trajectory as one of the world's greatest cities. It is a pleasure to work and live here, and to be honored by Johnson and AAREP DC for doing something that I enjoy is both rewarding and validating."

Mount Vernon Triangle CID Vice Chairman, Berk Shervin, President of The Wilkes Company, commented, "We are extremely proud to have as the President and CEO of the MVT CID as talented and perceptive a leader as Kenyattah. The energy, passion and intellect he brings to every facet of our mission, and his talent for finding productive solutions and uniting stakeholders, gives us tremendous confidence in the future of our community. We congratulate him on these well-deserved awards from two extremely distinguished organizations."

About the Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award
The Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who demonstrate outstanding professional achievement and commitment to their community, and who embody Johnson Graduate School's shared values of mutual respect, collaboration, integrity and trust, pride and accountability, professionalism and investment in self. Wilbur Parker, MBA '50, was Cornell's first African-American MBA graduate and inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award (which was subsequently named in his honor) from Johnson's Black Graduate Business Association. Parker spent his career working to make a difference combating racial injustice and helping others. A World War II veteran, he was one of the U.S. Army Air Force's famed Tuskegee Airmen. In 1954, he became the first black CPA in the State of New Jersey, and went on from there to break new ground in his hometown of Newark as the city's first African-American budget director in 1962, then the first African-American secretary of its Board of Education in 1970. Parker joined Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in the legendary "March on Washington" in 1963.

Robinson (MBA '06) will become the 14th recipient of the Wilbur Parker Distinguished Alumni Award during the Johnson Diversity Symposium and Alumni Awards Dinner on Friday, October 21, 2016 in Ithaca, NY. Past recipients of the award include: John Bonhomme (MBA '07), Executive Director in Global Strategic Markets at J.P. Morgan and Founder of Thorobird Companies, which specializes in social impact real estate development; Jeffery J. Weaver ('86, MBA '90), Executive Vice President & Group Head – Portfolio Management at KeyCorp and Chairman of the International Association of Credit Portfolio Managers; Felix Rouse (MBA '03), former Chief Executive Officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Newark, NJ; Angela Mwanza (MBA '00), Senior Vice President – Richards & Mwanza Group at UBS Private Wealth Management; Laura Wilkinson (MBA '85, JD '86), antitrust Partner in the Washington, DC law office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and John R. Clark Sr. (MBA '72), former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Resource Management in the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science.

About the AAREP President's Award
The President's Award given each year by the Washington, DC Chapter of the African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP) honors the recipient's outstanding achievements in business and commitment to leadership and service. For almost two decades, the AAREP DC Chapter has been a driving force in providing a supportive network for African Americans working in the commercial real estate industry. Founded as a small group in Washington, D.C. in 1995, this network has grown into a full-fledged professional association with approximately 200 members and an extended reach of more than 800 individuals. AAREP DC embraces representation from every major discipline in the industry – from site selection and acquisition to commercial leasing and property management. Prior President Award winners include Deryl McKissack of McKissack & McKissack, Dawn Marcus of Hines, former DC Council Chairman Charlene Drew Jarvis, and Michael Bush, executive director of the Real Estate Apprentice Program (Project REAP), which trains minorities for professional careers in the commercial real estate industry. Robinson will be honored with the President's Award at AAREP's Annual Awards Gala on Thursday, November 3, 2016 – one day after his 40th birthday – at the Ronald Reagan International Trade Building in Washington, DC. Details on the event will be available this fall at http://aarepdc.org/.

About Kenyattah Robinson
Kenyattah Robinson is President and CEO of the Mount Vernon Triangle CID, responsible for the enhancement and economic development of the vibrant community in downtown Washington, DC. With more than 18 combined years of real estate finance, policy, public affairs, and community, economic and workforce development experience, Robinson most recently served as a Senior Vice President and National Director on the DC-based Public Institutions team at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), a financial and professional services firm specializing in real estate services and investment management. Prior to joining JLL as an Associate in 2006, Robinson held positions in commercial asset acquisitions at AEW Capital Management, the Law & Policy group at Fannie Mae, the staff office of retired U.S. Sen. John Breaux (LA), and as a student aide to the Program Director at the Louisiana Housing Finance Agency.

Robinson has spoken at regional and national forums on topics related to the increased use of public-private partnerships and other alternate financing strategies to acquire or reposition Federal real property, and to leverage private capital to procure renewable energy assets and enhance building energy efficiency. He earned an MBA from the Johnson School at Cornell University, where he studied as a Roy H. Park Leadership Fellow and a Robert Toigo Foundation Fellow, and was a Pension Real Estate Association Award recipient.

He was awarded the Robert J. Swieringa Young Alumni Service Award in January 2014 and currently serves as a member of the Cornell University Council. A New Orleans native of the Marigny and Upper Ninth Ward neighborhoods and graduate of the "Blue Ribbon" Benjamin Franklin Senior High School, Robinson earned his BA in liberal arts with a minor in business administration from Louisiana State University (LSU), where he was awarded the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award, was 1 of 25 members of the senior class chosen as a member of Leadership LSU, and supplemented his education with White House and Capitol Hill internships.

Robinson has served on the executive board of the African American Real Estate Professionals (AAREP) of DC; the Planning Committee for GovEnergy, a tradeshow and workshop designed to help Federal agencies meet energy management goals and mandates; and on the executive board for the Children of Kibera Foundation—an international charitable and educational non-profit working to create opportunities for orphans and vulnerable children living in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya. Robinson was recognized as a "40 Under 40" finance professional by the Robert Toigo Foundation in 2014, a "40 Under 40" real estate professional by Real Estate Forum in 2011 and received JLL's prestigious "Catalyst Award" in 2013. He proudly maintains his status as an Eagle Scout and lives in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood of Washington, DC with his wife, Marnique Heath Robinson, who is a Principal in the Washington, DC office of STUDIOS Architecture and serves as Chair of DC's Board of Zoning Adjustment.

About The Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District
The Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District is a private, nonprofit organization established to enhance the overall quality of life for all members of the community including residents, visitors, business owners, and property owners in the Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood in Downtown DC. The Mount Vernon Triangle is considered to be one of Washington DC's best examples of a mixed-use community, a vibrant neighborhood in the heart of the City—both geographically and culturally. Its boundaries include 17 blocks within the East End of downtown Washington, D.C., bordered by Seventh Street to the west, Massachusetts Avenue to the south, New York Avenue to the north and New Jersey Avenue to the east. The Mount Vernon Triangle is a welcoming, authentic, and centered neighborhood that mirrors the City's unique mix of historic and modern buildings, longtime and new residents, and diverse cultures, restaurants, and urban experiences. For more information, we invite you to explore our website at www.mvtcid.org or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MountVernonTriangleCID, Twitter @MVTCID, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mvtcid/ and Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/111344023@N05/.

Media Contact:   Karen Widmayer
                         [email protected]                 
                         301.661.1448

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SOURCE The Mount Vernon Triangle Community Improvement District

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