12th Annual H. Bruce Russell Global Innovator's Award Competition Brings Corporate Real Estate's Best to Emory University

ATLANTA, Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Corporate real estate and economic development's best and brightest converged at Emory University August 9 -10, for CoreNetGlobal's 12th annual H. Bruce Russell Global Innovator's Award (GIA) competition, which brought eight competitors from around the world to present on cutting-edge economic development, technology, project management and development and workplace innovation.

Regus and founding sponsor Gensler sponsor the Global Innovator's Awards.

The GIA winner will be announced at the CoreNet Global Summit at Atlanta's Salute! A Celebration of Recognition program Sunday, Nov. 6, at 8:30 p.m.

"Each finalist should be recognized for outstanding contributions to corporate real estate innovation," said Chelsie Butler, Program Manager, Global Awards at CoreNet Global. "Each finalist represents the best of our industry, and we look forward to rewarding and acknowledging the winner at the Atlanta Summit in November."

Finalists included:

• PwC and Vertical Integration on optimizing space acquisition in real time to mitigate risk, with Steve Adams, Director of Workplace Strategy at PwC, and Ann Duncan, President, and Jess Johnson, Senior Strategy Consultant, of Vertical Integration, presenting.
• Haworth on organic workspaces and zero waste-to-landfill production and implementation, with Steve Kooy, Haworth's Global Sustainability Manager, presenting.
• CB Richard Ellis on its Global LaborView, a web-enabled application that synthesizes labor and real estate market intelligence on an interactive platform, with Mark Seeley, Senior Managing Director, and Kristin Beatty, Managing Director, presenting.
• The state of Pennsylvania's approach to assisting local exporters in business development, with Peter O'Neill, Executive Director of Pennsylvania's Center for Trade Development, presenting.
• Greater Dubuque, Iowa, Development Corp. and its AccessDubuqueJobs.com application, with Rick Dickinson, Executive Director and COO of the Greater Dubuque Development Corp., presenting.
• New Zealand-based architecture firm Jasmax on the design and implementation of "The Green House," IAG NZ's headquarters in Auckland, presented by Jasmax Director Tim Hooson.
• The Greater Waco, Texas, Chamber of Commerce, Perkins + Will and Baylor University on the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative in Waco, with Sarah Roberts, Senior Vice President of Economic Development at the Greater Waco Chamber; Jim Kephart, Director of Program Development at Baylor; and Ed Cordes, Principal at Perkins + Will, presenting.
• The General Services Administration and Julie Snow Architects Inc.'s Warroad Land Port of Entry in Warroad, Minn., with Dana Pionke, Project Manager with GSA, and Tyson Mcelvain of Julie Snow Architects presenting.

"A truly outstanding group of finalists challenged us as judges in our evaluations," said Trex Morris, Global Real Estate Leader at Ernst & Young. "Finalists presented us with a unique blend of process, technological, collaborative and project management innovation that points to an accelerating curve of progress for corporate real estate and economic development professionals."

Morris was joined on the judges' panel by:

• Roy Black, Director, Real Estate Program, Professor in the Practice of Finance, Goizueta Business School, Emory University
• Hunter Fleshood, Senior Vice President, Corporate Workplace, at Bank of America
• Dana Pesce, Director, WW Real Estate and Development, Apple Inc.
• Francisco Acoba, Senior Managing Director, Strategy and Operations, Deloitte Consulting
• Thomas Bogle, Executive Vice President, Studley
• Greg Pikulski, Vice President, Global Facilities, Elavon
• Scott Smith, Senior Vice President, Grubb & Ellis
• Eugenia Taylor, Real Estate Services, Sustainability & Renewables Manager, Duke Energy Corp.

For the third year in a row, the Global Innovator's Award competition was held at Emory University's Goizueta Business School, placing judges and finalists amidst one of the world's leading business schools.

"The CoreNet Global Innovator's Awards bring some of corporate real estate's best and brightest minds and innovative ideas to Emory University and contribute to our intellectual environment and the industry's progress," Emory's Black said. "This year's finalists included a great combination of world-class development and project management, technology and workplace and economic development initiatives that highlight progressive, innovative thinking in corporate real estate across the globe."

About CoreNet Global
CoreNet Global is the world's leading association for corporate real estate (CRE) and workplace professionals, service providers and economic developers. Our 7,000 members, who include 70 percent of the top 100 U.S. companies and nearly half of the Global 2000, meet locally, globally and virtually to develop networks, share knowledge, learn and thrive professionally.

 For more information, visit www.corenetglobal.org.

SOURCE CoreNet Global