CCIM Feature
Dual Vision
Walt
Clements, CCIM, newly appointed executive vice president and CEO of the CCIM
Institute, embodies the two worlds that CCIM inhabits: commercial real estate
and education. Throughout his 40-year career, he has owned or managed several companies
involved in brokerage, investment, development, and property management. On the
education side, along with being a CCIM senior instructor, Clements was
director for the Lewis White Real Estate Center at the University of Missouri
in Kansas City, where he founded undergraduate and graduate degree programs in
real estate.
Through
his dual vision, Clements recognizes that today’s market forces are in the Institute’s favor. “The U.S. continues to be the international safe choice for
investments, attracting increasingly large amounts of global capital,” he says. “Corporations are enjoying high profits and are expanding. The
demand for more commercial real estate expertise is on the rise. I hope to
capitalize on these simple but significant market factors to increase the
awareness and use of CCIM’s education and membership platforms in the global market.”
When
asked about specifics, Clements cites CCIM’s diverse membership base as creating “a powerful environment for productive
networking. Lenders, developers, brokers, acquisitions analysts, property
managers, and appraisers — all share the common interests of making money with
each other while accessing the ‘best practices’ of their profession.”
Clements
wants to ensure that CCIM resources are directed for maximum benefit to the
membership. As an example, he cites two new online networking tools, CCIM
Connect and DealShare, which are being heavily promoted “so our members can maximize their use.” Another high priority will be fully developing
“advanced
education initiatives through the recently debuted blended learning model.”
“Never has there been a better time to be in the commercial real
estate business,”
Clements adds. “It will
be an exciting time for us all.”