RICS PRESS RELEASE: RICS Names Lawrence Melton, CEO and President of The Building People as FM Sector Chair, ex officio

For immediate release November 14, 2016
Contact:
Alan F. Cohen
Corporate Affairs Associate, Communications
t: +1-202 602-1450  m: 646 847-5706
e: acohen@rics.org
RICS names new members to its Americas board

New York – RICS in the Americas, the New York-based regional branch of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, the largest global organization for professionals in real estate, construction, valuation and related industries, is pleased to announce the appointment of four new members to the RICS in the Americas Board.

“The diversity, professional experience, past leadership roles and integrity of the Board ensures that RICS addresses the needs of the multi-disciplinary property professions in the Americas region and continues to promote high standards of professionalism for the public good,” according to Peter Smith FRICS, RICS in the Americas Chair & Governing Council Representative.

The newly appointed Board members are:

• Lawrence Melton FRICS (FM Sector Chair, ex officio) – CEO and President, The Building People, Leesburg, Va. Mr. Melton established The Building People in 2012 and found early success in its global reach to drive greater efficiency, investment, and performance for its clients. Prior to that, Mr. Melton had more than 25 years of federal executive experience, most recently as Assistant Commissioner for Facilities Management for the General Services Administration and earlier as Director of the White House Center, providing facilities, realty, and project management services to the Executive Office of the President. In that role, he was responsible for nearly 2.1 million square feet of some of the most prestigious real estate in Washington, D. C.
• Roger Flather FRICS, Director – Global Head of Performance and Valuation for the real estate equity platform, BlackRock Realty, New York. Mr. Flather has been with BlackRock since 2006. Prior to that, he worked for AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., where he served as Vice President from 1997 to 2006. In that position, Mr. Flather was responsible for the review of global transactions and the valuation of assets under management worldwide. Mr. Flather previously held positions with Met Life Realty Group, Bankers Trust Company, and real estate consulting firm Landauer Associates.
• Bruce Greenberg FRICS – Managing Director and Country Leader for Duff and Phelps within the Real Estate Advisory Group (Valuation/Consulting Advisory Services), Mexico City. Mr. Greenberg focuses on real estate valuations in Mexico and Central and South America. He has performed more than 20,000 valuation and consulting assignments in 16 countries worldwide, including nearly 1,700 assignments encompassing more than 7,000 properties throughout Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean. In the course of that work, he has also built relationships with leading real estate lenders, agencies, developers and government officials throughout the region.
• Christopher Turner MRICS (US Country Chair, ex officio) — Senior Director, Capital Markets and Investment Sales Group, Colliers International, New York. Originally from the U.K., Mr. Turner has a broad range of transactional and investment management experience. Prior to joining Colliers, Christopher worked for wealth manager London & Capital (U.K.), where he was Asset Manager of a $600m core and core+ portfolio; and before that at DTZ, focusing on Appraisal, Investment, Development and Property Management.

All Board Members are appointed to three-year terms. Their duties include contributing to the ongoing development of RICS in the Americas’ corporate strategy through the provision of regular market intelligence and insight from the perspective of the region; assessing for submission to the Management Board a rolling three-to-five-year business plan for the region in the context of the approved RICS corporate strategy and objectives; and ensuring that all activities undertaken are in line with RICS brand and comply with RICS’ global approach to  the development, creation and use of professional,  standards and guidance, together with  ethical standards and membership entry competences.

-Ends-

RICS promotes and enforces the highest professional qualifications and standards in the development and management of land, real estate, property and construction. Our name promises the consistent delivery of standards – bringing confidence to the markets we serve.

We accredit 118,000 professionals and any individual or firm registered with RICS is subject to our quality assurance. Their expertise covers valuation and management across all asset classes; the costing and leadership of construction projects; the development of infrastructure; and the management of natural resources, such as mining, farms and land. From environmental assessments and building controls to negotiating land rights in an emerging economy; if our members are involved, the same professional standards and ethics apply.

With offices covering the major political and financial centers of the world, our market presence means we are ideally placed to influence policy and embed professional standards. We work at a cross-governmental level, delivering international standards that will support a safe and vibrant marketplace in land, real estate, property and construction, for the benefit of all.

In the Americas, we have staff in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Sao Paulo and Barbados.

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