Reminds me of one day during construction of the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.  It was called to the job-site to devise a repair for an improperly installed embed plate that supported the climbing tower crane on the inside of the tower core.  I climbed 150 feet up the tower crane, shimmied out to the end of the steel beam, came up with a fix, and then shimmied back and held tight to the crane while an iron worker torch-cut two new holes in the steel plate.  A stream of molten steel cascaded down and then splattered as it hit another steel beam 50 feet directly below.  It was a spectacular sight in the dimly lit tower shaft.  Then I noticed the people shouting below.  The crane’s live 480 volt power cable that had been draped over the steel beam below was on fire, ignited by the molten steel drops from above.  Fortunately, they got the iron worker’s attention and put out the fire before it burned through the insulation and fried all of us.

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Brent Wright, PE, SE
CEO, Wright Engineers
bw@wrightengineers.com

NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, recently honored the NAIOP Southern Nevada Chapter, its 2020 Board of Directors President Julie Cleaver and the local chapter’s 2020 virtual bus tour with Chapter Merit Awards (CMAs).

In honoring NAIOP Southern Nevada as the nation’s “Large Chapter of the Year,” the national association recognized the local chapter for overall excellence throughout the year, including involvement with NAIOP Corporate, chapter growth, civic service and more. NAIOP Southern Nevada demonstrated an unyielding dedication to providing value for NAIOP members at every level, according to the award.

The “Outstanding Leadership by a Chapter President” award is presented to a local chapter president who has demonstrated outstanding dedication to a chapter’s growth and success. Throughout the pandemic, Cleaver worked to increase and diversify membership, elevate programming, empower volunteers and engage local leaders. Cleaver is vice president of planning and design at The Howard Hughes Corporation in Las Vegas.

The “Special Event Award” celebrates chapters that planned and executed exceptional and unique chapter events, despite a limited ability to host in-person events during 2020. NAIOP Southern Nevada was honored for its annual bus tour, which was reimagined in 2020 to become an all-new virtual event, including a flyover video, interactive website and expert panel discussions.

NAIOP’s “Chapter Merit Awards” recognize success in education, special events, membership, legislative advocacy and leadership by its local chapters throughout the nation. CMAs are presented annually at NAIOP’s Chapter Leadership and Legislative Retreat. Recipients are selected by a committee of their peers comprised of volunteer judges.

Check out  the article that our member Minjia Yan wrote.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a wake-up call for the world to go digital. It has forced marketers to go virtual and create online webinars. It is time for the commercial real estate companies – which are traditionally slow to adopt new technology – to include social media marketing as part of their marketing strategies. In the past 10 years, many B2B and B2C brands have adopted social media and influencer marketing in their marketing plans very successfully. We can learn from these successful practices and apply them in commercial real estate.

I hope you had a safe and enjoyable holiday season. The year 2021 is here, and though we all hoped the circumstances would be different, we’re not yet able to enjoy the benefits of NAIOP like we once did.  However, we are now embarking on a new adventure.  In 2021, our focus as NAIOP Southern Nevada is going to be on understanding and meeting the needs of our members and President’s Circle Sponsors (PCS).  A need for many of our members is to consistently have relevant and informative content at our breakfast meetings and education events. Our Programs Committee and Education Committee have been hard at work planning January events:  a Virtual Breakfast Program (a discussion with developers), and our Virtual Member’s Only Education Event (a legislative preview).

The pandemic caused us to reach out to many of the President’s Circle Sponsors to understand the needs NAIOP Southern Nevada can meet for them during these times. As a result, we will be taking a new approach in 2021. For this year, the Membership Committee and the Sponsorship Committee will be separated. The Membership Committee will continue their efforts as they have always done and the focus of the newly formed Sponsorship Committee will be on addressing the concerns that our President’s Circle Sponsors have shared with us. By understanding and meeting the needs of our members and sponsors, we are confident that the entire organization will become stronger. We are looking forward to the opportunities that 2021 will bring.

David Strickland
Thomas & Mack Development Group
NAIOP Southern Nevada President

Name: Armand (AJ) Rodrigues
Title: Environmental Supervisor
Company: Geotechnical & Environmental Services, Inc.
Years in the Industry: 9

Where are you originally from?  I was born and raised in Las Vegas.

What has NAIOP provided you that has helped you grow professionally or personally? I am very fortunate to be a 2020 DLI graduate, which has provided me the opportunity to develop leadership skills.

What has been your favorite experience? The DLI retreat for sure! We got to spend the weekend hanging out with a group of interesting people who are all trying to better themselves in some way.

Who Have I met or become closer friends with at NAIOP: He has no idea but Dylan Heroy has been a positive influence since we met for DLI. He is always happy, always smiling, and always hustling hard. Just getting to be around that kind of positive energy would make anyone feel upbeat and optimistic

What do you want your legacy to be in the Southern Nevada community? I just want to be remembered as a guy who was fun to work with, got stuff done, and made the environments in which we work healthier.

Click here if you’d like to submit a member highlight and return the completed questions and submit your head shot to newsletter@credasnv.org.