M/WBE opens doors in commercial real estate.

In the past decade, supplier diversity has gained greater acceptance, and minority- and women-owned businesses have achieved enhanced credibility due to a rigorous third-party certification process. Organizations like the Women Presidents' Educational Council (WPEO) and the Women's Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), of which JRT Realty has been a member since its inception in 1997, have opened many doors for minority- and women-owned businesses nationwide.

In the commercial real estate industry, JRT Realty has capitalized on its Minority and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (M/WBE) status, and other coveted certifications, to establish itself as the largest, certified woman-owned commercial real estate services firm in the country. Since being established in 1996 to represent owners and tenants in the specialty areas of sales, leasing and management, JRT's portfolio now includes exclusive contracts to manage and lease over 12 million square feet of office and industrial space, in key cities and suburban markets, nationwide.

This success is one example of the strides being made in corporate supplier diversity.

However, in order to understand this success, it is important to reflect on the past. During the early 1990s, very few--if any--women-owned companies existed within commercial real estate. Corporations and government entities were just beginning to adopt supplier diversity initiatives. Key corporations that already had these supplier diversity initiatives were awarding real estate project assignments to the same old "name brand, all boys" real estate firms. More often than not, these brokers were ignoring questions on requests for proposals, or RFPs, which clearly stated that a certified WBE would be required for a certain percentage of the work being awarded. The need to fill this niche existed and JRT Realty Group was established. One year later, WBENC was created as the largest non-profit third-party certifier, and firms like JRT gained newfound credibility in the marketplace.

Next, almost simultaneous to achieving WBENC certification, JRT Realty began collaborating with national financial services organization TIAA-CREF and its global real estate portfolio.

Since 65 percent of TIAA annuitants are women and minorities, their WBE initiative was well-supported from the chairman down to the real estate department. Progress can only occur when upper management--both philosophically and through implementation--supports supplier diversity initiatives. Organizations like TIAA-CREF, a leading provider of retirement services in the academic, research, medical and cultural fields and one of the largest institutional real estate investors with a $59 billion global real estate portfolio, have been the true supplier diversity trailblazers in the commercial real estate industry. Strategic alliances complement certification status

Forging key collaborative relationships while retaining complete autonomy as a woman-owned firm is another key to success. For JRT, the task of providing leasing and property management services on a national level resulted in the firm's single most important achievement--forging a strategic alliance with Cushman & Wakefield.

This association with Cushman & Wakefield, which has a long tradition of supporting women and minority-owned business enterprises, enabled JRT to grow its business instantaneously. JRT Realty was able to offer world-renowned expertise to the TIAAs of the world. Aligning with Cushman & Wakefield offered an immediate presence in 192 offices, which are in 58 countries around the globe. JRT now has the opportunity to collaborate with 11,000 high-caliber professionals, many of whom are women and minorities.

This alliance and relationship with Cushman & Wakefield brokers has led to other prominent assignments from leading corporations. Past and current clients include Matrix Information Consultants, Federal Deposit and Insurance Commission, America Online, United Nations Federal Credit Union, Wachovia Bank, New York Property Insurance Underwriting Association and New York Life Insurance Company. JRT's tenant roster is a virtual "who's who" of Fortune 500 companies.

As a real estate broker with almost a quarter of a decade of experience, I have been able to break through many-a-glass-ceiling, shatter some, and leave fingerprints all over others.

This mutually beneficial alliance with Cushman & Wakefield enables the JRT team to not only collaborate with the industry's finest brokers on a daily basis, but it also offers a pipeline to corporate real estate departments and an opportunity to establish a true working partnership with corporate supplier diversity managers and officers.

In general, the glass ceiling still does exist. After more than 24 years in commercial real estate, I still feel like a minority in this business. However, there is hope whenever corporate diversity divisions are empowered to reject the status quo by awarding contracts and project assignments to minority- and women-owned businesses.

There is optimism when male brokers collaborate with firms like JRT on proposals. And, there is encouragement from the many bright and intelligent women enrolled in the Real Estate programs being offered at colleges today.

BY JODI PULICE, FOUNDER & PRESIDENT JRT REALTY GROUP, INC.