May 23, 2016 – Torrance, CA — At the first-ever PRISM conference hosted by EDR on Tuesday May 10th, Partner was presented with two awards. EDR, a leading provider for property risk information and due diligence tools, recognized distinguished organizations and professionals in seven categories including Courage in Leadership, Going Green Initiative, Community Service, Technology Innovation, Industry Hall of Fame, Industry Influencer, and Creativity in Marketing. At the ceremony, Partner CEO Joseph Derhake, PE was named “Industry Influencer” and the marketing team received an award for “Creativity in Marketing”.
In his acceptance speech, Derhake, compared commercial real estate due diligence to the “brown M&Ms only” clause in Van Halen’s performance contract. Van Halen included this clause in their contract, not because they were high maintenance or allergic to food coloring, but because if the request for brown M&Ms was missed it could mean that safety measures and other important parts of the contract may have been missed too. Similarly, if corners are cut on due diligence and the “brown M&Ms” are missed, what else has been skipped over?
“To be recognized amongst your peers is really a great honor… If I have had the chance to influence the industry, I’ve tried to get everybody to think about and raise expectations for quality due diligence” said Derhake. He stressed the importance of attention to detail in commercial real estate transactions, and how education and advocacy on behalf of our industry is critical to ensure better business decisions are made in today’s CRE market. As a passionate advocate of active risk management, Joe’s success as an Industry Influencer is largely due to his ability to put issues in terms the user can relate to, and to emphasize how these issues impact deals and investments in the real world.
Partner’s award-winning marketing team is widely recognized in the industry. The 9-person team is focused on delivering thought leadership and education through a variety of channels including video, webinars, presentations, advertisements, and blogs. They highlight industry issues and trends in innovative ways that push the envelope on traditional engineering marketing in order to get the industry to look at due diligence in a new light.
Together, Derhake and Partner’s marketing professionals are committed to helping the CRE industry tackle big issues and inspire discussions and change to improve best practices in risk management.
Additional information about the awards can be found on EDR’s website.