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Elevating corporate real estate: Changing how CRE organisations work to enable the business
Corporate Real Estate Journal,
7
(4),
369-384
(2018)
Abstract
Corporate real estate (CRE) organisations must fundamentally think and act differently than they have in the past, to elevate their importance and increase the amount of value they add to the business. The CRE organisation must manage the conversation in the C-suite by speaking in business terms and abandoning real estate speak in order to reshape how the business perceives the value of its real estate and workplace. CRE leaders must develop unique and timely opportunities to monetise, manage and reposition its assets in a cost-effective manner. Equally crucial to CRE leaders is the agility to change the portfolio quickly, unlock trapped value and structure innovative deals. CRE must successfully conceive and execute transformational strategies and forge internal and external partnerships to act faster and accelerate their brand. With this multi-faceted approach, driven by a focus on talent, location and business productivity a CRE organisation can enable the business and ultimately earn its seat at the C-suite table.
Keywords: CRE elevation; CRE transformation; portfolio monetisation; portfolio optimisation; CRE strategies
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
John M. Vazquez joined Verizon in January 2012 and is Global Real Estate & Supply Chain Head. In his leadership of Global Supply Chain, John oversees 30,000 contracts and is responsible for a $50bn annual Sourcing managed spend. In his leadership of Global Real Estate, John is responsible for over 107m sq. ft of real estate, 4,700 facilities and 1,700 retail stores in 56 countries. John manages 3,000 real estate and supply chain professionals and oversees an annual budget of $3.5bn. Under John’s leadership Global Real Estate has developed a multi-year transformational, strategic plan focused on improving the purpose and utilisation of real estate assets, while proactively improving the physical real estate portfolio. This includes developing innovative approaches to drive an ever-changing need to heighten the workplace experience. This is all accomplished while maintaining a social focus on demand and supply-side energy management transformation with fuel cell and solar technology, to reduce the carbon footprint and improve environmental stewardship, through the reduction of water consumption and increased recycling. John recently acquired leadership responsibility for the global supply chain organisation and is developing strategic plans to support innovation, optimise processes, drive value and advance the business. John is guiding both the global supply chain and real estate organisations towards advancing their goals through a service focused approach. With this service mentality, he drives a high performing organisation focused on employees’ greater productivity and enabling the business. John’s vast knowledge and experience as a key innovator has led to recent appearances and interviews including Bloomberg News TV. John was awarded CoreNet’s Corporate Real Estate Executive of the Year in 2016 and throughout 2017, he presented at Global Summits in Asia, Europe and North America. John has been profiled and appeared on the cover of American Builder’s Quarterly (Q1 2014 and Q1 2016) and Hispanic Executive (Q1 2018). He has been interviewed by several industry news outlets including the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. Prior to his position at Verizon, John served as Vice President of Vendor Sourcing and Corporate Services concurrently serving as head of Real Estate well as Chief Procurement Officer at MetLife (2004–12). He has also held positions at JP Morgan Chase (1993–2003) as SVP Director of Global Facilities and at IBM (1983–93) as Real Estate Program Manager for HQ Operations. John received his Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Manhattan College in 1984 and an MBA from Sacred Heart University in 1993. John serves on the Board of Visitors for Sacred Heart University, and has served on the Engineering Board of Fairfield University, Graduate School of Business advisory board at NYU and on the boards of various professional associations. John is actively involved in several public and community services, including ASPIRA, St. Francis Food Pantries and Shelters and the Special Olympics.
