Real Estate Services - Site Selection Magazine

New Partnership To Supply Benchmarking Data

The CB Richard Ellis Call Center Solutions Group (www.cbre.com), Phoenix, has formed a partnership with Dr. John Anton, an e-business expert at the Purdue University Center for Customer-Driven Quality and BenchmarkPortal, Inc., a call center benchmarking firm (www.BenchmarkPortal.com). "As our two groups join forces, we will analyze and evaluate how location can affect call center performance and productivity," noted James J. Trobaugh III, senior vice president of the Call Center Solutions Group in a letter announcing the partnership.
Clients of the partnership will gain insights into performance factors that determine call centers' success. Performance data can be analyzed to ascertain the dollar value of poor performance. "For instance, it is much less likely that you will get management's attention if you publish a performance gap in average talk time of 1.5 minutes per call," Trobaugh maintains. "It is much more likely that you will get immediate management attention if you instead show that a performance gap of 1.5 minutes for each call compared to your peer group adds up to over $1 million of excess cost each year."

Architects Form a Global Alliance

Three architecture firms have formed a global strategic alliance, known as Insight Alliance, designed to deliver to clients greater value in terms of geographic breadth and service offerings than they would be able to offer on their own. The participants are Seattle-based Callison Architecture (www.callison.com), Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Assoc. (www.tvsa.com) of Atlanta and Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo (www.watg.com) with offices in Honolulu, Newport Beach, Calif., Singapore and London.
"Our intent is to align firms that are recognized leaders in select markets and that share a collaborative spirit," says William Carst, CEO of Callison. Structured as a limited liability corporation, Insight Alliance already is collaborating on projects, including Pointe Anaheim, a mixed-use development in Anaheim, Calif., a 1.2 million-sq.-ft. (111,500-sq.-m.) retail and entertainment complex in Raleigh, N.C., and expansion of the Ernest Morial Convention Center as well as a new convention hotel in New Orleans.

Service Providers on the Move...

• Barry M. Barovick became Grubb & Ellis Co.'s new president and CEO on May 15th. He previously directed Ernst & Young's Real Estate Advisory Services group in New York. Filling the E&Y post is Mark A. Smith, a partner at the firm who has headed the group's West Coast practice for the past several years from the San Francisco office. Smith also was the firm's national director of construction advisory services.

• John Scheibe is The Staubach Company's new chief information officer (CIO) responsible for all activities associated with the firm's information systems department and IT strategy. Scheibe previously served as CIO and executive vice president, electronic media, at United Advertising Publications.

• CMN International, the Vancouver, B.C.-based affiliate of Colliers International, has a new president and chief operating officer. Douglas P. Frye was appointed to those posts in May. He leaves Grubb & Ellis, where he was president of the financial services group overseeing strategic planning and the operation of four business units.

• Gail Sturm has joined Cushman & Wakefield as senior director in the firm's Office Services Group in Rosemont, Ill. Most recently, she served as managing director at Mesirow Stein Real Estate, Chicago. The firm also has named Kenneth P. Singleton executive managing director. As general counsel, Singleton oversees the firm's multi-national legal department and its risk management operations.

• GMAC Global Relocation Services has named Michael Schaetzle senior vice president and chief operating officer. He previously held senior management positions at Pinnacle Group Associates and PHH Homequity.

• Michael E. Miller has joined Jones Lang LaSalle as senior director, global consulting, in the firm's New York office, where he will lead the group's merger, acquisition and transformation strategy. In April, Jones Lang LaSalle's Global Consulting unit formed a Business Location Advisory specialty, which is located in the firm's Los Angeles office. Stephen Valenziano, senior director, manages the new practice.

• Insignia/ESG has promoted seven senior managing directors in the Midtown Manhattan office to the rank of executive managing director. They are Richard I. Bernstein, I. Keith Ellis, Michael Geoghegan, Edward Goldman, Robert Martin, Lewis Miller and Gregory Tosko.