"We provide a variety of services to all of our corporate solutions clients," notes Kevin C. Hughes, SIOR, CCIM, who heads the corporate solutions group for Colliers Turley Martin Tucker (CTMT) in Cincinnati, Ohio. "Generally, we provide portfolio administration, transaction management, and project management. Procter & Gamble, Edward Jones, H&R Block, UPS Store, and Humana are a few examples of clients that use all three of these service offerings."
      Based in Louisville, Ky., Humana, Inc. is one of the largest publicly-traded health benefits companies, insuring almost six million people in more than 20 states. Hughes said that one area in which he and his CTMT team use their expertise is in helping Humana manage its capital.
      "Typically, corporations spend millions of dollars to pay real estate bills, taxes, and so on. We help them set aside this money, sometimes for just a day or two, and earn interest," explains Hughes. "So, at the end of the day, our clients don't just come to us to help them find a site or the right piece of real estate. They often hire us to help them better manage their workplace environment, be it through the workplace experience and ergonomics, helping manage their cash better, or assisting them with project management."
      Hughes has observed a change in the profile and visibility of the corporate real estate executive within corporations. Several independent studies, Hughes says, have shown that the profile has gone from being "buried in the organization chart," to having a much higher profile and, in turn, earning a better salary. "I believe that this increase in profile and income is because the corporate real estate professionals understand the importance of outsourcing to service providers like us. They find it better for their positions — which seem to be morphing more with finance, human resources, and even IT — to have partners like us who carry out the leg work for them."
      Colliers International is a global partnership of independently owned commercial real estate firms. The organization's 8,684 employees span the world in 247 offices in 50 countries. On a worldwide basis, Colliers manages 618,434,000 square feet, and has revenue of $US995,000,000. Colliers Turley Martin Tucker is an owner/member of Colliers International. Colliers Turley Martin Tucker has seven regional offices in Cincinnati, Dayton, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Nashville, and St. Louis. The company's Partner Program serves major corporations, transacting, leasing or administering the portfolios of more than 20,000 locations.