Awards range from the sublime to the ridiculous, from the Nobel Prize to a Hair Club for Men’s vice presidency. A major yardstick for any award, though, is who wins it. Clearly, that standard elevates the Krafsur Award.
The award’s consistently high quality was again evident at the New England World Congress of the International Development Research Council (IDRC), the world’s leading corporate real estate association. The Krafsur Award went to John Peace, Lucent Technologies’ corporate real estate district manager, whose industry pedigree includes serving as IDRC’s second vice president, treasurer and current Executive Committee member, and helping found the Board Certification for Corporate Real Estate (BCCR) program.
Right: Krafsur (left) and Peace in Boston
“It’s an honor to win the Krafsur Award (which annually recognizes “outstanding professional contributions to IDRC and corporate real estate” and “exemplary standards of conduct and ethics”),” said Peace, an IDRC member since 1985. “It’s much appreciated as recognition for the many years of time and energy I’ve put into IDRC.”
And Peace put in $2,500 in Boston, donating the Krafsur Award’s cash grant to the IDRC Foundation, which spearheads IDRC’s groundbreaking research and educational initiatives.
The Sayings of Chairman Blackie
Who gives an award is another telling standard. There, too, the Krafsur Award’s credentials are sterling.
The honor was created in 1988 by Howard “Blackie” Krafsur, principal and vice president of corporate accounts with the Chicago-based brokerage firm of Colliers, Bennett & Kahnweiler (www.colliersbk.com). Krafsur, who’s worked as a broker, developer and consultant, is an acknowledged industry legend. (In fact, several other brokers unilaterally adopted similar nicknames, including “Whitey” and “Brownie.”)
Like the winners of his namesake award, Krafsur’s is a long, distinguished history, including stints as national president of the Society of Industrial and Office Realtors, IDRC Executive Committee member, chairman of IDRC’s Associate membership and chairman of Colliers International, one of the first global real estate service providers, a network Krafsur helped create.
Accomplishments, alone, though, fail to convey Krafsur’s uniqueness. “Blackie” is a peerless character, as some of his observations over the years underscore:
• The early days: “When I was first getting into the business, there were two professions in Illinois you needed a license for, but not an education: real estate and . . . garbage collection.”
• On brokerage’s evolution: “Many years ago, corporate real estate guys weren’t so sure that brokers were honest and reliable, and they were probably right. I believe you get business by being a straight shooter, by being honest.”
• On being the first broker to win IDRC’s Master Professional Award for “extraordinary professional leadership”: “That hit a spot in my heart that they don’t know. I knew that 90 percent of IDRC members hated brokers.”
• On spiritual affairs: “My only religious philosophy is the Golden Rule.”
• On living across the street from onetime Chicago Bears quarterback Jim McMahon: “I’ve always fought discrimination, but jeez, it was tough after he moved in.”
Blackie’s Honor Roll
In Boston, Peace said, “When I look at the quality of some of the past winners of this award, I’m especially pleased.”
Indeed, Krafsur Award winners comprise something of a corporate real estate Who’s Who, including (with current company affiliations):
• Ed McCaffery, retired from GE,
• John Gage, retired from Perkin-Elmer,
• Ted Molinari, Praegitzer Industries,
• Jim Stoker, retired from 3M
• Mike Bell, the Gartner Group,
• Al Sramek, retired from Alco Standard,
• Bill Yontz, Capital One,
• Roger Beck, AOI
• Keith Banke, B.F. Goodrich, and
• Wayne Mills, retired from the Travelers.
Peace caps that remarkable list, which reflects back on Krafsur, however clearly uncomfortable he is with public mention of his considerable generosity. “Blackie” Krafsur, in short, is that rare bird whose large spirit changed the industry in which he worked.
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