CCLR Announces Lifetime Achievement Awardees to be Honored at Brownfields 2023 Leadership Breakfast

CCLR is honored to host its third National Leadership Breakfast at Brownfields 2023 where the organization will recognize industry leaders in innovation and excellence. The Leadership Breakfast will take place on Thursday, August 10 from 7a.m. – 8:45a.m. at Huntington Place and includes a full breakfast buffet, industry updates, and a panel on the energy transition of brownfields.

The three awardees were selected for Lifetime Achievement awards in Redevelopment, Public Service, and Thought Leadership from a pool of nominees that hailed from across the country. Reserve your seat at the Leadership Breakfast by August 1, 2023 to join CCLR in celebrating the awardees.

About the Lifetime Achievement Awards

1. Excellence in Redevelopment: a developer or local entity that successfully orchestrated the vertical build up of a property in ways that benefited the community.
2. Excellence in Local Public Service: an individual affiliated with a government or community entity who has created or contributed to the development of an exemplary brownfields program that delivered success with talented staff, diverse funding, and stakeholder engagement.
3. Excellence in Thought Leadership: an early innovator who developed, spoke or wrote about new perspectives in redevelopment that advanced industry practices.

Awardees

Lifetime Achievement in Redevelopment: Kofi Bonner

Chief Executive Officer | Bedrock Detroit

Introduced by: Ignacio Dayrit

Kofi Bonner is the Chief Executive Officer at Bedrock, where he leads the full-service real estate company’s efforts to build thriving urban centers through transformational development, community partnerships and a commitment to support local small businesses. Since its founding, Bedrock and its affiliates have invested and committed more than $5.6 billion to acquiring and developing more than 100 properties, including some of the most significant new developments that Detroit and Cleveland have seen in decades. Bedrock’s portfolio totals more than 22 million square feet of office, retail and residential space within new construction and adaptive reuse projects. Kofi has extensive experience in leading complex development projects in metropolitan areas. In his position as Co-Chief Operating Officer at Irvine, Calif-based FivePoint Holdings (NYSE: FPH), Bonner led the entitlement and development of the San Francisco Shipyard and Candlestick Communities, as well as the communities managed on behalf of Lennar Corporation: Treasure Island and the Concord Naval Weapons Station.

Prior to joining Bedrock, Kofi most recently focused on real estate development and technology ventures through his Bonner Enterprises, where he embarked on real estate ventures in the San Francisco area and Ghana, and invested in fintech companies BC Pay and Techgulf, which sources technology operations and services to West Africa.

Lifetime Achievement in Public Service: Jim Tischler

Development Director | Michigan State Land Bank Authority – Award accepted by Ms. Michelle Aniol | Community Development Director for the City of Dexter, Michigan

Introduced by: Shannon Morgan

Jim Tischler is a Michigan-based land use planning expert.

Jim presently serves as Development Director for the State of Michigan Land Bank Authority. In this role, he leads the agency’s land and project development and redevelopment operations, organizes and manages agency and inter-agency teams, coordinates State-sponsored development and redevelopment projects and consults regional/local development and land bank entities in their projects. A crowning accomplishment is his work to redevelop a contaminated paper mill site into a residential community with 500 single family homes in Monroe MI.

Jim also previously served as the State of Michigan’s Community Development Policy Director, leading formation and design of the Michigan Placemaking Initiative and redesign and advancement of the State’s technical and financial assistance programs to implement its directives. He has 34 years of experience in the fields of urban planning, real estate, community/economic development, and redevelopment, working for public organizations and consulting with private sector firms. He currently serves as the Chair of the Policy Committee for the National Brownfields Coalition.

Lifetime Achievement in Thought Leadership: Barry Hersh

Clinical Professor | Schack Institute of Real Estate, New York University

Introduced by: Michael Taylor

Barry Hersh is a full-time Clinical Professor at NYU SPS Schack Institute of Real Estate. He designed and now coordinates the MS in Real Estate Development, teaching courses such as Land Use and Environmental Regulation, Sustainable Development, and the Development Capstone. He mentors students, advises their competition teams, and also hosts international exchange programs most recently with the University of Amsterdam, Netanya University, and China.

Barry is a core faculty member of both the NYU SPS Center for the Built Environment and the Urban Lab. He works on a new curriculum, and real estate events, and is an elected representative of NYU SPS faculty. His dedication to training the next generation of both real estate professionals and environmental regulators will be his lasting legacy to ensure that brownfields redevelopment continues to thrive and become a mainstream avenue for economic growth.

In June 2022, Prof. Hersh was selected to serve on the US EPA Environmental Financial Advisory Board. Initially a city planner and still an AICP member, he was a corporate real estate executive and became a successful real estate redeveloper focusing on environmentally challenged properties, waterfronts, affordable housing, and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. The former head of a housing non-profit, he continues to work with non-profit community organizations and government agencies as well as with real estate principals. He is the author of numerous articles including recent studies of the NY State Brownfield Program and the Rheingold Brewery redevelopment in Brooklyn, as well as the book Urban Redevelopment, published by Routledge in 2017. and also speaks frequently, locally and nationally. He is a former NAIOP Distinguished Fellow, an active member of the Urban Land Institute, Vice-Chair of the City of Stamford Historic Preservation Commission, and advisory board member of the Center for Creative Land Recycling and the Waterfront Alliance.

CCLR’s highly anticipated National Leadership Breakfast focuses on connecting with peers, gaining valuable insights, and recognizing outstanding individuals. We are proud to spotlight such achievements in the land reuse and redevelopment industry and we hope you will join us in this celebration while also enjoying a full breakfast buffet!

View the agenda to explore the full lineup of sessions, speakers, and Awardees and register today for just $20, thanks to the generous support of our sponsors: Northpoint, AC Power, Vita Nuova, Langan, and Capitol Environmental.