Washington, D.C., September 14, 2009 – NAIOP will honor 16 commercial real estate industry professionals as winners of the association's 2009 Developing Leaders Award. The award recipients were chosen by a selection committee comprised of NAIOP members and industry leaders.

NAIOP established the award in 2006 to recognize rising professionals who have distinguished themselves within their profession and who show great promise as influential leaders in the commercial real estate industry. NAIOP members, age 35 and under, were encouraged to apply for the award and were evaluated on the following criteria: leadership, professional competency, career goals, education, NAIOP participation, community involvement and judge's discretion of merit.

The recipients of the 2009 Developing Leaders Award are:

• Tony Carlson - Associate, Grandbridge Real Estate Capital, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Megan Creecy - Principal, EJM Development Company, Scottsdale, Ariz.
• Jeff Davis - Principal, Davis Property & Investment, Kent, Wash.
• Laurel Edwards - Associate, Colliers International Realty Advisors, Calgary, Alberta
• Ashley Grigsby - Associate, MidFirst Bank, Houston, Texas
• Brian Hall - Associate, Lee & Associates, Riverside, Calif.
• Jon Kelty - Associate, RCDolner LLC, Newark, N.J.
• Alex Kopicki - Principal, Manekin LLC, Columbia, Md.
• Morgan Landers - Principal, Brownfield Partners, Denver, Colo.
• Scott Maloney - Associate, mbi | k2m Architecture Inc., Cleveland, Ohio
• Jason Newcomer - Principal, Natural Capital Management, Westminster, Colo.
• Gabriel Philibert - Associate, First Commercial Bank, Bloomington, Minn.
• Scott Schwendiman - Associate, Kennecott Land/Rio Tinto, South Jordan, Utah
• Troy Smothers - Principal, Wrightwood Capital, Chicago, Ill.
• Nyls Snyder - Principal, Welsh Companies, Minneapolis, Minn.
• Michael Weishaar - Associate, Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, Indianapolis, Ind.

NAIOP President Thomas J. Bisacquino spoke of the importance of the Developing Leaders Award, stating, "The Developing Leaders program recognizes the vital roles that the young visionaries of our industry play in commercial real estate today and encourages diversity and professional growth among these outstanding professionals who will lead commercial real estate into the future."

Recipients of NAIOP's Developing Leaders Award will be celebrated at Development '09: The Annual Meeting for Commercial Real Estate where they will benefit from unique networking opportunities and publicity surrounding the award. Development '09, which takes place October 14-16 in Chicago, features three days of education, interaction and events all tailored to help NAIOP members achieve success. Top-notch educational offerings, keynote speakers and opportunities to view new markets provide invaluable experiences designed to keep NAIOP members ahead of the industry curve.

For more information on the Developing Leaders program please visit www.naiop.org/DL. For more information on Development '09: The Annual Meeting for Commercial Real Estate please visit www.naiop.org.

About NAIOP

NAIOP, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association, is the leading organization for developers, owners and related professionals in office, industrial and mixed-use real estate. NAIOP comprises 15,000 members in North America. NAIOP advances responsible commercial real estate development and advocates for effective public policy. For more information, visit www.naiop.org.