San Diego State University campus. photo source: http://www.sdsu.edu/

IAMC Executive Director Ron Starner initiated the formal roundtable with comments about IAMC, the membership and their strong desire to reach out to communities that sponsor IAMC Professional Forums. To provide an entrée for student interaction, IAMC panelists — Charles McSwain, Philip Hammel, Doyle Shea, J. Patrick McKee and David Snyder — talked briefly about their educational backgrounds, career paths and current corporate responsibilities. The majority of the time was spent engaging students in discussions and responding to their questions.

Dr. Nikhil Varaiya photo source: http://www.sdsu.edu/

Panelists and students addressed a broad range of topics including global job opportunities, corporate growth management, strategies for stabilizing business costs, fuel costs, whether or not building costs are significantly impacting corporate real estate management and the importance of higher education and continued learning.

The session was well received, as indicated by Rajab Akazzeh: "It was a very informative event that clarified a lot about the real business world," he said. "It is rare that you can get such candor from key leaders in the business world. The students appreciated these important speakers taking time out of their busy schedules to have a sit down with us. I think this was a good educational event that should happen every semester. Students left that event knowing that the real world of business still cares about them and shows it through [organizations] such as IAMC."

After thanking the panelists and staff for spending time with the students, Trevor Mason noted, "the knowledge our students gained from the event was priceless. We received insight into the future as to what we could possibly be involved in. Globalization and corporate real estate plans are not discussed in our classes."

Dr. Varaiya commented, "the panelists gave students an understanding of what businesses are looking for from new graduates when they enter the work force. The students can also better appreciate the value of a sound education as evident from the academic qualifications of the panelists. Knowing about the career paths of the panelists was also very inspiring and instructive for the students."

Phil Hammel, Doyle Shea and Charles McSwain field questions from students at San Diego State University.

IAMC panelists welcomed the opportunity to give back to the community:

"The opportunity to meet with bright young people with a keen desire to follow business careers, especially asset management, is beneficial to all participants. It is extremely important for veteran professionals to stay in touch with the future and develop a diverse pool of talent for the Global economy."
Charles McSwain, IAMC Chair and Corporate Real Estate Executive, CSX

"The students had good questions about how much advanced education they should pursue and how broad their skill sets should be. I thought it was interesting that our panel was made up of five individuals with five totally different backgrounds. The students picked up on that pretty quickly."
Doyle Shea, IAMC Program Delivery Committee Member and Real Estate Analyst, 3M Real Estate Department

"Some of the students’ questions centered on the linkage of their curriculum with the typical day-to-day activities of practicing corporate real estate professionals of Fortune 100 companies. Their curiosity along these lines was a pleasant surprise. The panelists were glad to share examples of actual issues and transactions so that the students can see how classroom theory and concepts translate into real-world situations that they will likely encounter in their work-life."
Dr. Philip Hammel, IAMC Education & Research Committee co-Chair and Director of Real Estate, Honeywell

"The whole experience was rewarding and so different than I had expected. I felt like I was giving something back to the industry and our future generation."
J. Patrick McKee, IAMC Education & Research Committee co-Chair and Vice President, Equis Corporation