Pat McKee

How did you first hear that people were interested in starting a new organization? Describe the circumstances.

Pat McKee: Originally, Sherry Vance, Jack Logue, Jack Brophy and I approached Industrial Development Research Council (IDRC) Executive Director Larry Edge at the Salt Lake City World Congress to let him know that we believed the planned merger of IDRC and competitor NACORE would not work. Later, Edge came back to us with the idea of starting a new organization, which eventually became IAMC. His proposal recommended a membership that did not include what today we call Associate members (economic developers and real estate service providers). Brophy was the one who suggested that we should include Associates in the new organization.

What was your motivation for participating in the formation of the new association?

PM: I was disappointed in the prospects for the merger of IDRC and NACORE. For me, I feared the merged organization would have low value to the industrial sector. I saw that there were opportunities for a new professional association to add value to the industry. I particularly saw a need for a way to organize industrial real estate people. My interests have always been more on the industrial side. That’s why I had joined IDRC and not NACORE.

What were the challenges that had to be overcome to get the new industrial association up and running?

PM: The biggest challenge was agreeing on a vision and mission. This was a complicated negotiation that very few future IAMC members would understand. Also, there were all of the business pieces, such as who would manage it, the dues, the two annual conferences, and much more. You have to realize that you can have a vision, but its implementation was difficult and very eye opening to the 12 members of the original board of directors, which included me. I recall that it took a year of phone calls to get IAMC going.

Are there any other startup issues that you’d like to mention?

PM: I remember that Conway Data (CDI) picked some good people to help start IAMC, such as the attorney who drafted the incorporation documents and the original bylaws.

In only five years, IAMC has experienced a remarkable bit of success. Why do you think this has happened?

PM: First, the founding board was almost ideally composed for the job of launching the organization. Within the 12, were engineers, a couple of lawyers and some sales and marketing types. We were all real estate professionals with the well-being of the industry at heart. I think we were able to anticipate some of the challenges the organization would face early on and structured it to have a solid foundation.

What do think IAMC must do to realize a similar outcome in its second five years?

PM: I don’t know if they can expect the same growth in the next five years. The pool of industrial firms is limited. We’ve gathered in the Active members that were the easiest to recruit. So, that will go a bit slower in the future. We never really anticipated the rapid growth that we got. It will be up to the current and future boards to set up the circumstances suitable for growth. It will take good leadership and foresight.

What do you see as the challenges to future growth?

PM: First, we need to decide what size we want to be. We need to avoid the formation of a “good ‘ole boy” leadership group. We’ll need metrics to evaluate the output of the member committees that provide most of IAMC’s day-to-day governance. Future boards will have to be vigilant in adhering to IAMC’s mission and vision. Boards should stay away from the day-to-day running of the organization. And, we need to get the younger generation involved and in harness.

What are the as-yet unrealized opportunities?

PM: IAMC needs some "real" education, sort of like IDRC developed in its later years with BCCR. IAMC is grooming BCIR to fill this role; when it reaches full stride, it will help IAMC increase its industry leadership role. I think we should publish white papers and the like. And we should extend our educational opportunities to corporate CEOs and CFOs.

Tell about how IAMC has helped your professional development.

PM: I know I benefited from being on the founding board. I have been a moderator for the Research Roundtable program at Professional Forums and an enthusiastic participant in Peer to Peer and the Get some Help Q&A sessions. All have helped me improve my ability to offer corporate services.

Can you give an example of how IAMC professional development paid off big for you.

PM: It has enabled me to do some really good work for my clients. Corporate real estate managers can be myopic. They tend to be very focused on day-to-day operations and putting out fires for their business units. IAMC has helped me take a broader view, ask more relevant questions, better understand the challenges facing CREMs today, and take a more strategic view.

You are known as having one of the best professional networks in IAMC. Describe your network.

PM: It consists of corporate real estate professionals and my peer service providers and economic developers. I guess growing up and living in Oklahoma gave me the Will Rogers attitude of "never meeting a person I didn't like." I feel I bring value to my clients. Also, it’s a small world, and by word of mouth your reputation gets around.

Tell how your IAMC network has paid dividends for you professionally.

PM: I was recruited by my present employer UGL-Equis as IAMC was just starting up. I feel that my professional network was one of the factors used to evaluate my fitness for this job. So you might say my network of friends helped get me my position.

How have you integrated your IAMC network with your work?

PM: I have learned a lot while working for UGL- Equis. I was always in the architectural engineering world prior to my coming to work for UGL- Equis. I really have been able to help clients with issues ranging from site selection, lease administration, audit, transactions projects, construction management, facility management, etc. In fact, I have learned more in the last few years than ever before. IAMC has been a great part of that education process.

What advice would you give to new IAMC Associate members for taking best advantage of IAMC?

PM: Get involved. We are small enough so that each member can make a difference. Attend the Professional Forum programs, Peer to Peer, Get Some Help and others. We are small enough that you could meet everyone there, if you wanted to. Meet the board’s members, and get to know them. Ask them how to use the organization. The board will listen to every member.

What advice would you give to new IAMC Active members for taking best advantage of IAMC?

PM: I’d tell them the same as for the Associates. Some of the Actives are less talkative, but they can still learn a lot from their peers. Use the Professional Forums to meet other Actives and share challenges with them. Research Roundtable is a great example of thirst for knowledge by Active members. Develop friendships among your peers in IAMC, and use the organization to help you become a better employee. Meet Associates who may be able to help you. Feel free to call me if you need help.

As business competition becomes more intense and cost pressures rise, Active members can find it more difficult to participate in IAMC’s Forums and leadership activities. What advice would you give them about this?

PM: We are all under cost pressure. Actives should know that IAMC is their organization. Each Active should take on some leadership role in IAMC, even if it’s a small one. It’s an Active driven organization, and their participation is crucial to growth. I feel the organization can provide them with tools to improve their departments and in turn to help their organizations. So, given the resources that IAMC provides, it is a very good return on investment (ROI).

How do you think IAMC should adjust in the future to assure its educational and business value to the Active members?

PM: It’s an Active driven organization, but it needs input from both Active and Associate members. I believe the younger Active members need to take on a bigger role in developing IAMC. Also, we need to use new technologies to improve how we disseminate information and how we deliver education to the members. I truly believe this.

You were on IAMC’s very first board of directors. Tell us the high points of that experience.

PM: The first board met in person for the first time at the Savannah Professional Forum. Before this, it all had happened by phone. I recall that we had had some heated discussions. (If I had known how big Bill Pearson was, I might not have given him such a hard time.) It was really rewarding to walk out of that first board meeting and see all of the new members who attended that first Professional Forum. They trusted in the board's dream and vision, as well as in Conway Data as the new management company.

List a few of the major accomplishments of the board of which you were a part.

PM: Besides starting IAMC, we established the highly successful Honorarium Program for recruiting Active members, we thought out an exit strategy in case things didn’t work out, and we took care to choose the best possible committee chairs.

You may be even better known for your work as co-chair of the Education and Research Committee (E&R) than as a board member. How did you come by that job?

PM: At first, every board member served on several committees. When Bob Zane became chair, he added the Leadership Development, Education and Research committees. Zane asked me to take on the Education Committee. I thought he was nuts. But I took to the job like I would not have believed. Then we merged Education with Research to form the current committee. I love this committee assignment, and who knew Bob Zane would be right.

What were your first thoughts on being appointed co-chair?

I felt that education was an engineer’s kind of job, not one for me who thinks outside of the box. But the committee’s work has become more strategic than I ever thought at the time.

Education & Research is a big committee. Who are some of the members?

PM: We populated it with many Active members, like Lisa Speltz, Matt Fanoe, Charles McSwain, Rick Little, Wayne Young, etc. In fact, we have 21 Active Members on the Committee. E&R is a major driving factor of the organization. The committee is big to enable it to cover the full range of issues and responsibilities assigned to it. We have great conference calls. I think it’s the best committee IAMC has, but I am a bit prejudiced.

It’s also uniquely organized among IAMC committees. Tell us about this.

I give credit to my co-chairs, first Phil Hammel and now Wayne Young, and also to Joel Parker who is the staff person. E&R is subdivided into task forces that operate relatively autonomously. They have their own calls. Joel, Wayne and I spend over eight hours a month on the task group calls. E&R has been assigned many special tasks by the board, and that’s why we organize this way.

Your tenure on E&R has gone beyond the traditional one or two years. Why do you think this happened?

PM: I have a passion for IAMC. On E&R, we are continuously pushing ourselves and testing the task forces to make sure each is still relevant to E&R. If one is not, we recommend to the board that it be moved to a more relevant committee or that it become a committee of its own. Peer to Peer and Get Some Help are both E&R task forces that are being moved to the Program Delivery Committee for ongoing management. I think E&R serves as a developmental resource for IAMC programs. We start programs and then move them along. We’ve been successful at this. I think that my ability to devote considerable time and effort to the committee’s work is why I’ve lasted so long as E&R co-chair. I feel that I am really good at it.

What are the key leadership challenges for IAMC over the next 2-3 years?

PM: As I’ve mentioned before, a big challenge is determining what should be IAMC’s ultimate size. We need to work hard on retention of existing members, especially the Actives. We must constantly question and challenge our own decisions to test their validity. The board should be filled with professionals who have earned a spot there; it should not become a good old boy group. The board needs to retain a position of leadership, ownership and oversight relative to IAMC’s business.

What are the big leadership opportunities?

PM: They are almost limitless. Every member should try to serve on a committee.

Describe your company for the readers.

PM: UGL Equis, is a subsidiary of United Group Limited, a global corporate real estate firm that focuses exclusively on the business space user. With more than 3,500 employees in nearly 100 locations around the world, Chicago-based UGL Equis provides comprehensive real estate solutions. Our services include portfolio strategy and management, transaction advisory, corporate finance, project services, workplace integration, data management, facility management and audit & recovery services. We serve national and global companies with office, industrial and retail opportunities throughout the United States, Mexico, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East. Our parent company recently acquired UNICCO, a facilities management company in Boston. UGL’s global real estate services organization now employs 21,000 people in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Before, we had a thin global presence; now we are well represented worldwide. I enjoy the corporate services work.

What’s your role at UGL-Equis?

PM: I am a corporate services account manager. I’m a relations manager for my clients. If an Active member needs help in North Carolina, for example, I pick the right UGL person for the job and make sure the customer is satisfied with the work.

How is UGL-Equis’ marketplace changing?

PM: Our marketplace in getting more global. For instance, we are working with Donaldson Company in Italy and getting paid in lira. Finance plays a huge part in our international business.

You recently moved from Arizona to Oklahoma. Tell us about that.

PM: It’s was an exciting move. I gave my wife the opportunity to start looking for a place to choose to retire to. We made a trip through the Southwest looking. She was a heart transplant nurse at Mayo Hospital and really is used to getting things her way. She told me that she and Abigail, my daughter who’s still at home, had made a decision and that they were ready to move. However, this was about 7 years ahead of my schedule. They told me that we were expecting a new addition to the family (my mother). So here we are and loving it in Bartlesville, OK, on 7.5 acres.

What are your hobbies, and how do you spend your free time?

PM: I like to play golf, and I’m a student of karate. Occasionally, I shoot pistols competitively. Heck, Joel, with UGL Equis’ global outlook I could be up at all hours talking to Italy, China, etc. The rest of my time is spent on E&R work. I am a voracious reader. I volunteer a lot. In fact, I was nominated as volunteer of the year when I lived in Maryland.

Pat, thanks for giving us some time to hear your story.