December 2, 2011
By Suzann D. Silverman, Editor-in-Chief

Jonathan Gray took away top honors in this year’s CPE Executive of the Year awards, leading an impressive line-up of smart executives that have managed to thrive in the face of historic economic volatility. The co-head of Blackstone Group’s real estate practice was named as both the top-ranking Executive of the Year and Investor of the Year. Others taking top spots were Larry Silverstein as Developer of the Year, Dave Brown as Financial Services Executive of the Year and Roy March as Service Executive of the Year. Charles Ratner was honored for Lifetime Achievement, while Elysia Tse was named this year’s Rising Leader.

CPE and its predecessor, Commercial Property News, have honored the commercial real estate industry’s most accomplished leaders through the peer-voted awards program for 15 years. Determined by a ballot vote among the CPE 100, an elite group of industry presidents and CEOs, the awards recognize those who have responded to challenges with extraordinary creativity, persistence and skill in the preceding year.

Other awards included Innovator of the Year, Sustainability Executive of the Year, Diversity Executive of the Year, Female Leader of the Year and accolades in the retail, multi-family, office, industrial, hospitality and net lease sectors.

Most of the 17 awards categories featured a first-place winner and two honorable mentions. Honorable mentions in the Executive of the Year category went to David Simon and Hamid Moghadam. Both men also won first-place awards: Simon as Retail Property Executive of the Year and Moghadam as Industrial Property Executive of the Year. And while all three in the top category won more than one award, Debra Cafaro took away the greatest number across the board, with a first place for Female Leader of the Year and two honorable mentions, for Investor of the Year and Innovator of the Year. Others with multiple awards included Charles Ratner, Jeff Hines and Stephen Ross.

Following is a list of winners and honorable-mention recipients. Click here for profiles of the winners. Click here for profiles of the honorable-mention recipients.

The 2011 winners include:

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Executive of the Year/Investor of the Year
Jonathan Gray, Senior Managing Director & Co-Head of Real Estate, The Blackstone Group L.P.

Developer of the Year
Larry Silverstein, President, Silverstein Properties Inc.

Financial Services Executive of the Year
David Brown, Head of Global Private Markets, TIAA-CREF Global Real Estate

Service Executive of the Year
Roy March, CEO, Eastdil Secured

Lifetime Achievement Award
Charles Ratner, Chairman, Forest City Enterprises Inc.

Innovator of the Year
Michael Berman, President & CEO, CWCapital L.L.C.

Sustainability Executive of the Year
Jeff Hines, CEO, Hines

Diversity Executive of the Year
Kenneth Bacon, Executive Vice President-Multifamily Mortgage Business, Fannie Mae

Female Leader of the Year
Debra Cafaro, Chairman & CEO, Ventas Inc.

Rising Leader
Elysia Tse, Vice President, BlackRock Inc.

Retail Property Executive of the Year
David Simon, Chairman & CEO, Simon Property Group Inc.

Multi-Family Property Executive of the Year
David Neithercut, President & CEO, Equity Residential

Office Property Executive of the Year
Michael Fascitelli, President & CEO, Vornado Realty Trust

Industrial Property Executive of the Year
Hamid Moghadam, Co-CEO, Prologis Inc.

Hospitality Property Executive of the Year
Christopher Nassetta, CEO, Hilton Worldwide Inc.

Net Lease Property Executive of the Year
Richard Ader, Chairman & Managing Partner, U.S. Realty Advisors L.L.C.

The 2011 honorable-mention recipients include:

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Executive of the Year
David Simon, Chairman & CEO, Simon Property Group Inc.
Hamid Moghadam, Co-CEO, Prologis Inc.

Investor of the Year
Lee Neibart, Global CEO, AREA Property Partners
Debra Cafaro, Chairman & CEO, Ventas Inc.

Developer of the Year
Charles Ratner, Chairman, Forest City Enterprises Inc.
Stephen Ross, Chairman, CEO & Founder, The Related Cos.

Financial Services Executive of the Year
John Pelusi Jr., Executive Managing Director & Managing Member, Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P.
David Twardock, President, Prudential Mortgage Capital Co.

Service Executive of the Year
Mark Burkhart, CEO, Cassidy Turley
Peter Roberts, CEO for the Americas, Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

Innovator of the Year
Shekar Narasimhan, Managing Partner, Beekman Advisors
Debra Cafaro, Chairman & CEO, Ventas Inc.

Sustainability Executive of the Year
Charles Leitner III, CEO, Greenprint Foundation and Chairman, RREEF
Jonathon Ratner, Vice President, Sustainability Initiatives, Forest City Enterprises Inc.

Diversity Executive of the Year
Richmond McCoy, President & CEO, UrbanAmerica L.P. and UrbanAmerica Advisors
Quintin Primo III, Chairman & CEO, Capri Capital Partners L.L.C.

Female Leader of the Year
Collete English Dixon, Vice President, Transactions, Prudential Real Estate Investors

Rising Leader
Jason Black, Director of Sustainability, SL Green Realty Corp.
Constantine Kontokosta, Center for the Sustainable Built Environment at New York University’s Schack Institute of Real Estate Principal & Founder, The KACE Group

Retail Property Executive of the Year
Arthur Coppola, Chairman & CEO, Macerich

Multi-Family Property Executive of the Year
Richard Campo, Chairman & CEO, Camden Property Trust
Stephen Ross, Chairman, CEO & Founder, The Related Cos.

Office Property Executive of the Year
Ric Clark, CEO, Brookfield Office Properties
Jeff Hines, CEO, Hines

Industrial Property Executive of the Year
Carl Panattoni, Chairman, Panattoni Development Co.

Hospitality Executive of the Year
Jon Bortz, Chairman, President & CEO, Pebblebrook Hotel Trust
Frits van Paasschen, President, CEO & Director, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Net Lease Executive of the Year
T. Wilson Eglin, President, CEO & Trustee, Lexington Realty Trust
Marc Nemer, President & CEO, Cole Real Estate Investments