PRISM Developing Leaders: Words of Wisdom from Industry Leaders

The last two years have been strong ones for the commercial real estate market—and by extension, for the U.S. Phase I ESA market. For a number of key reasons, 2019 is writing a different story. Market fundamentals are still strong but mid-year market barometers paint a picture of slowing growth. Tune in to this market recap to find out what you can expect in the second half of the year.

Speaker Dianne Crocker, principal analyst at EDR, will drill down into the mid-year market stats from the ScoreKeeper model to take the pulse of the U.S. Phase I ESA market and highlight how the hot spots for CRE investment are driving the high-growth markets for environmental due diligence. Crocker will also cover the latest intel on the market forecast and the greatest risks facing commercial real estate over the near-term.

While you catch up on your summer reading and enjoy some R&R, take a break to tune it for a quick snapshot of the market and what to expect in the second half.

Summer school is in session! Join us for this webinar focused on the value of building a professional network and learning from others along the way. Whether you are an industry veteran or just starting out, you’ll learn something from two accomplished environmental consulting leaders on what has shaped their career success, lessons they learned along the way and the value they place on mentor relationships.

New information on the dangers of Polyfluoroalkyl Substances, or PFAS, is creating confusion and concern across the environmental industry. Many states have put new guidelines and regulations in place for managing PFAS risks, and the U.S. EPA will likely act soon. In today’s uncertain regulatory environment, what do environmental due diligence professionals need to be aware of to prevent liability for themselves and their clients? EDR has teamed up with leading national PFAS expert Dr. Harry Behzadi of SGS to share the practical information you need to identify and manage PFAS risks during property due diligence.

Competitive pressures are requiring real estate lenders and investors to complete underwriting and due diligence more quickly and cost effectively than ever, but not at the expense of prudent risk management, or for regulated banks and credit unions, compliance.

One of the most time consuming and costly components to lending is the data collection and analysis required for underwriting, especially the appraisal procurement and review process. While technology exists to streamline the process, the reality is most lenders still use excel spreadsheets, word processing software and email to support the process.

Join this complimentary webcast where we’ll demonstrate how technology is transforming the appraisal procurement and review process. See how some lenders are reducing appraisal cycle time by as much as 60%, while at the same time building powerful business intelligence by capturing valuation and other data.

Each year at EDR’s PRISM conference, an up-and-coming risk management or due diligence professional is recognized for impressive achievement in leadership, visibility, professional competency and/or industry involvement. Building on this popular awards category, EDR is excited to launch a new Developing Leaders program aimed to further the development of our industry’s future leaders. This new initiative will provide education and mentor/mentee connections to leverage the industry knowledge of prominent business leaders, and provide newer professionals with the tools and resources they need to fulfill their education and professional development goals.

Each of the webinar speakers is an industry veteran who is deeply committed to helping rising professionals learn what they wish they knew when they were just starting out. Whether you’re a seasoned manager looking to retain top talent—or a newbie just starting out, join us for this kickoff webinar to hear what’s in store from EDR’s new Developing Leaders program!

Who should attend:

•Risk management professionals just starting out in the field
•Experienced industry veterans
•Anyone looking to broaden his/her professional development expertise

Speakers:

John Rybak, 2017 winner of the PRISM Industry Influencer award, and BB&T’s SVP Environmental Risk Manager
Roger Caramanica, Ph.D., EDR’s VP of Organizational Development
Dianne Crocker, EDR Insight’s Principal Analyst

The new EDR FieldCheck gives you more control over your Radius Map reports than ever before. Move and plot records with the help of Lightbox’s crystal clear base maps, current aerial photography, tax maps and other advanced features. With this update, you'll be able to quickly and easily apply your knowledge about environmental records to refine search results.

During the webinar we’ll demonstrate the new FieldCheck and provide a refresher on the power of Lightbox.

EDR is making big improvements to FieldCheck™, so you can move or remove records using the tools in Lightbox, such as crystal clear basemaps, current aerial photography, tax maps and more.The improved FieldCheck is launching soon, join us to hear what is changing, see a demonstration the application, and ask questions.

Despite the doomsday headlines about store closures, there is a great deal of excitement and energy in the retail sector. Demand is high for redeveloping older, obsolete sites in areas with promising demographics. Technology is playing an important role is helping retailers identify the most promising sites quickly and efficiently while proactively managing risk. This webinar brings together retail sector experts Gregg Katz from the Atlanta Shopping Center Group and Stephanie Cegielski from ICSC to address the latest trends impacting the retail sector and how technology and data play a key role in site selection. The session is moderated by Dan Welby from EDR.

EDR’s PARCEL platform provides property assessors and due diligence professionals with tools to make projects of any scope more efficient and complete. The benefits are significantly amplified for portfolio projects that cover multiple properties, whether the project consists of four sites side-by-side or 1,000 sites across the country. Join us for a webinar to see how PARCEL can help you achieve Portfolio Perfection on your next multisite project. During this 45-minute presentation Tom Adams, Senior Product Manager at EDR will cover:

+ How PARCEL creates consistency in look, feel and language across all your company’s reports
+ Quality control mechanisms that can save hours and ensure salient data is consistent across all reports with in a project
+ Project management tools to keep large projects on time and within budget
+ Making last minute changes across multiple sites or the entire portfolio from one place
+ Global oversight to ensure everything stays on track

The last 15 minutes will allow for Q&A.

We hope you’ll join us as we explore how your team can save hours per property using PARCEL for portfolio projects.

Business conditions for the environmental industry are currently strong, particularly in infrastructure, transportation and commercial development markets. Still, forecasters are predicting the market will begin to experience recessionary conditions in the next 18-24 months. What’s your strategic plan? Are you positioned to benefit from any market changes, and what will be the opportunities and challenges?

Join us for this timely webinar and come away armed with the tips you need to position your firm for growth. Al Spiers, 2020 Environmental Group Founder and CEO, will give attendees proven strategies for developing an effective strategic growth plan. Topics will include: what markets are hot and not; strategic growth plans for expanding into new markets and geographies; improving key performance metrics to support investment strategies; and opportunities for using M&A as a growth strategy. This includes companies that may be considering selling and merging with a new, larger strategic partner.

The updated SOP was released by the SBA last Friday.

EDR is pleased to host Part II of last week’s webcast where we’ll focus exclusively on changes to the environmental guidelines. This 20-minute webinar is a must attend for anyone originating SBA 504 or 7a loans.
Version J of SOP 50 10 5 represents the agency’s first update to its environmental guidance since 2014 (when it adopted the revised ASTM Phase I E 1527 standard). EDR’s James Haberlen will provide a timely update on what this round of changes mean to the environmental due diligence required on any loans seeking the SBA’s approval.

With commercial real estate prices leveling out—and even dropping in some areas—interest rates on the rise, and the likelihood of another cyclical market downturn in the next 18-24 months, what should lenders and investors be doing differently now to protect themselves from property environmental risk? What environmental risks are tripping up property deals? What are the risks of ignoring vapor migration risk? Two attorneys will share their observations on common mistakes in due diligence, drawing from real-world case studies and provide specifics on how underwriting should change at this stage of the commercial real estate cycle.

EDR will share the late-breaking changes to the SBA’s SOP 50 10 5—the agency’s first update to its environmental guidance since 2014 (when it adopted the revised ASTM Phase I E 1527 standard). Speakers will share details on the changes coming out October 1 and effective in January 2018. Don’t miss this timely update on what this round of changes mean to the environmental due diligence required on any loans seeking the agency’s approval. Benefits:
-what’s changing?
-latest statistics on SBA lending volumes
-a primer on SBA’s tiered process for environmental investigations

Join us for the latest!

This timely track will distill the headlines into real-world intel about how the priorities of the U.S. EPA are taking shape in a Trump Presidency. Overmeyer will share the U.S. EPA's latest budget forecast, the recently released regulatory agenda, and likely areas of policy focus for site assessment and cleanup.

The speakers will highlight what is likely to change, and where bipartisan support remains strong. Outside the Beltway, macro market forces are converging to drive more interest in redeveloping contaminated properties than ever before. Attendees will leave with an understanding of why the U.S. property market is heading into an exciting period of “redevelopment renaissance.”

The industry's only application to screen for vapor encroachment risk will soon be new and improved. We're moving the VEC App to Lightbox, saving you time. These updates will also include major improvements to key VEC App features like the ground water flow tool, filtering, report output and more. Join us for a preview of the new VEC App.

Points on a Map, But Where?

With every map EDR delivers to you, we've harnessed the power of tax parcels to locate property records. Rather than simply plotting sites along a street, we've matched them to actual properties.

Join us on as we present a brief history of georeferencing, why location accuracy matters, and how EDR has created significant improvements to location data with Tax Parcel Georeferencing.

EDR's CEO, Chris Aronson, and our product team will introduce product improvements that change the fundamentals of data review, empowering you to do you best work faster.

• Property Boundaries on your Historical Sources, to quickly locate your target property boundary on your aerial photos, topos, and Sanborn® Maps.
• Improved EDR Lightbox®, newly updated and streamlined, with superior content and an intuitive interface.
• Coming this Summer: Property-Based Geocoding

Join us as we present our most exciting products advancements ever. This 1-hour session will help ensure you and your team make the most of these exciting new features.

Whether you are new to the environmental due diligence field or a seasoned veteran, this webinar offers something for you. EDR Insight is honored to bring you the expertise of Grady Shields, an attorney with Wyrick Robbins Yates & Ponton LLP. Shields brings over 30 years of experience practicing environmental law, assisting clients with environmental due diligence and transactions, and counseling lenders on environmental issues.

At this webinar, Shields will share his insights on seven important issues impacting environmental due diligence in commercial real estate lending. This timely event will cover some of the latest environmental risks, like vapor migration, being pushed to the forefront, new emphasis on risk management tools like environmental insurance, the intense pressure on lenders by regulators and more. Take advantage of this opportunity to get some free advice from a trusted voice in environmental risk management.

Who Should Attend:

-Risk managers and loan officers at community banks
-Risk managers at national banks, looking for a quick refresher and update
-Environmental due diligence professionals serving lenders
-Insurance professionals

Expected Takeaways

Those attending should come away with a better grasp of:
-the need for pre-loan diligence, including diligence beyond the real property at issue
-the use and appropriate terms of borrower environmental indemnification agreements
-using both Pollution Legal Liability and Lender Environmental Liability coverage to limit lender risk
-how to maximize value, while minimizing lender risk, in default situations
-trends being driven by the regulators.

Project Managers (PMs) are the key to a professional services firm's success. Yet many firms promote technical people into roles they are not prepared or ready for. As a result, project profitability suffers and there is frustration at every level of the organization. By enabling project managers, through financial and systems training, automation, and accountability measures, the firm's profit margins can increase substantially.

In this webinar, attendees will be able to:
-Evaluate the challenges that cause many Project Managers to struggle with project profitability
-Understand the reasons that projects go over budget
-Review the financial aspects of project management that Project Managers need to know to be successful
-Learn how technology can help Project Managers deliver more profitable projects
-Develop some best practices to help Project Managers succeed

Speaker
June R. Jewell, CPA, President AEC Business Solutions
Jewell, a thought leader and expert in AEC firm profitability. has more than 28 years of business management consulting experience, and unsurpassed knowledge of the AEC industry. In addition to this role, she is the original founder and current strategic advisor of Acuity Business Solutions, a Deltek Premier Partner and consulting firm that works with AEC firms to support business profitability through web-based enterprise management technology.

She is the Amazon best-selling author of the book “Find The Lost Dollars: 6 Steps to Increase Profits in Architecture, Engineering and Environmental Firms.” Jewell has built and run a successful consulting practice, and is a highly sought after speaker at industry events and conferences. Her past speaking engagements include AIA, ACEC, SMPS, Design and Construction Network (DCN), Society for Design Administration (SDA), Zweig Group (formerly ZweigWhite), PSMJ, ROG Growth and Ownership Conference, Project Management Institute (PMI), Deltek Insight and Business of Architecture (BOA).