Boston, MA The New England Chapter of CoreNet Global has named the 2019 winners of its annual Awards of Excellence. This year’s honorees and projects represent the best of the Boston region in corporate real estate leadership and include two new categories: Best Workplace Outside of New England and Young Leader Award. Winners will be formally presented with their awards at the organization’s annual Awards of Excellence Gala on November 14, 2019 at the Intercontinental Hotel.
Leadership Award Winners
Global Corporate End User: Mark Watkins, senior director of global real estate, Thermo Fisher Scientific.
Watkins has been with Thermo Fisher Scientific for over 18 years and, as senior director of global real estate, helps oversee a global portfolio of more than 32 million s/f of commercial real estate. Watkins serves as the functional lead for the CRE team, supporting the company’s M&A activity, global workplace strategy, and corporate headquarters. He has a bachelor’s degree in business from the UMass Amherst and attended Caesar Ritz Hotel School in Switzerland. He serves on the board of the New England Chapter of CoreNet New England, where he also is a member of the real advantage committee and helps lead the organization’s diversity and inclusion initiative.
Americas Corporate End User: Paul Asmar, head of real estate and property services, MilliporeSigma.
Asmar has been with MilliporeSigma for five years and leads the real estate services for MilliporeSigma throughout North America, as well as the global real estate for warehousing and distribution. Most recently, Asmar led the development of MilliporeSigma’s new 350,000 s/f U.S. headquarters in Burlington, Mass., a building that houses over 70,000 s/f of lab space and 1,000 employees. Asmar began his career managing construction and renovation projects with the Division of Capital Planning and Operations (now DCAM), continuing on to spend 15 years as a service provider with Johnson Controls, EMCOR Facilities Services, and DTZ/Cushman Wakefield. In these roles, Asmar held positions in operations, from account manager to vice president of national accounts, as well as several non-operations roles in business development and corporate governance. He serves on the board of directors for CoreNet New England Chapter where he is currently treasurer and works on the education committee as well as the life sciences initiative.
Americas Service Provider Leadership: Marisa Fava, district manager, Humanscale.
Fava is the Boston-area district manager at Humanscale, an ergonomic solutions designer and manufacturer. Since joining Humanscale in 2003, Fava has held roles in business development for the Mass. and R.I. sales territories, product training as part of Humanscale University, and marketing and communications as part of the Humanscale International team based in London. She currently leads Humanscale’s sales in the greater Boston area, with a team covering Eastern Mass., Maine, and R.I. Fava holds a bachelor of arts degree from Boston College and is active in CoreNet, serving as co-chair of the New England Chapter’s communications committee and as a board member. In 2013, she was named one of the “36 Under 36” Young Leaders in the 40 CoreNet Global Chapters from around the world.
Young Leader Award: Gabrielle Beaudry, vice president of integrated portfolio services, JLL.
As vice president of integrated portfolio services at JLL, Beaudry acts as an extension of her clients’ real estate team and taps into the JLL platform to develop business strategies aligned with real estate action plans. She has managed strategic transactions on behalf of such clients as NETSCOUT, Monster.com, Dassault Systems, Stantec, and many others. Beaudry is involved in the commercial real estate community as a leader and mentor, including having held leadership roles in JLL’s Women in Business Network, Girls on the Run Committee, Win Committee, and recruiting and interviewing team. In CoreNet, Beaudry completed the New England Chapter’s Young Leader Professional Development Program and Leadership 2.0 program and serves on the real advantage committee. She was also an active member of the young leaders committee and is a passionate participant in CoreNet New England’s diversity and inclusion initiative. Outside of CoreNet, Beaudry is active in The Boston Club, where she chairs their personal and professional development committee and was recognized as their “rising star” this year.
Volunteer Hall of Fame: Christine Weiner, business development and sales manager, Peabody Office.
Weiner began her career at Peabody Office five years ago, marking her entry into the commercial real estate industry. In that short amount of time, she has become a dedicated and engaged leader within CoreNet Global’s New England Chapter and the “face” of Peabody Office. Weiner is a graduate of the New England Chapter’s Leadership 2.0 program as well as a member of the golf, membership, sponsorship, and community reinvestment committees. She has been particularly instrumental in establishing a broader relationship between the New England Chapter of CoreNet Global and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston (BGCB). Her engagement with BGCB has resulted in continued chapter participation in mentorship events, volunteer activities, visits to the BGCB “clubhouses,” and fundraising at the annual golf tournament.
Best Workplace Award Winners
Best New Small Workplace: Home Base Veteran & Family Care.
Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital program, is dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of veterans, service members, and their families from across the globe. After a steady 10-year growth had split clinical operations across multiple sites, the organization needed to consolidate operations and relocate to a larger facility to respond to the growing demand for its programs and services. The new headquarters, touted as a “National Center of Excellence,” is a healing, transformative space specifically tailored to patients’ needs. Led by architecture firm Margulies Peruzzi, the high-performance design creates a behavioral health environment with flexible space and robust technology, while maximizing privacy for patients. From administrative areas to therapy and counseling rooms, the residential vibe of the space allows flexibility in workspaces and treatment methods. Home Base’s decision to embrace a free-address, shared counseling environment planning model is also a success in efficiency, decreasing the organization’s space needs to 26,000 s/f–a net savings of 35% in annual real estate costs.
Best New Large Workplace: Citizens Bank Corporate Campus.
Citizens Bank’s new headquarters in Johnston, R.I. created a campus setting that not only brings 3,000 colleagues together from disparate offices, but also delivers a superlative experience, one that fosters interaction, collaboration and employee wellness. Inspired by the state’s historic barn-building architectural vernacular, the thoughtful design by Elkus Manfredi Architects consists of a five-building complex including Citizens’ first purpose-built contact center; two four-story office building wings; and an amenities building with a 700-seat cafeteria, fitness facility, and dedicated wellness clinic. The fifth building serves as the complex’s main entrance and central circulation area, as well as hosts a bank branch, learning center, and informal seating areas. Each building was tailored to the needs of its specific workforce through an intensive co-creation process with the employees. As a result, the company has seen increased employee engagement and collaboration, more visits by colleagues from other offices, and a higher rate of employee wellness goal completion thanks to such outdoor amenities as sports fields, basketball courts, and walking trails.
Best New Workplace Outside of New England: NETSCOUT Regional Headquarters, Allen, Texas
When NETSCOUT, a leading provider of service assurance, security, and business analytics headquartered in Westford, Mass., sought to move their 500-person north Texas regional headquarters to Allen, Texas, the challenge of creating a more connected, collaborative, and amenity-rich space was compounded by a never-before-seen timeline. Enlisting key partners locally in Texas from the City of Allen, design firm Corgan, and developer Kaizen, NETSCOUT then relied on Boston-based relationships with JLL, McCarter & English, and furniture manufacturers Exemplis | SitOnIt and Humanscale to get the challenging project completed. The three-story, 145,000 s/f new building now serves as a valuable tool for NETSCOUT to enhance employee satisfaction and productivity, improve employee retention, and attract top talent in a fiercely competitive labor market.
