Vote for Michael Hobbs to be on the USGBC-Illinois Board of Directors!

I’ve been selected as a candidate for an at-large director position on the USGBC-Illinois Chapter 2014 board and I’m asking for your vote. If you are a member of USGBC-Illinois, please take the time to cast your vote before December 1 at 6pm!

Michael Hobbs, SRA, LEED GA
President
PahRoo Appraisal & Consultancy
P: 773.388.0003
www.pahroo.com

Candidate Particulars

Why do I wish to be a member of the USGBC-Illinois Board?

As a practicing professional in Illinois, I wish to become a member of the USGBC-Illinois Board to give a voice to the valuation profession which is woefully under-represented while expanding the awareness and positive impacts of USGBC initiatives.

Please provide a summary of your professional qualifications, knowledge and experience of most relevance to the Chapter. Also indicate the degree to which you have senior management and executive level experience. Please include any current work you may be doing for the chapter.

For the past 13 years, I’ve been a certified real estate appraiser in Illinois and started PahRoo on the basis that someone with hands-on knowledge of building, rehabbing, investing, developing and managing would be much better suited to do perform real estate valuation. My firm employs 10 real estate appraisers for residential and commercial assignments. More recently, I have attained the following designations: SRA (Appraisal Institute), RAA (National Association of Realtors), and LEED GA (United States Green Building Council). Additionally, I have owned and operated a property management firm and a real estate development firm. Prior to that, I was vice president and interim-CFO at Engineered Glass Products which was a C-suite position. I’m currently on the board of the Chicago Chapter of Entrepreneur Organization.

The Chapter is committed to strengthening its membership diversity. What resources could you bring to bear (e.g., demonstrated expertise, leadership positions, and willingness) to help further Chapter participation from high priority sectors including: real estate, energy/utility, finance/insurance, residential, corporate, product manufacturing and developers? You can also address other sectors you think require greater involvement in the Chapter.

As noted in the prior reply, my personal and professional experience is far-beyond the ‘typical’ real estate appraiser. Currently, running my 7th firm, I feel that I have vast experience in leadership and helping others to succeed. Given that my efforts for the past 15 years have been in and around real estate, our client base consists of developers, real estate professionals both residential and commercial, as well as working with other professionals to solve their real estate problems.

Describe what expertise, experience and resources from other organizations with successful chapter programs.

As a board member of the Chicago Chapter of Entrepreneur Organization (a 9,000+ global membership organization comprised of business owners and entrepreneurs who meet or exceed stringent qualifications), we have consistently increased member value (as quantified through annual survey results) while growing membership (directly resulting in increased operating budget).
As a former board member of the American Red Cross Auxiliary Board Chicago Chapter, I contributed to the efforts to raise $250,000 in the 2nd year of existence and that amount was maintained over 5 years.

Describe what expertise, experience and resources you’ve experiences in leadership positions (volunteer or professional staff) with nonprofit governance.