Not only are they Power Women to us, they're now CREW Hall of Famers. Avison Young's Char Fortune, SRS Real Estate Partners' Ray Uttenhove and JLL's Kay Younglove (center with The Coca-Cola Co's Lynne O'Brien and Rosemont Realty's Tina Renee McCall) were recently inducted into CREW Atlanta's inaugural Hall of Fame. Kay also earned an impact award from CREW for her work on Hammond Exchange. In case you missed our profiles, which are a part of our national Power Women initiative in which we profiled and celebrate the top women in the commercial real estate industry, here they are again:
KAY YOUNGLOVE, SVP, JLL
Kay's father, John Richard Kelley Jr., owned a real estate business for over 30 years with her uncle; it included a real estate auction company in Waynesboro, TN (2012 population: 2,437). “When I was in high school, my weekend job was helping with the auctions,” she tells us. She kept the accounting straight, writing tickets as people were buying, how much they paid and who they were, all on a numerical stickboard (pre-computer). In a rural setting, you do it all, including buying and selling big tracts of land, Kay tells us. “If an elderly person passes away, you hold an estate auction on the weekend,” she says. “You might also be responsible for selling the bank building on the town square.” Read more here.
CHAR FORTUNE, NATIONAL DIRECTOR OF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT, AVISON YOUNG
Char knows how to speak up for herself (years ago, she learned to play golf in “self-defense because… I got tired of being left out”) and teaches others to do the same. In 2000, this power woman (previously a Grubb & Ellis managing director, Trammell Crow Co SVP and Cushman & Wakefield senior managing director) with Eastwood Real Estate Services' Lee Eastwood co-founded Leadership CREW, which develops future leaders. Read more here.
LYNNE O'BRIEN, DIRECTOR OF CORPORATE REAL ESTATE, THE COCA-COLA CO
If judged on her youthful goals, Lynne O'Brien would be considered a failure. Instead of leaving Atlanta, she's been here for nearly 30 years. Instead of being a patent lawyer, she's now head of corporate real estate for one of the world's largest beverage giants, The Coca-Cola Co, where she's been for the past 26 years, ushering Coke through some major real estate plays, including the land assemblage at Pemberton Place. Read more here.
RAY UTTENHOVE, EVP, SRS REAL ESTATE PARTNERS
Ray doesn't take “no” for an answer. If she did, she'd probably still be a teacher. When she moved to Dallas to teach, she became enthralled by all the development taking place and wanted to join the fray. “I interviewed with all the major firms, and they laughed at the prospect of hiring me as my experience was as a school teacher,” Ray tells us. Read more here.
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