COSTA MESA, CA—Having strong relationships with people who have your back when something slips by you can stop a project from derailing and help you learn from your mistakes, TRI Pointe Homes project manager Brian Ortwein tells GlobeSt.com. Ortwein was recently awarded the 2016-17 NAIOP SoCal-CRE Fellowship from NAIOP SoCal and the Center for Real Estate at UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business.

The fellowship offers a combined learning experience, where awardees have the opportunity to attend NAIOP SoCal board meetings and also enhance their formal education through a $7,500 financial award designed to develop and prepare future real estate industry leaders. Ortwein plans to apply his award to his studies at the Merage School, where he is enrolled in the Fully Employed MBA program class of 2019.

As a project manager with TRI Pointe Homes, Ortwein is responsible for eight projects, totaling 723 units, which are anticipated to generate approximately $450 million in revenue. He has also navigated numerous local and state government agencies to obtain entitlements required for project development. Prior to his current position at the firm as a project manager, Ortwein was a land-acquisition associate. During that time, he executed an aggressive land-acquisition strategy that grew TRI Pointe into a top 10 California home builder. Ortwein's experience also includes a role as project engineer on large institutional development projects with Jacobs Engineering.