Ben D. Loughry, a founding stockholder and managing partner of Integra's Fort Worth and Dallas offices, and Donnie Sherwood, managing director in Fort Worth, have passed the bar for the elite band of professionals. Loughry says at least two or three more professionals on his teams are in the running for the RICS designation, which is viewed as a must-have to secure international business as valuation experts in property, land, construction and related environmental issues.

"We fully expect Integra will launch into the European market in the next two years," Loughry tells GlobeSt.com. "We're preparing ourselves for entry into that market and for more investors from Asia who recognize that designation." Loughry confides that talks are under way with an independent foreign firm "with its feet on the ground to bring into the Integra family."

Integra's RICS team includes nine who have reached the "fellow" level. In all, RICS has 145,000 members in 146 countries, of which there are 2,500 in the Americas. At the forefront of the RICS' drive is Integra managing director Marty Glen in San Antonio, who's held the designation for years.