Eugene Reilly: I'm not sure I can ever adjust to this new role. Typically the biggest adjustment for someone who takes on a role like this is the travel, visiting as many local chapters as possible. That's pretty easy for me because I travel about 50% of the time anyway. I've been involved with NAIOP for probably around 25 years. I've always been a big supporter of the organization; I've been involved in the local chapter level and, more recently, in the executive level. So I have a pretty good sense of the main objectives and goals of the organization, and I know it well. For me, adjusting to this role is probably a little easier than someone who was a practitioner in a city who did not, in a normal course of business, travel to other states.

Aygoren: Certainly your experience as head of Prologis helps you in your efforts at NAIOP. Is that something that you feel gives you an advantage?

Reilly:It's an advantage. We're in 22 different markets in the US, so I get insight on how conditions are different from one city to the next. My travel schedule itself is probably an advantage because I can actually get to some of these chapters pretty easily. Some previous chairmen have certainly traveled a lot, but they've taken an awful lot of time away from their day jobs to do so.

Aygoren: So you can do a two-fer.

Reilly: Absolutely. By the way, I get a lot out of this as well. We're a global company that's focused on industrial properties, and within that, warehouse space. We're very broad geographically, but within the property type, we're very narrow. It really helps to talk with chapter leaders in various cities about the office market or the retail environment. It's very helpful to me to get a different perspective than I usually get.

Aygoren: You mentioned you were very familiar with NAIOP's objectives. What are some of the major items on your agenda? Things you want to tackle during your term?

Reilly: There are two objectives that I want to move the needle on throughout the year. One is improving communications within the organization. Just sending people two or three emails a week doesn't work anymore. I noticed that the local chapters are less aware of the activities and focus the national chapter is working on, such as advocacy. I'd like to make it easier for members to find out quickly what's going on—what are my dues actually paying for? What's happening from a public affairs perspective? Also, chapter leaders who come to board meetings at the national organization must go back and communicate with their local chapter what's happening with the organization nationally, and what's happening with their peer companies in other cities. That's one of the benefits of being a part of a national organization. That isn't happening very well and I think it's because we need to make it easy for those chapter leaders to communicate. To give them a one-pager they can easily forward on, that kind of thing.

Number two is improving the efficiency of the member experience at national events. If I show up at a NAIOP national event—it could be the annual conference, or our legislative affairs summit in Washington, DC—because I serve on the executive committee, that's four or five days out of my schedule. It's just too much. I'd like to see us compress the amount of time that people need to dedicate to these events yet maintain the amount of content that's in them. We have to find a creative way to do that, but be respectful of time. All we have is our time and these days, people are busier than ever. We must also be mindful of the calendars of other trade organizations. Working together to plan these events benefits both trade organizations when you don't force members to choose one over the other.

We want to make it an easier, more efficient experience, because on of the things we want to do is improve the attendance at these events. We have 16,000 members and our events are pretty small potatoes. We need to get these numbers up.

Aygoren: What about advocacy?

Reilly: Political action and advocacy should always be on the chairman's list. Commercial real estate is underrepresented in Washington, DC. We're constantly in the trenches, battling federal legislation that could be harmful to the industry. We have a Political Action Committee, and we have to raise a lot more money for it. Some of the members feel very uncomfortable doing that because they might not agree with the influence money can have. They don't want to contribute to something they feel is wrong with our political system. But the sad reality is that's how the game is played. Tom Bisacquino likes to say, “You're either at the table or you're on the menu.” He's absolutely right. And NAIOP is involved and engaged in responsible advocacy. There isn't a single issue we take on that isn't done in a responsible manner.

Check back in this afternoon for the rest of Reilly's interview, including the major legislative issues on his docket andwhat NAIOP is doing for its members...