Condo Media - May 2013 - 34

VOLUNTEER SPOTLIGHT

by Nena Groskind

A Corporate Commitment to Change
CAI-NE Award Winner David Abel Has Made the Environment a Priority

D

avid Abel, CMCA, senior man- ing his dedication and leadership on
ager at First Realty Manageenvironmental issues and his determinament Corporation, became sus- tion to make a difference in that area.
picious when he realized that a
The nomination form states: “Dave’s
half dozen of his First Realty colleagues attitude has always been: ‘We can’t afwere planning to attend CAI-NE’s anford NOT to do the right thing when it
nual banquet, rather than the
comes to preserving the life and
“one other person I usually
vitality of our planet for future
drag with me.”
generations.’”
He decided this meant
Abel has long been interested
he was probably receiving
in environmental issues, but it is
an award and assumed it
only recently — within the past
would be in the “Go Green”
seven or eight years — that he
category, recognizing the
has found ways to integrate that
David Abel, CMCA
environmental initiatives
interest with his professional
he has spearheaded. When
goals. He majored in political scithat honor went to someone else, “I
ence and environmental policy in colthought I was off the hook,” Abel says. lege, but “I didn’t do anything [with
So he was more than a little surthat background],” he says, “except
prised to hear his name called for the
sit around with friends and talk about
last award of the night — the prestiwhat was wrong in the world.”
gious “Outstanding Service Award,”
He never lost his interest in the
recognizing industry executives
environment, however, and over time
“who volunteer their time and share
his interest evolved into a passion as
without hesitation their expertise in
the environmental threats became
advancing the interests of their asmore obvious and more severe. About
sociation clients as well as their peers
seven years ago, he decided “we have
and colleagues.”
to do something as a company,” and
Abel says he was both honored and
he identified a hook on which to hang
a little bit dismayed. “It felt like a lifethat argument.
time achievement award,” he laughs,
“Buildings consume 40 to 50 peran indication that “it’s all downhill
cent of energy resources,” he notes,
from here.”
“and we manage buildings and the
He doesn’t talk like someone who
people in them. That made a great
is ready to proclaim “all done,” either
point of entry for us; it created a wide
professionally, in his work as an assorange of opportunities for doing a
ciation manager, or personally, in the
great many things” to address enviarea that concerns him most — the
ronmental concerns.
environment.
Identifying those opportunities was
Although he didn’t win CAI-NE’s
relatively easy; persuading the compa“Go Green” award, it wouldn’t have
ny’s senior management that they were
been surprising if he had. That was
opportunities worth pursuing was not.
actually the award for which his First
Abel ultimately sold the idea of a corRealty colleagues nominated him, citporate environmental commitment not

34

Condo Media • May 2013

just as a way for the company to “do the
right thing,” but also as a way “to differentiate ourselves” from competitors.
First Realty’s executive committee approved his proposal to establish an internal
“Green Team” responsible for identifying
and implementing environmental initiatives in the company’s operations and in
the operations of its association clients.
The goal wasn’t just to encourage energy
conservation, Abel emphasizes. It was
“to change the way we looked at how
we did business,” to make environmental
awareness part of the corporate DNA
— a screen through which the company
viewed virtually everything it did — and
to make “going green” standard operating procedure for the company and for
the communities it managed.
“It’s been a slow process,” Abel says,
noting, “It still astounds me today how
many people are recycling only partly
or not at all.” He used to think the
major obstacles were technological, but
he’s learned “it’s not technology, it’s
people and their habits. How do you
change their habits?”
Progress may have been slow by Abel’s
standards, but the achievements listed in
the form nominating him for the CAINE award are numerous and impressive.
They include, among many others:
• Implementing company-wide recycling guidelines.
• Specifying the use of non-toxic cleaning supplies at properties First Realty
manages.
• Replacing Styrofoam products with
more environmentally friendly alternatives.
• Educating company employees about
environmental concerns and promoting the going green agenda at compa-
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