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Monmouth University Kislak Real Estate Institute Honors Murray Kushner and James Hughes at Awards Dinner

The Monmouth University Kislak Real Estate Institute honored Murray Kushner, chairman of THE KRE Group, with the prominent Leadership Excellence Award and James W. Hughes, Ph.D., dean of the Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University, with the Service to the Industry Award. The awards were bestowed at its 22nd annual Leadership Excellence Award Dinner on May 28 in historic Wilson Hall on the Monmouth University campus.

“Murray Kushner and Jim Hughes are icons in New Jersey real estate,” said Peter S. Reinhart, Esq., director of the Monmouth University Kislak Real Estate Institute.  “Over 500 of New Jersey’s leaders in the industry along with a number of our real estate students networked and paid tribute to our great honorees.”

Kushner has been a real estate investor and developer for more than 35 years. He is chairman of The KRE Group, the successor company to SK Properties, which he co-founded in 1979 with his father, Joseph Kushner, and Eugene Schenkman. He built what is now The KRE Group from a three-person real estate development partnership into a full-service real estate company with over 100 full-time employees and a real estate investment portfolio currently totaling more than 9,000 apartment units and 6 million square feet of office and industrial property. Under Kushner’s leadership, The KRE Group has partnered with the Silverman Group, the Fidelco Group, and Ironstate Development, as well as institutional partners, including National Real Estate Advisors, Aetna Insurance Companies, and Chubb Insurance Company.

“I am honored to be the recipient of the Leadership Award and truly humbled to be among the prominent prior honorees, especially my dear friend and first recipient of the award, Arthur Greenbaum,” said Kushner. At the event, the audience sang “Happy Birthday” to Greenbaum, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Greenbaum, senior partner at Greenbaum, Rowe, Smith & Davis, LLC, received the Leadership Award in 1994.

“Monmouth is training our future real estate leaders and providing them with the skills to make our industry proud. The KRE group and I are delighted to help in this effort,” Kushner said.

Kushner and Hughes joined a notable group of past honorees at the dinner including: Greenbaum; Steven J. Pozycki, founder, chair and CEO of SJP Properties; John A. Giunco, Esq., Giordano, Halleran & Ciesla, P.C.; Joseph S. Taylor, president and CEO, Matrix Development Group; and Ronald S. Ladell, senior vice president, AvalonBay Communities, all of whom received the Leadership Excellence Award in previous years. Past recipients of the Service to the Industry Award in attendance included Caren Franzini, president of Franzini Consulting, LLC and Donald Moliver, Ph.D., dean of the Leon Hess Business School at Monmouth University.

Hughes becomes the fourth recipient of the Service to the Industry Award following Ted Zangari, Esq., attorney at Sills Cummis & Gross P.C.; Moliver; and Franzini.

Hughes was appointed to dean of the Bloustein School in 1995, and has been a member of the faculty since 1971. He has also been the Director of the Rutgers Regional Report since 1988, which, during its 26-year tenure, has produced 39 major economic, demographic, and real estate studies. He is an academic expert on demographics, housing, and regional economics, and was a contributing editor to the magazine “American Demographics” for 14 years.

“I’m deeply appreciative of this honor, and have greatly enjoyed working with real estate community for my entire career,” said Hughes.

The Kislak Real Estate Institute was established at Monmouth University in order to meet the educational needs of the real estate industry in a university setting. One of the founding principles of the Kislak Real Estate Industry was to create a locus that brings together the wide range of organizations that share a common interest in the real estate field, including commercial and residential developers, financial institutions, architects, insurance companies, property managers, attorneys, planners, appraisers, regulators and others. Students can obtain a B.S. in business with a concentration in real estate. Graduate students can obtain a M.B.A. with a concentration in real estate. In addition, the Kislak Real Estate Institute’s Certificate Program offers leading-edge education classes for real estate industry professionals to enhance their expertise.

For more information on the Kislak Real Estate Institute, visit www.monmouth.edu/kislak/ .