WBC Outstanding Women 2015 GERALDINE SZABO Principal GKS Industries

From asset manager to industry asset and resource

Geraldine Szabo is currently a Principal at GKS Industries, a certified woman-owned supply company located in Islip, . Her company sells all building supplies for the commercial real estate industry. She began this company in 2013 with her niece Kaci Szabo.

Prior to starting her supply company, Szabo was a Senior Asset Manager at JPMorgan Chase for the midtown portfolio, which included 270 and 383 . She joined JPMorgan Chase during the construction project at for LEED Platinum New Construction and Major Renovation. This project included new energy efficient systems, including new chillers, daylight harvesting on all office floors with occupancy sensors, a 54,000 gallon storm water reclamation tank, one of the city’s largest green roofs and over 200 bicycle racks to be used by the employees. A major accomplishment during this project was recycling 85 percent of the construction waste, which included almost one million square feet of carpet and diverted more than 12,000 tons of construction waste from the landfills.

As Regional Director of Operations at Grubb & Ellis, Szabo was responsible for overseeing the management services of 40 million square feet of commercial real estate in the Northeast Region. With a strong background in property and facility management, she provided a high level of standards in building operations. She was responsible for developing training programs to assist with the implementation of green standards in the Property Management portfolio to help clients reduce energy costs. As a member of BOMA, she joined the Energy & Sustainability Committee to provide comments on all topics related to commercial real estate. She also participated on the Sustainable Building Council for the Urban Land Institute of New York.

Prior to Grubb & Ellis, Szabo opened and managed the , ’s first LEED Gold Certified 860,000 square foot building, which is the World Headquarters for The Hearst Corporation. She attended the commissioning meetings for all building equipment and was involved in the LEED submission process. At Tishman Speyer, she also managed 375 Hudson Street, a one million square foot Class A property located in downtown .

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