The AOD Monitor
Vol.2 No.2

The Newsletter for Associated Owners & Developers
Published By HLK Global Communications, Inc.

A Message from the President

The Voice for Owners and Developers in the Construction Industry

 It is truly an exciting time in the relatively short history of Associated Owners & Developers (AOD). No matter what method of measurement is used, the results are beginning to appear on the horizon. The time is absolutely right for a strong Owners’ organization to not only be in place, but to be actively driving the hot issues in our Industry. It is not the time for us to be merely satisfied that an Owners’ group has been established and become self sustaining. It is likewise not the time for AOD to merely use the tools available to us to happily build a big and cumbersome Association that requires constant oversight just to stay alive. Conversely, Associated Owners & Developers must absolutely position itself in the domestic and eventually the international market to effectively represent the tens of thousands of owners and developers to literally drive the design and construction industry well into the next century!

Positive Publicity:

  AOD has been blessed with ever increasing positive publicity regarding our efforts over the past twelve months to establish ourselves in an effort to make a difference in our Industry. For example, to quote the recent article in the Commercial Real Estate section of the Washington Business Journal:

  Although various associations exist that serve real estate owners, Associated Owners & Developers of McLean is for every type of real estate owner, from the corner bakery to the corporate giant. 

  This same article (which is reprinted herein for our Members convenience) has now become a part of our ever growing website (www.constructionchannel.net); and is thereby being reviewed and discussed throughout the other thirty-six major Metropolitan Markets throughout our country. The phones at AOD headquarters in McLean, Virginia, just outside the Nation's Capital, are becoming increasingly active. More and more interest and support for our growing and potentially influential efforts are being recognized; and ever increasing numbers of our Industry's Leaders are getting onboard and investing their time, energy, and money to truly make a difference.

"Managing the Art of Affordable On-Time Delivery:"

 The current and most obvious example of this interest and support is the growing head of steam that is building with our upcoming Seminar; proudly presenting forty of Industry's top executives from fifteen different states of our country. They are most enthusiastically participating on eight panels, whose topics were selected by our growing membership of owners and developers throughput the country. All have subscribed to the overall Seminar Theme of Managing the Art of Affordable On-Time Delivery. Each of the Panel Topics, highlighted on our growing website, is one that has become increasingly important to our members ability to build their business volume and to boost their bottom line. Our now over 1500 numbers are particularly interested in these topics in an effort to substantially improve their ability to ensure the delivery of quality facilities, on time, within their budget. The additional opportunity to mix and mingle with other Owners and Developers, as well as with our growing list of Affiliate Members who provide the tools necessary for improved delivery, make our Seminar a real target of opportunity. We hope to see you all there! Details, as well as an ability to register, are all found on the Web. We are appreciative of our growing list of Sponsors who are helping to make this Seminar the successful platform from which we can launch the next series of efforts to better drive the Industry.

  Coalition Council: B. Cheryl Terio, of counsel at the Washington D.C. office of Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll, LLP, recently joined the AOD Steering Committee as Co-chair of our Coalition counsel. Prior to joining Ballard Spahr, she served as construction Law and Contracts Counsel for The Associated General Contractors of America. We look forward to her leadership efforts as we further energize the Counsel. It is comprised of representatives from other construction trade organizations, promotes AOD's efforts to achieve broader industry cooperation, and provides input to the organization's Steering Committee. As your President, I personally made an initial round of visits to the leaders of many Associations last fall, and enthusiasm is now growing for us to better cooperate for the over, all good of the Industry, and the improvement of the business bottom line for our Members. There is currently an opportunity for even more Associations to get involved. We will be contacting many of them in the very near future.

  Contract Documents Development Committee: It has been determined that development of more effective contract documents aimed at delivering a quality project, on time, within the budget is of particular importance to owners. Therefore, we are now activating our Contract Documents Development Committee. Led by the General Counsel of an Owner member, we are currently in the process of selecting our committee members. We have shared our plans with the contract document development committees of the AGC and the AIA; and made a recent presentation to the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EDCDC). It is not the intent of AOD to duplicate the efforts of, or to compete with the plans of these other Associations and Committees. To the contrary, we intend to build on their work done to-date, taking all project participants into consideration. We will however formulate Owners' primary interests and concerns in development of these critical and unique contract documents which are intended to be for the project. We look forward to receiving effective Industry input and to being able to formulate the best possible set of contract documents for use in the upcoming Millennium.

  The Construction Channel: We have the ever growing opportunity for our AOD Members to draw upon resources not readily available to all growing Associations. For example, they are beginning to take advantage of our two websites, to include the new Construction Channel found on www.ConstructionChannel.net where they can readily find professional support from our Affiliates to answer their questions and support their facility and real estate needs. In addition, our Seminar panel discussion topics will become a part of the library of tapes available on a worldwide basis through the new Construction Channel. Owners, Developers, and all members of the Facility Delivery Team are encouraged to tune in to stay abreast of the many educational opportunities, changes, and improvements being identified and exercised to enhance our most important Construction Industry.

  I am proud to be serving you, and look forward to continuing to personally meet our growing list of Members as we actively launch new programs aimed at overall improvement of facility support to your business bottom line.

President/Executive Director

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PO Box 4163, McLean, Virginia 22103-4163
Telephone: 703-405-5324
 aod@cbrmag.com -- Associated Owners and Developers