NAIOP Edmonton was founded by Jeffrey Hansen-Carlson and Al-Arqam Amer over a coffee in the boardroom of Riddell Kurczaba Architecture in November 2012. Both realized the development community needed a more decisive voice and the time had come – Edmonton was showing signs of dramatic positive change in the near term and the opportunity to influence the course of that change was obvious.

 

Jeffrey and Al knew that in order to build an organization they needed passionate and capable leaders from the development community to help form the founding board. One-by-one people were approached and the board began to take shape.

 

It was not until March 2013 that the Edmonton Chapter became an official member of the NAIOP family and a fully functional organization with a board, executive director, and a vision. NAIOP described the launch of NAIOP Edmonton as the most successful Chapter launch in the NAIOP’s history.

 

For Jeffrey’s dedication to founding NAIOP Edmonton he was awarded one of six Developing Leaders Awards in North America in 2013.

 

Al is currently a director of NAIOP Edmonton and co-chair of the program committee. Both Jeffrey and Al are an ongoing resource to the board.