The University of St Thomas’ Opus College of Business in St. Paul, Minnesota, hosted its 12th annual Real Estate Hall of Fame induction ceremony at the Golden Valley Country Club Nov. 9. This year’s distinguished class of inductees are David Frauenshuh, founder and chief executive officer of Frauenshuh, Inc.; Robert Greenberg, president of The 614 Company; Jean Kane, retired chief executive officer of Colliers Minneapolis/St Paul; and George Sherman, founder and chief executive officer of Sherman Associates.
The Hall of Fame event drew a crowd of more than 200 industry professionals who gathered to honor the four inductees along with their families, friends and colleagues.
Andrew Babula, director of the UST Real Estate Program said, “David, Robert, Jean and George have been transformational leaders in real estate, and the care and concern they have demonstrated for others has improved communities and individual lives across the United States and as far away as Ghana, Africa.”
The program also included the popular Stofer-Stensby Scholarships awarded to the UST students who were finalists in the annual real estate business competition. Primarily underwritten by United Properties, nearly $20,000 in scholarships are awarded to undergraduate students who developed business concepts that have the potential to be viable, high-growth enterprises or make significant contributions to existing real estate companies.
The students’ submissions and presentations are judged by a panel of prominent real estate professionals. In addition, several of the student finalists are participants in a mentee program led by Russ Nelson, founder of NTH, who also served as emcee for the Nov. 9 celebration.
The mentee program has paired numerous students in the real estate program with industry professionals who answer questions and provide educational and career advice and networking that often leads to full-time opportunities in the real estate.
The business competition and mentee program are what Dr. Laura Dunham, dean of the Opus Business College, identified as essential in her keynote address. Dr. Dunham said that today’s challenges have changed what it means to deliver excellence in higher education and great universities and business schools must “build more expansive business partnerships through more executive fellows, entrepreneurs in residence, more corporate residencies for faculty, more real-world projects in classes.”
Business partnerships were indeed evident at the event in which 35 different major companies and individual real estate professionals provided sponsorship support for the Hall of Fame event and the burgeoning program at the University of St. Thomas.
Videos honoring each of the four inductees were played during the event and can be viewed by the public on the UST website (www.stthomas.edu) on the Shenehon Center for Real Estate section.
The nomination process for the 2023 Hall of Fame will occur during the spring of 2023. Criteria and nomination forms for the Hall of Fame will be available on the Shenehon Center for Real Estate website early next year.
