Corporate Office Properties Trust Appoints David Jacobstein and Richard Szafranski to Board of Trustees
COLUMBIA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE: OFC) announced today that its Board of Trustees elected David Jacobstein and Richard Szafranski to serve on the Company's Board of Trustees.
Mr. Jacobstein has more than two decades of real estate experience. He was most recently the senior advisor to Deloitte LLP's real estate industry group from June 2007 to June 2009, where he advised Deloitte's real estate practitioners on strategy, maintained and developed key client relationships, mentored professional staff, forged and enhanced academic partnerships and shaped thought leadership that addressed key industry and market trends. Before Deloitte, from 1997 to 2007, he was President and Chief Operating Officer of Developers Diversified Realty Corporation (NYSE: DDR), a leading owner, developer and manager of market-dominant community shopping centers. Mr. Jacobstein also served on DDR's Board of Directors from 2000 to 2004. Prior to DDR, he was Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Wilmorite, Inc., a Rochester, New York based developer of regional shopping malls.
Mr. Jacobstein began his career as a corporate and securities lawyer. He graduated from Colgate University with a Bachelors of Arts degree and from The George Washington University Law Center with a Juris Doctor degree. He is an active member of leading industry groups including the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT) and the Urban Land Institute (ULI). He also serves on the external advisory board of The Marcus & Millichap Company, a diversified real estate holding company based in Palo Alto, California.
Mr. Szafranski is a partner in and the former managing partner of Toffler Associates, a strategic planning and advisory firm. Toffler Associates helps organizations create their future by capitalizing on the opportunities presented by transition to a knowledge-based economy. He has an extensive consulting portfolio working with senior executives in US Government agencies, including the US intelligence community, and commercial firms such as global defense, communications, and aerospace. He retired from active service in the United States Air Force as a colonel in October 1996.
Mr. Szafranski served as an independent director on the Board of Directors for SBS Technologies, Inc., an embedded computer company, from 2003 until its acquisition by General Electric, chairing the Management Development and Compensation Committee and serving on the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee. As committee chair he helped introduce the company's first formal executive pay-for-performance program. He also served as an independent director on the Board of Directors for the Ceridian Corporation, a business services and benefits company, taking the company from a publicly-traded company to a private company in 2007. He has a Master of Arts in Human Resources Management and has completed executive education on corporate governance at the Harvard Business School.
"We are pleased to have attracted such experienced professionals to COPT's Board of Trustees," stated Jay H. Shidler, Chairman of the Board of Trustees for Corporate Office Properties Trust. "We look forward to using their extensive knowledge in their respective fields as a resource as the Company continues to grow," he stated.
Company Information
Corporate Office Properties Trust (COPT) (NYSE: OFC) is a specialty office real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on strategic customer relationships and specialized tenant requirements in the U.S. Government, Defense Information Technology and Data sectors. The Company acquires, develops, manages and leases properties which are typically concentrated in large office parks primarily located adjacent to government demand drivers and/or in growth corridors. As of June 30, 2009, the Company owned 262 office and data properties totaling 19.6 million rentable square feet, which includes 19 properties totaling 852,000 square feet held through joint ventures. The Company's portfolio primarily consists of technically sophisticated buildings in visually appealing settings that are environmentally sensitive, sustainable and meet unique customer requirements. COPT is an S&P MidCap 400 company and more information can be found at www.copt.com.
Forward-Looking Information
This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements, as defined in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, that are based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the Company. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "may", "will", "should", "expect", "estimate" or other comparable terminology. Forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, many of which the Company cannot predict with accuracy and some of which the Company might not even anticipate. Accordingly, the Company can give no assurance that these expectations, estimates and projections will be achieved. Future events and actual results may differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements.
Important factors that may affect these expectations, estimates, and projections include, but are not limited to:
-- the Company's ability to borrow on favorable terms;
-- general economic and business conditions, which will, among other
things, affect office property demand and rents, tenant
creditworthiness, interest rates and financing availability;
-- adverse changes in the real estate markets including, among other
things, increased competition with other companies;
-- risk of real estate acquisition and development, including, among other
things, risks that development projects may not be completed on
schedule, that tenants may not take occupancy or pay rent or that
development or operating costs may be greater than anticipated;
-- risks of investing through joint venture structures, including risks
that the Company's joint venture partners may not fulfill their
financial obligations as investors or may take actions that are
inconsistent with the Company's objectives;
-- our ability to satisfy and operate effectively under federal income tax
rules relating to real estate investment trusts and partnerships;
-- governmental actions and initiatives; and
-- environmental requirements.
The Company undertakes no obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements. For further information, please refer to the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, particularly the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Item 1A of the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.
Source: Corporate Office Properties Trust
Released August 27, 2009