Interview with Dr. Jan Veuger | The CEO of Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM)

I have been a real estate advisor in finance and investments for over 30 years and have dedicated my career to the field of real estate science. I graduated with a PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam, one of Europe's top business schools, where I studied from 2010 to 2014. My academic journey has been diverse, having served as a Professor of Real Estate Finance at Hanze University Groningen from 2012 to 2019, and later as a Professor at the School of Finance and International Business at SUAS from 2019 to 2022.

I have been a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors since 2006, and I currently sit on the Academic Board for the Conference on Interdisciplinary Research on Real Estate (CIRRE) since 2018. In addition to these roles, I have been an External Examiner for the Business School Netherlands (MBA) in various international locations including Buren, Prague, Cape Town, Algiers, Cairo, Lagos, Beijing, Paramaribo, and Willemstad since 2018.

My career has allowed me to blend practical real estate advisory with academic research and teaching, which I believe is essential in advancing the field and fostering the next generation of real estate professionals.

I'm the CEO of Corporate Real Estate Management. I founded CREM in the year 2008, and since then I have been helping organizations manage their real estate portfolios strategically as a consultant or interim manager.

In my 30 years in real estate management, finance, and investments, I have developed into a leading expert in strategic real estate management. In 2008, I founded Corporate Real Estate Management, through which I have been helping organizations strategically manage their real estate portfolios as a consultant or interim manager.

My work spans both commercial and social properties. I not only assist companies with their real estate management but also organizations in the social domain, such as the government, housing corporations, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations. For instance, I spent nearly two years as the Head of Real Estate (a.i.) at the Municipality of Rotterdam, managing a real estate portfolio of 3,500 properties valued at over €4 billion. At another organization, a merger of three municipalities, I rearranged the real estate portfolio to match the new reality and provided annual valuations and advice on the real estate portfolio for companies like supermarket chain Jumbo and Ziengs Investments.

I have noticed that strategic property management for companies differs from that for organizations, primarily in the managerial or political aspects of non-profit organizations. However, what strikes me most is that both have many similarities: "The objective remains the same. Only the approach and implementation are seen from a different perspective."

In 2012, just four years after founding my company, I became a part-time lecturer in Social Real Estate at Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen. I held this position for more than seven years, contributing to the knowledge surrounding the strategic management of social real estate and conducting my own research.

In 2014, I obtained my PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam on the governance of housing associations. My thesis sparked a stream of academic publications on housing associations and social real estate. However, since 2017, another topic has piqued my interest: blockchain technology. I see opportunities to digitize processes in real estate using blockchain for data management, financing issues, and insurance. Since then, my research has focused on the impact of blockchain and questions such as who owns the data, how to divide responsibilities, and how to measure certain aspects.

Winning the award is a recognition of 16 years of CORPORATE Real Estate Management. It gives our level of quality and appreciation for our commitment to providing the best possible service to all our clients in the Netherlands and abroad.

With the title as a 2024 TITAN Property Awards Gold winner within the Real Estate - Outstanding Property Consultant category, we have received the appreciation of CORPORATE Real Estate Management's submitted portfolio for a review of many projects over the past few years and in particular the last 12 months.

The main challenges were mainly in terms of issues at the board and management level of organizations to solve complex real estate issues both physically and financially.

Underlining the award is a nice recognition of our quality level with thanks to all our clients.

My most important innovation is the development of an interdisciplinary vision of urban facility management. Now I am working with various experts in the field and academics on a book for this purpose which is being published by the most important global publisher Routledge London.

Making solutions for complex problems, delivering more than the agreed and the impact that real estate has on society.