VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

Industry leaders will address trends affecting the real estate and business economies at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business’ 27th annual Real Estate Trends Conference next month.

The conference, organized by the Kornblau Real Estate Program in the VCU School of Business, will be held Thursday, Oct. 12, at the Greater Richmond Convention Center. Doors open, with registration and a continental breakfast, at 7:30 a.m. The program starts at 9 a.m.

The conference — an annual sellout — is expected to attract more than 1,200 industry leaders from both the academic and professional ranks and from all sectors of real estate.

This year’s speakers are a New York Times bestselling author and the president of a real estate research company.

Entrepreneur Josh Linkner has founded four successful tech companies, been involved in the launch and growth of more than 100 businesses, and raised more than $150 million of venture capital. The two-time New York Times bestselling author — for “Disciplined Dreaming: A Proven System to Drive Breakthrough Creativity” and “The Road to Reinvention: How to Drive Disruption and Accelerate Transformation” — has been honored twice as the Ernst & Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” and as a President Barack Obama “Champion of Change” award recipient.

Andrew C. Florance founded CoStar Group Inc. in 1987, fundamentally changing the way commercial real estate professionals access, use and share information. Through CoStar, Florance pioneered the concept of commercial real estate firms outsourcing research functions to a third-party information provider. CoStar is among Forbes magazine’s 100 most innovative growth companies in the world, placing it among the top 10 companies within the software and services category.

For more information, including registration details, visit www.realestate.vcu.edu.