Palmer, Ralston named to national CCIM Institute's board

A pair of Gulf Coast commercial real estate professionals have been elected to the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) Institute’s national board of directors for the coming year.

LandQwest Commercial Real Estate Services’ Principal Adam Palmer, of Fort Myers, and SVN Saunders Ralston Dantzler Real Estate Managing Director and Owner Gary M. Ralston, of Lakeland, were elected during the group’s annual global conference held in San Diego last month.

Palmer, whose commercial real estate career began 15 years ago, also was named to the group’s CCIM Technologies Inc.’s board.

The new designations follow Palmer’s stint last year as president of the institute’s Florida chapter, which has more than 1,000 members.

Ralston earned his CCIM designation in 1981, and has been a CCIM instructor for the past 34 years.

Nationwide, the group has roughly 15,000 designees, who must pass a rigorous set of classes and must meet real estate sales production criteria. Only 6% of all commercial real estate agents earn the designation from the institute, which is part of the National Association of Realtors.

Palmer becomes the third LandQwest professional to serve on the CCIM board nationally, following elections of the firm’s Robin Webb and Cynthia Shelton.

“This is a tremendous accomplishment that few commercial agents attain,” Webb says in a statement.

In addition to its base in Lee County, LandQwest Commercial also maintains offices in Tampa and Orlando, and its more than 30 real estate agents and managers generate annual revenue in excess of $5 million annually.