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2022 Awards and Recognition

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The Bert L. Thornton President’s Award is given at the President’s discretion to a person(s) who is: committed to the organization, currently engaged in its activities, an effective spokesperson, representative at all times, and in touch with both the needs of other AI professionals and the changes that the organization must help its AI professionals to meet.

The J. Scott Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an AI professional who best demonstrates high ethical standards; contributed to the Appraisal Institute at the chapter, regional, national and/or international level(s); provided service to his or her community; and contributed to the appraisal profession. A minimum of 20 years of service is recommended to be eligible for this award.

The Outstanding Service Award is presented to an AI professional who has contributed ideas, service hours and dedication to ensure a specific program or effort is implemented at either the chapter, region, national and/or international level(s). This AI professional must be instrumental to the success of the program or effort, which also must be far enough along to measure and provide proof of success. Additionally, the program or effort must be beneficial to chapters, regions, national, international, designated members, candidates, affiliates, practicing affiliates and/or the profession.

The Women's Initiative SPOTLIGHT Award is presented to recognize an AI Professional who has made an important contribution to fostering the growth of women in the valuation profession

Contact Joan Barngrover (jbarngrover@appraisalinstitute.org) with any questions.

2022 Burt L. Thornton President’s Award Winners

Claire M. Aufrance, MAI, SRA

aufranceClaire M. Aufrance, MAI, SRA, has been appraising real estate for 20 years, having begun her career in the Triangle area of North Carolina in 2002. In 2011, she founded Aufrance Valuations, LLC, based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Aufrance is a governor-appointed member of the appraisal board and has recently been reappointed for an additional three-year term. Additionally, she is a member of the Appraisal Institute Board of Directors, chair of Region V of the Appraisal Institute, a member of the Editorial Board of The Appraisal Journal and a member of the Board of Directors of the Appraisal Institute Education and Relief Foundation. She resides in Greensboro with her husband, Jeremy, and their two children Owen and Anna.


Suzanne Brockway

brockway

Brockway began her career in 1994 as the executive director of the Atlanta Area Chapter of the Appraisal Institute, where she has been for the past 28 years. She also serves in this capacity for the South Carolina Chapter, Savannah Area Chapter and Region IX. As executive director of these Appraisal Institute entities, she oversees all facets of chapter and region operations, which includes, but not limited to, membership services, accounting, finance, compliance, daily operations, marketing and education and event planning. Over the years with the Appraisal Institute, she has served on a variety of other AI groups and panels including the Chapter Executive Staff Committee, Region Executive Staff Advisory Group and now the Executive Directors Networking Group. Outside of her professional life, Brockway is an avid cyclist and past race team member of the Sorella Cycling Club in Atlanta. She holds a bachelor’s degree of Business Administration with a major in marketing from the University of West Georgia.


Elaine Liz-Ramirez, MAI, AI-GRS

liz-ramierez Elaine Liz-Ramirez, MAI, AI-GRS, is the chief appraiser for Hancock Whitney Bank headquartered in Gulfport, Mississippi. Liz-Ramirez oversees the Real Estate Valuation and Environmental teams. In her role, Liz-Ramirez is responsible for strategic management, administration of policy/procedures and professional development of staff.
Liz-Ramirez is a graduate of Stetson University with a degree in finance. Her passion for the profession began at an early age alongside her dad, who was a Realtor and appraiser. Prior to her recent banking career, she was an active commercial appraiser in private practice in Key West and Central Florida for over 20 years. She has held various positions within the Appraisal Institute at the chapter, region and national level. In 2016, she received the Volunteer of Distinction award from the East Florida Chapter.
Liz-Ramirez currently serves as Region X chair and is on the Appraisal Institute’s Board of Directors, the Audit Committee and the Women’s Initiative Committee. National AI recognitions include: Ted Anglyn Award [LDAC] in 2013 and Volunteer of Distinction in 2021.


Rodman Schley, MAI, SRA

schley Rodman Schley, MAI, SRA, of Arvada, Colorado, is the 2022 immediate past president of the Appraisal Institute. He also chairs the National Nominating Committee and serves on the organization’s Executive Committee and its policy-setting Board of Directors.
Schley wrote the book “Finding Your Fortune in Repossessed Real Estate,” and is the creator and host of a national PBS/Create TV television show entitled “Urban Conversion,” which educates viewers about maintaining environmentally friendly, sustainable lifestyles in urban settings.
Schley has served nationally on the Appraisal Institute Board of Directors, and he has been a member of the Strategic Planning Committee, the Governance Structure Project Team and the National Nominating Committee. He attended AI’s annual Leadership Development and Advisory Council conference as a participant (2013-15) and was selected as a discussion leader (2016), vice chair (2017) and chair (2018). He also has served in chapter roles, including as president of the Colorado Chapter. In 2002, he founded Denver-based Commercial Valuation Consultants, Inc., which was acquired by national appraisal firm BBG in 2016. Schley is also Senior Managing Director at BBG.
He received the Appraisal Institute Education Trust’s Y.T. and Louise Lee Lum Award, which is given in recognition of distinguished contribution to the furtherance of the high ideals of the profession of real estate appraising and practices.


Mark E. Verrett, SRA

verrett Mark E. Verrett, SRA serves as CEO of Accurity Consolidated, a national residential valuation firm, which he co-founded in 2020. As a second-generation appraiser, he has dedicated his career to innovating appraiser driven solutions to public challenges including appraisal modernization, barriers to entry into the field and disruptive customer service through speed and quality.
Verrett earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Edwards University in 2001 and a master’s of Real Estate from Texas A&M University in 2003. In 2008, Verrett was identified as part of the next generation of appraisal leaders under 30 by Valuation magazine. He has volunteered at all levels of the Appraisal Institute, presently serving as Region VIII vice chair on the national Board of Directors and as a member of the Strategic Planning Committee. Additionally, Verrett was voted by his peers to serve as chair of the Appraisal Institute’s 2011 Leadership Development and Advisory Council.


2022 J. Scott Robinson Lifetime Achievement Award Winner

Steven L. Marshall, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS

marshall Steven L. Marshall, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, is a life-long resident of Florida. He graduated from the University of West Florida in 1975 and then started his real estate career. Marshall has been a partner in the Clayton, Roper & Marshall appraisal firm headquartered in Orlando, Florida since 1987. He has served the Appraisal Institute as a chapter president, region chair and member of the Appraisal Institute national Board of Directors. Marshall served for four years in the Young Advisory Council (now LDAC) and chaired the group in 1989. He chaired the Appraisal Institute Florida State Governmental Affairs Committee for eight years.
Marshall has testified on behalf of the Appraisal Institute to the Florida state legislature in Tallahassee, chaired a Blue-Ribbon Committee which rewrote Florida’s real estate appraisal regulations, Florida Statute 475, Part II, and was honored by the state for his efforts. For the past six years, he has chaired the Central Florida Real Estate Forum, and also serves as host/moderator. He has served as a special magistrate in six Florida counties for over 30 years. He served his chapter as a region representative to Region X for 14 years and was recognized by Region X with an Outstanding Service Award in 2013. He was recognized as a national Volunteer of Distinction in 2016. He has mentored dozens of appraisers in receiving their Appraisal Institute designations.
Marshall’s volunteer activities have included fundraising for the Diocese of Orlando Mission Office, which builds homes for the poor in the Dominican Republic, where he has made 10 construction mission trips. He also has worked with Catholic Charities and the Haitian Consulate to create programs for after-school including English as a Second Language, and Parenting and Immigration Issues, for which he received the Shining Star volunteer award from the Orange County School Board.


2022 Outstanding Service Award Winners

Arthur W. McElhannon, Jr., MAI, SRA, AI-GRS

mcelhannon Arthur “Rocky” W. McElhannon, Jr., MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, is a native North Carolinian. He joined Colliers International Valuation & Advisory Services in May 2018. He is a senior valuation services director in the Charlotte, North Carolina office. He has 35 years of commercial appraisal experience. He began his commercial appraisal career in 1987 in the Philadelphia market, where he remained until moving back to Charlotte in 1995. He was employed by the local firm of T.B. Harris Jr., & Associates as a senior staff appraiser until October 2007 when he started his own business under the name of The Hopkins-McElhannon Group, Inc. He became a General Certified Appraiser in 1989 and holds a certification in North Carolina and South Carolina.
He specializes in “special-purpose” properties such as automobile racetracks, race shops, automobile dealerships, churches, and schools. He is considered a generalist and has appraised many different types of commercial and industrial real estate assets in his career.


Jacinto A. Munoz, Jr., MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, AI-RRS

munoz Based in Irvine, California, Jacinto A. Munoz, MAI, SRA, AI-GRS, AI-RRS, is a managing director and principal for Cogito Realty Partners. Munoz is a U.S. Navy Veteran and joins Apprise with more than 25 years of experience in valuation, lending, litigation support, underwriting, review, development, expert witness, and environmental real estate roles, with extensive valuation experience across all asset types nationwide and internationally.


Prior to joining Cogito, Munoz served as a managing director and head of strategy and compliance for Apprise by Walker and Dunlop. Munoz also served in a variety of roles with JPMorgan Chase Bank, which included serving the bank as a regional appraisal manager, national commercial lending review manager and most recently, in a senior leadership role as the national CTL appraisal manager, where he was responsible for leading a team of more than 100 managers, appraisers and administrative professionals nationwide.
Shortly after leaving the Navy, Munoz began his career in 1995 on the sales and lending side of the real estate industry before moving to a boutique real estate appraisal and consulting firm in Southern California.
In 2000, along with several partners, Munoz co-founded Appraisal Specialists. This firm specialized in an assortment of appraisal services that included engagements for a variety of institutional lenders and investors, local and regional federally regulated banks, life companies, municipalities, attorneys and private equity lenders.
Munoz also served as vice president at MUFG Union Bank and Far East National Bank, where he engaged in all aspects of vendor review and approval, appraisal engagement, review, developing policies and procedures, portfolio monitoring, environment and construction review, disposition of special assets, underwriting, and regulatory compliance through engagement with federal regulators for real projects across all asset types nationwide.
Munoz has conducted research, prepared appraisals, reviewed, consulted, and/or completed inspections of numerous property types nationwide, which include a wide variety of commercial land, subdivisions, multifamily apartments, health care facilities, auto dealerships, hotels, parking garages and surface lots, industrial properties, mobile home parks, self-storage facilities, office buildings, retail properties, special purpose facilities, air and water rights, synthetic leases, and various other stand-alone commercial assets.


2022 Women's Initiative SPOTLIGHT Award

Claire M. Aufrance, MAI, SRA

aufranceClaire M. Aufrance, MAI, SRA, has been appraising real estate for 20 years, having begun her career in the Triangle area of North Carolina in 2002. In 2011, she founded Aufrance Valuations, LLC, based in Greensboro, North Carolina. Aufrance is a governor-appointed member of the appraisal board and has recently been reappointed for an additional three-year term. Additionally, she is a member of the Appraisal Institute Board of Directors, chair of Region V of the Appraisal Institute, a member of the Editorial Board of The Appraisal Journal and a member of the Board of Directors of the Appraisal Institute Education and Relief Foundation. She resides in Greensboro with her husband, Jeremy, and their two children Owen and Anna.


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