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ORANGE COUNTY, CA—The judges for the OC SPIRE Awards, due to take place on February 26 at the Center Club in Costa Mesa, CA, recently met to decide on this year's award recipients. Nominations for the awards were due Jan. 20 and were submitted online.

The distinguished industry honor, presented by the Commercial Real Estate Women, Orange County chapter, denotes superior performance in real estate by individuals and teams in redevelopment, design/construction, brokerage, lending and philanthropy. More than 250 representatives from 75 commercial real estate industry firms have entered and won SPIRE Awards in the past three years.

According to Karen Eddy, a real estate property specialist for Western Digital and co-chair of the CREW SPIRE Awards, “Orange County is a resilient market, and the commercial real estate industry continues to be a driving factor in our local economy. As we look toward 2015 and beyond, it's important that we take the time to recognize professionals in the region who produce top results and keep the Orange County commercial real estate market moving forward.

As part of the 2015 SPIRE Awards program, CREW-OC will recognize individuals or teams in the categories of new construction, building renovations, tenant improvements, best in leasing, best in sales, most significant loan, woman in commercial real estate and philanthropist.

This year's keynote speaker for the fourth annual SPIRE Awards will be California State Senator Janet Nguyen. In addition, Steve Craig, president of Craig Realty Group, will serve as master of ceremonies. This year's judges for the event include Steve Case, EVP, the Irvine Co.; Dean Demetre, partner, Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton; Scharrell Jackson, CFO and COO, Squar Milner; Laura Khouri, president, Western National Property Management; Emily Mandrup, development manager, Pacific Industrial; Scott McPherson, SVP and market manager, US Bank; Becky Sullivan, VP of construction and development, DJM; Randy Wallen, regional VP of sales, CRE division, Auction.com; and Dana White, VP, Bank of the West, and former co-chair of the CREW-OC SPIRE awards.

Along with Eddy, the fourth annual SPIRE Awards program is co-chaired Catherine Falco, senior director of business development with Marquis Construction Inc. Information on nomination forms, attending the event and sponsorship opportunities is available at www.crewocspireawards.com.

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