Savills Studley Raises Over $110K for Local Charity at 10th Annual Landlord Challenge Golf Tournament
06 October 2015
Global commercial real estate services firm Savills Studley is pleased to announce that it raised over $110,000 for San Miguel School Chicago at its 10th Annual Landlord Challenge Golf Tournament. The event took place at the Northmoor Country Club and was hosted by Savills Studley Executive Vice President, John Goodman.
“Overall, it was a perfect day of golf and philanthropy,” remarks Goodman, who began the event 10 years ago, as part of Savills Studley’s commitment to bettering the community and serving the needs specifically of underprivileged children. “The participation from the real estate community is just incredible and a true testament to our ability to make a significant difference within our community.”
According to this year’s event chair and Senior Managing Director at Savills Studley, John Conerty, the monies raised will go directly to San Miguel School Chicago, which serves academically high-risk students who are below their grade level and are living in the poor and violent neighborhoods of Chicago. The program helps each student to not only catch-up to their grade level, but in certain cases students in fact excel beyond their grade level.
“I was truly touched by the outpouring of enthusiasm and generosity that resulted from this year’s Landlord Challenge, which will contribute to providing the students of San Miguel School Chicago new hope through education, commitment and love – the three concepts the school is built around” said Conerty, who is Board Chairman of San Miguel School Chicago and has volunteered as a mentor with the organization for over 15 years. “We are honored to present San Miguel School Chicago with additional support for their remarkable cause.”
San Miguel School Chicago ensures that every student attends a quality high school and approximately 92% graduate from high school within 4 years. Approximately 80% attend college. Those that do not go to college either join the military or enter the work force.
“These statistics are quite remarkable, considering that 100% of the students enrolled are often likely high school dropouts,” added Conerty, who presented the check to Principal/Executive Director, Tad Smith (pictured).
“The spirit of the day was a great combination of fun and good will,” said Smith. “More than a few times I heard the rhetorical question, ‘it’s for the kids, right?,’ as good natured ribbing in hopes of motivating a buddy to compete in one of the pay-to-play challenges, or donate winnings back to the school.”
In fact, both the first and second place raffle winners – Mitch Basson of RBC Capital Markets and Matt Pistoria with the Telos Group – donated their prizes back to the charity. John Picchiotti of NAI Hiffman donated his earnings as a contest winner back to the charity as well.
“On behalf of the students and families of San Miguel School, I would like to offer a big thanks to Savills Studley and all who participated and donated to this year’s event,” remarked Smith. "I was really impressed by the generosity of the participants throughout the day. Even up to the moment I was walking out to my car to leave, a gentleman ran up behind me, handed me a personal check and thanked me for the work we do at San Miguel.”
Nearly 120 golfers participated in the challenge, consisting of property owners and leasing teams from Chicago. A team from Golub & Co. won first place and Tier Reit (Cushman & Wakefield) came in second place, both receiving trophies. The main sponsors were Savills Studley, Piedmont, John Hancock, Commonwealth Equity, The John Buck Company, The Telos Group and Riverside Investment & Development Company.
Conerty and Goodman led the efforts with the help of Savills Studley’s Landlord Challenge Committee alongside Maria Jens-Kerr, who has been passionately committed to the event since its inception. Other committee members include Chris Tarzon, Patrick Brady, Peggy Conway, Eric Feinberg, Mike Mangan, Jonathan Metzl, Adam Mitchell, Loredana Perri and Rich Plonsker.
